Page 21 of Hook, Line and Single

‘I didn’t start this,’ I tell her firmly. ‘I was just defending myself against you and your mechanically recovered whatever.’

‘OK, OK. Truce?’

‘Truce.’

We both get up and hug fiercely. ‘I love you; you know that?’ Sam says into my hair.

‘I know. I love you too, which is why I want to see you happy.’

‘Don’t worry about me. I’ve got irons in the fire.’

I pull back and look at her. ‘Of course you have,’ I tell her with a smile.

* * *

‘I know I was rude about the whole cruise thing,’ Em tells me as I’m packing my bag a week later. ‘But I’ll admit that seeing you put all those sun dresses and hats and things in your case is making me a little jealous. What time is the taxi coming?’

‘Six. We’ve booked a room at the airport hotel, so we’re going to have dinner and then crash out for as long as we can before we have to get up for the flight to Rome. Are you sure you’re going to be OK here?’

‘Oh, I’ll be just fine. Ten days without Mum and Dad constantly in my earhole is my idea of paradise right now. And I’ll have this handsome fellow to look out for me until Charlie arrives.’ She reaches down to where Samson is contentedly curled up on the bed and strokes him, causing him to purr loudly.

‘What’s Charlie going to do while you’re in the shop?’ I ask.

‘He’s got some job applications to work on, plus I’ve appointed him head chef while he’s here, so he’ll have to be out and about getting ingredients and stuff for all the fantastic meals he’s going to cook me. I’ll be too tired, having been slaving away in the bookshop all day.’

‘Please don’t let him wreck my kitchen,’ I implore her. Not long after Em started going out with Charlie, he tried to impress my parents by cooking dinner for them. I’m not entirely sure what went wrong, but I know it involved the smoke alarm going off, an emergency takeaway and Mum’s favourite frying pan having to be consigned to the bin.

‘He won’t,’ she assures me. ‘He’s much better now, honest.’

I reach down to stroke Samson, who stretches luxuriantly and increases his purring to the level of a small road drill.

‘I’m relying on you to keep order,’ I tell him. ‘Any nonsense from Em or Charlie, and I want to know about it, you understand?’

‘Hey, Samson’s no grass,’ Em says with a smile. ‘He knows the code. Snitches get stitches, am I right?’

‘Just look after the place, promise?’

‘It’ll be fine, stop stressing. Go and have an amazing time. Everything will be just as you left it when you get back. Assuming the police don’t find our stash of drugs and arrest us, of course.’

‘Em—’

‘I’m joking!’

‘Are you all set?’ Sam asks, sticking her head around the door. ‘The taxi will be here any minute.’

I take a final look around my room, checking if there’s anything still there that should be in a case. I also consult the packing list I wrote, making sure that every item is checked off. Finally, I double-check that my passport is safely stashed in my handbag with the other travel documents.

‘Yup,’ I tell her. ‘Ready as I’ll ever be.’

As the taxi pulls away, I turn in my seat and look out of the back window to see Em standing on the pavement, holding Samson in one arm and waving with the other. Despite my warnings, I do trust her to take care of the flat, and I hope she and Charlie will be able to enjoy their time together.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a holiday to look forward to. Sam’s right; we’ve both been working too hard, and this is hopefully going to be just the break we need.

8

‘Ruby, wake up! It’s time to go.’

I open my eyes groggily to see Sam’s face looming over mine. She looks wide awake, but I’ve never been brilliant at really early mornings, a fact not helped by the large dinner and bottle of wine we shared last night.

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