Page 11 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

‘’Spose. We have spoof copies of The Hand of God, The Scream and the Mona Lisa hanging in our office. I often talk to Mona.’

Kate looked puzzled for a second, before continuing. ‘And you could put “adventurous activities.” It’s so vague it could mean anything.’

Jo wasn’t so sure; she couldn’t be less adventurous if she tried.

‘Good thing you’ve met me, Jo,’ Kate said. ‘And perfect timing. My best friend Emily recently met the love of her life.’

‘Mine has too. Well, she’s known him ages, but she’s moved in with him now. In Watford. Crap, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah, well, of course, I’m pleased she and Ludek have found each other…’

Ludek, thought Jo. Lucky Emily – 10 points.

‘…but I need a new wingman. You up for that?’

Jo wasn’t exactly sure what being Kate’s wingman would entail, but she nodded enthusiastically. At least – at last – she’d found her first friend in Hebbleswick.

‘I’ll have them queuing up to date you,’ Kate continued.

Men queuing up? Jo wasn’t sure about that. She just wanted one man. One man who’d appreciate her, who’d love her for who she was.

In those early days with Si, he had done that. He had made her feel that she was a person worth talking to, worth listening to, worth making love to, and more than anything, Jo wanted that feeling again. She wanted it so badly.

‘Yep, count me in,’ she said.

5

Monday afternoon. Not a single one of Jo’s colleagues had noticed how tidy the stationery cupboard was.

And not a single new man had noticed her newly improved profile on Buzzz; she’d lost the references to boxsets and romance books, kept the cakes and added an interest in art and ‘adventurous activities.’ But to no avail. There were no messages and she hadn’t had so much as an online wink. It was ten to three and her phone had been silent all day. Jo checked for the fourth time that it wasn’t because it was on silent.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Ping.

She pounced on her phone. It was Gemma.

Love your Scrabble score dating idea! Any new messages on Buzzz?

Jo was tapping out a reply to say that no, there’d been no new messages, when David bellowed from his office, ‘Jo!’

He sounded angry, she thought, dropping her phone and scrambling to her feet. He did have a bit of a temper, but it had never been directed at her. There was no time to stop and wonder what she’d done wrong; she grabbed her Filofax and scuttled into his office, leaving the door open behind her.

‘Where the hell is the budget for the Channel Five dating show?’

Oh, was that all he wanted? He never had got to grips with Caroline’s obscure filing system on the shared drive.

‘If you look on the shared drive, it’s in the Channel Five folder, and then you need to go to another folder – Caroline called it…’

‘I’ve looked through all the folders and it isn’t there. Are you sure you saved it?’

‘Definitely,’ said Jo, moving round to his side of the desk to look at his screen. ‘It was the last thing I did on Friday night…’

‘Well, it isn’t there.’