‘Twenty-seven.’
‘Well, make that under thirty-five unless you fancy older men.’
She couldn’t help laughing. ‘I don’t fancy any kind of man – well, I don’t mean that exactly; I do fancy men sometimes but I don’t want to do anything about it. Not just now. I’ve got too much on.’
‘That’s exactly how I feel. I can appreciate a pretty girl or a lovely woman but I’m not going to ask her out. I haven’t time to maintain a relationship. And, like houses, they need maintaining.’
‘And you’re too busy maintaining your property empire,’ said Helena and then hoped it didn’t look as if she was having a dig.
‘I am! Being a slum landlord is very hard work!’
She laughed. ‘I wouldn’t describe you as a slum landlord.’
‘I’m flattered.’ He considered for a moment. ‘Here’s an idea. Supposing we have an arrangement where if one of us needs a partner to go to anything, or wants to get a matchmaker off our backs – Lord, how I hate matchmakers – we can use the other person, say we’re an item.’
Helena exhaled slowly. ‘I don’t actually hate my matchmaker. Amy is my best friend and my mother doesn’t matchmake often, she just sighs and clamps her lips shut if any of my friends has a baby. I’m not sure it would work.’
‘Why?’
‘I’ve been determinedly single for so long. I’m not sure anyone would believe it. It’s so hard to make a living as a craftsperson, I haven’t had time to look for a partner as well.’
‘They don’t have to believe we’ve fallen in love. But if you took me along to something that had Amy or your mum at it, for example, you could just say it’s early days when they ask if we’re an item—’
‘And they will ask,’ said Helena. ‘They will explode.’
‘Of course my mates would tell me I was punching.’
‘What?’
‘Above my weight,’ he explained. ‘But I’ll just shrug in a casual way and say, “If you’ve got it, you’ve got it.” I’ll channel Joey inFriends.’
‘That’s a brilliant plan. And I’ll get the shortbread immediately!’ said Helena. ‘Joey eats everything!’
‘Actually, hang on a minute. I’ve just had an idea. Somewhere you might be able to put your loom for – say – at least another six months.’
‘Well, that’s amazing!’
‘It might not be that amazing. The room needs an awful lot doing to it to make it useable and I can’t do the work.’
‘So …’
‘You’ll have to do it.’
‘Listen, mate, I like DIY as much as the next girl, but I’m not a builder.’
He laughed. ‘You don’t need to be a builder.’ He hesitated. ‘Would you like me to show it to you now? It’s not far.’
Helena suddenly felt very tired and regretted drinking so much wine. ‘Actually, I don’t think now is a good time. I’m a bit drunk and I’d probably say yes to something I’ll think is a really bad idea in the morning.’
He laughed. ‘I’ll come with you to your car and get the shortbread. And I’ll knock on your door tomorrow and arrange a time to see the building.’
When Helena was in bed, reading a couple of pages of her book, she realised she’d spent the nicest evening with a man that she had for a long time. She had resolved to give Amy a little lecture on thebenefit of platonic friendships when she stopped herself. Much better to stick to Jago’s plan of letting everyone think they were together. Then Amy would stop going on about her trying to find a boyfriend. She could say she had one and Jago would back her up. She felt very satisfied, not to say smug. Helena was glad now that Amy, after her brave words about checking Jago out, had confessed to her that she actually had her eye on someone else just at the moment and so wouldn’t mind Helena claiming Jago. Everyone would be happy! She even fancied Jago a bit, which would make the whole charade a bit more realistic. Result!
It was about ten when Jago turned up the following day. He was holding the empty shortbread tin.
‘I can’t believe you’ve eaten it all already!’ Helena said when she saw him.
‘No, although it was absolutely delicious. I put what I didn’t eat into another box. I popped over to arrange a time to go and see this building.’
