Page 72 of The One That I Want

There’s a loud message notification and we all look around. It’s an unspoken rule that we silence our phones for staff meetings, even though we all place our phones face up on the conference table in case an urgent call or message comes through.

‘Apologies, everyone,’ says Paloma in a rare moment of humility. She reads the message, the crease between her brows intensifying as her eyes scan the screen. She lifts her gaze and gets up from the table, taking her phone to the other end where she shows it to Saskia. Saskia grimaces, then they both look at me.

‘Poppy, could you and George please see us after the staff meeting?’ Saskia asks.

‘In my office,’ Paloma adds.

‘Umm… sure.’ I glance at George, whose eyes are as big as saucers, and an uneasy feeling settles into my stomach.

The meeting concludes with Nasrin’s update, but I don’t hear a word of it. I’m too busy trying to figure out what that message could have said to warrant an impromptu meeting.

Ten minutes later, George and I shuffle out of the conference room behind the others, but before we head to Paloma’s office, we huddle.

‘Do you have any idea what this is about?’ he asks quietly.

‘Nope.’

‘Oh, hello, Poppy,’ says a nearby voice. I look over and Anita is leading Anjali Bennett across the open-plan office.

What’s she doing here?I wonder. I’m no longer posing as a contributor forNouveau Life, so it must be about Greta’s case. Have I missed something or made a mistake? Whatever it is, she doesn’t look pleased.

‘Isn’t that…?’ whispers George.

‘Yep,’ I whisper back. ‘Hello, Anjali,’ I say, faking a smile.

‘Hello, lovely,’ says Saskia, meeting Anjali at the door to Paloma’s office. They exchange cheek kisses, then Saskia lets Anjali past. She looks at us, her expression inscrutable. ‘Are you joining us?’

It’s an instruction, not a question, and George and I hustle inside and get seated. Paloma introduces George and Anjali, then says. ‘So, Anji, tell us a bit more about why you’re here.’

I’d love to pretend this is a friendly catch-up between old school friends, rather than a meeting with aV-VIP client, but I’m a realist.

Anjali addresses me. ‘Greta submitted her first two articles this morning…’ she begins, her tone establishing that they weren’t what she had expected. ‘And I have concerns.’

A client with concerns is nothing new in matchmaking. We deal in matters of the heart, so the stakes are high – even when our actual client has engaged us on behalf of someone else, like in this instance. But being adept at managing client concerns is one thing; addressing them with my bosses looking on is another.

‘So, that would be the articles about the fitness fanatic and the man who lives with his mum?’ I ask.

The question seems to catch Anjali off-guard. ‘Yes. So, you’reawarethat you set Greta up with inadequate matches?’

‘I am.’

‘But that’s not what we agreed,’ she says, her eyes narrowing to slits.

There’s a beat of silence before Paloma and I speak at once.

‘So, you didn’t approve this, Anji?’ she asks.

‘It was a deliberate tactic,’ I say.

Anjali looks between us. ‘No, definitely not,’ she says to Paloma. ‘And what do you mean “deliberate”?’ she asks me. ‘Youdeliberatelyset Greta up on rubbish dates?’

‘Yes,’ I reply steadily.

‘Poppy, when you asked for approval to set Greta up with unsuitable men, we assumed you had informed Anjali,’ says Saskia.

She and Paloma may have assumed that, but they didn’t mention it and I couldn’t have informed Anjali even if they’d outright instructed me to. That would have been betraying Greta’s trust; she didn’t want Anjali to know she was onto her. She still doesn’t, which leaves me in a precarious position, one that’s compounded by three forty-something, highly powerful women staring me down.

‘I understand how you may have reached that conclusion,’ I say to Saskia. Turning my attention to Anjali, I say, ‘But I assure you the primary objective remains the same. George and I are wholly committed to matching Greta with the perfect man for her.’

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