Make Love Not War by Margaret Tanner

“Bryce likes me doing things for him, don’t you, darling?”
    Feeling nauseous, Caroline left them ogling each other. She banged away at her typewriter. About fifteen minutes later they came out of his office. Bryce’s hair was mussed and he had a lipstick smear on his mouth.
    “Oh, darling, you’ve got lippy on your mouth. Let me clean it off. What will your little secretary think?” Amanda took out a white lace handkerchief. Standing closer than necessary she made a big production of wiping away the offending mark.
    Caroline forced herself to continue typing despite the excruciating pain in her heart.
    “I’ll walk you to your car,” he offered when Amanda stepped back from him. With his hand resting on her waist, they disappeared into the corridor.
     
    ***
     
    Two weeks passed. Bryce dated Amanda continuously. If she wasn’t in his office she was on the phone demanding to speak to him. Her arrogance and unmitigated cheek were incredible. She told Bryce that Caroline treated her rudely, and Caroline subsequently suffered a tongue lashing from him, along with the veiled threat that if she weren’t careful her services would be terminated. How unjust. She sobbed the story out to Kerry the night it happened.
    “Quit,” Kerry snapped. “Leave the pig in the lurch.”
    Dear God, it was tempting, but she couldn’t do it. Seeing Bryce with Amanda was torture, but not seeing him at all would be even worse. She must be a masochist who enjoyed self-flagellation and martyrdom.
    She did enjoy a little taste of revenge, although it hadn’t been a deliberate act. To clean the inside of the coffee pot she had filled it up with salt water and brought it to the boil. Amanda, obviously wanting to show off how domesticated she could be, insisted on making their coffee this one day. Caroline grinned each time she thought about it. Bryce spluttered into his cup and Amanda vomited all down the front of her white lace dress.
    Andy wrote, saying he had graduated and was now waiting for a permanent posting. She desperately hoped it would be in Victoria, because she needed him now more than ever before. What if the government wanted him to serve in Vietnam? A shudder racked through her because Dennison and war didn’t mix. There always seemed to be a bullet with their name written on it.
    On several occasions Bryce had her arrange for flowers to be sent to Amanda. She liked long-stemmed yellow roses. Caroline wished she was brave enough to order poison ivy. Amanda had started hinting that she would soon be Mrs. Bryce Harrington.
    A week before Christmas, Harrington Constructions gave their annual work Christmas party. It was being held at Alexander Harrington’s Toorak mansion and would take the form of a pool party cum barbeque. All members of staff and their partners were invited.
    Four of the girls from the typing pool didn’t have partners. Caroline arranged to go with them, although she would catch a cab home. “I’ll drive,” Judith had volunteered. All the staff received a generous bonus, so she splurged out on a new outfit. She needed something to cheer herself up. Not that Bryce would notice her with the luscious Amanda sticking to him like a leech.
    Caroline lived in hope that the other woman wouldn’t be attending, because if they met face to face at a social function, she would be hard pressed not to tell Amanda exactly what she thought of her.
    She now perused the social columns of the newspapers with avid interest, particularly the engagement column. Apparently the entire Cleveland family, mother, father and daughter, would be flying to Fiji to stay with friends for a few days over the festive season.
    “Imagine flying all that way, paying out heaps of money just for a couple of days. It stinks,” Kerry raged. “Those wealthy types make me sick, squandering money, while twenty-year-olds are getting conscripted into the army.”
    Caroline laughed. Kerry’s political persuasion verged on the communistic, but