Page 86 of Love Me Till Wednesday

‘Yes, it was going on while she was with George. It makes lying about us seem trivial.’

‘I wouldn’t go that far!’

‘No, I suppose not. I’m just annoyed with myself for not realising what was going on right under my nose for so long.’

‘Don’t beat yourself up. She’s obviously an accomplished liar. There’s more than a touch of the narcissist about her.’

‘Is there?’

‘Lack of empathy, arrogant, exploits others, manipulative. How much more do you need?’

‘I didn’t realise you knew so much about it.’

‘I had to research it for a part years ago. How did you leave it?’

‘I politely asked her to go. She texted me about ten minutes later, saying when I’ve calmed down, she’d like to talk as she still wants me as a friend. It’s unbelievable!’

Nick laughed. ‘There you go - no empathy. What have you said?’

‘I haven’t. I was tempted to send her a string of expletives but I’ve blocked her instead. How are things with Adrienne?’

‘She’s still ensconced in my house. I’m going round there later to discuss her moving arrangements.’

41

Lisa was back in the stuffy meeting room at work for a project closure session. At least it was taking her mind off last night’s bizarre encounter with Mel.

She still couldn’t get her head around how Mel had behaved. Despite Nick’s assurances about Mel being a good liar, Lisa was kicking herself for being oblivious to what Mel was up to for so long.

A text from her solicitor brought Lisa back to the present.

Exchange of contracts confirmed for Friday.

Good. Only two more days before the house sale reached the point of no return. Then, she could hand in her notice, devote more time to writing and recording with the Stars, and even visit Nick in LA. Please let it all go through smoothly.

She’d been nervous about seeing her work colleagues face-to-face today after last week’s negative publicity, but amazingly, all she got were a few funny looks. So far, no one had been brave enough to mention anything to her directly, apart from Nina asking if she was ok.

‘Any more lessons learned?’ Colin asked as he held on to the flip chart stand at the front of the room.

‘Yes. Don’t let Colin order the sandwiches,’ Nina muttered to Lisa as they looked at the dull array of plain ham, cheese and egg sandwiches arranged on a plastic platter in the middle of the table. They were curling up at the edges after sitting there for over an hour, having failed to tempt any of the meeting participants to eat them.

Colin looked in their direction with the smile he used when he was pissed off: all teeth and a venomous look in his eyes. ‘Nina. Was that something you wanted to share with the rest of the team?’

’No. Sorry, just clearing my throat,’ she said, smiling back at him with a similar expression.

Colin glared at her before turning to annoying Anya. ‘Anya. Any more lessons from you?’

‘Oh yes, Colin. I have several more on my list. Most importantly, we should review our time recording policy.’

Colin perked up. ‘That’s very interesting. Tell me more.’

Lisa stifled a yawn. It was amazing what other people found engaging.

While Anya and Colin were tying down the details of how the timesheet submission process could be streamlined, Lisa’s phone screen sprang to life with a text notification from her bank.

Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when she read it.

£1,000,000 received from NNE into account ending 434

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