Nadia Knows Best Read Online Free PDF

in the meantime, their unorthodox family setup had expanded to include Tilly, when Leonie had arrived at the house with a fatherless one-year-old and departed shortly afterwards without her.
    ***
    Nadia felt like a suicide bomber with explosives strapped to her body and somebody else in charge of the detonator switch. She couldn’t bear the suspense a minute longer.
    â€œYou’re not eating,” said Laurie. “Come on, try the duck. It’s fantastic.”
    â€œI don’t want to try the duck.” Nadia kept her voice low; this was Markwick’s after all. “I want you to try telling me the truth.”
    Laurie reached across the table, his fingers closing around hers. “Can’t we just enjoy the meal?”
    â€œObviously not, if I can’t even swallow a mouthful of it.” The time had come, clearly, to detonate the bomb herself. “Laurie, either you tell me what’s wrong or I stand up on this chair, scream at the top of my voice, and start throwing things.”
    Laurie smiled. “Go on then.”
    He didn’t believe her. Causing scenes and throwing things wasn’t what people did when they came to Markwick’s. Sliding her hand from his, Nadia grabbed the basket of bread rolls from the table, pushed back her chair, and rose to her feet.
    The look on her face told Laurie all he needed to know.
    â€œOK, stop it, sit down.” He blurted the words out as Nadia’s left arm—the one clutching the bread basket—began to swing back. “I’ll tell you.”
    The polar opposite of temperamental, Laurie abhorred public scenes.
    Nadia froze. Did she really want to hear this? But then, how could she stand not knowing? Jerkily, aware of curious eyes upon her, she sat down.
    God, it couldn’t be normal for a heart to beat this fast.
    â€œFire away.”
    Laurie hesitated, pushing his fingers through his hair. But this time there was no Miriam around to fling open the car door and swoop, like Wonder Woman, to the rescue.
    â€œOK.” Another pause. “I think we should call it a day. We hardly ever see each other. It’s not fair on you.”
    It was like plunging into an ice-cold swimming pool that you’d expected to be warm. There was a high-pitched ringing in Nadia’s ears. Sadly, not quite loud enough to drown out the words Laurie had just uttered.
    Then again, what had she expected? This was what happened when you pressed the detonator.
    â€œNot fair on me or not fair on you?” Nadia couldn’t believe she was managing to get the words out.
    â€œNeither of us.” Laurie shrugged miserably. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I really don’t want to do this.”
    Don’t then.
    Aloud, Nadia said, “But you’re going to do it anyway.”
    â€œIt’s for the best. Everything’s different now. Our lives have changed… You haven’t done anything wrong ,” Laurie said helplessly. “It’s just… oh Nad, you must know what I mean. This isn’t anything to do with you.”
    Nadia was glad she hadn’t thrown the basket of bread rolls at him now. Bread rolls weren’t nearly vicious enough. Heavy china plates, that was what was called for. Plates that would crash with a satisfying amount of noise, preferably inflicting pain on Laurie and splattering meticulously-put-together sauces en route.
    But would it help?
    Struggling to get her bearings, she said, “Why didn’t you tell me this afternoon?”
    Laurie heaved a sigh. “Basically, I wanted our last weekend to be a good one. What was I supposed to do, call you from Barcelona and tell you over the phone? Get off the plane and just announce it? God, I’m not that much of a shit.”
    â€œBut you couldn’t seriously expect to pretend everything was fine!”
    A muscle was twitching in Laurie’s jaw. “I wanted to try. I thought we could at least have this last