Page 48 of The One That I Want

‘Everything all right?’ asks George, his head popping up over the top of his monitor.

‘Howdid you hear that?’

‘I have excellent hearing,’ he retorts, getting up and coming over. ‘So, what’s going on?’

‘I’ve just been fired.’

‘Fired?!’ he exclaims, and several other heads pop up.

‘Not from a case,’ I tell the entire office. The other heads disappear.

‘From what then?’ asks George. ‘Oh, fromNouveau Life?’

‘They’re scrapping the advice column. Something aboutPanachebeating us to it.’

‘Wait.’ George rushes to his desk where he forages in his messenger bag. Triumphantly, he raises a rolled-up magazine above his head. ‘Latest issue,’ he explains. ‘I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.’

He comes back and leans against my desk as he thumbs through the magazine, stopping about a quarter of the way through. He gasps, then shows me the page. ‘Look!’

I scan it. ‘Oh, bugger.’

‘Is it the same as yours?’ he asks.

‘More or less,’ I reply, thinking of the edits Bex sent over. When I saw how much of my original submission she’d changed, I had to remind myself I’m a matchmaker, not a writer – I shouldn’t care that she didn’t like my work. That took the sting off a bit.

‘Wait,’ says George, pulling me from my thoughts, ‘what does it mean for your cover? If you’re notNouveau Life’s advice columnist, what are you? You can’t keep showing up if they’ve sacked you.’

I sit back against my chair. ‘To be honest, I don’t think it’s critical that I’m there. Greta and I have established a strong working relationship –andshe knows the real reason Anjali brought me on. We can keep working closely together without me going into the office – we’ve already been meeting outside ofNouveau.’

‘ButIcould still go visit Mimi in The Wardrobe, though, right?’ he asks.

‘George, the woman herself invited you to The Wardrobe, so you do you,’ I reply.

‘Oh, good point,’ he replies, beaming with pleasure.

My laptop notifies me of an incoming email and I glance at the screen, seeing that it’s from Marie.

‘Ooh, this will be about Ewan Wilder,’ I say.

George slots in behind me and reads over my shoulder.

‘So,that’swhy… and of course, he’s the… ah, yeah, that makes sense,’ I say.

‘You’re talking in riddles,’ says George, doing nothing to mask his annoyance. ‘And what’s The Daily Grind?’ he asks.

‘That’sthe coffee shop nearNouveau, the one where Greta introduced to me to Ewan. He’s the owner.’

‘Oh, I see. Does Greta know that?’

I shake my head. ‘I don’t think so – I reckon she would have mentioned it if she did. Look,’ I say, pointing to the second paragraph of the email. ‘He was in a long-term relationship but that ended nearly a year ago.’

‘So, he’s single,’ says George, a hint of excitement in his voice.

‘Yep, potential number two is single.’

‘Wait, so you’re officially adding him to the list?’

‘He’s definitely a contender, especially as Greta already knows him. But he’s also less of a known quantity, so…’

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