Page 19 of Never Gonna Happen

The fire in Emily’s stomach fizzled out instantly, replaced by a sick feeling of disappointment and then a wave of relief. Of course Jamie had a girlfriend, men like him were never single. Oh, thank God, this makes life SO much easier.

‘What does she do for a living?’ she asked lightly, betting she was a doctor or a human rights lawyer or something incredibly worthy and important.

‘She’s a physiotherapist,’ he replied.

Bingo, thought Emily.

‘She’s done a lot of work with wounded servicemen returning from Afghanistan.’

Ugh, double bingo.

‘She lives in London so we don’t see a huge amount of each other. I hate being in London, but she likes it here and comes up when she can. She’s here in a couple of days, actually. Her name’s Louisa.’

Of course it is, thought Emily. She immediately pictured Louisa in her head – willowy and beautiful, expensive hair and teeth, healing hands that also played the cello.

‘What about you?’ asked Jamie. ‘Do you have a partner?’

She briefly considered making up a boyfriend who was an aid worker in Sudan and also an underwear model, then thought better of it. ‘I did,’ she replied, ‘but we split up last month. It’s part of why I took the job here.’

‘Oh dear,’ said Jamie with a nervous laugh. ‘Sounds ugly.’

‘Not really,’ said Emily, not wanting him to think her love life was a hot mess. ‘I just needed a change, a chance to put myself first for a while. I think it was the right decision.’ He didn’t say anything, so she decided to seize the opportunity to go fishing. ‘Tell me about your family,’ she asked. ‘They seem . . . interesting.’

Jamie smiled at her recall of their first conversation. ‘Well, you’ve met my charming brother,’ he replied. ‘His wife Victoria is very much along similar lines, and their two sons are little monsters. Anna has to lock up anything fragile when they come to the house.’

‘Wow, OK,’ said Emily, thinking of her brother David, who she adored, and her two gorgeous nephews. She couldn’t wait to see them at Christmas.

‘I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this,’ added Jamie, ‘but you did ask. My sister Catherine lives in LA with my mother. They’re both very . . . LA, I guess.’

‘What does that mean?’ asked Emily. The closest she’d been to LA was her former flatmate Paul, who transformed into a drag queen called Beverly Hells at the weekends and owned a wig that had allegedly once belonged to Joan Collins.

‘Catherine has a new face every time I see her, but no job that I know of. As far as I can tell, she and my mother spend their time shopping, lunching and doing yoga.’

‘I mean, it’s one way to live,’ said Emily.

‘Sometimes I wonder if I was switched at birth,’ said Jamie with a laugh. ‘But then I spend time with Dad and realise how alike we are. Although I think he wishes I’d done more with my life by the age of thirty, had some of his ambition.’

So that’s what’s disappointed Mr Hunter about Jamie, thought Emily. Could definitely be worse.

‘What are your family like?’ Jamie asked.

Emily smiled at the thought of them. ‘Oh, pretty ordinary really. My mum is a dinner lady at my old school in Chichester and my dad works for the council.’ She glanced at Jamie to see if he had tuned out, but he looked fascinated.

‘Any brothers or sisters?’ he asked.

‘Two brothers, both older,’ she replied. ‘David lives in Newcastle with his wife Joanne and their two kids, he works for an engineering company. Simon lives in Hamburg with his husband Eric, he does something in advertising.’

‘Simon, or Eric?’ asked Jamie.

‘Simon,’ said Emily with a smile. ‘Eric works in a museum. Curating, conservation, something like that. He’s German and lovely.’

‘Why do I get the feeling you like your family a lot more than I like mine?’ asked Jamie.

Emily laughed, realising how much she missed them all. ‘Yeah. They can be a bit much sometimes, but I love my family a lot.’

‘Will they all be back for Christmas?’ he asked.

‘David and his family will,’ said Emily happily. ‘Simon and Eric are staying in Hamburg. Mum and Dad’s house is . . . pretty small, it’s really hard for us all to get together.’ She wondered if Jamie had ever been in a house like the one her parents lived in. Probably not.