After the Fall Read Online Free Page A

sympathy.
    “Tomorrow,” I said despondently, hating to sound so pathetic.
    “Okay,” he replied. “What time?”
    “Okay?” I almost shrieked. “You mean you can do it? You don’t have something else going on?”
    He laughed. “I do have something else going on, but I can cancel it. It sounds like your need is greater. And I even have my own suit. I bought one when I got married.”
    I felt dazed again. “You’re married?”
    “Does it matter?” he asked. When I didn’t answer he took pity on me and said, “No, I just wanted to see how badly you needed a date. It must be pretty serious if you still didn’t turn me down.”
    “It is,” I conceded. My pride was well and truly gone by now, but I was so grateful to have a foil for Jake and his melon-endowed partner that I hardly cared. We agreed that Cary would drive over to the house I shared with a friend; then we’d take a cab from there to the ceremony.
    “Good night, Kate,” he said, as we hung up. His voice was sweet, almost wistful. “It will be lovely to see you again.”
    For the first time in weeks I suddenly found myself looking forward to the wedding. Jake could bring whomever he wanted. I would be safe.

CARY
•
    To tell you the truth, it was Cressida I was interested in at first. I’d seen her in the corridors at work, her light blond hair rippling down her back as she walked, a stethoscope slung loosely around her neck holding it in place. It was amazing hair, and to be honest probably not all that appropriate for a hospital. But as far as I know she was never once told to tie it back, not even by the carbuncled old professors who usually took such delight in petty administration. My guess is that they enjoyed looking at it every bit as much as the rest of us. Once she came to a meeting in scrubs, her hair hidden under a green cloth cap, and there was a palpable sense of disappointment in the room.
    We all looked at Cressida. I wasn’t alone in that. Her iridescent hair and medieval name made her stand out, even when she was a student. But despite all the attention she had never relied on her charms to make her way. Hospitals are like country towns, and I would have heard about it if she slept around. No, the astonishing thing was that she really did seem as pure and unsullied as that sheaf of blond locks. She went out, I guess, but not with any of us. Not, that is, until persuaded by Steve.
    Steve was the guy I shared my lab with at the time. He’s noisier than I am, so every year he got the job of lecturing the med students for their six hours of genetics, and I got the job of setting and marking their exams. It was a system that suited us both, particularly Steve, who’d turn his last lecture into a forum at the local pub and use the opportunity to chat up that year’s talent. Steve was gregarious and well liked, but even I was surprised when he told me he had managed to persuade Cressida and some of her friends to join the group of genetics staff who were planning a picnic at the Melbourne Cup.
    He watched me carefully as he told me the news.
    “Really? Are you sure?” I asked when he mentioned her name in the group of student attendees. Cressida had always seemed friendly enough, but distinctly unattainable.
    I’m not a gambling man. I’m always weighing up chance and probability for the families who consult me; it’s what I do for a job. I work with odds every day, and I know that they’re rarely on your side. So I don’t like to bet, but I went along to that picnic in the hope I’d see Cressida.
    I didn’t. I couldn’t imagine her there anyway, among the debris and the debauchery; couldn’t imagine her at ease between the girls with vomit in their hair and the boys wearing top hats and board shorts. Steve thought he had seen Cressida in the crowd, but wasn’t completely sure. Had she even turned up? It hardly matters now, I guess. By the time our paths crossed again years later and we finally did become friends I was