Page 21 of Faking It (and falling in love)

“Me? Ha! I’m the rolling stone that gathers no moss. I wasn’t built to settle down.” Alex drained her cup, her eyes roaming everywhere but at Philippa, who couldn’t help wondering what the real story there was. But tonight wasn’t the night to delve deeper.

“I can feel my eyes beginning to droop,” said Philippa. “So I’m going to take a stroll home. I’m only a ten minute walk from here.”

“On your own?” said Alex. “I don’t think so.”

“Oh for goodness’ sake,” said Philippa, “so you plan to walk me home?”

“Yes,” said Alex, a tone of indignation in her voice.

“And then who would walk you home? Me?” Philippa laughed. “Because then we’d get stuck just walking back and forth between our houses and neither of us would get any sleep.”

“You are annoyingly smart,” said Alex with a smirk. “Ok, well text me when you get in.”

“Deal,” said Philippa.

Alex opened the front door for Philippa, who wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do now.

Should they hug?

Before she could worry any further, Alex pulled her in for a tight bear hug that made her want to squeal with delight.

“Thanks for tonight,” said Philippa, her voice muffled through the hug. “I enjoyed it.”

“Me too,” agreed Alex, letting Philippa go. “Now remember to text me when you get in or I’ll come and knock your door down.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Philippa saluted. “See you soon.”

Alex waved and then slowly closed the door.

Philippa walked through the dark, silent streets of Kings Heath, feeling an excitement bubbling inside that was probably entirely unwarranted. This was fake. Alex herself had been trying to find her a date. But in spite of that knowledge, Philippa enjoyed the feeling. It was so different to the disappointing boys she’d spent time with in her teens and twenties. There had been nothing wrong with them, but she’d never been able to muster up any real excitement or chemistry with any of them. She’d assumed that romance and attraction was massively overstated, in the films and books she’d seen and read. She knew now, for a fact, that it wasn’t. That was reassuring, even if Alex wasn’t the one for her.

Chapter Sixteen

“It’s quite a depressing thought,” said the man. “Planning for our deaths.”

“Dan,” said his wife, a warning tone in her voice. “Talking about it doesn’t make it any more likely to happen. We’ve talked about this before.”

“I know,” said Dan. They were in their forties, sat together in Philippa’s office.

“And we have children. We need to take care of Ferny and Billy, make sure that if anything were to happen to us, everything would be ok for them. And we need to make sure we’re each taken care of if the other one goes first.” The woman, who’d introduced herself as Lou, smiled at her husband, and his brow softened. He smiled uncertainly.

“Right,” said Philippa, “this won’t be too complicated based on the information you’ve already shared with me. I would agree with you, Lou, that having things in place is really important. People who die without a will – intestate we call it – can unwittingly leave behind a lot of confusion and difficulty for their loved ones. If the worst should ever happen, the last thing you want to be worrying about is money.”

Lou looked at Dan kindly, as if to underline what Philippa was saying. He gave a grim smile. “Yeah,” he said.

Philippa went through their options carefully, explaining each step. She knew that one of the most important things as a solicitor was to avoid blinding her clients with terminology, as she’d seen so many of her colleagues do.

She was meeting Charlie for lunch at a Japanese restaurant on Colmore Row, so once she’d agreed the details she’d be drafting for the couple, she headed out of the office.

“Loving the hair,” said Charlie.

“You said that already,” Philippa laughed.

“Hair like that deserves to be loved more than once. So, have you had any hot dates yet?” he asked as he tucked into his poke bowl.

Philippa speared a piece of sashimi on a chopstick. “Well, not a real one.”

“Good lord, you’re not still keeping up that charade with Fletch, are you?” He rolled his eyes.

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