Dumping Billy Read Online Free PDF Page A

Kate’s old Brooklyn posse, so when Jack had consulted with Barbie’s jeweler father to get “a good deal” on an engagement ring, the news had traveled faster than e-mail among them. The day Bina had waited for for so long had finally arrived, but when Kate glanced at her friend, she noticed something odd: Bina seemed anything but happy. Surely she couldn’t be having second thoughts. But Kate knew Bina well enough to see that something wasn’t right.
    Oh, my God, thought Kate. Bina has changed her mind, and she’s afraid to tell anyone. Her parents—especially her mother!—will be beside themselves if . . . “Bina, are you starting to have doubts?” she asked as gently as she could, stopping to look at her friend. “You know, you don’t
have
to marry Jack.”
    “Are you crazy? Of course I do! I want to. I’m just nervous that . . . well, I’m just nervous. Normal, right? Hey, where is this place, anyway?”
    “Just to the left on Broome,” Kate said. And if Bina didn’t want to talk about her nerves, it was fine, she told herself. Give the girl a little space. “This is the Police Building,” she said as a diversion while they passed the domed monument that Teddy Roosevelt had built when he was chief of police. “It’s condos now,” she went on, “and they found a secret tunnel from here to the speakeasy across the street, so—”
    “So the Irish cops wouldn’t be caught getting drunk,” Bina said, then stopped in embarrassment. Kate just smiled. Her father, a retired Irish cop, had died three years ago from cirrhosis of the liver, and Kate couldn’t help but consider it a release for both of them. It was the Horowitzes who couldn’t get over it.
    “No harm, no foul,” Kate told her. “We’re almost there and we’re only four minutes late. You’re going to like this place. They have great nail colors, but just in case, I brought a few alternatives for you.” She scrambled around in her Prada bag—the only purse she owned, and she carried it everywhere. It had cost her an entire paycheck, but every time she opened it, it gave her pleasure. Now she pulled out a little bag. It contained three nail polishes, each one a wildly different seductive shade.
    Bina took the bag and peeked into it. “Ooooh! They look like the magic beans from ‘Jack and the Beanstalk,’” she said. Then she started to giggle. “Get it? Jack and his beanstalk?” she asked, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
    Kate gave Bina her “I’m not in the mood” look. Clearly her moment of nervousness had passed. “Hey, spare me the details of Jack’s beanstalk or any other part of his anatomy,” she begged. “Consider that your bridesmaid’s gift to me.” She took Bina’s arm to get her around the guy selling used magazines on the sidewalk and across to their destination.
    Just then, as they crossed the street, Bina stopped—as if the Manhattan traffic would wait for her—and pointed to the corner. “Omigod! That’s Bunny’s ex.”
    Kate looked in the right direction as she simultaneously pulled Bina’s arm down. She was about to tell her not to point when she caught sight of one of the best-looking men she had ever seen. He was tall and slim, and his jeans and jacket had the perfect casual slouch. As a cloud moved, light from the west fell on that corner and reflected off his hair as if he had a halo around his head. He had stopped for the light, and before he began to cross the street, he fished in his inside pocket. Kate couldn’t help following his hand, and as he crossed the street she turned her head to get a look at his buns. She always had a weakness in that area, and this guy was . . . well, his buns must have come from the very best bakery.
    “He went out with Bunny?” Kate asked. Of her posse, Bunny was probably the most garish and certainly the dimmest bulb.
    Bina nodded. Kate could only see that in her peripheral vision, because she couldn’t tear her eyes off the man just twenty feet