The Fallback by Eleanor Goymer

Author:Eleanor Goymer [Goymer, Eleanor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008656560
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

The pub garden had begun to spin. Rosie had lost count of the amount of drinks she’d had but so far she had managed to stay out of sight of Mitch. Hiding behind his least favourite colleague had its advantages, she thought, even if it did mean that she had had to make conversation with Ben all evening. Rosie was just beginning to wonder if she could sneak out without Mitch ever having realised she was there and avoid having to meet Jenny.

‘There you are!’ Mitch said with surprise, finally spotting her in Ben’s shadow, ‘Everything OK?’ he asked with concern as he noted Ben’s hand on her knee. ‘Mate,’ he said, nodding quickly in acknowledgement at Ben before he reached over and pulled Rosie to her feet and away from him.

‘Are you OK?’ Mitch asked her again as he led her away from the table.

‘I’m fine,’ she replied, glad not to have to say much more as she was very aware that she was now in danger of slurring her words.

‘I thought you hadn’t come,’ Mitch continued sounding put out. ‘What were you doing with him?’ he said, indicating his disapproval of Ben.

‘I wasn’t doing anything,’ Rosie retorted, ‘I was waiting for you. I’ve been here for hours.’

Mitch ignored the resentful tone in her voice. ‘Come and meet Jenny,’ he said enthusiastically, ‘I’ve been looking forward to this all day.’

Rosie said nothing but wrinkled her nose with distaste.

‘Jenny, Rosie; Rosie, Jenny,’ Mitch said, switching his arm from around Rosie to pull Jenny in tight against his body. Rosie did her best to ignore the effect this had on her heart. Jenny beamed up at her.

‘I’ve heard so much about you!’ she said excitedly.

Rosie struggled to produce her best smile. ‘Likewise!’ There was an uncomfortable silence while Rosie and Jenny sized each other up and tried to pretend that they weren’t.

‘I need a drink,’ Rosie said. ‘Can I get either of you anything?’ Not waiting for an answer she dived into the crowd, leaving Mitch watching her go in puzzlement.

Rosie stood outside the bathroom, leaning against the wall trying to get her bearings back. It was darker in the corridor here than in the main pub and she took advantage of the dim lighting to gather her thoughts. Tonight was not going well; she was drunk, she had failed to be polite and calm when meeting Jenny (although she hadn’t actually seen the look on Mitch’s face when she walked off, she could just imagine it). And she had spent far longer than she should have done in conversation with Ben.

This could all be fixed, she thought. Firstly she needed to stop drinking right now. Then she needed to get straight back to Jenny and Mitch and make polite conversation and, finally, she had to avoid Ben for the rest of the evening. She could do this.

‘Rosie!’ Rosie’s head whipped round to look back towards the bar and she saw Mitch coming towards her.

‘Where did you get to? Is everything OK?’

‘I’m fine, Mitch.

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