Page 62 of All the Right Words
Brenda cleared her throat. ‘Well, I think I’ve earned a gin.’ She went over to the bar.
‘She did well, didn’t she?’ Olivia said to Harper.
Harper nodded. ‘Yeah, probably.’
‘Probably?’ Olivia asked, surprised.
‘I was a bit distracted, to be honest.’
‘Oh?’
‘Yeah, I was just… Are you feeling OK?’ Harper asked Olivia.
Olivia looked confused. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Because you-’
Abruptly, a man cried, ‘Olivia!’ and Olivia turned to him. ‘Oh my god, Frank, you made it!’
Harper stood there like a plank of wood, transfixed on Olivia while she chatted up an old-media reviewer who had a lot of juice with readers. It had been a while since she ate the pineapple now. But it didn’t matter whether the reaction had started yet. It could take hours for all she knew. It was the fact that she’d unthinkingly eaten it that bothered Harper. Had she made that story up? Why the hell would she do that?
***
‘I think I’ll go for the monkfish,’ Olivia told a young waitress while Harper observed her carefully.
‘And for you?’ the waitress asked.
‘Oh!’ Harper turned to the waitress, taken by surprise. She’d been completely fixated on Olivia. ‘I’ll have the, err…’ She’d barely looked at the menu, so she picked the first thing she saw. ‘Maybe the crab?’ She paused. ‘Wait, is there shellfish in that? Because I’mallergic. To shellfish,’ she said pointedly, looking at Olivia.
The waitress looked like she was trying not to show that this was the stupidest question she’d ever heard. ‘Is there shellfish… in thecrab? I would think so, yes.’
‘Cool. I’ll just have the artichoke salad then. Thanks.’
The waitress took the menus. Olivia smiled. ‘I didn’t know you were allergic to shellfish.’
‘Yep. Brings me out in a rash,’ Harper lied, waiting for the penny to drop.
‘Huh.’ Olivia took a sip of wine. The penny was not dropping.
‘So, umm, how did you find the food at the event tonight?’ Harper asked.
‘Never have I ever seen such low-grade event food in my entire life. I’m furious. I’m thinking of demanding a refund,’ Olivia ranted.
‘Yes, but…’
‘Sausage rolls.Sausage fucking rolls.’
‘Yes, but also, they had those little sticks with the-’
‘Jesus, that was even worse! Food on toothpicks?!’ Olivia interjected, getting up a head of steam. ‘I’m trying to make us look like we’re thriving in the middle of a bloody scandal, and things like that make us look like we’re going down, doing things on the cheap.’
‘I’m sure nobody thought that,’ Harper said.
‘People were looking to sniff out failure tonight. I guarantee it. No one said it to my face, but I heard people talking and distinctly heard the words…’ Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘…Chaptereleven.’
‘You imagined it. Tonight went brilliantly,’ Harper assured her before she realised she’d gotten side-tracked. ‘But anyway, I was just wondering…’ She took a deep breath. ‘I wanted to ask you about-’
Olivia’s phone beeped, and she grabbed it. ‘Oh my god, Frank’s just texted. He’s asking for a copy of the book the second he can have it.’ Olivia blew out a breath. ‘That’s good. That’s good. It’s gonna be… I think it might be alright. Do you think it’s going to be alright?’
