Читать книгу The Baby Scandal - Кэтти Уильямс, Cathy Williams - Страница 8

‘I DON’T know if I’ll be able to handle this.’

She had rehearsed a long speech about this, had even stood in front of the bathroom mirror and practised, making sure to keep her eyes focused, to try and control the temptation to eat her words, and to appear confident and firm.

Now, sliding into the seat opposite Franco for the first of their so called debriefing meetings, she found that all of her painstakingly contrived self-assurance had vanished through the window. Her words came out in a rush, and from the expression on his face she could see that he thought she was deranged.

To be greeted by someone whose opening remark was, I don’t know if I can handle this, must, she conceded, be a little disconcerting.

‘Would you like a drink?’ was his response, and she looked at him, exasperated.

‘No, I would not like a drink. I would like to say what I have to say.’

‘Go ahead, then.’ He sat back in the chair, left ankle resting on right knee, and proceeded to look at her with an interested, patient expression that made her even more nervous.

They had arranged, the night before, to have their debriefing dinner at a pub in Hampstead, which, at six-thirty, was still virtually empty. A few lost souls were perched on bar stools, drinking in a desultory way, and a few more couples occupied tables, but the crowds would not start piling in until later.

Ruth sat very straight on the chair and pressed her hands into her lap. ‘I’ve thought long and hard about this,’ she began. ‘In fact, I’ve spent most of the day thinking about it…’