The Men in her Life

thinking.
    ‘What?’ Jeff blushed.
    ‘Nothing... great idea. I like it...’ Holly covered quickly, sensing herself blushing too.
    ‘Smoke?’ Jeff asked her, leaning across the desk.
    She wondered if she ought to tell him that a regular wash under the armpits might be all it took to find someone nice.
    ‘No, I don’t any more. My future husband won’t allow it...’
    She never knew how to refer to Simon. Boyfriend sounded so teenagey, fiancé was just an awful word, lover was a bit intimate, partner was so politically correct, and friend didn’t do it. It wouldn’t make sense to say that your friend wouldn’t allow you to smoke. It was the first time she had tried future husband, and she wouldn’t use it again.
    ‘I’m covered in patches.’ Holly rolled up her sleeve to prove it.
    ‘So you like my idea...?’
    ‘I do. I really do. I think you’ll have to write an episode, though, but not the first one. People always make the mistake of trying to do the first episode. If you know your characters well enough, you should be able to do one of the middle ones, and then you don’t spend the whole half-hour introducing people and producers will be able to get an idea of the voice...’
    ‘OK. I’ll do that. Thanks.’ Jeff stood up to leave.
    There was something very different about him today, Holly thought, and then realized that it was that he was smiling. It was the first time in months that she had liked one of his ideas.
    ‘Good luck,’ she said to him, as he left her office.
    Jemima walked in and stuck a couple of yellow post-it notes in front of her.
    ‘Charlie Prince would like to take you to lunch,’ she said, ‘and Simon rang to ask what time tonight.’
    ‘Oh. Right. Thanks.’
    ‘He sounds really nice,’ Jemima said, looking at Holly as if she couldn’t for a moment understand how she had managed to land such a charming man.
    ‘He is,’ Holly replied shortly and picked up the phone to dial his number.
    Her hand toyed with the message from Charlie Prince. A few months ago, she thought, she would have been in a state of great anxiety about what two invitations to lunch in the space of six months might signify. Did it mean that he fancied her, and what was she going to wear? Now she didn’t have to worry about things like that, and life was so much easier.
    Simon answered his phone.
    ‘Hi honey...’ Holly said. She didn’t know why she had taken to calling him honey, but she felt the need for an endearment to indicate the shift in their relationship. Darling sounded daft. It was weird to get to the age of thirty-six and suddenly have to learn a whole new vocabulary, like a foreign language in which she was not yet fluent.
    ‘I think I said eight, at the club,’ she told Simon, ‘and we’ve got to eat there because Colette says Nigel can’t stand hot food. I don’t think somehow we’re destined to become best buddies... no, you’re right, it will be nice to meet him. He’s probably not that bad...’
    Simon was having such a positive effect on her, Holly thought as she put down the phone. Under the influence of his love, she made Jeff smile and toned down her bitching about Colette. Tonight they were going out as a foursome. Colette and Nigel, Holly and Simon.
    She couldn’t remember going out with Colette and two blokes since the time Tony and Alan Thomson had taken them to Margate in the summer of ’76, the summer they all grew up. They seemed to get away with a lot that summer, Holly remembered, because it was so hot nobody’s parents had the energy for a row. Holly remembered their screams on the roller-coaster and Colette throwing up all over Alan’s hair. She had been so pleased that she hadn’t been the one sitting in front of her. Then Tony had got done for pickpocketing. No wonder they hadn’t gone out as a foursome since, Holly thought.
    ‘I’ve done your typing.’
    Jemima put a large For Signature book in front of her and waited as Holly checked and signed her letters. There were only a couple of mistakes, and Holly corrected them with her pen before handing back the folder.
    ‘You can go now,’ Holly told her.
    ‘But it’s only twenty past...’
    The look of surprise on Jemima’s face as she left made Holly aware of how horribly strict she must usually be.
    ‘Time for a drink?’ Robert stuck his head round the door.
    ‘Not really. I’ve got a letter to write.’
    ‘You’re no fun any more... don’t tell me you’re giving up drinking as