Upside Down Inside Out Read Online Free PDF

the idea. ‘Jaysus!’ she’d shrieked down the line from Australia. She might have lost her Irish accent since she and her family had emigrated fifteen years before, but not her vocabulary. ‘My friend the blushing bride! I can hear the wedding bells from here. I have to be bridesmaid. In pink taffeta. Promise me now, Evie.’
    ‘Lainey, stop it! I might have it all wrong. I probably have. It’s just he’s been really secretive. Hinting that he wants to ask me something.’
    ‘Oh, how romantic. But you can’t marry him yet anyway, you know that.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Because I haven’t met him. And you can’t possibly marry someone I haven’t approved. Listen, forget New York, come to Melbourne instead. I’m off to Brisbane for two weeks in April for work -I can check him out and then the two of you can mind my apartment for me.’
    Eva had just laughed at her. Lainey the steamroller. ‘No, thanks. It’s New York, New York or nothing, nothing.’
    At the entrance to the wine bar she stopped and thought about it for a moment. Would Lainey
    approve of Dermot if she met him? And more to the point, would she want Lainey to meet Dermot? After what had happened last time Lainey had met one of her boyfriends? She put the thought out of her head and went inside.
    He was sitting at a corner table, talking on his new phone. It was the latest model, silver-plated. He was very proud of it. As she took off her coat and sat down opposite him, he waved a finger at her, pointing to the phone with his free hand while he continued talking. After a second she saw what he was pointing at - he’d had his name engraved on the silver plating. ‘Dermot Deegan’. Underneath it, in smaller letters, ‘Play to Win’. Eva’s heart sank. Motivational slogans were the latest trend in his property office.
    ‘Hi Eva,’ he greeted her, finally finishing his call. ‘What’ll you have, a G&T? A V&T?’
    ‘Gin would be great, thanks, Dermot.’ She watched as he went up to bar. He looked especially sleek tonight, she noticed. He was a very good looking man. Out of her league really. She didn’t normally attract men as successful and handsome as Dermot.
    Beside her a small group of women were talking and giggling. They’d braved the weather in short dresses, showing plenty of skin, their heavy coats a jumble on a chair behind them. One of them had noticed Dermot and was whispering to her friend
    about him. The friend whispered back, then they both turned and shot a glance at Eva.
    Eva shifted in her seat under their scrutiny, feeling a little dowdy compared to them. Dermot had tried to glam her up on a few occasions, before realising short glittery dresses and tight-fitting, low-cut tops weren’t her style. She preferred simple clothes, coloured Tshirts, little jackets, long skirts and jeans. She glanced down at her clothes now - the white linen shirt and black skirt that Ambrose liked to see her in behind the counter. Definitely not the pop princess look Dermot favoured. Quite ordinary clothes, really.
    That word again.
    Looking around the wine bar, Eva surreptitiously opened the top button on her shirt, hoping that would spice up her look. Oh yes, instant glamour. Not. She was just contemplating opening another button and thrilling the winebar with her Marks and Spencer bra when Dermot came up behind her.
    ‘One gin and tonic,’ he said in a loud voice, putting a fresh drink in his place as well. ‘So, how was your day?’
    She had just started to tell him about Meg settling in so well when he broke in over her. ‘Big things afoot in our place, Eva. Charlie in Commercial Property has resigned and you know what that means.’
    She didn’t have a clue. She didn’t even know who Charlie was. Her blank look said as much.
    ‘A reshuffle. There are places opening upstairs in the next few months and we are all officially Under Scrutiny.’
    She knew he was worked up when he started Speaking In Capitals.
    ‘Is that good?’
    ‘It