AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey.” Alex lifts a hand in greeting. “What are you doing here?”
“She’s picking me up,” Juliette states, closing her laptop.
“Oh, of course,” he says. “You’re all off to dance around your handbags and get wasted on Cosmos at Limitless, right?” He names the nightclub we’re heading to tonight.
“Yeah, because you’re all going to be sipping tea and reading poetry,” I reply sarcastically.
“Damn straight,” Alex says. He holds up a hand as he recites, “‘Love will find a way through paths where wolves fear to prey.’”
“Fuck me, I love Byron,” Damon replies in a passable impression of Hugh Grant from Bridget Jones, and the others laugh.
I poke my tongue out at them. “Everyone’s a comedian.”
Juliette gets up and collects her things. As she turns, her laptop threatens to slide out of her grip. Damon crosses quickly to her side to help her, holding it as she gets a grip on her briefcase. “Thank you,” she says graciously, then looks at me. “I’ll just be a few minutes.” She heads to her office.
I walk over to the open sliding doors and go onto the terrace. It’s a beautiful afternoon, with people walking along the path on the other side of the river, and ducks gliding peacefully on the water.
“Nice day.” Damon comes to stand beside me, as I hoped he would.
I look up at him and smile. “I didn’t realize you and Alex knew any poetry.”
“We took a module on it in our first year. We only did it to impress the girls.” He winks at me. “Did it work?”
“A little bit.”
He laughs. “Then it was worth it.”
I bump his arm with mine. “You looked sad standing there, looking out of the window. What were you thinking about?”
He hesitates, glances over his shoulder, and then gestures at me to follow him down the terrace. He lowers himself onto one of the steps, and I sit beside him. “Henry told us he’s broken up with Shaz.”
My jaw drops. “No! When?”
“I’m not sure, but a while ago. She’s filed for divorce, and he says it’ll be all done by Christmas.”
“Oh, that’s so sad. What happened, did he say?”
“He said they were trying for a family, but it turns out he can’t have kids.”
I study him, puzzled. “She didn’t leave him because of that, though, surely?”
He looks at me, the corner of his lips curving up. “I’m not sure. He said their relationship wasn’t strong enough to survive the stresses of infertility.”
“That’s so sad.”
“Yeah, I thought so, too.” He sighs and looks out at the river, then glances at his Apple watch as a message pops up. He taps it, and I watch him smile.
“Someone’s cheered you up, anyway,” I observe, hoping it’s not a girl.
“It’s from Kennedy,” he says. “I texted her earlier to say I was feeling a bit flat. She wants to meet up when I get back to Wellington.”
The autumn breeze makes dried red and gold leaves dance across the steps in front of us and ruffles the feathers on the ducks.
“Do you have feelings for her?” I ask gently. I know she’s married and has a baby, but he seems very fond of her.
He shakes his head though. “Not in that way. She’s more like a sister. And now she doesn’t have a brother, so I guess I feel kinda protective of her.”
I watch the mallards as they hop out of the water and waddle along the bottom of the terrace. I’ve read that ducks tend to be monogamous, but the one male, who stands out with his green head and the white band around his neck, fusses around four females with their brown-speckled plumage, keeping them close to him.
