Free Downsizing by W. Soliman Page A

her himself. For Cassie
to break the news today of all days was the ultimate kick in the
teeth. She never would have thought Noah capable of such cynical
cruelty, which showed how little she actually knew him. Was it
asking too much to let her enjoy this rare moment of glory? To
revel in the spotlight for once in her life? Couldn’t they have
delayed the announcement for just one more day?
    She’d seen the callous side of Noah’s nature
time and again in the dismissive way he dealt with the women who
pursued him, but it wasn’t something she’d ever thought to
experience firsthand. She wondered at her naivety as the tears
still refused to come. Instead she felt numb, used, humiliated—and
then nothing at all. Blessed oblivion. Struggling to her feet she
staggered back to her room and sank into a chair, staring through
unseeing eyes at the neat back garden.
    Cassie had taken herself off. Just as well
because at that moment Maxine couldn’t trust herself to be in the
same room as her. She hated Cassie for her duplicity, hated Noah
and the persuasive charm that had encouraged her to believe his
lies, but most of all she hated herself for falling for them.
Nothing he’d said to her had been true. Nothing. Not even his
supposed dislike of her former friend. All the time she thought
he’d been having casual flings with different women and he’d been
spending his time with her.
    Realizing what a trusting idiot she’d been
caused an agonizing pain to grip her. She wailed aloud, wishing she
was dead. The terrible sound shattered the peace in the unnaturally
quiet house and drifted through the open window, echoing round the
garden. Maxine didn’t think she had the strength to survive such
gut-wrenching agony.
    Why?
    Why had he befriended her and led her to
suppose she mattered to him when all the time he was screwing her
slender ex-friend. So much for him not caring about her bulk! It
obviously mattered to him as much as it did to just about everyone
else in this size-conscious world.
    Maxine had no idea how long she sat motionless
in that chair. She didn’t hear the phone ringing every ten minutes,
nor did she hear someone pounding at the front door. The tears
still refused to come, but gradually her turbulent emotions were
replaced by an enveloping calm that helped her reach a decision.
She couldn’t stay in Colebrook. Not even for another hour. She
never wanted to see Noah, or any of her former friends, ever
again.
    A frenetic energy replaced her inertia. She
tracked her mother down at her course in Brighton and listlessly
relayed the results of her exams.
    “ Mum,” she said, once her mother’s
congratulations dried up, “I’ve changed my mind. You’re right,
there’s not much point in hanging around Colebrook for the rest of
the summer. I might as well go to Derek’s immediately and
familiarize myself with Cambridge. Besides, I expect Gwen would
welcome some help with the children.”
    “ Of course, darling, whatever you
want.”
    Maxine knew from her mother’s distracted tone
that she’d already lost interest and was thinking about something
else. “I’ll probably be gone by the time you get back,” she
said.
    Breaking the connection, Maxine searched out a
train timetable from amongst the jumble in a kitchen drawer. Good,
if she hurried, she could be in Cambridge by tea-time. She rang
Gwen, who congratulated her on her results and said, with feeling,
that she’d welcome her with open arms. Maxine phoned for a mini-cab
to pick her up in half-an-hour and then set about packing. Hardly
aware of what she was doing, she threw a few clothes into one
carryall, not caring what she took because no one ever looked at
her. She hesitated a little longer over her books, but even the
selection of those didn’t delay her for long. When the cab driver
honked his horn outside she was ready to go and lugged her bags in
the direction of his car, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead as
she left her childhood home for