‘Not just with her.’ It was more of a statement than a question.
‘Quite possibly. But I hate conflict—’
‘Another reason you’d have made a rubbish soldier.’
‘Yes. Thank you for that. Anyway. It was just as horrible as I thought it would be, saying no. But she did kind of catch me on the hop.’
‘But you made it through.’
‘I did.’
‘Things OK between you now?’
‘It was a bit icy for a while, but she thawed eventually. Helped by the new boyfriend, surprisingly.’
Seb laughed. ‘Why surprisingly? We’re not all bad, you know.’
‘No, I know. But Sally has a type. And they’re not usually ones that help her see a different perspective to her own.’
‘Sounds like he might be good for her.’
‘He might well be. If he sticks around.’
‘Not known for the length of her relationships then?’
‘Not especially. I think it can be difficult with her job though. Shifts and being away and so on. Some people don’t deal with that very well.’
‘If it’s what she loves doing, then the right person should be supportive of it.’
‘Oh, stop being so bloody perfect and start going through these requests with me.’
He grinned a slightly crooked, but utterly perfect, smile and tipped his head down to look at his own hand scribbled notes alongside his email.
* * *
OMG! Tonight’s the night! Major Gorgeous in the flesh!
I shook my head at Jess’ message but couldn’t help laughing.
As I have said a million times – it’s not a date
He’d made that pretty clear, but then that was probably a good thing. No wires to get crossed. No raised expectations. I was pretty sure Seb didn’t have any of those, but still. Good to have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
My phone rang, signalling an incoming video call from Jess. I swiped to answer and braced myself.
‘That’s a very negative attitude to go in with.’ She frowned at me. ‘A girl’s got to go after what she wants these days. Don’t you ever listen to Beyoncé?‘
‘Every time I get in your car.’
‘She is a goddess. And wise.’
‘I’m not disagreeing but not entirely sure how all that’s related to me meeting afriendfor a trip to the theatre.’
‘Owning it, baby!’ Jess did a move that involved her wiggling her head and doing something with her hands that seemed to work for her, but if I had even attempted would make me look like I was having some sort of medical episode.
‘Owning what, exactly?’
Jess waved her hand over me, via the screen. ‘All that.’
