‘OK then, see you Friday, if not before, Miss Winter.’
‘Friday,’ she said firmly as she handed him and the crew back over to a hovering and intrigued Marion, and started to head back to class. She hadn’t taken two paces before she began to feel a bit bad and she turned back to him.
‘Matt…’ She paused at the door as she held it open. ‘Putting the you and me dynamics to one side, I just want to tell you how grateful I am, on behalf of everyone, for what you’ve agreed to do for the school.’ She moved back towards him and held out her hand to shake; she was going to end today on a professional note. ‘Thank you, I’m looking forward to working with you.’
He smiled a slightly less Matt smile than usual and shook her hand.
‘Here’s to saving your school, Rosy. We’re going to be an unbeatable team.’ And then he was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Matt was sitting up at the breakfast bar pouring himself a second glass of red when Angelina clattered into the kitchen. He hadn’t seen her properly since the party; she seemed to whizz in and out at all hours nowadays and with a purpose he couldn’t quite decode. He had stopped asking where she went every day. Experience suggested it was best not to ask unless he wanted to listen to twenty minutes of drawling sentences punctuated with the overuse of ‘darling’ and still be none the wiser.
So instead he just nodded hello and took another slug. He knew he was a fool to be obsessing over Rosy; she’d barely had the time of day for him since their supper, then she’d had that hideous meltdown that he still didn’t fully understand but certainly didn’t want to broach and today, although friendly, she couldn’t have made it clearer that she was expecting things to be ‘professional’ only, from now on in. He just wished he knew where he had gone wrong.
Maybe this was what his mates had warned him of when he was younger, that never having a woman say no was not necessarily a good thing. They got knocked back daily, so they said, and all was good. They had always threatened him that one day it would happen and his world would fall apart.
His world may not be falling apart but it was certainly nagging at him. It wasn’t as if he was unable to think of nothing else. He was concentrating a lot of time on work, how this project was going to pan out, how involving the children was going to be great, a real USP, doing good for the community, the paying-it-forward thing that people were and should be doing more of. It was a savvy career move as well as the right thing to do. See, that wasn’t thinking about Rosy!
‘Hey! I said hello, is there a reason you’re ignoring me?’
He took a deep breath and felt his eyes roll of their own accord. ‘Hello, Angelina. Nice to see you.’
‘Well, don’t worry about making that sound believable in any way. Are you drinking?’
Matt moved the bottle out of her reach.
‘But we don’t keep red in the house!’
He gave her a measured, fraternal look. One that stated that he would like her to shut up, and quite quickly. Or he’d burn her Barbie doll.
‘Oh my God! You’re mooning over Little Miss Perfect, aren’t you? Too busy baking to put out? Needs a ring on her finger first?’
Matt arched a warning eyebrow. ‘Don’t be such a cow and no!’
‘Oh wow, I haven’t heard that tone since you were twelve! You are, you are. I really thought you had more… I don’t know… more taste? And actually after her appalling, appalling behaviour on Valentine’s night it’s not just a matter of taste but sanity. As in, she’s clearly absolutely bonkers and if her outrageous display wasn’t enough to put you off then you are too!’
‘Angelina, I’m not sure you’re the best person to lecture on acceptable behaviour…’ Matt grinned at his sister and giggled a little as she gave him a look that stated that she was very clearly the pinnacle of calm and rational common sense and had no idea what he was referring to.
‘Clearly, oh brother mine, we need to have a little chat about firm boundaries. That bottle’s nearly gone, let me open some fizz.’
He hadn’t got drunk with his sister in what felt like ages (well, just over a fortnight ago in London but he couldn’t be expected to keep track of such things) and yes, she was a shocking example of humanity – having even less empathy or compassion than your average dictator, and very strong opinions on anything that involved Rosy, or directly opposed her world view – but she was bloody good fun.
She started with the Scarlett O’Hara and the curtains game, moved on to tangoing around the kitchen and then tried to give him a pedicure. She had wanted to tackle his fingernails, but those of a gardener’s were pretty different to most and after examination Angelina threatened to have to lie down if he didn’t cover them up immediately. Which is why he seemed to be currently dancing around the kitchen with Scramble, wearing a pair of gloves with half a red toenail. The one upside of Rosy’s ‘professional’ relationship with him was that she was hardly likely to come wandering in and catch him like this. Mind you, how much would it make her giggle if she saw him now?
Dancing eventually turned to discussion, as he tried to get to the bottom of Rosy’s relationship with the man at the party. Angelina veered between stating that she couldn’t bear to listen to such drivelling, self-destructive nonsense, lying on the floor pushing Scramble (who had beautiful red nails at this point) off her, and jumping in on his monologue, outraged by everything he said.
‘I think she’s dating that guy at the party, did you see him? I wasn’t sure at first but she didn’t come home that night…’
‘That’s because she was as pissed as a newt and being very, very needy. Poor Chase had to get Marion to put her to bed, she was spoiling everyone’s evening.’
‘So they’re not dating?’
‘Why would he be dating Rosy? He’s a multi-squillionaire with remarkable taste-, he’s not interested in the country mouse.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Oh yes, I happen to know that on the night of the party he was single and very definitely interested in someone else. Someone with style, grace, immaculate taste and a rather wonderful wardrobe.’ His sister smirked a predatory smirk, one that made him grateful that he would never be on the receiving end of it. I really think you need to re-evaluate this crazy hang-up you have. She’s really not worth it.’
