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Matt tried to stand his ground while the assistant tugged the jacket from his arms. ‘Christ, Leah. Do we have to do this?’ Her determined expression told him that resisting was futile. ‘Fine. She’s tall… slim… long brown hair.’ He had a flashback from their meeting in the pub garden, ‘and shapely knees.’
‘Shapely knees?’ Leah laughed.
He shook away the image of Beth hoisting up her skirt to straddle the bench seat. It was oddly distracting.
Leah grinned. ‘Is she sexy?’
The idea of calling Beth sexy almost made him laugh. He could think of a dozen other ways to describe her, but sexy? No way. At least, not in a conventional way. Not in any way, in fact. Bad-tempered, definitely. Prickly and annoying, most certainly. But sexy?
‘Why are you blushing?’
He startled. ‘I’m not.’
‘Your cheeks have gone red. You like her, don’t you?’
Matt glanced down in time to witness the assistant’s wide-eyed expression when he measured the circumference of Matt’s thighs. ‘Beth Lawrence is the most irritating woman I’ve ever met.’
The assistant straightened and measured Matt’s neck, adding to Matt’s insecurities. ‘I’ll need to order in a larger dress shirt,’ he said, jotting down the numbers in his notepad. ‘The trousers we can accommodate from our High & Mighty range. The cummerbund and bow tie are no problem, but you’ll need to have a jacket specially made.’
It was official. He was a lard-arse. ‘How much will that set me back?’
‘I’ll obtain a quote and email it to you.’ He waved Matt away like he was an errant schoolboy and beckoned Leah over. ‘Your turn, young lady.’
Leah grimaced as she got up, no doubt offended at being labelled a ‘lady’.
As she allowed the assistant to measure her slim chest, she glanced over, intrigued. ‘How is Beth irritating?’
Matt plonked himself down next to his mum, making the chair creak. ‘She’s like an itch you can’t get rid of. We’ve met twice and both times we’ve ended up arguing.’
‘Promising.’ Leah winked at their mum, who smiled. ‘Getting under your skin might not be such a bad thing.’
He looked between them. ‘Are you kidding me? It’s a sign I should stay well clear.’
Leah was handed a jacket to try on, which hung off her. ‘Too big, right?’
‘Far too big.’ The assistant tutted. ‘Our jackets are cut for the male physique, there’s not much demand for evening suits for women.’
‘Well, that’s just plain sexist.’ Leah shrugged off the jacket and looked over at Matt. ‘I was thinking about this the other day. You’ve had three significant relationships, but each one ended disastrously.’
‘I wouldn’t say disastrously,’ he replied, defensively.
‘Alison left you for one of your rugby mates.’
‘Thanks for reminding me.’ Matt glared at his sister. ‘Do we have to have this conversation here?’ He nodded at the assistant, who was doing a lousy job of pretending not to listen.
‘Jenni buggered off with that bloke from work,’ she added, slipping on another jacket.
‘Like I need reminding.’
‘And don’t get me started on Petra.’
‘Then I won’t.’
‘What a nutjob she turned out to be. How long was it before she wanted to move in with you? Six weeks? Talk about intense. Right, Mum?’
His mum jolted, woken from her semi-slumber. ‘What? Oh, yes, she was rather unfortunate.’
Matt looked between his mum and sister. ‘Is there a point to this?’
