Page 56 of Never Date a Celebrity

“Obviously, I’m more annoyed for you, Immy. Like eighty percent for you, twenty for me.” Piper grinned as she leaned on the mop. “Seriously though, how disappointed are you that you couldn’t see her tonight? On a scale of one to ten?”

The lights flickered and all three of them looked at each other with apprehension. Luckily, the flickering stopped, and the lights stayed on.

Imogen breathed a sigh of relief and went back to their conversation. “Twelve.” She would never have admitted it to anyone else, but Piper and Niamh were her safe place—they’d never judge her or tell her how she should or shouldn’t feel.

“Ugh, that really sucks. I don’t think I’ve ever missed anyone a twelve,” Piper said wistfully.

“I know I haven’t,” Niamh interjected. She threw her cloth over her shoulder and leaned her elbows on the bar.

“That’s because you’ve never liked anyone enough to miss them that much,” Piper said. “Not with those painfully high standards of yours.”

Niamh scrunched up her nose. “Yeah, that’s probably true.” She wasn’t offended. Niamh’s level of fussiness when it came to women was a running joke between the three of them. She fully agreed that she was over-particular.

“Maybe I’ve never liked anyone that much either,” Piper said, like she was pondering the idea somewhere in the deep crevices of her mind. “Do you think we’re all broken?”

“How do you mean?” Niamh asked with interest.

“Well, there’s fussy old you. Calls it off with someone if their laugh is a bit annoying or they eat their pizza crust first.”

Niamh looked at her in horror. “And that would be a valid reason because why would anyone ever do that?”

Imogen tried not to laugh at how serious she got about it. “Do you remember you broke up with someone because they used too many emojis in their messages?”

Niamh glared at them both. “How could I forget? You both contacted me by emoji only for weeks after. I had to block the pair of you to get you to stop.”

Imogen and Piper did burst out laughing then. They’d had a lot of fun with that. “What about you, Pipes? How do you think you’re broken?” Imogen asked.

“Hello?” Piper blinked. “Serial dater? Can’t settle down with one person because I get bored, or I get itchy feet and move on to the next one? I’m textbook for broken. It’s almost dull it’s so obvious.”

“I think that has more to do with you not meeting the right person yet,” Niamh told her. “I’ve always said there will be one woman who comes along and changes your whole world. You just haven’t met her yet.”

Piper didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t argue either. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

The wind blew another fierce gust, and the windows banged again. All three of them jumped at the noise. It didn’t seem like the storm was going to calm down any time soon anyway.

“And then there’s Immy,” Piper said after a few beats, grabbing her attention back from their barely surviving windows.

“Go on then. How am I broken?” she asked grudgingly. Like she didn’t have a hundred reasons of her own. She could probably write a book of them.

“Well, you’re different,” Piper said, her face and tone both kind. That was the thing about Piper—underneath all the fun and all the teasing, lay a heart of the finest gold. “You’re the one who had all her shit together until some idiot came along and smashed it into smithereens. And now you just need the right person to come, put it all back together, and make you believe in love again.”

“Which they will,” Niamh added in support, reaching over to put a hand on her arm.

“If they haven’t already,” Piper murmured, intentionally loud enough for Imogen to hear. “Maybe we’ll have to add that stubborn streak to your brokenness.”

Imogen was just about to rebuke her claim, when the door burst open again. Only this time it was opened by an actual person rather than the wind.

And it was only when the person pushed down her hood and removed her hat that Imogen realised it wasn’t just any person. She jumped right off her stool. “Amy? What are you doing here?” She rushed toward her. “Jesus, you’re soaked.”

Amy ran a hand through her hair that had gotten wet despite the hat and the hood. “Yeah, it’s not the best out there.” She gave a sheepish smile. “Um, I decided that I didn’t want to cancel our plans after all.”

“But…the weather…how did you even get here?” Imogen asked, still staring at her in shock.

“I sweet-talked Christopher, one of the drivers, into bringing me.” Amy looked down at her rain-soaked clothes and gritted her teeth. “He couldn’t make it the whole way into town because the road was like a river. So, I walked the rest of the way.”

“You walked?”

“Not too far,” Amy quickly reassured her. “Christopher made it to the bend right before town, but then the rest of the road was all underwater. He offered to walk me the rest of the way, but I felt bad enough that I’d dragged him out, so I told him to wait in the car.”