Page 22 of The One That I Want

‘Well, yeah – obvs.’ Nasrin breaks into a grin.

Something I’ve long admired about Nas: what you see is what you get. She’s always upfront, never coy, and she won’t blow smoke up your arse just to make you feel better about yourself (as my dinky-di dad would say). Her clients love Nasrin’s special brand of pragmatic, no-nonsense matchmaking.

‘Bring me back some goodies, eh?’ she asks.

‘Why do you think I brought that with me?’ he asks, pointing to a small roller bag by his desk.

How did I miss that?

‘George Michael Robertson,’ I say, channelling my gran (no one messes with my gran), ‘you are absolutelynottaking that intoNouveau.’ I prop my hands on my hips so he knows how serious I am (as in: totally).

‘But—’

‘No.’

He’s about to protest a second time when a voice rings out across the office.

‘Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but are you three planning on joining us for the staff meeting?’

Oh, crap, it’s Paloma. I amneverlate for staff meetings – I pride myself on being punctual.

‘Coming!’ we chorus, hustling through the door and pulling our chairs up to the large conference table.

‘Poppy, let’s start with you, shall we?’ says Saskia with an amused half-smile.

Somewhat flustered – also very unlike me – it takes a second for my brain to switch into briefing mode. But then it does, and the words flow through me as if I were reading them from a teleprompter.

After the meeting, as I’m crossing to my desk, my phone rings. It’s Olivia, the older of Tristan’s cousins. I slide into my chair and answer.

‘Hi, Olivia.’

‘Hello, Poppy, how are you?’ she asks cheerfully, as if she’s just called for a chat. Only Olivia has never actually called me before – messaged, yes, but never a phone call.

‘I’m good. How are you?’

‘Very well, thank you.’

I can tell she’s beating around the bush.

‘So, what’s up?’ I prod.

‘Umm…’ The heavy sigh that follows immediately triggers my concern.

‘Are you okay? Is Evie okay?’ I ask rapid-fire.

‘Yes, no, we’re both fine. Well, I mean, itisEvie, but she’s not hurt or in danger or anything. And now that I’ve got you, I don’t know if I should say anything. Sorry, I shouldn’t have called. But as soon as she told me, I thought of you because it’s about this guy she’s been dating.’

‘Ah, okay. But you don’t want to betray her trust?’

‘Exactly,’ she says with another sigh. ‘BloodyTyler.’ She says his name the way most people say the word ‘sewerage’. And it must be early days in their relationship, as Evie’s never mentioned him before.

‘It is a tricky one, other people’s relationships.’

‘I know,’ she says. ‘But do you think you could… you know, talk to her?’

‘If I reach out to Evie out of the blue, there’s every chance she might resent me for meddling –andyou for telling me to.’

Giving romantic advice to family or close friends can be a minefield – besties included. There have been several times over the years when Shaz has been annoyed by my advice – even when she asked for it.

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