Page 63 of Another Lucky Number

‘Whatever. Sorry about her.’ I offer the guys an apologetic look as I sit down at the table. ‘What Amber means is it’s lovely to see you, and she’s looking forward to spending the evening with you.’

‘What is this?Made in Chelsea?’ she hoots.

‘It’s called manners, Amber. You should try acquiring some.’

‘Good one, coming from the woman who threatened to beat up a couple of eight-year-olds.’

There’s a collective stifled snigger from around the table causing my cheeks to flame hotter than the restaurant grill.

‘I wasn’t going to beat them…oh, you’re insufferable.’

I realise that I need to pipe down. I should have known better than to poke the bear – which tells me that, as much as this feedback session is going to be super painful and humiliating, perhaps she’s right that I badly need it.

‘How are you?’ James murmurs in my ear, subtly slipping his arm around my waist.

‘I’ve been better.’ I give a resigned smile, to which he responds with a reassuring hug.

‘Don’t worry, no one’s thinking badly of you. Your little spats with Amber are quite endearing.’

‘I’m glad they work for someone.’

We’re interrupted by a waiter who comes to take our order, and several minutes later our table is laden with beer, wine and starter platters piled high with mouth-watering barbecued shrimp, squid, ribs and wings along with piles of zesty Carribean-style salads.

It’s such fun having James and his friends with us, and everyone seems to be getting on brilliantly. So much so, that my mind glosses over one important aspect of the evening.

‘Are you ready for your personal development feedback, Emma?’ Amber’s eyes are twinkling a bit too mischievously for my liking.

‘Ah shit. I forgot about that.’ I set down my knife and fork despairingly. ‘Any chance we can do it in the morning? We’re having such a great evening.’

Five expectant sets of eyes (including mine) land on Amber, waiting for her to call judgement. Unfortunately, it’s clear that I’m the only one who really wants her to grant my request.

‘Nope, sorry.’ She shakes her head. ‘There’s still too much we need to do. We’re already behind because of your hissy fit earlier.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Well, I’d planned to do your feedback this afternoon, but it was obvious it would have gone down like a lead balloon – especially with Romeo here having made an appearance. No offence, James.’

‘None taken.’ He flashes her an easy smile.

‘And according to the plan, we’re meant to be doing your first round of presentation practice right now, but I’ve had toput that back,so… this has to happen now.’ She raises her eyebrows at me, as if challenging me to go against her word.

Reluctant to cause another scene, I give in and accept my fate. James may have used the term ‘endearing’ to describe Amber’s and my bickering, but I’ll be damned if it’s to become the main entertainment on this resort for him and his friends. Though saying that, I have a horrible feeling that they’ll be treated to one hell of a performance imminently.

Amber pulls out what appears to a scoring sheet with notes scrawled all over it.

‘Have you heard of Emotional Intelligence, Emma?’ she asks.

‘Sure.’ I shrug. ‘Who hasn’t?’

‘Good. How would you define it?’

‘You’re not honestly going to make me answer that, are you? We’re not in a classroom, and you’re not a blinking teacher. Will you get to the point so this can be over quickly?’

‘OK, as Emma’s dodged the question, does anyone else want to answer?’ says Amber.

I scoff and sit back in my seat. There’s no way the others are going to let Amber treat them like school kids.

Rob half raises his hand. ‘Is it not roughly summed up as the ability to understand and manage your thoughts and behaviours, as well as understand other people’s perspectives and build good relationships with them? Daniel Goleman coined the phrase and came up with the development model based on that definition, didn’t he?’

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