The Mistake I Made Read Online Free PDF Page B

when you have a moment?’ he began, and Nadine gave him a swift nudge.
    ‘He’s joking,’ she said flatly. ‘Aren’t you, darling?’
    ‘Yes. Absolutely,’ he replied, ducking as though expecting a swipe at his head, courtesy of Nadine. ‘Wouldn’t dream of asking something so inappropriate on a first meeting.’
    But people do.
    For some reason they don’t equate my job as having the usual boundaries. I didn’t know how Scott had made his money, or exactly what line of business he was in, but let’s say for argument’s sake he was a landscape gardener. Asking me to take a quick look at his elbow was akin to me asking him to pop over to my house and dig over the rough patch of land to the rear of the property. Or asking a chef if he wouldn’t mind rustling up a few canapés because we were all feeling peckish.
    Anyway, I didn’t hold it against him as, like most, he said it without thinking. And people ask about their ailments because it’s a conversation starter and they can’t think of anything else to say.
    Like throwing a punch at a black belt in Karate, and saying, ‘And what would you do if I did this ?’
    We talked pleasantries for a while – the glorious stretch of weather we were experiencing – and, like many people I talked to, Scott was enjoying it all the more because the south of the country had rain. I asked Nadine about her children, and proudly she said her youngest was in Toulouse for the summer, before starting at Warwick in September, and their eldest was at the London Film School. At this she pulled a face to indicate she wasn’t sure what would come of that. Scott and she not being artistic people, this had come quite out of the blue.
    Well, this is unexpected, I thought.
    They were nice.
    I’d anticipated feeling fairly contemptuous towards them after the incessant commentary from Petra about how Scott Elias does this, Nadine Elias does that. Scott has a driver who is part of the family , Nadine likes fresh flowers in every room, every single day, the florist brings them specially, blah, blah, blah.
    But they seemed normal. Quite down to earth, in fact.
    Of course, Nadine was more polished than your average woman. Every small detail was refined, elevated to make the absolute most of her features. Think of an ordinary song after Giorgio Moroder has pimped it up, and you’ll get the general idea. She, like Scott, was in her early fifties. She was a neat, trim woman, fine boned, with delicate wrists and ankles. She was dressed in white, wide-legged trousers with a scoop-necked top and wore a simple diamond on a chain at her throat.
    ‘Are you on your own?’ Nadine asked, casting her eyes around as she looked for a suitable match with whom she could place me.
    ‘Yes,’ I replied.
    For a time I used to fill the void following this enquiry with explanations, with self-deprecating remarks about my single status, all the while being rather jolly so as not to make the other person feel bad in any way.
    Now I couldn’t be arsed.
    ‘No man in your life?’ asked Scott.
    Before I had the chance to reply Petra butted in. ‘What Roz needs,’ she said, ‘is a good, steady guy. You don’t happen to have any nice single friends, do you, Scott?’
    Scott made a show of thinking through his acquaintances, frowning as though weighing up each one carefully. Then he looked directly at me, holding my gaze for a few seconds too long, making sure I noticed. Making sure, in that way some men do, that you have been set firmly in their sights. ‘I don’t, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘They’re all taken.’
    ‘Often the way,’ I said quickly, embarrassed. ‘Anyway, thanks for that, but as Petra knows, good and well , I’m off men for the time being.’
    ‘They’re not all like Winston,’ said Petra, a little sharply. ‘They’re not all going to do what he did.’
    I gave Petra a look as though to say, Not now , and replied, ‘Yes, well, I’d rather not take the chance,’ brushing it