Page 35 of All the Right Words
Harper wasn’t sure she’d made the right call taking Gina to lunch. She seemed genuinely pissed off to be there.
Shedidseem to warm – slightly - as the food came. But then the bloody mayo thing. Harper couldn’t believe it. She was just getting somewhere with her.
Because she didn’t just want to thank her, she thought they might break the ice. Harper wasn’t sure why she needed to do that with Gina, but it was an instinct she could never entirely ignore. She felt strongly that a lot was happening underneath Gina’s iceberg surface, and she had an irresistible desire to break through.
But now, here they sat, poisoned. It was not a bonding moment. ‘So, what shall we do now? Do we go about our day and see if we, you know, vomit or whatever,’ Harper joked.
‘We could just go to a chemist and ask for something to help us get there. Induce it,’ Gina suggested.
Harper wrinkled her nose. ‘I don’t know. If there’s any chance I’m not going to throw up, I’d like to avoid it. I don’t cope well with it.’
‘It’s not my idea of a good time, either,’ Gina said sassily.
Harper frowned. ‘Sorry.’
‘What areyousorry for?’ Gina asked irritably.
‘I picked this place.’
‘Unless you’ve got a very accurate crystal ball, you couldn’t have known,’ Gina said dismissively. ‘Anyway, I guess I better go back to work.’
‘Me too,’ Harper said awkwardly. They walked out together and said goodbye, and that was that. Harper was filled with remorse.
Later on, she was filled with worse. Stuck on the toilet, she remembered how she’d said she didn’t want to throw up. The gods had smiled in their twisted way. It was her bum that was glued to the porcelain.
After a particularly vicious wave of diarrhoea passed, she picked her phone up off the floor. Could she text Olivia for some moral support? Hmm. They probably weren’t at that point yet.
The person she needed to contact was Gina, anyway. She could be in the same boat. Harper didn’t have her personal number, so she called the work line. It was near five, so she might be heading out. Or stuck in the office bathroom.
But Gina picked up the phone and gave her usual terse greeting.
‘Gina! Are you OK?’
‘Harper?’
‘That’s right. Sorry. Harper.’ She felt sweat drip down her back.
‘You don’t sound… AreyouOK?’
‘Well, err, I mean… not ideal,’ Harper conceded.
‘Did you… are you throwing up?’
Harper paused. ‘Not exactly.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yep.’ There was an awkward pause, as well there might be. Harper and Gina were not acquaintances of this level. Bodily functions were not business casual. ‘I’ll be fine. I just need to… give it time. But what about you? You didn’t answer. How are you doing?’
‘Actually, no big problems. A couple of cramps, and that appears to be it.’
Harper was relieved. ‘Good, great.’
Gina cleared her throat. ‘So, how long have you beenin situ?’
Harper wanted to die. She had not called Gina to give her a progress report on her bum. But that was where they were. ‘Well, I guess…’ She checked the time. ‘Maybe an hour?’
‘Jesus. Where are you?’ Gina asked.
