Read Dinner at Mine for Free Online

from the empty glass.
    Charlotte reached out towards the fresh wine bottle herself. ‘Maybe we should all put our scores in sealed envelopes,’ she said. Stephen reluctantly filled her glass to halfway.
‘Then we could open them all at the same time on the last night.’
    Justin thought she might have been joking here. Surely no one was taking the competition that seriously?
    But Marcus said: ‘That’s a good idea. Still vulnerable to fraud, though – anyone could make a new envelope at any point.’
    ‘Honestly, Marcus!’ Rosie looked pained. ‘I don’t think any of us are going to resort to fraud.’
    ‘But that’s what it would be, Rosie. Sorry to be harsh.’
    ‘Really gorgeous soup,’ Sarah said.
    ‘Of course, we could give the envelopes to someone to hold,’ Marcus mused. ‘But that just leaves us with the same problem as before.’
    ‘I tell you what, Marcus,’ Matt said. ‘Let’s create a dedicated e-mail address where we all e-mail our scores. That way, no one will have them early, and no one can
change them.’
    ‘Good idea, Matt,’ Rosie said, standing up. ‘Now has everybody finished?’
    There was silence for a moment as Rosie collected the bowls and stacked them into a precarious pile.
    ‘So who has the password to this account, then?’ Charlotte said.
    ‘Exactly,’ Marcus agreed.
    ‘Couldn’t we all have it?’ Sarah asked.
    ‘Of course not,’ Marcus snapped. ‘Then we might as well just tell each other the scores.’
    ‘Looks like we’ll need a referee, then,’ Matt said.
    Charlotte took another sip of wine. ‘Why don’t we have a password that each of us only knows part of?’ she said. ‘It would be like those films where the three guys each
have a key to the treasure vault and no one can open it unless they’re all there.’
    ‘Yes!’ Marcus exclaimed. ‘Great idea. What do they call that?’
    ‘A tontine, I think,’ Matt said.
    ‘No, that’s where they have to wait for everyone to die and the last one alive wins all the money,’ Marcus corrected.
    ‘No, it’s the key thing,’ Matt said.
    ‘I’m sure it’s not.’ Marcus got to his feet. ‘Rosie,’ he said as she came back with a steaming dish of rice. ‘Can I use your laptop?’
    ‘Marcus, you can Google it later,’ Sarah hissed.
    ‘I’m not going to Google it. I’m going to set up the account.’
    ‘Well, I’m going to serve the main course,’ Rosie said with a grimace of distress. She added: ‘What account?’
    ‘I’ll show you.’ Marcus left the room.
    Rosie stood forlorn in the space between the door and the table. Justin felt a little sorry for her. She’d put in so much effort and, really, maybe Marcus could have waited. But then, if
it was a competition, even a friendly one, maybe it made sense to sort out the rules at the beginning.
    ‘It’s all right, Rosie,’ he said. ‘We won’t blame you if it starts to get cold.’
    ‘Is that the main course?’ Charlotte pointed doubtfully at the big dish of rice. ‘I’m still starving.’
    ‘It’s just the pilaf. I’ll bring out the main dish when . . . What is Marcus doing?’
    ‘Setting up an e-mail account to keep the scores secure,’ Matt said.
    ‘Oh.’
    Marcus returned holding the laptop open in front of him. ‘Right, here we are. I hope you don’t mind – I found this in the spare room. I’ve created
[email protected]. Everyone can remember that. Rosie, do you want to go next?’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Just put in two digits, anything you like, then pass it to Charlotte.’
    ‘Do we all need to do this now, Marcus?’ Rosie asked.
    ‘Just one half of every couple if you like.’
    The laptop was passed round the table in solemn silence, Rosie to Charlotte then to Justin. He used the first two digits of his birthday. Was that too obvious? But what did it matter – who
would be trying to guess? He pushed the computer on to Matt.
    ‘Finished?’ Rosie asked when the laptop was returned to Marcus.
    ‘Hold