What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarty [111]
“Have you slept with him yet?” said a posh voice in her ear, and the heavy sweet scent of a beauty salon filled Alice’s nostrils.
It was that dreadful Kate Harper woman again.
“Oh, hi.” Alice reeled back. Kate was wearing a beautifully fitted trench coat, skin polished, lips shimmery. It was a bit much for this time of the morning.
Kate didn’t wait for an answer. “God, I’m jealous. It’s been a year for us.”
“A year?”
“A year since we’ve done the deed. I must have cobwebs down there.”
The things strangers told you.
Kate was still looking at Dominick. “The claws are out, by the way. Miriam Dane has had her eye on him for ages. Apparently, she told Felicity that she thought it was rather poor form for you to go after him only three months after you and Nick separated. I promised I wouldn’t pass it on, but of course I knew you’d want to know!” She lowered her voice. Her beautiful face turned nasty. “You’ll die laughing when you hear this. Apparently, after she’d had a few drinks at the party the other night, Miriam called you the S-word.”
Alice looked at her without comprehension.
Kate lowered her voice and whispered, “Slut!” Then she raised it again and screeched, “Isn’t that hilarious? Isn’t that just so eighties! I thought, I must tell Alice, she’ll love that! The woman is pea green with jealousy! And of course she hated it when Tom kicked that goal at soccer, when, you know, she’s been getting all that extra training for Harry, because he’s supposedly so talented, ha, ha, that little piglet!”
Alice felt sick. She looked around for her children, wanting an excuse to get away from Kate. Tom was sitting on a bench, lecturing two other boys, who were listening intently; one even appeared to be taking notes. Olivia was doing a cartwheel while a group of girls applauded. She couldn’t see Madison.
“Well,” she said, “you can tell that Miriam not to worry. Nick and I are getting back together.”
Kate grabbed Alice’s arm so hard, it hurt. “You’re joking.”
“No.” She thought of Nick’s cold face last night as he said goodbye. “Well, anyway, we’re working on it.”
“But what happened? I mean, the things you were saying, just last week—I mean, gosh, it just seemed completely irretrievable! You said you couldn’t stand the sight of him, he made you physically ill! You said you could never forgive him! You said—”
“Forgive him for what?” interrupted Alice.
“This is such a surprise!” Kate pulled at a strand of gold hair that had got caught in her sticky, shimmery lips. She’d lost some of her posh accent in her excitement.
“What did I need to forgive him for?” Alice repressed an urge to put her hands around Kate Harper’s perfect neck and squeeze.
“Hey there.”
Someone’s hand settled gently on her shoulder.
Alice looked up and saw Dominick standing next to her.
“How are you, Kate?” said Dominick. His hand was still on Alice’s shoulder, invisibly caressing her. It was nice, but Nick did that in public. “Congratulations, you two. Saturday night was great.”
He was such a strange mix of authority and shyness.
“How are you, Dominick?” asked Kate. Her face was shiny with sympathy and fresh new gossip.
“Fighting fit for a Monday.” Dominick removed his hand from Alice’s shoulder (she missed it) and shuffled his feet while doing an absurd little boxing move.
He smiled at Alice and touched her arm again. “I’ll talk to you later.”
She smiled back. He was looking at her the way Nick looked at her when they first started going out. It was a look that made her feel highly desirable and extremely interesting. She thought of how Nick looked at her now.
“Yes, okay,” she said.
“Oh, Dominick, we need you over here!” trilled a woman.
He loped off obediently.
“So I’m assuming you haven’t told him, then? About you and Nick?” asked Kate avidly.
“Oh. No. Not yet.”
“But it’s definite?”
“Oh, well, yes. I think