She cannot believe Bella sent that message. They’re friends. Bella, she is sure, would be cheering her on, probably angling for an invitation as well.
It had to be John. The lying, conniving, egotistical, little toerag!
She wants to rip his head off. No, his dick. She jumps up from the bed and strides up and down the carpet. Hanging, drawing and quartering might be too good for him. Definitely, if she ever got within reach of him again, he would be speaking in a contralto for weeks.
Eventually, after some minutes of constructing a host of potential punishments for John, she calms down enough to consider her own predicament. Tolly thinks she has blown him off. And in as abrupt and cruel way as possible. That thought gives her actual pain.
He invited her specifically to share this spectacular moment of his career with himas his guest, and she ostensibly turned him down flat. Or so he thinks. Not only that, but hours have elapsed since John sent the message. Tolly has had plenty of time to stew about her uncivil reply.
A text wouldn’t cut it.Soz, mate. That last was my nemesis. LOL. Nemesis is giving John too much power. He’s a cockroach, a parasite. Besides, if someone had sent her that message, they’d have to do a darned sight more grovelling than “sorry”.
It will have to be a call. But what if he doesn’t pick up? Worse, what if he has blocked her? Then she’ll be just another woman out of the shameless masses trying to attract the attention of the Sexiest Man Alive. No, if he doesn’t pick up, she can try a message, but that is all. If he has blocked her, there is nothing more to do. She has to be prepared for that. Although the thought is painful.
And after all, she will be getting on a plane on Saturday night, returning to England. It would effectively be an end to their friendship. Not quite as final as being blocked, but an end. She is surprised by how much the thought hurts. But now is not the time to dwell on it. From working in an emergency department, Anna knows she needs to take the fear out of the equation, or she will never be able to act. Only when she feels ready for all potential consequences does she pick up her phone and call Tolly. The call rings. And rings. Anna drops her chin to her chest in resignation. Then the tone stops.
And Tolly’s voice says, “Anna?” There is enough frost in that one word to cover Narnia.
But Anna is ready. She has thought about what to say; she has her words prepared. “That last message was not from me. Someone interfered with my phone while I was helping a child who’d been knocked over.”
There is a long silence. Anna prays to a god she doesn’t believe in that Tolly will trust her.
“Why would they do that?”
“Because he is a vain, duplicitous, small-dicked snake whom I’d previously rejected.”
“He showed you his dick?”
Sometimes conversations with Tolly go in unexpected directions. Anna sighs. “No, thank god. I’m extrapolating from his behaviour. But if I ever get my hands on him again, he’ll be a no-dicked snake.”
“Where the offense is, let the great axe fall?Or in your case, the sharp scalpel?”
“Shakespeare?” Anna ventures. Unlike her sister, her English literature lessons ended at sixteen when she chose to focus on all the sciences.
“Hamlet.”
“Don’t they all die in the end?”
“Yes.”
“Perhaps there’s a better quote.” Anna holds the phone tight to her ear. He is talking to her. This is good.
“Blood and revenge are hammering in my head?”
“Well, it’s accurate but where’s that from?”
“Titus Andronicus.”
“That’s another where they all die, isn’t it?”
“Pretty much.” She can almost hear his smile.
“Have you got one where they don’t all expire?”
“Kindness nobler ever than revenge.”
“But not half so satisfying. I fear death it is. Kindness is beyond me.”
“And I’m supposed to be the dramatic one?”
