Don't Marry Thomas Clark Read Online Free PDF Page B

still stuck on the twenty-eighth level. Do you think there’s any way to sue the developers?
    Reflecting upon the failures of recent months drags me irrevocably back into a miserable mood.
    I shuffle about the house in search of alternative solutions, but all I find is a gummy bear jammed down between the cushions on the sofa, surrendering in exchange my last shreds of optimism as I walk down the hall.
    Is that a crack in the wall? Oh, God – not the building collapsing, on top of everything else!
    Dejected, I seek refuge in the bedroom, taking the cordless with me. I throw myself under the covers and dial Kelly’s number, hoping she won’t be at home. I’m not asking for much, just a couple of days’ grace. Just long enough to find a way to tell her we’re broke.
    â€˜Hello?’ she replies immediately, without the phone ringing even twice.
    No such luck!
    â€˜Hi, it’s Sandy.’
    â€˜I knew it, I knew it, I knew it…’ she screeches, sounding euphoric.
    â€˜You knew what?’ I ask seriously.
    â€˜They’ve called, right?’
    â€˜Who?’
    â€˜What do you mean, “who”? The bank!’
    â€˜Ahhh, yeah… the bank. Yeah, I just spoke to them.’
    â€˜Aaaaand…?’ she asks, hopefully.
    â€˜And…’ But I can’t seem to get it out, not straightaway.
    â€˜Come on, don’t keep me on tenterhooks! Do you know what I did today?’
    â€˜No, what did you do?’ I say, playing for time.
    â€˜I told my boss to get stuffed,’ she says airily.
    â€˜You did what ?’ I shout in panic, springing back upright with such violence that my hipbone clicks so hard I might never be able to stand erect again.
    â€˜He asked me to stand in for Bert again, but I’d promised David that I’d spend this weekend with him. It’s his birthday. So I suggested asking someone else. He went bananas. Would you believe it? Him ! What was I supposed to say? This is my third month of unpaid internship.’
    â€˜I thought you said he’d agreed to give you five hundred pounds a month?’
    â€˜Yes, but after travel, food and rent I’m just not making ends meet. I’m paying the bills by selling old clothes on eBay. So when he said that, I lost it. I said, “Look here, Mr. Morris, you are the worst kind of parasite. All you do is treat us all like dirt. I’ve had enough of it. Either take me on properly or I’m not setting foot in this office again!”’
    â€˜And what did he say?’ I ask in a small voice, gripped by a sense of impending doom.
    â€˜He fired me on the spot,’ she answers cheerfully. ‘But what do I care? I’d have been leaving anyway in about twenty days. The bistro’s going to be taking up all my time.’
    â€˜Kelly, are you crazy? What if the bank had refused to give us the loan?’
    â€˜But they can’t not give us it. The manager’s a close friend of Debby’s dad. How many times has she told us not to worry?’
    Something about my silence seems to bring her back down to reality, because she asks me worriedly, ‘You’re not going to tell me that they’ve turned down our application, right? Sandy, I’m down to two pairs of jeans, a couple of T-shirts and a green dress, and you know how awful I look in green…’
    What a nightmarish situation. I don’t know what to do, I don’t know what to say. I can’t stand hearing her talk like that, especially because I feel terribly guilty. The bistro was my idea. If I’d just kept my mouth shut, we wouldn’t be in this pickle in the first place.
    â€˜No, don’t worry,’ I lie, before I’ve even managed to think. ‘It all went fine.’ And I sink into the pillows. On the other end, Kelly breaks into shouts of pure elation and spends the next ten minutes jumping up and down and singing her heart out. I don’t have the