Page 8 of The One That Got Away

‘Despite what you think, you’re not indispensable, sweetheart. I’ll get someone in to take care of the orders.’

‘Like who?’

‘I’ll ask Marjorie.’

‘The vicar’s wife?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Somehow I don’t think she’d be happy wrapping thongs with “Kiss My Arse” on them!’

Only our closest friends and family knew the full nature of our business and it was better that way.

‘She might like it! You know what they say about the quiet ones!’ Mum chuckled.

‘I’m not going! And I’m really angry with you. I know your heart was in the right place, but you’ve put me in an awkward position because I’ll have to pay you back for the deposit.’

I really needed to get my own place and reimbursing Mum’s one-thousand-pound payment would throw me off target for my mortgage savings and take me months to recover.

Mum didn’t reply. Her gaze was fixed to the screen whilst she moved her fingers around on the laptop track pad.

‘Are you even listening to me?’ I blew out a frustrated breath.

‘Mmm, hmm,’ she nodded, keeping her eyes firmly on her laptop. ‘There!’ she looked up, grinning from ear to ear. ‘All done.’

‘Sorry, what? What’s all done? Have you cancelled it?’

‘Of course not! I’ve just confirmed the booking and paid the balance! Forget about posting those orders. You’d better go shopping for some clothes and a new suitcase. You’re off to sunny Spain!’

4

MAX

‘Have you arrived yet?’ Colton’s voice sounded down the phone.

‘Almost,’ I said, glancing out of the window at the clear blue skies. ‘The driver said we’re ten minutes away.’

I took in the sight of the pretty pink flowers in the centre of the motorway. It didn’t matter how many times I visited Spain, I never tired of seeing them. In the UK, motorways were just grey and depressing. But here, the central reservations on the motorway that took you to Marbella had a beautiful floral strip. It was like it was part of the welcome.

‘How you feeling?’

‘Apart from being pissed off about wasting two weeks of my life on this stupid holiday?’

I shouldn’t even be going. I was already scheduled to go to Dubai in a fortnight for a big beauty exhibition. Now I’d have to fly out the day after I got back from this trip, which was stressful.

‘No need to worry about that, bro,’ Colton laughed. ‘You never had a life to begin with! All you did was work, sleep, eat and repeat. You should be happy you’ll be doing something fun for a change.’

‘There’s nothingfunabout being forced to spend two weeks with a complete stranger. What if we don’t get on? What if I don’t fancy her? And what ifshedoesn’t fancyme? This is gonna be so fucking awkward.’

I’d barely slept last night worrying about this damn trip. I hadn’t dated seriously in years, but even I knew finding that connection wasn’t easy.

‘First up, I don’t think we have to worry about her not finding you attractive. Annoyingly, I don’t think there’s a woman on the planet that doesn’t think you’re hot, including my wife and every female who works for us. And a handful of the guys too. It’s sickening that God gave you good looksanda decent personality.’

‘Cheers,’ I laughed. ‘Cheque’s in the post.’

‘Second, this company are experts in matching people soof courseyou’re gonna get on.’

‘Just because an algorithm says we match on paper, doesn’t mean we’ll have chemistry in person.’

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