Down London Road

The mischief slowly disappeared and when he looked back up at me there was heat in his eyes. ‘If we weren’t in a changing room right now …’
    I felt a niggle of something in my gut and wondered if it was disappointment. I imagined that if this was Joss and Braden or Adam and Ellie, it wouldn’t have mattered if they were in a changing room. Braden and Adam would have pounced on their girlfriends with no thought to the consequences.
    I shook myself for those thoughts. So Malcolm and I didn’t have an all-encompassing passionate relationship. It didn’t mean what we had wasn’t great.
    I forced myself to grin incredulously. ‘You think this is hot?’
    ‘For the bedroom, yes.’
    ‘I don’t think that was the intent here.’ I looked down at it dubiously.
    ‘Try on the green one. It’s the same colour as those gorgeous eyes of yours.’
    I pressed my mouth to his lips for the compliment and let the curtain fall back so I was alone again in the cubicle.
    He was right. The green shift dress by Lanvin was stunning.
    Malcolm got a cab to a development site he wanted to visit, detouring to drop me off at home. He knew I wouldn’t invite him inside. I was all set for dinner with Becca and Cam on Saturday night. Well, ready in that I at least had designer armour to wear and Malcolm to act as a buffer.
    Tonight at work there would be no designer armour and no Malcolm.
    I despised the flurry of butterflies that awoke in my stomach at the thought of working with Cam and all the things he might say to damage my already fragile ego.
    It seemed I still needed to grow a thicker skin.
    There was a kaleidoscope of butterflies in my belly by the time I got to the bar and when I stepped into the main room and saw Cam and Joss laughing about something as they cleaned glasses, the butterflies swarmed upward to my chest and I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
    What was that all about?
    I took the stairs down to the bar and ducked under the counter, throwing a smile of hello their way before hurrying into the staff room. Two seconds later, Joss was at my back and the music on the stereo system blasted on. I heard Brian yelling at someone to turn it down and the noise muted to a bearable level.
    ‘What’s up? You looked like you had swallowed a very sour lemon when you came in just now,’ Joss observed.
    I shrugged out of my jacket, smirking. ‘Did I? I can’t imagine why.’
    ‘You’re afraid I’m going to try and set you up with Cam.’
    ‘Am I? I can’t imagine why.’
    Joss made a face. ‘Okay, enough with the sarcasm. Look. I’m not going to.’
    I turned towards her, shoving my phone in my back pocket. ‘What? The matchmaking is over before it’s even really started?’
    She clenched her jaw for a second before replying, ‘Yes. And that’s a promise.’
    ‘What brought on this change of heart? Not that I’m complaining,’ I hurried to assure her.
    Completely deadpan and traumatized, Joss held my curious gaze. ‘Ellie made me watch an adaptation of Jane Austen’s
Emma
so she could show me the dos and don’ts of matchmaking. This was followed by a redundant showing of the teen movie
Clueless
, which happens to be based on Jane Austen’s
Emma
.’ She let that sit with me, clearly urging me to find it as horrifying as she had.
    I tried to stifle my laughter. I really did.
    Just not hard enough.
    I threw my head back, falling against my locker in a fit of giggles. I couldn’t get the image out of my head and I could just imagine how seriously Ellie had taken the whole thing. ‘Oh, my God,’ I gasped through my laughter. ‘That must have been so painful for you.’
    Renewed excruciation flickered across her face as though she was having a flashback. ‘Painful does not even cover it. You know what’s worse than watching a romantic drama?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Analysing one.’
    Well, that set me off again.
    ‘Stop laughing. It’s not funny.’
    ‘Oh, it’s
so
funny. And just what you deserved.’
    Joss groaned. ‘Yeah, probably.’
    After I’d stemmed my laughter, I shook my head, wiping the tears from my eyes. ‘I still can’t understand why someone who rolls her eyes at romance films is writing a romance novel.’
    She glowered at me. ‘It’s not a romance. It’s my parents’ story.’
    ‘Yeah, your parents who had a flaming, passionate romance.’
    Joss’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘Do you want me to go back to matchmaking?’
    I shuddered at the thought. ‘Definitely