My unexpected guest held the buzzer down for far too long, then held it down again.
‘Bloody hell! Who is that? Sorry, girls, I better get it.’ I ran to the intercom, already irritated. ‘Hello?’
‘Delivery for Kat Brennan,’ a gruff voice replied.
‘A what? At this time of night? I thought there was a fire. OK, just a second.’
I ran down and there was a delivery driver on the doorstep. He looked me up and down when he saw the dress. ‘Miss Brennan? Sign here please.’ I hated that ‘Miss’ so much – it made me sound like a nursery rhyme. I scribbled my initials and he handed me a long thin box, covered in red ribbons. ‘Thank fuck for that. I’ve been driving all over town to get this to you.’
The girls must have timed it to arrive while we were on the call together. They were so bloody sweet. I LOVED getting presents and I so rarely did these days. How exciting. I carried it upstairs carefully – maybe it was a long necklace or a wand…
‘You guys! What is this?’
They glanced at each other on screen, and I could see them both typing.
‘Erm… I don’t think it’s from us,’ Sara said, looking unsure. ‘Is it, Abs?’
Abi laughed. ‘You’re giving yourself away there, but no, it’s not.’
‘You pick the gifts and I transfer the money; that’s how it’s always been,’ Sara said, laughing. ‘We make a good present-buying team. From my perspective, anyway.’
‘Don’t leave us in suspense,’ Abi called, slurping on her cocktail. ‘Get it open.’
‘The label says “Care of Northstar PR” so Heidi must have sent him here.’
I slid a knife along the Sellotape and opened it up. Mum and Dad had sent me some money, and the twins were taking me for a birthday steak, so it wouldn’t be from them. If it wasn’t from the HIIT girls, then who…? I pulled the lid off and there inside sat a single orange rose.
‘What is it? What is it?’ Sara called.
‘SHOW US,’ Abi shouted.
I turned the box around to show them then spotted an envelope tucked inside the purple tissue.
‘Roses are orange…’ Sara said.
‘Orange is the new black,’ Abi added.
‘Do you mean it’s really a black rose?’ Sara said.
‘Shhh, I wanna hear what it says. Read it out.’
I pulled out a bright white card with one line written in black ink:
From one Leo to another: happy birthday, Kat xxx
Thirty-five
Monday 2nd August
‘Here we go again my darlin’s,’ Brooke trilled from across the boardroom where she sat starry-eyed next to Greg. I was starting to wonder if she was an AI bot. ‘This is a truly bizarre situation, and please allow me to apologise to y’all for dismissing the idea that Amplify had cheated. It’s just not in my nature to think badly of people and I truly believed those boys had the purest of hearts.’
‘Not at all,’ Heidi said, graciously.
Greg harumphed. ‘Can we please get on with it.’
‘Sure thing, sugar,’ Brooke said. ‘I’ll hand it over to you gals then. Please, take it away.’
Our boards were in position, and I stood up ready to reveal them one by one. We were going to blow their minds.
