Free Marian Keyes - Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married by Marian Keyes

she went, dragging the terri- fied Shane along by the arm.

    He looked back pleadingly at Megan and me, his face one big cry for help, but there was nothing we could do for him.

    An innocent lamb to the slaughter.

    10 The following day all hell broke loose, when Megan and Meredia notified everyone in the whole world that I was getting married. They didn't actually tell everyone in the whole world, they just told Caroline, the receptionist at work. But that was as good as--better probably than, actually--telling everyone in the whole world. 62 / marian keyes

    Meredia and Megan had decided, notwithstanding my lack of boyfriend, that Mrs. Nolan's predictions for me would come true, just as her predic- tions for them had.

    Of course they apologized later and said they hadn't meant to do any harm and that they had really only been joking, etc., etc., but by then the damage was done and the idea had been planted in my mind and I had got to thinking that maybe a boyfriend would be a nice thing, a soul mate, someone to feel safe with, someone to be intimate with.

    It opened up old longings. I began to want something from my life, which was always a mistake.

    But all that was still ahead of me when my alarm went off, and I thought I felt miserable then. The only good thing was that it was Friday.

    When I woke up I was as badly organized as I had been the previous day. I still hadn't washed my clothes, so I still hadn't any clean underwear, so I had to wear Steven's boxers that he had left behind when I forced him to leave my apartment rather suddenly about three weeks before. I had washed them, with the vague intention of returning them to him, so at least they were clean.

    At the station, the candy machine was a bastard, it worked for me--again! Machinery hated me. It gave me a bar of chocolate and I didn't have the willpower not to eat it. I was becoming more and more convinced that I had an eating disorder.

    I finally got to work and I was very, very late indeed, even by my standards.

    As I rushed past reception I was almost knocked to the ground by Mr. Simmonds going at high speed in the direction of the Gents, his butt scur- rying along about three yards behind the rest of him, trying hard to keep up. He looked flustered and agitated and he was a small bit red lucy sullivan is getting married / 63

    about the eyes. In fact, if I had thought the man was capable of human emotion, I would have sworn that he was crying. Something had obviously upset him.

    My spirits rose.

    I smiled brightly at Caroline, the receptionist, because it was more than my life was worth not to. She took offense easily and withheld my personal calls if she felt that I had slighted her. She smiled brightly back. As I raced past I thought I heard her call something after me--in fact it sounded oddly like "Congratulations"--but I was too eager to find out what disaster had befallen Mr. Simmonds to stop.

    I breezed into the office, no longer so worried about being late. Mr. Simmonds obviously had bigger fish to fry.

    Megan's bruises had come up beautifully and a white bandage covered the lower right-hand corner of her face.

    I stopped in my tracks when I noticed that Megan and Meredia weren't fighting. Indeed, they compounded my confusion by talking civilly to each other.

    How peculiar, I thought! Some kind of cease-fire must be in process. The pair of them were huddled around the cookies--always a great bonding area, the office cookies--and were whispering furtively.

    It was unlikely that they were discussing Megan's injuries or Meredia's sex life. It would take a bigger event than either of those to bring Megan and Meredia together.

    This had to mean that something was definitely up.

    Great! My spirits rose even further. I loved a bit of excitement. Maybe Mr. Simmonds had been fired. Or his wife had left him. Something good like that, I hoped.

    I gave a quick glance around the office. Where was the diligent Hetty?

    "Lucy!" declared Meredia