‘No comment,’ she said, although she wished she had kneed Simon in the balls. ‘Look, I don’t want this in the paper. It was all a mistake. There is no story. You’re not taking photos, are you?’
He shrugged with nonchalant indifference, deliberately not looking towards the photographer.
No! Mina realised he had a tiny voice recorder in his left hand. She tried to snatch at it but he moved it out of reach very smartly, as if it wasn’t the first time someone had tried to do just that.
Realising that the photographer was now taking an interest, she stopped and glared at the reporter. ‘Leave me alone.’
Fuming, Mina hitched her bag over her shoulder, side-stepped around the reporter, and darted across the road to her car. The photographer, mistaking her action, took a few more pictures and then, thinking she was coming after him, took off, running down the street in shoes designed with considerably more athleticism in mind than her black boots. Although it had crossed her mind to confront him, she headed for her little navy Beetle, sending a vindictive glare towards the reporter now hovering between two parked cars. He took one look at her face, waved, and speed-walked away.
She got into her car and bashed her head against the steering wheel. ‘Bloody, bloody, bloody, effing hell.’ Bad enough that everyone at work would know; now it seemed the whole nation was about to be treated to the story of Mina, the dumb blonde, getting it very wrong with her man. It didn’t take a genius to come up with the headlines.
‘Who’s the donkey now?’
‘Hit me with your proposal stick.’
With a sigh she started up the engine. Time to face the music at work.
‘I think you need to warn Miriam and Derek,’ said Hanna three hours later, when Mina phoned her during her lunch hour.
‘Warn them about what?’ That Simon – who they thought was the bee’s knees, on account that he’d always brought them a bottle of the same wine on every single occasion he came to the house for Sunday lunch – was actually a two-timing bastard who had been shagging her former best friend for the last four weeks, one of which coincided with Sunday lunch and the provision of aforementioned, Casillero del Diablo, red wine.
‘Warn them that one of their adopted daughters might be appearing in a national newspaper. They’re going to be horrified.’
‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’
‘I meant they’ll be horrified if you don’t tell them first. Look, why don’t we both go round together tonight after work. I can give you moral support.’
‘Thanks, Han. I think you might need to provide medical support. There could be heart attacks all round when they find out that Simon is not the golden boy they thought he was. I reckon Aunty M might have been knitting bootees on the quiet.’
Hannah was locking her car across the street when Mina pulled into a handy parking space after a very difficult day at work. Switching off the engine, she watched her sister approach in the wing mirror as she slumped wearily in her seat. What a day. Bloody bastard Simon had told his side of the story very convincingly to just about everyone before Mina even walked through the front door. He’d managed to make her look extremely manipulative by intimating that her proposal had been a misguided attempt to force his hand in front of everyone.
With a sigh, she grabbed her handbag and hauled herself out of the car.
Hannah wrinkled her face as she studied Mina. ‘Oh dear. Rotten day.’
‘The worst. Simon got in first and made out I got my just desserts.’
‘Ouch, I’m sorry. I did consult a friend who works for a law firm that deals with the media to try and find out if you could get an injunction or anything. Sorry, the cost would be prohibitive and the grounds – to protect against damage to reputation – are based on very stringent principles, which she didn’t think applied in this instance.’
Mina threw her arms around her sister. ‘Han, I love you, and that you even tried for me. You’re the best.’
‘Not really, I stopped you going round and slapping Belinda. In hindsight, she deserves it.’
‘You stopped me getting an assault charge, as you pointed out at the time, and just imagine what the news reporter would have made of that if I’d been arrested.’
‘It’s so unfair, Mina.’
‘Don’t worry… I’ll get my own back. Just give me time to think of something.’
Hannah grinned. ‘That’s my girl. What are you thinking?’
‘He’s very worried about his receding hairline.’
‘And?’
‘Hair removal cream in his shampoo?’
‘What if he gets it in his eyes or something? It’s pretty strong stuff. You could get sued.’
