Page 10 of The Plot Twist

‘I’ve no idea. I’ve got a meeting with Jake Matthews coming up, and at it I presume he’s going to threaten me with having to return some of my advance, if I don’t deliver a new manuscript.’

This was exactly what Alice had been fearing. In fact, she was so sure it would come to pass that she had already transferred the amount she would owe Brinkman’s out of her savings account and back into her current account to make things easier.

‘The only problem is, I don’t have it anymore.’

‘Oh.’ Allie grimaced, surprised by the revelation and quite how confessional this moment was becoming. It might be awkward, but at least it was passing the time before she could get back into the party.

‘Yes.’ Martin continued, looking grim. ‘Oh indeed. Turns out, having children is expensive. Take it from me. Think twice before you decide to have some.’ There was a long pause while Allie thought about, and then decided against, telling Martin that she was fairly sure having children wasn’t on her agenda anytime soon. She was beginning to imagine whether the topic of children would go down less well with her or with Dominic, when Martin continued. ‘Although, to be fair, I do have one of each, a good one and a bad one I mean.’

Allie opened her mouth to ask Martin to say more on this topic, despite thinking quite how awful it would be for one of his children to overhear this and wonder which one they were, when at that moment, the door to the building swung open and both Allie and Martin lurched forward to grab it before it slammed shut again. Allie held the door open and stood to the side as she let a waiter walking backwards, carefully guiding a trolley of empty platters and glasses through. He came level with her and Allie watched his shoulders tense before her eyes ran down his arms, noticing the well-defined muscles and then recognising a tattoo she had seen earlier that evening. A tug in her lower belly immediately followed as he turned and fixed his grey eyes on her.

‘Oh,’ she stammered, ‘it’s you.’

He straightened up, his eyes meeting hers. ‘It is,’ he agreed. ‘Hello again.’ The way his cheek dimpled as he smiled floored her.

‘Er, hi.’ She smiled back thinking she could lose hours just staring at him and then remembering exactly where she was and how she might go about explaining her predicament without sounding like a complete idiot.

Before she could open her mouth, he said, ‘Did you get locked out?’

She nodded. ‘I was trying to find the coat check.’

‘Happens all the time. Hang on to that door.’ He finished pulling the trolley over the doorstep, pushing it away to the side of the building. She watched as he did so, wondering if that was the end of their conversation and desperately hoping it wasn’t.

‘Do you know where you’re going?’ he asked.

Allie shook her head and remembered to close her mouth, which seemed to gape open every time she looked at him. She didn’t want to admit to being completely hopeless, and she thought that sheprobablycould find her way back if she really had to, but she was also half hoping that he might offer to walk her back. And for once, luck and circumstance were on her side.

‘I’ll show you the way.’

Allie did a little internal cheer, managing to stop just short of punching the air, because really this was just a polite waiter showing her back to the coat check, and she needed to get a grip on herself. Which was hard when the waiter in question seemed to make her entire body resonate with a feeling she dared not give a name to. And if giving herself a stern lecture wasn’t the equivalent of pouring a bucket of cold water over herself, then remembering that Martin was also standing behind her in the alleyway definitely was. Presumably he needed to get back in as well. Allie turned to look over her shoulder for Martin who had gone uncharacteristically quiet during her exchange with the hot waiter.

‘Martin? This man…’ She paused, realising she didn’t know what to call the hot waiter. Waiter seemed unnecessarily distant, but hot waiter went in completely the opposite direction and she didn’t want to be reprimanded by the organisers of the party for sexually harassing the staff.

‘Will,’ he said, straightening the trolley and yet again bunching the muscles of his arms as he did so, which Allie could have done without seeing if she was going to maintain any kind of professionalism about the whole situation. He put the brake on the trolley and walked back towards Allie, whose insides were doing something weird and tingly and had definitely not listened to the recent stern talking-to.

‘Right, erm, Will,’ she said, trying not to smile as she said his name. She cleared her throat and turned back to Martin. ‘Will said he’d show us the way back. Are you coming?’

‘I think I’ll stay here a bit longer, see if I can leave it long enough that Jake Matthews has gone home,’ Martin said morosely. He had resumed his position leaning against the building.

Actually, that sounded really appealing to Allie, too. The thought of having to make more painfully polite chit-chat with the ice man made her shudder. But more appealing was following Will down the corridors of the V&A without Martin crashing their one-on-one party. Even so, she did feel a tiny bit guilty about leaving Martin out there alone.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked, hoping that Martin really was sure and she wouldn’t be kicking herself if he changed his mind.

‘He’s sure,’ said Will, ushering Allie through the door and letting it close behind him. Allie decided not to dwell on quite how rude Will had just been to Martin, leaving him out there on his own, and instead chose to focus on the potential scenario that Will was equally keen on some alone time with her, because surely she couldn’t be the only one feeling these vibes? They stood for a moment in the dimly lit corridor, Will looking down at her and Allie wanting to meet his gaze but worrying that if she did she’d never be able to look away.

‘Shall we go?’ he asked, and Allie nodded dumbly and followed as he led.

‘So the party was that good, huh?’ Will smiled at Allie and then pulled her gently to his side as another waiter came down the corridor towards them carrying trays. He nodded at Will as they passed each other.

‘It was a mistake,’ she said, trying hard to sound as if she was cross with him for teasing her and failing as the smile spread across her face. ‘Obviously, I didn’t mean to get locked out.’

He nodded and they were both silent for a moment. ‘How was the vol au vent by the way?’

‘The what?’ Allie asked and then remembered. ‘Oh right, yeah, the vol au vent. Don’t tell your bosses, but I didn’t eat it.’

‘You didn’t … why not?’ Will sounded slightly shocked.

‘Too big.’

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