Page 79 of People Skills

‘There are,’ Kat says, piping up with an evil look in her eye. ‘I’ve been offering to set Charlotte up with one of my friends.’

‘Oh, well, Charlotte, that sounds promising. You know I set Xavier up with Lana,’ Hillary says.

‘They did break up though,’ I point out.

‘Temporarily. They’ll get back together. Did you know they’ve been emailing?’

This hits me like a glass of cold water to the face.

‘They have?’ I try to rearrange myself, my voice, my tone. Be calm, be normal. This is good, this is what Hillary wanted, and what Hillary wants is what I want. The better Xavier’s life goes, the better it reflects on me. I don’t care about this information, I don’t. I’m only hurt because he didn’t tell me. It seems like something he should have mentioned.

‘Yes, Lana told me,’ Hillary says. ‘Isn’t that great?’

‘So great,’ I say.

‘So, we’re all in agreement, set-ups work,’ Kat says.

‘Which friend are we talking about?’ I ask Kat. ‘Not Jason the fire twirler.’

‘No, no, I have other options.’

‘Handsome Michael?’ Jamila says. Any time Kat has shown us a photo of a group of her friends, Michael has definitely been the standout. I am not against a date with Handsome Michael. ‘Didn’t you say he was about to break up with his girlfriend?’

‘I thought he was, but they just got engaged.’

‘Then who?’ I say.

‘Nathan. My accountant.’

‘Your accountant? No. That feels inappropriate. And desperate,’ I say.

‘We’re friends!’ Kat says. ‘He helped Simone get set up with the bar and everything.’

‘He’s employed,’ Hillary says to me encouragingly. ‘That’s one box ticked.’

‘And he could do your taxes for you,’ Jamila says.

‘And he’s cute,’ Kat assures me.

‘You should do it,’ Hillary says. ‘It’ll be good for you.’

There’s nothing more unappealing to me than a suggestion ending with the words it’ll be good for you.

‘I’ll think about it,’ I say, which I hope they understand is my polite way of declining. Thankfully, Jamila gets an alert on her phone and the conversation quickly turns to work, and we discuss the ins and outs of poetry plagiarism, but the words they’ve been emailing remain on a loop in my head.

Why is it bothering me so much that Xavier and Lana have emailed? It’s not bothering me, I tell myself. Okay, it is, but only lightly. A distracting little brain niggle.

God, I wish it wasn’t bothering me so much.

As we stand up to leave, Hillary tells Kat and Jamila we’ll meet them back at the office. She turns to me.

‘It’s Ettie’s birthday this weekend and Graham and I thought we’d throw her a birthday party at my place on Saturday night,’ Hillary says.

I nod, like it’s perfectly normal for her to be saying ‘Graham and I’ in any sentence.

‘You want to have another dinner with Graham so soon?’ I say, trying to keep my voice neutral.

‘I know it was a train wreck last weekend,’ Hillary says. ‘But that’s why I think we need to try it again. A do-over.’