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Harriet had quite liked Hailey. Much better than Lisa. She didn’t like any of Alex’s girlfriends now, jealousy having raised its ugly head. Lord knew what she would do when the next one came along. And she would. There was nothing surer.
‘I’ll remember that when you take me to Vanuatu,’ Harriet quipped.
Alex laughed. ‘You mean you’d settle for Vanuatu? I would have thought Venice was more your style.’
Harriet winced as a memory hit her. ‘You know, I wanted to go to Italy for my honeymoon. I’d always wanted to see Rome and Florence and, yes, Venice most of all. Imagine a city built on water! But Dwayne said Italy was overrated and that Bali was just as good. And way cheaper.’
‘He sounds like a gem,’ Alex said drily.
Harriet snorted. ‘Yes, a zircon. Everything about him was false.’
‘You’re well rid of him. But I have to confess I’m still curious over the other check-points on your list, the boxes Dwayne seemed to tick. At first, that is.’
‘Oh, God,’ Harriet groaned. ‘Can’t we just forget that stupid list?’
‘Since you made that list, Harry, then I doubt it was stupid. Come on, tell your dear old boss all about it.’
She had to smile. The only thing right about that description of himself was the word ‘boss’. ‘Only if you give me your solemn word this time that you won’t laugh.’
‘If I do, I give you permission to hit me. Though not whilst I’m driving.’
They’d long passed through the harbour tunnel by then and were making their way towards Chatswood, the traffic growing with each passing minute. Like other big cities, Sydney never really slept.
‘Well?’ Alex prompted when she didn’t say anything.
‘Gosh, but you can be dogged at times,’ she said, but smiling. It occurred to Harriet with a degree of surprise that their chatting away like this was making her relax. ‘Okay, well, after Dwayne passed the first three boxes, the next one was that my husband-to-be was not to be boring or lazy.’
‘Huh! I don’t know about lazy, but I found him boring when I met him.’
‘Yes, well, the rot was setting in by then. In the beginning, he showed me a good time. As for lazy... He went from sharing the housework and washing my car as well as his to being a couch potato.’
‘I can understand how that would annoy someone as fastidious as you.’
Fastidious? Harriet wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or a criticism.
‘How am I fastidious?’ she asked him enquiringly.
‘Come now, Harry, you’re a perfectionist! You always look great for starters, even at six-thirty in the morning. There’s not a hair out of place, your make-up is on and your outfit is perfect for travelling. I’ll also bet if I went into your place right now it would be spotless, with your bed made and the washing-up all done. Am I right?’
‘Not at all. Yes, the bed is made and the washing-up done, but there’s clothes all over my bed and the bulb in my bathroom isn’t working. A perfectionist would have had it fixed by now instead of just moving a lamp in there so that I can see.’
‘Really? I’m shocked.’
She had to smile. ‘You’re laughing at me again.’
‘Never! Now, back to that fascinating checklist of yours. What comes after lazy and boring?’
‘Look, I’m not going to go through every individual point with regard to Dwayne, except to say that he failed them all. I’ll just recite the rest of the checklist the way it’s written down.’
Alex smiled to himself; she clearly knew the list off by heart. ‘My husband-to-be is to be easy-going and generous. He has to treat women as equals. He has to be a lover of animals and children. He has to have friends and interests other than work. He has to have empathy for others, especially those less fortunate than themselves. He has to be able to cook and doesn’t think cleaning is beneath him. He has to respect me and trust me and love me and never, ever forget my birthday. And that’s about it,’ she finished, leaving off the last point which was about sex.
‘Wow. That’s some list. But what about sex? Don’t you care what kind of lover he is?’
Harriet pursed her lips, a slight blush touching her cheeks. Trust Alex to notice that she’d bypassed that topic. She could never get anything past him at work, either.
‘Well, naturally he has to satisfy me in bed,’ she said, trying not to look as embarrassed as she felt.
‘In that case, Dwayne must have satisfied you. At first, anyway?’
‘I suppose so,’ she said with a sigh. ‘He could be quite good in bed when he wanted to be.’
