My Husband's Sweethearts (22 page)

"She left me right after college for a flight attendant, a
male
flight attendant." He said
male flight attendant
as if it
was worse than a female flight attendant. "Anyway, I stick
by what I said to you that made you grab my face. I stick
by it, because it was the truth."

I must have looked at him questioningly. I couldn't
remember what he'd said exactly, but I didn't have time
to ask. One of the scoopers handed him his gargantuan
cone and he was fumbling through his wallet just as Peter
surfaced. "Hello!" he said, looking at Elliot in a very
well-mannered way. Peter can turn on these impeccable
manners—like a boy who went to boarding school in
the 1950s and is now trying to compensate for a lack of
parental love by asserting a chin-uppedness about life.
This humility was an act. Peter was raised to be confident
in all things—perhaps most of all in love.

I handed him his cone. "This is Elliot Hull. He once
bought a cookie from me in college to help raise money
for sea otters."

"Ah, poor sea otters!" Peter said, extending his hand.
"I'm Peter."

Elliot shook it and shot me a look that seemed to say:
Look at this guy! You
are
married! And he's tall!
And then
he said, "Gwen just invited me to the party tonight. I'm
new to town."

"Great idea!" Peter said, and before I had a chance to
clarify, he was giving Elliot directions. I was still stunned
that Elliot Hull was back in my life, and that it had happened
so quickly. See, it was simple. That's what I mean: I
hadn't done anything to start it. I was just standing in line
at an ice-cream shop one minute and then suddenly I was
watching Peter make some gestures that might indicate
that Elliot would have to make a turn out of a rotary, and
then he pointed to his left, his arm straight out at his side,
and I thought of the word
wing span
again. Peter is tall.
He has an excellent wing span.

But there was Elliot Hull, standing next to him, and he
was not tall and he was not at all impeccably mannered
and he was barely paying attention. He was being Elliot
Hull, thinking his brooding thoughts, no doubt. Had we
kind of thought we were in love with each other a decade
ago?

When Peter was finished, he said, "Got it?"

"I've got it," Elliot said, and then he looked at me. I
was about to wave a noncommital good-bye, but then
Elliot said, "Gwen Merchant, huh, after all these years."
And suddenly it was as if I was the rare bird. I felt a little
self-conscious. I might have even blushed and I couldn't
remember the last time I blushed. "See you tonight!" he
said, then took a bite of his abundant ice cream and
walked out of the shop, one hand in his baggy shorts.

By Cate Kendall

Author of the bestselling
Gucci Mamas

From the backwaters of Tasmania to the streets of Sydney,
sisters Bellarene and Serandipity have come a long way. As
flight attendants, the world is their oyster, until Sera falls in
love and settles down. Her friends, her home, and even her
children are well styled, but she's stretched to the limit as
she struggles to maintain the illusion of perfection.

No wonder she relies on her friends from Stitch 'n' Bitch –
a weekly knitting group which seems to produce lots of
gossip, but few handicrafts. There's Sera's best friend, the
ditzy Mallory; Chantrea, a working single mother; widowed
dad Sam, the only bloke in the group; and housewife
Jacqueline, who has a little secret that threatens to
undermine her perfect world.

All Sera wants is to be perfect. Her sister Bella just wants to
be free. Will the sisters get what they want?

Available now

By Anna Fienberg

Misdirection, illusion, locked doors and old secrets –
these are the tools of the magician. What happens when
they're used to escape from real life?

Rachel tries to be a good girl and consider others first, and
she's never missed a deadline. Now her family is doing a
vanishing act, her book on magic is a year late to the
publishers, and she's taken to screaming in the car. Harry
Houdini has always been her hero and companion, the
artist of her freedom. With Harry by her side, Rachel can
face anything. So why is he deserting her, just when she
needs him most?

Her husband, Guido, has become maddeningly remote,
and her daughter, Clara, has run away to Italy. From
Florence, Clara sends news like mysterious puzzle pieces,
forming a disturbing picture of Guido's past and exploding
her mother's illusions. Rachel's life slides out of control, yet
sometimes truth is the key to freedom. What we do with it
shapes our collapse or survival – and possibly our salvation.

Available now