Page 47 of Someone Like You

‘Stellar idea, Poppy,’ says Freya, nodding at her earnestly.

‘So, you’re happy to be Raff’s wing-woman?’ Poppy asks, looking directly at me.

‘Wait,what?’

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GABY

‘But why me? Freya would be awaybetter wing-woman than I would,’ I say adamantly. ‘She’s amatchmaker.’

‘Yes, but you’re closer to Raff than I am, which makesyoubetter suited,’ Freya retorts.

She and I lock eyes for a beat, then I turn to Poppy. ‘Seriously, why me?’

‘Well, from what you’ve both told me, youarecloser to Raff than Freya,’ she replies. ‘But you’re forgetting that it can’t be Freya – conflict of interest, remember?’

‘But she’d be acting as his friend, not his matchmaker.’

Poppy makes a face that tells me I’m playing semantics, but I don’t care. I’d make a shitty wing-woman –period.

‘Help me out here, Frey,’ I plead.

‘I’m sorry, but I agree with Poppy. And with my trip to Sweden coming up and my divorcée case – she’ssucha handful – I don’t have the capacity right now.Please?If we’re going to find Raff a girlfriend before Christmas?—’

‘Wait,’ says Poppy, interrupting. ‘Is that your expected timeframe? Because that’s pushing it, Frey.’

‘See?’ I say to Freya. ‘And I’ve got stuff on too. I’ve got all my holiday campaigns, I’m going home in a couple of weeks,andI’m helping Raff tie things up at work… Maybe we need to wait till the New Year and pick this up again then.’

What I don’t say is that by January, I might have talked Freya into playing wing-woman instead of me.

‘Nooo,’ she wails.

What is with her lately? All this whining and wailing. I frown at her, about to call it out, when Poppy addresses me.

‘How about this,’ she says. ‘Is there anything coming up on your calendar that you could invite Raff along to?’

‘You mean before Christmas?’ She nods and when I turn towards Freya, she’s nodding along, her eyes filled with hope.

‘I’ve got a bunch of client events,’ I say, taking out my phone and navigating to my calendar.

My personal stuff is in yellow, and my out-of-hours work stuff in red – and sadly, the coming weeks are drowning in red. With this many client holiday parties in the lead up to Christmas, my calendar looks like a crime scene. These events can be fun – some more than others – but they tend to follow the same format with the only distinguishing feature being the contents of the goodie bags.

‘There’s this,’ I say, spying a client event Raff is also attending. ‘Raff and I are both going to the LuxeLustre event next Tuesday.’

‘LuxeLustre?’ Poppy asks.

‘Luxury jewellery designer.’

‘Ahh,’ she replies. ‘I suppose that could work, but I was hoping for something a little less “corporate-y” and a little more personal. Is there anything else?’

My eyes land on this coming Saturday afternoon, which I’ve blocked out to go to a day spa. They’re one of my newer clients – super upmarket and way out of my modest marketing managerbudget. They’ve booked me in for ‘the full treatment’ – gratis for me and a guest. Only I’d forgotten about it till now and I haven’t invited anyone yet.

Would Raff want to go with me? The thought of him wrapped in a white, fluffy robe with cucumbers on his eyes makes me chuckle.

‘Care to share?’ Poppy asks.

I hold up my phone. ‘I’ve got this day spa thing on Saturday. A freebie from a client for me and a guest, but I doubt?—’

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