Four Christmases and a Secret by Zara Stoneley

Author:Zara Stoneley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-09-06T17:00:00+00:00

9.30 p.m., 17 July

‘Carrie who?’

The deep voice right next to my left ear makes me jump. ‘Tim!’ Trust him to appear just when he smells a whiff of a story. Good journalists are like that, aren’t they? They manage to be on the spot, and listening, at just the right time. ‘You made it!’ I wrap my hands round his waist and our lips meet. Just the right amount of snog for a party like this. Pleasant.

Oh my God, I need to stop thinking like this. But it is a bit like kissing a middle-aged relative, or somebody you’ve been married to for decades (not that I have been, but it’s how I imagine it can get if you’re not careful). Although I have to admit after a few drinks, and not sharing a bed for longer than seems acceptable, I’d quite like something a bit more intense. Shouldn’t sparks be flying at our age? Right now, we couldn’t set a bone-dry field of straw in a drought on fire.

‘What do you mean, eviction?’ He is actually giving me his intense stare, but it’s the version linked to work, not sex. He’s definitely not thinking about sex, maybe a vodka will help.

‘Bloody hell, don’t you love a man who’s passionate about his work.’ Drawls Frankie. ‘So sexy.’ Her one visible green eye narrows and she rests her chin on her knuckles. I wish Tarquin was here to distract her.

I am tempted to kick her on the ankle, but shockingly Tim is actually preening. He has totally missed the sarcasm and thinks she fancies him, I swear he does. He puts on just the same face when Ruby, the agony aunt (who is nothing like any aunt you have ever seen – she looks about 15 years old), asks if she can ‘run a problem past him’.

I dare to glance Uncle T’s way – he’s faintly amused. Watching them spar.

‘Frankie, great to see!’ Tim grins and gives her a thumbs up. ‘You are looking stunning, even better than last time we met.’ This might actually go alright. I was worried he’d hate her, go on the defensive and she’d shred him to pieces before telling me to dump him. All for my own good of course. Instead he likes her, he’s trying to charm her.

This is good. I’m not the insecure type who is scared her friends might steal her man, and I know that he’s so far away from Frankie’s type that she’ll be amused and entertained rather than turned on. So, this is brilliant.

‘You’ve no idea how great it is to see you too, Timbo. I was beginning to think you were Daisy’s dirty little secret, she just keeps you all to herself.’ She leans forward. ‘Tell us about your naked men!’

They’ve only met a handful of times, just after I started working with him, and briefly at the flat, but every time I see her she drops hints about meeting him properly. So this is supposed to be the opportunity, but I’m not sure I trust her in this mood.

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