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but he s been too embarrassed to do anything apart from moan at
me for the last couple of days. Which has been driving me insane.
And as I know you men never phone anyone socially, I thought the
best thing to do was drag him down here and confront you face-to-
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face. We did try at your house, but your father said you were at the
pub. So here we are.
Jamie stared at David. He stared back.
Look, don t worry about it, Jamie said. Just forget it. This
sort of thing happens to everyone. Don t beat yourself over the
head about it.
There you are, Lucy said, punching David on the arm in a
friendly way. I told you he d be okay about it, and you were
worrying about nothing. Isn t he, Jamie?
As he d all but murdered David with that ruddy aspirin, Jamie
couldn t agree it was nothing, but he couldn t say that. So he
nodded, all the while hoping to keep his own stupidity quiet.
Wonderful. Lucy sat back and looked as if she d done a good
day s work and done it well. In that case, Carina, I think a five-
minute session in the ladies to powder our noses would be the
right thing to do at this point. David, you re on your own. For
goodness sake, say something.
Before Jamie could understand what she was up to, Lucy took
an unresisting Carina off in the direction of the ladies and he was
left to face his unlikely would-be victim. Who was still not
meeting his eyes.
Drink? David asked.
Thanks, mine s a bitter.
He trotted off to the bar and was back in no time with one bitter
and what looked like a rum and Coke. How could people drink that
stuff? It was disgusting.
Cheers, Jamie said, determined to be as normal as he could
without talking about what had happened, in case David
remembered what he d done. He knew if that happened, he d never
be able to explain it. Ever.
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Cheers.
Lost without the women, the awkward silence stretched out to
infinity, and they both shuffled on their seats. Jamie kept smiling
until his teeth hurt, and David simply looked more and more
uncomfortable. Around them, the smell of smoke and beer filled
the air.
Well, Jamie said.
Yes, well.
This is great, but&
Jamie, I m sorry I wasn t too good at the party. I don t know
what got into me. I hadn t had anything I can t normally
handle& if you see what I mean.
It s okay, so just forget it. No-one s bothered, least of all me,
he gabbled, rocking with his hands trapped under his legs, back
and forth, back and forth.
No, I haven t finished yet.
Don t feel you have to say any more.
No, please, there s something I have to say. He held up one
manicured hand to stop Jamie talking. When I was in the kitchen
with you, I&
Don t worry about it, David. Please. I m sure you can t
remember much about it anyway.
But I can. At least I think I can. And I do need to talk to you
about what happened.
Oh, God.
When we were in the kitchen, I&
What? What?
I got the impression&
For God s sake, just say it.
That something happened whereby&
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Whereby ? What sort of evil sadist uses the word whereby
these days? Why was David tormenting him like this?
I, well, I&
Just say it, say it, won t you? Jamie would confess everything
he d secretly thought he might do to his unsuspecting father rather
than go through this agony.
I tried to make a pass at you and I m very sorry. I didn t mean
to embarrass you, especially when you were being kind. About the
party and everything. So I m sorry. Friends?
Jamie blinked and stared at David. He found he couldn t speak.
He tried to reorient his assumptions to what his friend was saying.
There was something else, though, if I could just bring it to
mind, David mused. I can t remember what caused me to&
It doesn t matter, Jamie said, finally finding the power of
speech again. Really. It s all history. Don t even think about it.
Please.
Where on earth were the girls when they needed a diversion?
He had to do something to shut David up. Anything. So, pushing
back his chair, he half stood up and flung his arms around his
friend.
This was the heart-warming sight that greeted Carina and Lucy
as they came out of the ladies toilets.
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CHAPTER 8
David and Lucy left after that, Lucy still giggling and wiping
tears of laughter from her eyes. No matter how much she d
enjoyed herself, the whole scene had put a dampener on the date
for Jamie. He couldn t even remember afterwards what he d eaten.
After seeing Carina to the vicarage and saying goodnight, he
walked away without even a second glance. It was only when he
arrived home that he realized he hadn t kissed her. Or even tried to.
God, what sort of a bloke was he?
He spent the rest of the night worrying about the meaning of
that question. And other matters.
The lack of sleep didn t help his mood the next day in the
office. But he wasn t alone; Nick had all the breeziness of a
bloodhound on chamomile and did no more than grunt when he
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walked in.
After half an hour sorting through the accounts, Nick coughed
and said, Is Carina well, then?
What? Jamie was distracted by the peculiarities of
PowerPoint when doing complicated presentations and wasn t
prepared for a conversation of any sort.
Nick repeated the question.
Sure. Why?
He shrugged. No reason. Just heard you might have seen her,
that s all.
Bloody Michael, Jamie thought. If The King s Head weren t
the only pub in Limewater, he d take his business elsewhere, for
certain.
I did. Last night.
Unsure where this was going, he sneaked a glance at Nick. His
young colleague s head couldn t have been any lower on his chest
if he d stapled it there. Oh, Jamie thought, he s sweet on her and
I m the evil bastard standing in his way. What a week this was
turning out to be. He d better say something to try to ease the
knife-sharp atmosphere in here before they both imploded.
That okay?
But he d gone too far. Nick blushed, mumbled something
inaudible and buried himself back in his work.
* * *
By the afternoon, Jamie had just got on top of the presentation
he needed to prepare when the phone rang. Nick answered it, but
after a few moments, he handed the receiver over.
I-I think they need to speak to you direct, he said.
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Sure. He took the phone. Hello, Jamie Chadwick here. May
I help you?
I hope so, a woman s stern voice answered, and, from
instinct, he sat up straighter. I m from the Institute of Commercial
Accountants. I m trying to get a variety of quotes for organizing a
conference we re hoping to hold next summer, and one of my
contacts has recommended you. Might you be interested at all?
Would he? Too right he would; they were big. Bigger and more
influential than the companies he worked for at the moment.
Bigger than he d ever hoped might happen. As he listened, Jamie
could feel his pulse beginning to race and his face grew hot. This
would be a major breakthrough if he could run an event for them,
or even be part of running an event for them. If he carried that off,
it would be one for his PR literature, no question. If only he had
any. He took down the details and promised her he d come back
with a plan of what he could do within two days.
When he got off the phone, the adrenaline was doing its work.
Good news? Nick smiled.
With a bit of luck and maneuvering. Jamie grinned back, all
the difficulties of the morning forgotten, and told him what she d
said. If I can get that one, cash flow will be fantastic for weeks.
And it ll look great on the business CV. Seems like they might
want a lot from the web as well. Not my strong point, so I suppose
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