Page 26 of The Love Hack

‘I brought a bottle of fizz.’ She brandished it. ‘It was in our room. How cool is that? Like being a VIP.’

I giggled – her enthusiasm was endearing, and quite contagious. ‘I guess we are VIPs. I’ve got one too, and glasses.’

‘We’ll open mine,’ she said firmly, and did so, carefully pouring some into two glasses.

There was no seating area – like I say, my room was posh but not exactly palatial – so we perched on the edge of the bed, next to my open wheely suitcase. The bathroom door was open and steam from my recent shower scented the room; Bryony smoothed her hair as if she was worried it would frizz.

‘I’m really sorry to interrupt you,’ she said, once it was clearly too late for me to tell her that she was interrupting me. ‘Is this a bad time?’

Well, it obviously was, but there wasn’t really going to be a better time, so I said, ‘No, it’s fine. We’re meeting for dinner at eight so I’ve got ages to get ready.’

Bryony glanced at her watch. Clearly her idea of ages to get ready was different from mine. But she was already dressed, her make-up perfectly applied.

‘It’s just that tomorrow’s going to be so busy,’ she said. ‘I thought we might not get time to talk.’

‘Now is fine,’ I assured her, smiling. ‘Cheers.’

She leaned in, suddenly serious. ‘I just wanted to ask you about Ross.’

Of course you did. ‘Sure. What about him?’

‘Um… well, you know. At the hen, he and I kind of got together. I didn’t realise until the next day you worked together.’ She gave a tinkly little laugh.

The next day. So they had spent the night together. Unless they’d just exchanged LinkedIn profiles, which I doubted.

‘Yes, that’s right.’

She laughed again. ‘Haha, I mean, random or what?’

‘He lives nearby. I expect he goes out in Shoreditch all the time, so it’s not that random.’

‘So I just wanted to ask,’ she carried on, as if I hadn’t spoken. ‘I mean, what’s he like?’

I shrugged. ‘Nice guy. Good at his job. I haven’t worked there very long so I don’t know him all that well.’

‘Oh, right. So you don’t know if he, like, does that kind of thing often.’

I couldn’t resist. ‘What kind of thing?’

‘I mean, he and I…’ she flushed. Compared to Ross’s and my epic blushes the previous week, it was a pretty poor effort, but credit to her for trying. ‘You know, slept together. I just wondered if that’s something – you know. If he’s one of those who’s got a different girl on the go every week or something like that.’

Suddenly, I felt a bit sorry for her. ‘Honestly, Bryony, I’ve got no idea.’

‘Did he say anything to you about me?’

‘We work together. We’re busy, and we’re not close.’

Her face fell. ‘So he didn’t?’

‘He’s on holiday this week,’ I explained. ‘In Croatia. So I haven’t seen him.’

‘Oh!’ she brightened. ‘So that might be why he hasn’t returned my calls.’

Calls? How many calls, I wondered. But I said, ‘Yes, that might be why.’

‘That makes me feel better.’ She tipped up her glass and necked what was left in there, which was about half. ‘You see, I really liked him. I know it was just the one night, but you know how sometimes you think this one might just be special? And then I didn’t speak to him and I thought maybe I was wrong. But you’ve given me hope! Thanks, Lucy.’

She reached over and gave me a fragrant hug.

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