How to Get a (Love) Life Read Online Free PDF

I said with a grimace.
    ‘Oh, come on, Nicola, there’s loads.’ He crammed a large slice into his mouth. ‘Don’t be so uptight! You’re skin and bones anyway. Relax, have a bit of pizza, it’ll sort you right out.’
    I looked at it slavishly, the melted cheese, peppers, pieces of meat and other delights were chopped into its gooey topping. The crust looked lightly browned and delicious, the scent of it like a bakery in the morning. What would it matter if I had some pizza? I mused for a brief moment before pushing the thought away. I’d already bought the salmon for tonight and Thursdays were chicken risotto, so if I didn’t make the salmon now, then it would go to waste.
    I shook my head. ‘No, no, truly I am going to make myself a little something now. I’m, um, not in the mood for pizza,’ I stood up, practically drooling on my India silk wool carpet.
    ‘You’ve got issues, sis,’ said Mark through a mouthful, a tiny string of cheese dangling from his lip.
    My stomach dropped. ‘What?’
    He sighed. ‘Nothing sis. Go and make your … salmon isn’t it?’ he said giving me a weak smile. ‘Always salmon on a Wednesday.’
    I sloped off to the kitchen feeling odd and foolish.

Chapter Five
    My thoughts festered throughout the next morning. Mark’s ‘You’ve got issues’ comment had really stirred me up. I wanted to ask Caroline if she thought the same thing about me, but every time I opened my mouth to ask her, I bottled it. I tried to concentrate on my work, I really did, but before I knew it I was shouting out:
    ‘You know, I bungee-jumped in Australia when I was nineteen!’
    Caroline stopped typing and looked at me, eyes wide. ‘I didn’t know that.’
    ‘Forty-five metres, all by myself.’
    ‘Well, that sounds like fun.’
    ‘And once, Caroline, I hitch-hiked,’ I went on, jabbering now. ‘Do you remember there was that petrol crisis? Well, I was in Wiltshire and I needed to be in London because I was watching Take That in concert that night with Natalie, who had a squint but had got money off the tickets, and I flagged this car down and jumped in.’
    ‘That’s brave,’ Caroline said, eyebrows meeting as she looked at me.
    ‘It was.’ I paused for a moment and pleated the soft fabric of my grey wool dress. ‘Do you think I’m unadventurous?’ I blurted at her.
    ‘Unadventurous?’ she repeated.
    ‘You know, sort of stuck in my ways? Uptight?’ I carried on, tripping over the words now to get the question out.
    ‘Well you like things …’
    ‘Like I like them?’ I finished for her.
    ‘Exactly,’ she said, then fell silent for a moment. ‘Um, it wouldn’t be so bad to loosen up a little on some of the, er … habits .’
    ‘ Habits ?’
    ‘You know the, er, timing of things and the food, the keeping yourself to yourself. You could ease up a little,’ she said lightly. ‘I mean, don’t you get horribly lonely at home?’
    ‘No, no,’ I said brightly, ‘I’m used to being on my own.’
    She looked at me in a way that could only be described as ‘sympathetic’.
    ‘I mean, I like being on my own,’ I corrected.
    ‘But you’re so young .’ I rolled my eyes, recognising the familiar lecture that was about to begin. ‘You just seem so frightened of letting—’
    I gushed over her. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, I was just thinking out loud, don’t wor—’
    ‘—No listen, Nic, you asked me, remember!’ The pitch of her voice rose an octave. ‘Now, I want you to hear this.’ Caroline never raised her voice. I stared at the keyboard of my desk, not seeing any of the letters, only hearing her words. ‘You should be getting out there and living your life, not worrying about whether your carrot stick is exactly five centimetres long. You should be meeting people, you should be out with friends, you should be dating, seeing people, having fun .’
    ‘Okay, Caroline.’ I held up my hands to signal the diatribe could stop.
    ‘No, Nic, you