Page 45 of Falling for You
‘Why are you messaging Atif?’ I ask, already knowing the answer.
‘For his Halloween piece in the paper!’ Dad says. ‘He always loves to include your picture.’
‘No, he doesn’t.’
‘Yes, he does! He told Mum, didn’t he?’
‘Yes!’ Mum chirps back.
I roll my eyes. There is no point telling her that Atif is just being polite.
‘Now, what’s next?’ Dad smiles at me. ‘Have you got any more orders in?’
I take a sip of my tea and feel myself warm at the sweetness. Dad always puts a spoonful of honey in it, even though I told him that I gave up the habit years ago.
‘Just the gremlin one that came through the other day,’ I say. ‘I’ve nearly finished.’
‘Fantastic,’ Dad beams at me. ‘I can’t wait to see it.’
I smile, picking up my phone which has burst into life at the sudden influx of signal and is vibrating wildly.
My three-way group chat with Tanya and Penny is going ballistic. For a second, I fear that they may have spotted a mouse again and they’re demanding I come back to London to sort it out (last time, they both hid in Tanya’s room for hours one night squealing whilst I chased it out of the house and promised that I spotted where it went and carefully – and securely – blocked its entrance. Reader: I have no bloody idea where it went, but I was so delighted that it had disappeared and they’d stopped screaming that I was prepared to swear on the Bible if it meant I could go back to bed).
But when I open the messages I see that Tanya and Penny are sending me endless photos of men’s Instagram profiles.
Annie – we’re trying to work out which man is the most likely to be your type. It’s quite tricky without you here, but Penny has come up with an equation!!!!
I grin as I look at the seven emojis Tanya has sent along with her message. Tanya is the most glamorous, suave person that I know, until she writes a WhatsApp message. Then she may as well be christened Judy from Accounts.
Male, aged between 18 and 40.
I nearly drop my phone. Eighteen! What does she take me for? I could be his mother!
I mean, I would have been fifteen, but still.
American looking, nice man x the likelihood that Annie will find him attractive considering his type is a woman dressed as a bat.
I raise my eyebrows as I read Tanya’s following message.
Isn’t itBRILLIANT?
I mean, that makes absolutely no sense. They’ve clearly cracked open the champagne Tanya was gifted by a client last week.
We will shortlist and show you when you get back. We’re so excited!
I take a deep breath and send up a silent prayer.
Please God, don’t allow my friends to message these poor, unsuspecting men asking if they’re a) American and b) like female bats.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Nate
‘Here he is, back from the States!’
I look up from my desk and see Brian peering at me in between the forest of plants. He’s wearing a green corduroy shirt and his unruly hair is springing out of the top of his head. It somehow looks wilder than it did the last time I saw him.
‘Hey, Brian,’ I say. ‘Sorry for taking off like that.’
