Caffeine_Addict
Get out there and have some fun for a change.
Florence_71
And do you have any plans for a date?
Caffeine_Addict
I wish. Sadly, work’s getting in the way at the
moment, so I’m living vicariously through you. Go on.
Take one for the team.
Jenny sent a lopsided frown at her screen.
Florence_71
Fine.
Caffeine_Addict
Your excitement is palpable. Maybe practise making it a little more believable for the poor bastard’s sake.
Florence_71
I’m sure he’ll cope.
She closed the chat window and let out a long breath as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.Just go and get itover with. He’ll realise you’re boring and work out this whole older-woman thing isn’t as exciting as he somehow thinks it is.
Suitably pep-talked, Jenny checked her make-up and tugged at her caramel denim jacket, then smoothed her new jeans and eyed her short suede boots.You got this, she told herself, grateful that no one else was home tonight.
The nerves came back tenfold as she sat on the edge of the lounge and waited. Why was she ready so early? Her hands felt a little clammy and she wiped them on her thighs. This was so dumb. She needed something to take her mind off the impending doom of the doorbell ringing. She noticed there was a streak of dust on her boot and leaned down to brush it off, but as she went to sit up, a sharp pain shot through her earlobe—she’d managed to get her earring snagged in the lace of her top. She tried to turn her head but it seemed to be twisting, and each time she moved, it tugged at the hole in her ear.
Getting to her feet with a frustrated growl, still bent over, she turned in a half-circle in front of the wall mirror to work out how she was caught up but couldn’t quite see. ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ she muttered as she turned the other way, trying to find a better view.
The knock on the door made her freeze and her eyes widen in panic. Crap. He was here. Jenny didn’t move. Maybe she could just stay quiet and he’d think she wasn’t home … Then again, she’d be stuck looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with her head tucked into her armpit.
‘FML,’ she whispered mournfully.
With a resigned sigh, she hobbled to the front door and opened it, bracing herself for his reaction.
The silence was deafening and she gritted her teeth. ‘My earring is caught in my shirt.’
‘Oh. Right,’ he said slowly, before he stepped inside and placed a pink-wrapped bunch of flowers on the hall table. ‘Let me have a look.’
To his credit, he didn’t sound as though he was laughing at her, but she couldn’t see his face properly so she couldn’t be sure. ‘Ouch!’
‘Sorry. Wow, it’s really stuck. What the hell were you doing?’
‘Cleaning my boot,’ she snapped.
‘Of course …’
‘I was sitting down— It doesn’t matter how I did it, would you just hurry up and untangle it.’Oh God. She clamped her eyes shut tightly, as she realised their positions put her at face level with his crotch.Kill. Me. Now.
‘I’m trying, just hang on a minute.’
