‘He lives in Surrey so they might have to meet in London.’
‘What’s he called?’ Connor asked, laying his cold flannel back over his face.
‘Ben,’ Olivia replied, opening WhatsApp. She paused before taking a breath and saying, ‘You know my friend Sophie? Well he was her boyfriend.’ We all went silent as she wiped her cheek. Olivia had mentioned Sophie a few times but had never gone into detail. The loss of her best friend to cancer six years ago was still a difficult subject for her.
Connor was the first to speak. He lifted his flannel and stared at Olivia. ‘Is Ben in the right frame of mind for romance?’
Olivia nodded. ‘Ben is in a good place now. He wants to find love again.’
Connor cast me a worried glance and when Olivia wasn’t looking, I shook my head. This wasn’t going to happen. The thought of dating her late best friend’s boyfriend made me feel uncomfortable. ‘Olivia, I’m not keen on this idea.’
‘Do you have a photo of him?’ Kate asked. Olivia ignored my objection. ‘Ben’s quite shy. He’s one of those annoying people who lurk at the back when photos are being taken. I have a few, but they’re not great and they’re from years ago when he had long hair.’
‘Is he good-looking?’ Connor asked. ‘Can we do a Facebook or Instagram stalk of this chap?’
I frowned at Connor who quickly placed his flannel back over his face. It didn’t matter what Ben looked like because this crazy idea of Olivia’s was not happening.
Olivia shook her head. ‘Ben’s not on there.’
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Connor casting me an anxious look whilst lifting one of the corners of his flannel.
‘Can we talk about something else?’ I asked, feeling a little awkward.
Olivia was still tapping out a message to Ben. ‘He’s a bit rough around the edges. Outdoorsy type of man. Brown hair, tall, with stubble although I think that’s because he can’t be bothered to shave.’ She turned to me. ‘How do you two want to contact each other to arrange the blind date?’
‘Uh… I don’t know,’ I mumbled. ‘Olivia, I don’t want to go on this blind date.’ This was going way too fast for my liking. I wasn’t even sure I was into a man who was rough around the edges, either. Sam was the exact opposite. Everything about him was carefully curated – from his hair with the gelled quiff that took him an hour in the bathroom every morning, to his crisp-all-white trainers which he paired with a stylish black suit and a white T-shirt. ‘Can I think about this?’
Olivia shook her head. ‘I don’t know why but I’m getting a weird sense of urgency with this.’
Connor lifted his flannel and winked at me. ‘Olivia is going to write about you and Ben in her next romance book.’ We all looked over at the pink vintage typewriter in the corner of the room. By day Olivia worked in advertising and by night she sat over by her typewriter and wrote spicy novels that she self-published on Amazon. She enjoyed using our respective dating experiences as fodder for her novels. When one of us was dumped or cheated on, Olivia added the love rat in question to one of her novels. Connor said he found it very therapeutic reading about his ex-boyfriend. Olivia turned him into a nasty villain and he died in a sword fight against the handsome, swashbuckling hero.
After Sam broke up with me, Olivia penned her first spicy thriller and a character called Sam had an unfortunate and troubling death.
Olivia nudged me. ‘How can Ben contact you?’
‘Ummm… I don’t want to go on a blind date with him.’
Olivia grinned as she tapped out a message. ‘He’s going to email you.’ She pulled me into a hug. ‘This is going to be great, and I want a mention at your wedding.’
Leaping up she went to the kitchen and brought back the bottle of fizzy cheap wine, cool from the fridge, and four plastic cups. The strong smell of her vanilla perfume filled the hot, stuffy flat air and gave our nostrils respite from our sweaty aromas. She’d obviously had a quick spray while getting the wine. ‘Let’s have a toast to the future Rachel and Ben.’
As she poured us all a glass, I decided that I wouldn’t reply to his email. He’d get bored soon enough.
Connor sat up and dramatically threw away his flannel. ‘Olivia, please have a brainwave about where I can take the hot waiter on a date?’
After a few glasses of wine and some suggestions on locations for Connor’s first date, we forgot about the heat, my blind date and soon we were all dancing around the living room to Harry Styles’ latest album. As Olivia and I collapsed in a sweaty heap on the sofa, she said, ‘I can’t wait to see you smiling again.’
‘You don’t need to fix me up with Ben to make me smile.’
She grinned. ‘I like helping the people I love. Trust me on this.’
‘I’m not doing it.’
She laughed. ‘You said that after I’d told you about the charity bike ride.’
CHAPTERONE
DECEMBER
