Free The Truth About Numbnuts and Chubbs by Cat Kelly Page B

just struck me. Carl said he left the gallery early last night too."
    She banged her knee on the desk and winced. "Where did you see Kelly, anyway?" Ah good. Swift change of subject, quite subtle.
    "Barnes and Noble on 86th street. I had to pick up some books for Rory and Randal. Honestly, you'd think they wouldn't need books anymore with everything online."
    "Ok." Checking her emails, she saw one from Ben. Sent at one thirty, just before he must have left his office for their meeting.
     
    Ms. M.
    Attached please find terms of employment for your consideration.
    P
     
    She clicked on the attachment and printed it.
    Helena was still complaining in her ear about the never-ending, expensive requirements of the two children she'd wanted so badly that she went through four rounds of IVF to achieve. A lesson in being careful what you wish for, Bry thought.
    A pertinent topic indeed.
    She'd wanted Ben Petruska's attention for years, when she was a sweaty-palmed, spotty teenager. Now she had it.
    The attachment from his email lurked in the printer by her door. If Sandy came in she might see it. "Hel, I'll have to go, I—"
    "So who was he then? Who were you with last night?"
    "I can't talk right now."
    "Come to dinner tonight. I have to know all about it."
    That was true. Helena always wanted to know everything. Sometimes the substitute big sister act got old. The new Bry didn't have to explain her actions to anyone. And really, was it any of Helena's business if she did sleep with Ben?
    But some habits were hard to break. One disapproving frown from her sophisticated cousin could still dissolve little pieces of her newfound confidence. Recently Helena, in her usual dictatorial fashion, had told her she ought to dress less colorfully and wear flat shoes at work.
    "You won't get ahead wearing clothes that remind them you're a woman," she'd said firmly. As if she'd ever worked in an office. Ironically, Helena would scream bloody murder if anyone dare suggest she wasn't a liberated woman, yet she came out with priceless gems like that. Apparently no one had told Helena that there was more to feminine empowerment than reading Cosmo and singing along to the Spice Girls when she thought no one was listening.
    "Hel, I'm pretty sure that if I shaved my head and wore a double-breasted suit that would give me other obstacles," she'd replied to her cousin's warning.
    "I wasn't suggesting that. You do exaggerate."
    Which was further amusing, coming from Drama Queen Helena.
    "Well?" she shouted down the phone at Bry, evidently in the middle of traffic somewhere. "Can you come tonight? I'm trying a new recipe. The kids have band practice this evening and then they all go out to some dreadful fast-food place, so it'll just be me and Carl."
    Bry accepted the invitation to dinner. Maybe it would be good to get out and keep her mind off Numbnuts. Keep her from temptation. With Helena to cheerfully remind her about all his bad points she'd be in no danger of making a mistake.
     
    * * * *
     
    Carl's text blipped across his phone.
    Dinr ton. Hel coks. Seven.
    That message ought to come with skull and crossbones, he mused. Helena's cooking was usually to be avoided at all costs. Occasionally—often after a quarrel with Carl—she went to the effort of playing housewife for a few days, charring some gourmet meal on her six-burner stove. Carl liked to invite Ben, as if he wanted witnesses.
    Well, since he had a good excuse to make it an early night, it should be safe just to turn up with wine and leave before dessert. Wouldn't do any harm to try and get Helena on his good side, however uphill the slope seemed. He was a fighter and when he made up his mind that he wanted something nothing got in his way. Not even that sharp-nailed harpy.
    And there were other reasons to stay close. He always found out useful information from an unsuspecting Helena, by way of careless Carl. Things like where Bryony had just got a job, what flowers she liked and when she