The Couple Next Door [antikvár]

Chapter One ANNE CAN FEEL the add churning in her stomach and creeping up her throat; her head is swimming. She's had too much to drink. Cynthia has been recklessly topping her up all night. Anne had meant to keep herself to a limit, but she'd let things slide - she didn't know how else she was supposed to get through the evening. Now she has no idea how much wine she's drunk over the course of the interminable dinner party. She'll have to pump and dump her breast milk in the morning. Anne wilts in the heat of the summer's night and watches her hostess with narrowed eyes. Cynthia is flirting openly with Anne's husband, Marco. Why does she put up with it? Why does Cynthia's husband, Graham, allow it? Anne is angry but powerless; she doesn't know how to put a stop to it without looking pathetic and ridiculous. They are all a little tanked. So she ignores it, quietly seething, and drinks more chilled wine. Anne hasn't been brought up to create a scene, isn't one to draw attention to herself. Cynthia, on the other hand. All three of them - Anne, Marco, and Cynthia's mild-man-nered husband, Graham - are watching her, as if fascinated. Marco in particular can't seem to take his eyes off her. Cynthia leans in a little too close to Marco as she bends over and fills his glass, her clingy top cut so low that Marco's practically rubbing his nose in her cleavage. Anne reminds herself that Cynthia flirts with everyone.