Between Sisters Read Online Free PDF Page A

something along those lines. I don’t know why I believe that crap, actually, but they sucker me in every time. Advertising works.’
    Cassie smiled.
    At forty-one, Belinda was three years older than Cassie, but had one older son who was unlikely to have woken her in the night since he was away at college. She actually did look pretty dewy but that was down to facials, IPL lasers and a new thing called jet flushing that cost as much as a week’s food shop, and apparently you needed six in a row to get any result at all. Cassie knew she would never be getting flushed unless her numbers on the lottery came up.
    ‘You look fabulous,’ she told her friend truthfully. ‘Are you still using that magic concealer pen to get rid of under-eye circles?’
    ‘Yup. Fakes eight hours’ sleep.’ Belinda was single and liked her own space, but not all the time. Gentlemen callers were welcome as long as they knew when to go home. Men messed up the towels.
    Cassie used to wonder if Belinda was lonely. But then she realised that these days, she was sometimes lonely, and she was married with kids. Maybe those date-night people were onto something.
    ‘Can I borrow the magic concealer pen?’ Cassie asked.
    ‘Lily had a nightmare?’
    ‘Yes. Can’t you tell? I’m trying to eradicate it with caffeination before Loren sees me and rips me in two for appearing in the office looking less than perfect.’
    ‘Yeah, well, we can’t all have a professional blow-dry every morning and get dressed from a wardrobe set up by a personal shopper,’ Belinda replied.
    She briefly gazed at her friend’s pale face, the bruised smudges beneath her brown eyes and the wet hair. With amazing sleight of hand, Belinda took Cassie’s coat and laptop bag, handed over her own handbag, and muttered: ‘Go. Let the under-eye thing do its magic. Use the highlighter/sculptor thing too. Charlotte Tilbury. Ludicrous price but worth it. Does actually make you look like you’ve been on holiday and have cheekbones like a supermodel. We should have gone into the beauty products business years ago, honey. That’s where the money is today. Then we wouldn’t have to be prostituting ourselves working for the Wicked Witch of the West.’
    ‘Isn’t it the Witch of East?’ said Cassie.
    ‘She was the good one, wasn’t she? Nah, West. Loren had all the good sucked out of her on her last liposuction procedure.’
    Cassie had her first laugh of the day and, juggling her coffee and Belinda’s handbag, headed for the loo.
    The ladies was large and full of chatter as women from the various companies on the floor talked while they brushed their hair and slicked on lipstick. Usually a hotbed of rumours, the current one was about the US event company, Prestige, taking over Larousse Events.
    Cassie still hadn’t found out if it was true or not but that didn’t stop the gossip. From what she could ascertain, Prestige was a much leaner affair than their own company. Friendly takeovers were just like hostile ones but with more smiles: many people would still lose their jobs. The thought sent a little shiver through Cassie. More change, and she hated change. She hoped that rumour was just a rumour.
    She went to work with Belinda’s magic products, dried her hair with some paper towels and listened.
    The other gossip was that Denise, from the small accountancy firm on their floor, had left her husband after an affair with one of the personal trainer guys in the gym on floor ten. As Cassie applied Belinda’s brilliant concealing pen to the dark shadows under her eyes, she heard how Denise had been sick of her workaholic husband and how he had no time for her.
    ‘Nothing in the bedroom department,’ the girl with all the news informed her avid listeners.
    ‘Do you think yer woman with the Rolling Stones fella was right about how to keep a man?’ someone said. ‘Cook in the kitchen and hooker in the bedroom?’
    Everyone was silent as they thought about this. At least half of