The Cruel Ever After Read Online Free PDF

promise, I’ll leave in the morning. You can trust me. You know that.”
    “It’s hardly a matter of trust. Anyway, you don’t have to sleep on the couch. I’ve got a guest bedroom upstairs.”
    “No, that’s too much trouble. Just let me bed down here. I thought about sleeping outside somewhere, but I’m too rattled.”
    “I still think you should report what happened to the police.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Why?”
    “Because if it got out that I was at a gay bar—”
    “You’re still in the closet?”
    He wouldn’t meet her eyes. “More or less.”
    “But who even knows you around here anymore?”
    “More people than you might expect.”
    She shook her head. “That’s a hard way to live. You still have your suitcases? Your clothes?”
    “They’re all at Robert’s house.”
    She wanted to ask who Robert was but decided to let it go. As they sat staring at each other, the conversation stalled and then died.
    To fill the silence, Jane said, “Want to wash up?”
    “Maybe later.”
    “Want a brandy?”
    “Desperately.”
    She left the room and returned a few seconds later with two glasses and the bottle.
    As she poured them each a drink, he said, “Thanks for letting me stay.”
    “Of course you can stay.”
    “Still, thanks.”
    She sat down and studied him for a few seconds. “You never mentioned what you do for a living these days.”
    Looking relieved that the conversational ball had been picked up, he said, “I deal in antiquities. Mostly jewelry. I work for a broker in Holland.”
    “And you live in Istanbul?”
    “That’s where my primary residence is. I live in what’s called Cukurcuma. It’s the SoHo of Istanbul, although that doesn’t do it justice. It’s a very West-leaning section, very grand, trendy but ancient. Lots of shops on narrow, winding streets. Lots of new restaurants and nightclubs. It’s like nowhere else on earth.” He gazed straight ahead into the cold fireplace.
    “What about when you’re in Amsterdam?”
    “I have a small flat. Both of my residences are small, bare-bones affairs. You might not believe it, but money has never been important to me. It’s simply a means to an end.”
    “Traveling? Seeing the world?”
    “The experience of life in all its varied incarnations. When I was younger, I wanted to visit every corner of the world.”
    “Have you?”
    “I’m still working on it.”
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I’m on a buying trip. Not that I’ll be doing much buying without my credit cards. You know—” He glanced down at Mouse, who was lying on the braided rug next to Jane. “I wonder sometimes. Do you ever let your mind wander, think about what our lives might have been like if we’d stayed married? If we’d really been in love.”
    She found the question strange. “But we weren’t.”
    “No. But what if we had been? You were so beautiful. You’re still beautiful. I’d forgotten those amazing icy blue-violet eyes of yours.”
    Jane wasn’t sure what to say.
    “You’ve done well for yourself. Two restaurants. This big old house. I mean, look at you. You’re fit and prosperous.”
    “The recession has hit the restaurant industry pretty hard.”
    “Didn’t seem that way this afternoon.” He crossed his legs, leaned back against the cushions. “And Cordelia. She’s still as exotic, as curvaceous as ever, although she’s put on weight. Then again, so have I.”
    “She never does anything halfway. If she likes something, she wants to wallow in it. If she doesn’t like it, she’d just as soon take a flamethrower to it.”
    “That sounds about right. Is she seeing anyone?”
    “Her partner’s name is Melanie Gunderson. She’s a journalist. They live across the street from each other—both in downtown lofts.”
    “Not together?”
    “To quote Cordelia, they each need ‘a loft of their own.’ It’s an updated, more or less consumer-driven spin on Virginia Woolf’s famous essay.”
    That made him laugh. “I