Quickly, I jiggled Humphrey’s lead to the other hand and took the woman’s, accepting the firm but friendly shake.
‘I just wanted to check that everything was OK for you?’
I nodded. ‘It’s absolutely lovely, thank you.’
She smiled again, and gave a little laugh. ‘I’m sorry. I should have introduced myself. I’m Carla.’ At the lack of any sign of recognition on my part, she continued, ‘I’m the manager of the chain. Seb Marshall’s… friend.’ She hesitated on the last word and I wasn’t quite sure if I should make something of that.
‘Oh! Right. Thank you for arranging all this for us.’ I nodded down at Humphrey as I spoke and Carla smiled and briefly dipped to give Humph a little head rub.
‘You’re more than welcome. Seb was very insistent that you only got the best.’ She gave me a little smile and the merest hint of enquiring eyebrow.
‘Ha!’ I laughed, a little awkwardly. ‘Oh. Oh dear. I hope it wasn’t any trouble. It really was something I just mentioned in passing and then he said he knew someone and that he might be able to have a chat with you and…’ I tailed off, aware that I was beginning to ramble out of control.
Carla laid a hand on my arm briefly. ‘Don’t worry about it. It really was my pleasure. Seb’s a great guy.’
‘He is. Yes. And, um, a great client too.’
‘Client?’ she frowned a little.
‘Yes. I’m a virtual personal assistant. Seb was my first client. Well, I suppose technically the charity is, but… so yes.’ Again with the rambling.
‘Oh. I see. I thought maybe he’d finally found someone who was right for him. And the way he talked about you…’
I felt myself blush and flapped my hand. ‘You know what he’s like.’
‘I do.’ Those two words seemed loaded and I felt the blush deepen. ‘And, frankly, this was such a pleasure to arrange as he obviously cares about you and I’ll never be able to repay him for introducing me to my fiancé.’
‘He did?’
She smiled and glanced down at her left hand. A huge sparkling solitaire diamond set in a platinum band caught the light as she moved it. ‘He did. Seb and I went out a few times, but it never came to anything. Just not the right chemistry for something to happen, I guess, but we had a fun time, so it was lovely to stay friends with him.’
‘He is a good friend,’ I replied, relieved to be back on more solid ground.
‘So then he calls me up and tells me he’s just had a meeting with this guy who’s planning on sponsoring the charity for something and thinks he’d be perfect for me and that he’d set up a dinner date for that evening.’
‘He didn’t?’
‘I know, right? I kind of wanted to be cross with him for barrelling ahead without asking me first, but there’s something about Seb. He’s a pretty good assessor of people. And, frankly, I had nothing better to do that night, so I went.’
I pointed at her left hand, grinning. ‘I guess it worked out.’
‘Perfectly. Of course, Seb did his best not to be smug about it when I told him, but he didn’t quite pull that off.’
‘No, well, he is a man.’
Carla laughed and glanced at the expensive watch on her wrist. ‘I’d better get on, but I just wanted to meet you and check everything was OK.’
‘And check out who Seb had pulled strings for?’ I grinned.
She wrinkled her nose. ‘Was I that obvious?’
I shook my head, still smiling. ‘Not at all. It was really nice to meet you. I wanted to thank you anyway. And I’d totally have done the same thing. It’s obvious that Seb means a lot to you, which is understandable. But don’t worry, we’re just friends. There’s absolutely no romance there, so I’m not about to break his heart or anything. I think I’d be just as upset as you if someone did that to him, so I totally get it.’
‘There was some aristocrat after him when we were going out. He didn’t seem interested at the time, but I did wonder…’
I nodded. ‘Yes. She’s still interested apparently.’
Carla pulled a face. ‘I know he’s Mr Tough Guy, but she’s already been through three husbands.’ She made a palms-up gesture. ‘I’d just hate for Seb to get hurt.’
