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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Alexis Hall
Read between
November 3 - November 9, 2022
you’ve always been a little indecisive.” “I’m not indecisive, Mother, I’m bisexual. There’s a difference.”
And I know I’m supposed to want to have it all, but I…don’t? I want what I’ve got. What I’ve got is…it’s enough. It’s everything.”
“Are you enjoying your book?” Alain asked Nora in what Rosaline now recognised as his “secretly mocking you” tone. She shrugged. “Well, you know. There’s a secret baby and a sexy Spaniard, what more can you want?” “Literary merit, perhaps?” offered Alain. Nora gave him a withering stare. “One of the best things about being seventy-three is that you can read whatever you like.”
Suddenly unable to maintain even a facade of politeness, Rosaline laughed almost literally in Alain’s face. “Oh my God. Just admit you haven’t read the fancy book that you’re only reading anyway so people will be impressed that you’re reading a fancy book, you gigantic hipster piece of shit.” This had clearly made Nora’s day.
You have three hours from the count of three. Three, darlings.”
“Well, I’m a simple man myself,” added Wilfred Honey. “And I think an apple pudding in the shape of an apple is just fun.”
“Well, I’m rooting for Rosaline,” Anvita was telling Colin Thrimp, “because she’s excellent and sexy.” He drooped despairingly. “You still can’t say ‘excellent and sexy.’”
How much she had missed the peculiar camaraderie that could spring up between strangers in a strange situation. And that was the thing about journeys, wasn’t it? They weren’t about where you started or where you ended. They were about who came with you.
“Bloody hell.” He gave her a look of affectionate bemusement. “I did miss you.”
“The life thing, I will admit, is a work in progress. But I’ve got a great kid, I look good in a pinny, and I’m a nationally recognised amateur baker. Which I think, frankly, makes me a catch.”
“I know you’re joking but please don’t. I’d be embarrassed.”
“I think,” Rosaline said, “dumping you is very unlikely.” He laughed. “You’re proper shallow sometimes, mate. I feel very objectified.”
“Guys”—Sanjay’s voice had risen sharply—“Marie Antoinette is in genuine danger.”
And for a moment, there was a reverent silence for the second demise of Marie Antoinette.
Pushing herself off Sanjay’s lap, Anvita prowled around Harry’s blameless pie. “Good colour,” she drawled, in her best Marianne Wolvercote. “Surprisingly sophisticated considering what a gargantuan hunkmuffin you are.”
“Please don’t encourage my wife. And, Lauren darling, stop othering the straights.”
“Excuse me,” Rosaline told her, “I look like somebody who is going to win this whole damn thing.” Except…she didn’t. She looked like somebody who’d missed her train, tried to impress an arsehole by lying to him, and had no idea what she wanted or what she was doing. But that was okay. Because she was going to work it out.
Florian and his partner Scott are still not married. They still do not care. Ricky has completed his degree and now works for Procter & Gamble, a job he describes as “a bit of a laugh.”
Nora turned down a six-figure book deal, saying, “It’s just cakes; throw it in a bowl and see what happens.”
I thought it was really important to emphasize that Rosaline’s bisexuality isn’t invalidated just because she’s never in an on-page relationship with a woman.