Deranged Marriage Read Online Free PDF Page B

idea what it meant. It read:
    I, Holly Miller, hereby decree that if I am unmarried by the time I reach my thirtieth birthday I will marry George David Conway.
    Signed: Holly MillerDate: 23 October 1993
    I, George David Conway, hereby decree that if I am unmarried by the time I reach my thirtieth year and if Holly Miller is also unmarried, (her reaching thirty six months after me), then I will marry Holly Miller.
    Signed: George Conway Date: 23 October 1993
    Witness: Michael Harris Date: 23 October 1993
    The following day we woke up with monster hangovers and didn’t mention the pact we’d made. When I went home, emptied my bag and found it, I put it in my special shoebox with my other keepsakes. We never mentioned it again.
    *
    George graduated with top honours, and got a job with a leading law firm. We were twenty-two with our best years ahead. He was spending the summer away, and it was the longest time we’d been apart from each other since we’d first met. I missed him, but knew it wasn’t for ever. I spent time at home, hung out with Lisa, who was very good at showing me how to have a good time, at this point I was with Marcus.
    Our flat had become a party zone. People filled the place every night, mostly models. It was a good job that my main focus in life was no longer looks because otherwise I’d have fallen in love every day. I divided my time between my flat, and Marcus’s. I didn’t want Marcus in my flat, because it was full of beautiful women. His was only full of us.
    When George started working, he stayed at our flat. It wasn’t ideal because he was camped in my room, he had to work every day, and the party atmosphere almost threatened to destroy his career before it started. Lisa understood when George and I decided that it would be a good time for us to find a place to share. We moved into a two-bedroomed flat in Victoria, and we became flatmates as well as soulmates.
    I don’t remember much about the events preceding George’s big announcement. My career was going well, as was his. Our flat was a hive of social activity; we often had visitors. We had established a life in London, which we both enjoyed.
    Then he dropped his bombshell. He was so excited, I remember that. It was the greatest honour bestowed on a young lawyer. He lost his usual cool when he told me, his words cascading from his mouth. I giggled as I told him to calm down and tell me again. On the third attempt I finally understood what he was saying. A major American law firm that had connections with his company had chosen George to go and work in the New York office where he would be on the fast track to lawyer greatness.
    He had bought a bottle of champagne and excitedly poured the drinks hugging me again and again. I had never seen George so enthusiastic. Eventually he calmed down enough to phone his family and tell them. Then he called some friends from univer-sity. He wanted to tell the whole world. And while he was on the phone, I put my glass of champagne down on the coffee table, and went to the bathroom where finally I let the tears fall.
    I was happy for him, of course I was. I loved George and love is all about wanting happiness for that person. If George had what he wanted, then I had what I wanted. But there is always a selfish side to love, and although I was determined to quash it, it still needed an outlet. Of course I was happy for him, but I was sad for me, because I was losing my best friend.
    We were twenty-four when he left. I knew our friendship was effectively over. It was the second time I had lost a best friend to another country and although I was older when George left, I didn’t believe our friendship would endure any more than mine and Samantha’s had. It’s hard to explain, but I knew.
    Although the world these days is a global village, a move to New York need not precipitate the end of friendship, but it did. There were cheap flights every day, but for some reason I never got on a plane and he never