Page 7 of The One That I Want

‘So, how does this relate to the case?’

‘Well, as you know, I’d be engaging you on behalf of a colleague, Greta Davies. She is brilliant, professional, hard-working, and very much has it together. But if this is going to work, I think you’ll need to go undercover –ish.’

Anjali clearly likes couching her words with ‘ish’ but all she’s done is confuse the matter – I still have no clue what the case is or what I’ll be doing.

And the last time I went undercover was for the case Anjali mentioned earlier, where I posed as a fashion journalist. When I told Shaz about it, she couldn’t stop laughing. I’d have taken offence if I didn’t agree with her – itwaslaughable.

‘Undercover as…?’ I ask, hoping I won’t be asked to pull any more fashion articles out of my bum.

‘A romantic advice columnist – ish.’ Wow, that’s three ishes in three minutes. ‘Soz, I’m doing a rubbish job of explaining this, aren’t I?’

Yes, you really are.

‘No, not at all,’ I reply, the consummate professional.

‘Put simply, I want you to help Greta find love.’

‘Excellent. Then that’s our starting point,’ I say, glad we’ve finally got to the crux of things. ‘And does Gretawantto find love?’

‘Yes. Ithinkso.’

‘It’s best if you’re certain. We wouldn’t want to attempt to solve a problem that may not exist.’

‘Right. Well, you see, I’ve known Greta for over a decade and I’ve watched her live and breathe work – these days, even more so than I do. And if she everdoestake time for herself, it’s only because I’ve forced her to. That said, if you’d have asked me a fortnight ago whether Greta wanted to fall in love, I would have said no. Her sole passion has always been her job. Well, for some time, she’s had a rather obvious crush on our colleague, Luca, but that appears to be waning as far as I can tell.’

‘So, something happened to change your mind – about Greta?’ I ask, redirecting her back to the point.

‘Yes, it was something she said. She was talking to herself, as she often does, only this wasn’t one of her affirmations or verbal to-do lists. At first, I thought it was a throw-away comment – only, evidently, it wasn’t.’

‘What was it?’

‘Well, Greta’s just launched her own online vertical, you see, and?—’

‘Sorry, a vertical?’ I ask, interrupting.

‘It’s like an imprint of a publisher – part of the whole, but also its own thing.’

Nope, still confused. ‘Uh…?’

‘The vertical,Nouveau Life, is an online magazine – but still part ofNouveau.’

‘Ahh, got it. And Greta’s at the helm.’

‘Exactly. It’s a massive responsibility, but she’s earned it and I have no doubt it will be a smashing success.Anyway, she and I were working late one night – I’d stuck around to help her with an article from one of our freelancers about dating apps – and we’d just decided on a pull quote from one of the interviewees. It was something like, “I’ve been single so long, I have no idea what being in love even feels like any more.” And Greta muttered to herself, “You and me both,” in thisdeeplysaddened tone.’

‘Oh, that seems rather telling.’

‘That’s what I thought too. Now, ordinarily I would have pretended I didn’t hear her, but as it was just the two of us, it was obvious that Ididhear. And then I found myself asking her about it.’

I lean forward in anticipation. ‘And?’

‘And, apparently, the article had triggered a bout of introspection, and she’s been thinking about it a lot lately – love. Especially now she’s in her mid-thirties. Has she left it too late tofind the perfect man, fall in love, and start a family? That sort of thing.’

‘Well, that seems to answer my question.’

‘I’d hoped as much. You know, this is the first time she’s ever saidanythinglike that to me – been that candid about her personal aspirations. It’s stuck with me ever since. Actually, I nearly brought it up again this morning, which would have been disastrous timing. A huge distraction on her big day. I also hadn’t met with you, of course, so it would have been premature. It’s just… I’ve become a little consumed with it ever since she told me.’

‘That’s understandable. You obviously care about her a great deal.’

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