Page 25 of The Life-Changing Magic of Falling in Love

Should I report it?

On the other hand, it was nice to have it finished.

And the apartment feels spotless and somehow a bit more homey. It probably helps that the aroma of bleach is gone.

I think I’ll leave it alone for now.

‘So, I have a meeting,’ Anya says, ‘that if I rush, I won’t be late to.’

‘Great. Hey – while you’re walking to your meeting… I realise both of us are busy at the moment but?—’

‘George, I’m serious. I really have to go.’

‘Okay. But I was thinking, how about we go away for the weekend?’

Silence.

She’s hung up on me already.

Not petulant. Not petulant.

But as I put down my phone, I’m staring down at my new watch feeling dejected.

Rejected.

I try to pep myself up. Make tomorrow night about delayed gratification and all the better for it. But if I’m honest, what I really want right now is my girlfriend wrapping her arms around me and sharing this moment with me.

I breathe in sharply. That all sounds more than a bit needy, right?

I shake it off and start composing an email asking the gang to drinks at the sports bar one block over before remembering most of them will be attending the Prender launch and that there’s every chance that the only one who will respond is Tim Duggins and … nope … definitely not up for listening to him get more and more drunk and less and less circumspect about what he tells me about the dating scene in New York.

I put on my new watch.

Tell myself to get on with my day.

The important thing is that I got the promotion.

Not when I celebrate getting it.

Chapter Nine

THE LEGEND IN APARTMENT 33A

Ashleigh

‘I like you, Ashleigh Rivera.’

The matter-of-fact statement from Mrs. Hildegard Lundy, acquaintance of one week and owner of the apartment down the hall from George Northcote, fills me with warmth as I pick up one of her floral teapots made from see-through quality porcelain.

‘Usually, people head straight for the dishwasher with all this,’ Mrs. Lundy adds with a nod to the delicate china splayed out across the seats-twelve dining room table. ‘I’m not sure I’ve ever had anyone asking how I prefer it to be cleaned before.’

‘At Sparkle we pride ourselves?—’

The gentle hand on my arm is accompanied by, ‘Do you have a problem with people telling you they like you, dear?’

‘Of course not.’ I feel myself blush. This is all very new to me, having the owner around while I clean, but she’s such fun. I’ve been hearing about how she’s been holding afternoon tea networking soirées once a month for the past fifty years and I want to know all the details.

The How Did These Tea Parties Come About.

---