Down London Road

good or inane – and generally pretending to have the best time in the world.
    The tip jar filled up fast.
    Two seconds after an attractive thirtysomething guy wearing a Breitling sports watch slipped me his number before he left the bar, Joss was at my side shaking up a cocktail.
    Her eyebrow was quirked up in question. ‘Weren’t you just telling me last night how much you like Malcolm?’
    Still feeling sore from her earlier flaying, I shrugged nonchalantly. ‘Just keeping my options open.’
    She sighed heavily. ‘I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings back there.’
    Not acknowledging the apology, not sure I was even ready to, I nodded down the bar. ‘Your customer is waiting.’
    For the rest of the night I avoided conversation with her and constantly checked my phone in case Cole tried to contact me. He didn’t.
    When the club closed and we’d cleaned up, Joss cornered me as I shrugged my coat on.
    ‘You’re a huge headache, you know that.’ She huffed as she pulled on her own coat.
    I snorted. ‘That’s the worst apology I’ve ever heard.’
    ‘I’m sorry what I said came out so bluntly. But I’m not sorry for saying it.’
    Pulling my bag out of my locker, I shot her a weary look. ‘You used to let people get on with their lives. You never butted in where you weren’t wanted. I liked that about you.’
    It was Joss’s turn to snort. ‘Yeah, I know. I liked that about me too. But Braden’s rubbing off on me.’ Her mouth twisted into a grimace. ‘He has this thing about sticking his nose into the lives of the people he cares about whether they want his nose there or not.’
    I felt some of the hurt from our earlier encounter recede, a warm balm spreading gently over it. ‘You saying you care about me?’
    Joss grabbed her own bag and strode over to me. Her defiant grey eyes had softened with a surprising amount of emotion. ‘You’ve turned out to be one of the best people I know and I hate that you’re in such a shitty situation and you won’t let anyone help you. A few months after I met Ellie, she told me she wished I’d trust her more. I finally get how frustrating that must have been for her – to see that I needed someone and I wouldn’t let her be that person. I feel that way about you, Jo. I see a goodperson with all her life ahead of her and she’s taking a path to inevitable misery. If I can stop you from making the same mistakes I did … well, I will.’ She grinned cockily. ‘So be prepared to be corralled. I’ve learned from the master.’ Her eyes glittered with anticipation. ‘And he’s waiting outside for me, so I better go.’
    Joss left before I could respond to her threat. I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, but I knew that when she wanted to be, she was the most determined person on the planet. I did not want to be someone she was determined to save.
    It sounded exhausting.



4
    ‘I’m sorry, Malcolm. I can’t.’ I felt my heart rate speed up as anxiety crawled into my gut to play kickboxer. I hated turning down his generous offer. Once I started throwing the word ‘no’ around, things usually went downhill from there.
    ‘Are you sure?’ he asked quietly on the other end of the line. ‘It’s not until April. That gives you plenty of time to find someone to look after your mum and Cole for the weekend.’
    Malcolm wanted to take me to Paris. I wanted to be taken to Paris. I’d never been out of Scotland, and I imagined I was like most people my age in that I wanted to see a bit of the world outside the one I’d been raised in.
    But it wouldn’t happen.
    ‘I don’t trust anyone else to look after them.’
    Thankfully, Malcolm’s sigh didn’t sound exasperated and to my surprise it was followed by, ‘I understand, baby. Don’t worry about it.’
    Of course I still did. ‘Are you sure?’
    ‘Stop worrying.’ Malcolm laughed softly. ‘It’s not the end of the world, Jo. I like how much you care about your family. It’s admirable.’
    A flush of heat, of pleasure, rose from my chest all the way into my cheeks. ‘Really?’
    ‘Really.’
    For a moment I didn’t know how to respond. I was relieved that he was being so laid-back about my ‘no’, but I was still anxious. Only now I was anxious for a different reason.
    My affection for Malcolm was growing deeper by the day. So was my hope.
    The past had taught me that hope was far too fragile a thing to cling to.
    ‘Jo?’
    Oops
. ‘Sorry. Woolgathering.’
    ‘About me, I