Or hide.
“You should have seen Siobhan,” Lydia gushed once he’d retreated to the bar. “Stunning. A model you know, always jetting off to London, Milan, places like that. She has such afabulousfigure. He must be heartbroken.”
“Must be,” Jenny muttered.
“They’d been going out forever and everyonethought they’d be together for good. Still,” she added conspiratorially, “Roan always had a wandering eye…”
“Jen, will you come with me to the Ladies’?” Karen suggested shortly. “Need to borrow some lipstick.”
Lydia looked disappointed to lose her audience when Jenny duly got up and followed.
“Thanks, that was … awkward,” she said airily, checking her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
Karen looked at her. “I know Lydia’s a bit of a wagon, but…”
“But what?”
“… just be careful, OK. That’s all I’m saying.”
“I don’t think thatisall you’re saying, actually,” Jenny retorted, realisation dawning when her friend wouldn’t meet her eye. “You don’t like him at all, do you? I noticed that you haven’t exactly been falling all over him but you could speak to him at least.”
Karen grimaced. “It’s just … I know you’re keen but … there’s something about the guy that I can’t quite put my finger on. And I take it this is the first you’ve heard about any engagement either.”
Her friend was famously mistrustful of people, Jenny knew, but that didn’t mean hearing this didn’t hurt.
But Karen didn’t know Roan well enough yet, that was all.
“It’s none of my business, is it?” Jenny insisted confidently. “If he says it’s over, then it’s over. Nothing for me - or more to the point,you- to be concerned about.”
8
Karen closed a file on her desk and sat back in her chair, trying her utmost to ignore a growing migraine.
She checked her diary and found that she had nothing urgent pencilled in for the afternoon which was a bonus. Then buzzed reception. “I won’t be coming back after lunch. Can you hold any messages until tomorrow?”
She hoped that it sounded as though she would be away somewhere work-related and not at home nursing her aching brain.
Shortly after, she stepped out of the building into the cool, crisp, afternoon. It was heading towards the middle of November, which meant that she would need to start organising the office Christmas party soon. She would also need to cut down on junk food if she was going to fit into any of her party clothes. She was doing way toomuch pigging out in front of the telly with Shane, she admitted ruefully.
They didn’t see too much of Jenny these days. Since their confrontation in the pub, her friend had been spending pretty much all of her free time with Roan.
Karen now wished that she hadn’t admitted her misgivings to Jenny that night after Lydia had dropped her bombshell. But what was done was done, and like Shane said, she needed to work on holding her tongue.
And on her trust issues.
Still, while she couldn’t put her finger on it, she truly did think something was a bit … off about the guy. She found it difficult to have a proper conversation with him; it was always small talk and to her mind, he seemed ill at ease and even a bit … snide sometimes.
Which made Karen suspect that the feeling was mutual.
Feeling a little peckish now, she decided to pop into the shopping centre and grab something to eat on the way home – maybe a salad roll, or something healthy at least. As Karen approached the deli counter in the store, she heard laughter coming from a nearby aisle and a male voice she recognised.
Speak of the devil…
What were Roan and Jenny doing here when by rights they should both be at work too?
But then catching sight of the couple in question, Karen quickly realized her error. Her friend was nowhere to be seen.
Tall and willowy, Roan’s companion was pretty withlong, dark, glossy hair. He stood close to her as she picked up items from the dairy cabinet. They looked … cosy.
