My hero. I shot him a grateful smile.
‘Daniel!’ said Emily.
Looking outside, I took a deep breath. My stomach was starting to misbehave. At my age I should have grown out of this.
‘You all right?’ Daniel asked, opening my window a fraction.
I breathed in the cooler air gratefully. ‘I will be,’ I replied between gritted teeth. His hand covered mine with a comforting squeeze so fleeting I could almost have imagined it, except my heartbeat took off at a gallop.
Just as we joined the A4 another idea for Emily came to me. Surely she’d like this one — although she didn’t deserve any more suggestions.
‘What about commissioning a designer dress covered in giant lipstick kisses — each kiss in one of the new season’s colours — and then invite a celebrity to wear the dress to a top-notch event like a film premiere or something?’
‘Yeugh! That is sooo clichéd. Just as well you work on the boring accounts.’
Why did I bother? Miserable cow.
Chapter Three
‘You haven’t confirmed with Barney yet!’
Drat and I’d been so clever at avoiding Kate’s calls all week.
‘Admit it. You’ve been avoiding me. Don’t forget you promised.’
‘I did no such thing!’ I said. ‘Well, it wasn’t exactly a promise.’ I wasn’t going to give into Kate too easily. ‘Look, I will go on this speed-date—’
‘But?’
‘It’s just—’
‘What for God’s sake? What can go wrong?’
I could make a complete fool of myself. Dry up with stage fright. The list of potential humiliations ran into pages. In fact in my mind it was positively encyclopaedic.
‘Nothing, I guess. Just nerves. The thought of having to try and impress—’
‘Olivia! You put your make-up on, wear something gorgeous and be yourself. That’s all you need to do.’
Easy for her to say that. The whole idea filled me with dread.
‘OK. OK.’
‘If you don’t call Barney, I will.’
With an obvious sigh of resignation, I said, ‘I’ll call now.’
‘Go on then. Don’t forget, I have spies.’
She didn’t need them. Auntie Bren’s purple-shadowed eyes would haunt me for ever if I didn’t go on one of Barney’s dates.
Now was probably the right time to phone him, while I was feeling grumpy and out of sorts.
‘Barney Middleton,’ a voice snapped in my ear.
‘Hi, Barney. It’s Olivia.’ I resisted the urge to say, ‘Your grubby, disreputable younger cousin here.’
He’s had that effect on me ever since I was sixteen when Kate told him about the massive crush I had on him. God that soundsas if I go in for crushes on a regular basis. I don’t. I’ve had two in my life, Daniel and Barney. One of which was deserved, the other was NOT.
