最新回复

• kira86 (2008-7-31 23:13:52)

  
  
  For a moment I continue gathering my papers. “Well. You turn the… er… knob,” I say at last, trying to sound nonchalant. “It’s pretty clear, really…”
  “She said it has some weird timer lock.” Maggie frowns. “Is it gas or electric?”
  OK, I think I should terminate this conversation right now.
  “Maggie, I really need to prepare for this meeting,” I say. “It’s in three minutes.”
  “So what shall I tell your cleaner?” Maggie persists. “She’s waiting for me to call back.”
  “Tell her to… leave it for today. I’ll sort it out.”
  As Maggie leaves my office I reach for a pen and memo pad.
  1. How switch on oven?
  2. Vacuum-cleaner bags—buy
  I put the pen down and massage my forehead. I really don’t have time for this. I mean, vacuum bags. I don’t even know what they look like, for God’s sake, let alone where to buy them—
  A sudden brain wave hits me. I’ll order a new vacuum cleaner. That’ll come with a bag already installed, surely.
  “Samantha.”
  “What? What is it?” I give a startled jump and open my eyes. Guy Ashby is standing at my door.
  Guy is my best friend in the firm. He’s six foot three with olive skin and dark eyes, and normally he looks every inch the smooth, polished lawyer. But this morning his dark hair is rumpled and there are shadows under his eyes.
  “Relax.” Guy smiles. “Only me. Coming to the meeting?”
  He has the most devastating smile. It’s not just me; everyone noticed it the minute he arrived at the firm.
  “Oh. Er… yes, I am.” I pick up my papers, then add carelessly, “Are you OK, Guy? You look a bit rough.”
  He broke up with his girlfriend. They had bitter rows all night and she’s walked off for good…
  No, she’s emigrated to New Zealand…
  “All-nighter,” he says, wincing. “Fucking Ketterman. He’s inhuman.” He yawns widely, showing the perfect white teeth he had fixed when he was at Harvard Law School.
  He says it wasn’t his choice. Apparently they don’t let you graduate until you’ve been OK’d by the cosmetic surgeon.
  “Bummer.” I grin in sympathy, then push back my chair. “Let’s go.”
  I’ve known Guy for a year, ever since he joined the corporate department as a partner. He’s intelligent and funny, and works the same way I do, and we just somehow… click.
  And yes. It’s possible that some kind of romance would have happened between us if things had been different. But there was a stupid misunderstanding, and…
  Anyway. It didn’t. The details aren’t important. It’s not something I dwell on. We’re friends—and that’s fine by me.
  OK, this is exactly what happened.
  Apparently Guy noticed me his first day at the firm, just like I noticed him. And he was interested. He asked Nigel MacDermot, who had the next-door office to him, if I was single. Which I was.
  This is the crucial part: I was single. I’d just split up with Jacob. But Nigel MacDermot—who is a stupid, stupid, thoughtless behind-the-times moron—told Guy I was attached to a senior partner at Berry Forbes.
  Even though I was single.
  If you ask me, the system is majorly flawed. It should be clearer. People should have engaged signs, like toilets. Taken. Not-Taken. There should be no ambiguity about these things.
  Anyway, I didn’t have a sign. Or if I did, it was the wrong one.
  
  
  
  
  
  There were a slightly embarrassing few weeks where I smiled a lot at Guy—and he looked awkward and started avoiding me, because he didn’t want to a) break up a relationship or b) have a threesome with me and Jacob.
  I didn’t understand what was going on, so I backed off. Then I heard through the grapevine he’d started going out with a girl called Charlotte who he’d met at some weekend party. They live together now. A month or two later we worked together on a deal, and got to know each other as friends—and that’s pretty much the whole story.
  I mean, it’s fine. Really. That’s the way it goes. Some things happen—and some things don’t. This one obviously just wasn’t meant to be.
  Except deep down… I still believe it was.
  “So,” says Guy as we walk along the corridor to the meeting room. “What was Ketterman in your room for earlier?”
  “Oh, the usual. A due diligence report. Have it back by yesterday, that kind of thing. Like I’m not snowed under already.”
  “Everyone wants you to do their work for them, that’s why,” says Guy. He shoots me a concerned look. “You want to delegate anything? I could speak to Ketterman—”
  “No, thanks,” I reply at once. “I can do it.”
  “You don’t want anyone to help.” He sounds amused. “You’d rather die, smothered by a heap of due diligence files.”
  “Like you’re not the same!” I retort.
  Guy hates admitting defeat or asking for help as much as I do. Last year he sprained his leg in a skiing accident and point-blank refused to use the crutch that the firm’s doctor gave him. His secretary kept running after him with it down corridors, but he’d just tell her to take it away and use it as a coat stand.
  “Well, you’ll be calling the shots soon. When you’re a partner.” He cocks an eyebrow.
  “Don’t say that!” I hiss in horror. He’ll jinx it.
  “Come on. You know you’ve made it.”
  “I don’t know anything.”
  “Samantha, you’re the brightest lawyer in your year. And you work the hardest. What’s your IQ again, six hundred?”
  “Shut up.”
  Guy laughs. “What’s one twenty-four times seventy-five?”
  “Nine thousand, three hundred,” I say grudgingly.
  Since I was about ten years old, I’ve been able to do big sums in my head. God knows why, I just can. And everyone else just goes, “Oh cool,” and then forgets about it.
  But Guy keeps on about it, pitching sums at me like I’m a circus performer. This is the one thing that irritates me about him. He thinks it’s funny, but it actually gets a bit annoying. I still haven’t quite worked out how to get him to stop.
  Once I told him the wrong number on purpose—but that time it turned out he actually needed the answer, and he put it in a contract and the deal nearly got wrecked as a result. So I haven’t done that again.
  “You haven’t practiced in the mirror for the firm’s Web site?” Guy adopts a pose with his finger poised thoughtfully at his chin. “Ms. Samantha Sweeting, Partner.”
  “I haven’t even thought about it,” I say, feigning indifference.
  This is a slight lie. I’ve already planned how to do my hair for the photo. And which of my black suits to wear.
  “I heard your presentation blew their socks off,” says Guy more seriously.
  My indifference vanishes in a second. “Really?” I say, trying not to sound too eager for praise. “You heard that?”
  “And you put William Griffiths right on a point of law in front of everybody.” Guy folds his arms and regards me humorously. “Do you ever make a mistake, Samantha Sweeting?”
  “Oh, I make plenty of mistakes,” I say lightly. “Believe me.”
  Like not grabbing you and telling you I was single, the very first day we met.
  “A mistake isn’t a mistake.” Guy pauses. “Unless it can’t be put right.” As he says the words, his eyes seem to hold an extra significance.
  Or else they’re just squiffy after his night of no sleep. I was never any good at reading the signs.
  I should have done a degree in mutual attraction, instead of law. It would have been a lot more useful. Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Knowing When Men Fancy You And When They’re Just Being Friendly.
  “Ready?” Ketterman’s whiplash voice behind us makes us both jump, and we turn to see a whole phalanx of soberly suited men, together with a pair of even more soberly suited women.
  “Absolutely.” Guy nods at Ketterman, then turns back and winks at me.
  
  *** Hidden to visitors ***

  Track09.mp3
  (2008-07-31 23:17:19, Size: 3.95 MB, Downloads: 937)

  Track10.mp3
  (2008-07-31 23:17:19, Size: 4.04 MB, Downloads: 571)

  家政女皇2.2读书笔记.rar
  (2008-07-31 23:19:31, Size: 14.6 KB, Downloads: 67)

• kimi_cxl (2008-7-31 23:20:33)

  nice work，坚持下去，从今天开始参加

• helenayf (2008-8-01 01:37:42)

  来支持下Kira
  故事有意思吗？有意思的话我也读读，但是笔记不可能做得像你那么educational就是了。

• chenqi6886 (2008-8-01 07:35:16)

  thanks kira, great work

• boresome (2008-8-01 07:52:11)

  谢谢&辛苦kira了~

• kira86 (2008-8-01 08:00:57)

  故事还挺有意思的，那样写笔记偶也是被迫的，太费时了，读的快，写的慢,不过也是lol最近太忙了，过两天他忙完了还是由他接手

• boresome (2008-8-01 08:05:53)

  哇！！！原来Kira你的读书笔记还是图文并茂的啊！！！赞！！！！

• magicfish (2008-8-01 09:22:45)

  那是当然，咱们家kira可是很棒的

• kira86 (2008-8-01 09:26:01)

  kira啥时候变成你们家的了，kira是《家政女皇》她们家的的，你俩好好守着《简爱》和爱丽丝，出来闲逛的时候在到家政女皇这来溜达哈，简爱该快完了吧

• connie8860 (2008-8-01 10:13:18)

  谢谢,很好看

• ckluo (2008-8-01 10:51:58)

  加油哦，kira

• kira86 (2008-8-01 11:09:19)

  谢谢

• magicfish (2008-8-01 13:47:46)

  kira,那是你的小脚丫啊？好可爱哦，想捏一下

• caraelle (2008-8-01 15:39:43)

  好棒好棒， kira

• wdm1028 (2008-8-01 17:21:33)

  看吧,你的辛勤劳动还是得到大家的认可了嘛..

• kira86 (2008-8-01 17:23:47)

  下一章的我来给你认证哈

• fiona525 (2008-8-01 23:26:09)

  来看看，蛮有意思的

• babalaba (2008-8-02 08:06:00)

  真是辛苦了

• 小小熊 (2008-8-02 16:46:27)

  挺好看的   谢谢啦

• 小小熊 (2008-8-02 16:49:42)

  听好看的 谢谢