The Mini-Break by Maddie Please

Author:Maddie Please
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008305222
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-02-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

I was rather excited at the prospect of meeting some new people and finding out more about Joe and Ivy and of course the question that had never been satisfactorily addressed: Ivy’s mother.

I got a bit more of the dreary editing work done that morning then went to choose my outfit for the evening. It wasn’t easy. A pair of tailored black trousers, a white cowl neck sweater and a grey herringbone jacket. I finished off with some black suede ankle boots. Then I realised the trousers were rather tight around the waist courtesy of all the junk I had been eating and to think of wearing black trousers and a white cashmere sweater to a place where I’d already been warned about the mud was sheer madness. Not to mention the suede boots. I changed into some dark jeans and a white T-shirt topped off with a leather jacket. I looked like a Rock Chick manqué.

Then I tried a dress and heels (ludicrous), a skirt and matching jumper (dull) and eventually went back to the jeans, the white T-shirt and a cheerful red cardigan. By the time I had sorted that out it was nearly six thirty so I went downstairs to watch out of the sitting room window for Isobel to arrive. At six thirty-five I went to find a sneaky glass of red wine to give me a bit of Dutch courage, which is ridiculous when you think I’ve been to gala evenings at the Mansion House and Hampton Court, even a thing at Sandhurst when I was dating a man who looked like Tom Cruise but who turned out to have obsessive-compulsive disorder and had brought his own cutlery in a Tupperware box.

I finished my wine, washed up the glass in a rather guilty way and put it back in the cupboard. Five minutes later I saw a four by four making its way up the lane so I went to fetch my coat. The front doorbell rang and I went to answer it.

There on the doorstep, looking more blisteringly attractive than even I had remembered, was Joe.

‘Oh,’ I said rather faintly, wondering if he was going to kiss me and whether he would smell the alcohol on my breath if he did.

‘Hello,’ he said and he grinned at me, ‘my mother sent me to fetch you.’

‘Did she?’

Suddenly, as piercing as a knife blade, all I could think of was the way it had felt to have his body on mine, his warm breath on my throat, his hands in my hair.

He leaned forward and kissed my cheek and then he looked at me his eyes sparkling, and I could tell he was remembering exactly the same things. I turned out the light in the hall so that he couldn’t see me blushing.

‘Ready?’ he said.

I picked up the bottle of wine and chocolates I was taking and followed him out into the dark evening. Not the muddy Land Rover this time but a rather smart four by four with leather seats and the heating full on.

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