Page 32 of The One That I Want

That’s putting it mildly,I think.Just tell her you know what’s going on. Kill the series and go out with Harrison!my mind bellows. Hah! If only…

But I don’t have the courage to do that – namely because I’d have to confront Anjali about her plan and who knows what that would do to our relationship. But I’m also invested now. Tiggy was right. I have this startling realisation about the state of my love life and anactualmatchmaker appears on my doorstep. I’d be bonkers not to take advantage.

‘I can understand why you’d feel that way,’ she says. ‘How about you leave it with me and I’ll confer with my colleagues?’

‘Thank you, Poppy,’ I say, both grateful and relieved she’s taking my peculiar request seriously.

‘Of course,’ she says, and I canhearthe smile in her voice. ‘Your case is my number-one priority. We’ll sort this out, I promise.’

We end the call and I nestle into the throw pillows on my sofa. My case may be Poppy’s priority, but which version? Providing me with suitable fodder for my writing assignment or the version in which she’s trying to find my perfect match?

I glance at Harrison’s photo, which stares up at me from my coffee table. If Poppy’s as good at her job as I suspect she is, there’s every chancehecould be my match.

This thought instantly ignites the roaring in my ears, but is that because Harrison might be The One or because he might not be?

9

POPPY

‘Well, what do you think?’ I ask George and Ursula. Going by their expressions – including a barely visible lift of Ursula’s brows – they think I’m madder than a cut snake.

‘Sorry, just to be clear, you want us to findunsuitable dates for your client?’ asks Ursula.

‘Yes.’

‘Poppy, I adore you –really– but have you gone completely mad?’ George pipes in, verifying I was right.

‘Not completely, no. Not when you consider the relevant factors.’

‘Which are?’ Ursula prods.

I need to be quick as the morning staff meeting starts in a few minutes. ‘Well, first off, as confirmed by our conversation last night, I’d categorise our client as a hopeful romantic.’

‘You mean hopeless,’ says George.

‘I mean hopeful. Greta believes in loveandshe’s ready to find it. I’m confident of that.’

‘Then why would we want to match her with unsuitable men?’ asks Ursula.

‘Because she asked us to.’

‘Shewhat?’ asks George incredulously.

‘It was Greta’s suggestion to date duds.’

‘But that’s not the writing assignment,’ he says.

‘Yes, I realise that, George, which brings me to the third consideration: Greta knows what we’re up to – that the writing assignment is just a ruse to match her.’

‘Are you certain?’ Ursula asks.

‘Positive. It was as much what shedidn’tsay as what did. She also kept hedging as if she was about to blurt it out.’

‘Buthow? How did she find out?’ asks George.

‘Because she’s clever and she obviously connected all the dots. I did warn Anjali it was likely to happen.’

‘So, why not just tell her boss that the jig is up? Or have Greta tell her?’ Ursula asks.

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