It Had to Be You (11 page)

‘Are you going to meet up with him?’ Lizzy asked.

‘Of course not,’ Poppet said, not very convincingly. ‘Look, I know you two don’t like him, but if you just got to know him …’

Nic interrupted her. ‘I did get to know him. He’s a complete tool.’

Poppet gave a winsome sigh. ‘I just know how good we were together.’

‘It’s been
two years
,’ Nic and Lizzy said in unison.

Poppet was wearing a wounded expression. ‘We might not have been together that long but it was really special!’

‘Pops,’ Nic said patiently. ‘We’ve been through all this.’

‘He’s just really busy with work …’

‘He’s always busy with work. Or has bad sinuses, or is away on family holidays, or whatever bullshit he feeds you.’

Poppet’s eyes widened. ‘You think he
lied
about spending last summer in Qatar with his uncle?’

‘I’m saying if a man is genuinely interested in a woman, he will chase her to the ends of the earth to be with her. If Pencil Dick Pete wanted to be in a relationship with you, he’d be in a relationship with you.’ Nic shook her head. ‘He’s just stringing you along,
chiquita
!’

‘Nic’s got a point, Pops,’ Lizzy said more delicately. ‘And he doesn’t even really look that much like Matt Damon.’

Poppet looked dismayed. ‘Do you not think?’

‘Well, he’s got hair,’ Lizzy said. ‘And a head and a mouth and a pair of eyes and a nose, so I suppose they’ve got those things in common.’

‘Oh,’ Poppet said faintly. ‘Oh right.’

The other two studied her. ‘Are you going to start crying?’ Nic asked.

‘No, it’s just a bit of a … a bit of a shock.’ She stared at the coffee table. ‘So he definitely doesn’t want to be with me?’

‘I don’t think you really want to be with him either,’ Lizzy said, encouragingly. ‘You just haven’t met anyone you’ve really fancied since.’

‘Well, screw him! And his pencil dick.’ Poppet’s chin had set determinedly. ‘I’m not anyone’s booty call.’

Nic gave her a wink. ‘That’s my girl.’

‘Ooh good, I feel all empowered now.’ She turned to Lizzy. ‘What about you?’

Lizzy swallowed her mouthful of wine. ‘What about me?’

‘Have you had any more dating action?’

Lizzy hesitated. Despite her declaration that she was swearing off online dating after Toby, she’d found herself going back on for a nose around whenever her bus was delayed, which was pretty frequently. ‘Actually there is this one who’s just “liked” me,’ she admitted.

She got her phone out and showed them
Blue_Skies
’ profile. Poppet gave an excited squeak. ‘He is total eye sex!’

Nic grabbed Lizzy’s phone. ‘He
is
hot. And us three never agree on men.’

‘What are you waiting for?’ Poppet squealed. ‘“Like” him back!’

‘Hold on, hold on. I just don’t get why he’s “liked” me.’

‘Get some self-esteem, woman!’ Nic bellowed.

‘I don’t mean it like that,’ Lizzy said, although she did mean it like that a bit. ‘It’s just that he’s way too hot to be on a dating website. What if he’s a plant? You know, one of those good-looking people they pay to put up profiles to entice punters like me in.’ She’d been giving it some serious thought. ‘He could walk into any bar and girls would be all over him. There has to be a catch.’

‘Maybe he’s fed up with girls falling over him and wants to meet a more discerning type online,’ Poppet said sensibly. Her face lit up. ‘Imagine if you bumped into Justin when you were out with him!’

‘But I won’t bump into Justin, we live in a city of over eight million people.’

Nic yawned. ‘I once bumped into the woman who used to do my Brazilian three times in one week.’

Poppet wrinkled her nose. ‘TMI.’

OK, there was the minutest possibility of bumping into Justin, but it was a possibility all the same. ‘Oh, what the hell!’ Lizzy declared. ‘I’ll try and get a photo with this guy for posterity, even if he does do a runner afterwards.’

Lizzy was startled into consciousness by her phone going off by her ear.
Antonia mob.
It wasn’t even 6 a.m. Even for her boss this was a liberty.

‘Antonia!’ she tried to say brightly, but a phlegmy noise came out instead. Lizzy cleared her throat and tried again. ‘Antonia?’

There was a silence and then suddenly someone squealed loudly down the phone. Lizzy sat bolt upright in bed. Was Antonia being
attacked
?

A voice boomed in the background. ‘Christiana! Back on the potty! Bad girl!’

Loud crying erupted followed by a machine-gun round of hiccupping. ‘Hello?’ Lizzy shouted. ‘Can anyone hear me?’

There was more muffled noise before Antonia came on the line. ‘Who’s this?’

‘It’s Lizzy. I think you might have called me by accident.’

‘Christiana must have got hold of my phone again, the little horror. NO, Christy! Potty!’ She didn’t bother apologizing. ‘I’ll see you in the office later.’

Christiana’s screams were still ringing through Lizzy’s head. There was fat chance of going back to sleep now, so she propped herself up on the pillows and checked her emails.

The fifth one down made her heart leap a little. It was an alert from the dating website.
Blue_Skies
had sent her a message!

She logged on. It was short and simple.

Despite being woken at such an ungodly hour Lizzy was in a sprightly mood at work that day. She’d messaged Reuben back on the bus: short, pithy and with a smiley face on the end – even though Nic had specifically banned her from using emoticons – and it seemed to have worked because he’d replied straightaway. He really was so
hot.
Lizzy couldn’t stop staring at one photo of him coming out of the sea, holding a huge surfboard.
Phwoar!
He had that sexy upper arm ‘V’ and a six-pack and everything!

She picked up the phone. ‘Shaven Haven!’

‘Lizzy?’

‘Oh, hi Mum.’
Shit.
‘I thought you were Nic calling me back.’

‘What’s this shaven haven? Have they changed the company name?’

‘Mum, I was just joking!’ Lizzy exhaled. ‘How are you?’

‘Darling, you must stop drinking water!’

Lizzy glanced at the bottle of Evian on her desk. ‘But then I’ll die,’ she said confusedly.

‘Not
all
water, silly!’ her mother cried. ‘Tap water! Jacqui’s sister’s neighbour has read this horrendous thing about London tap water making you infertile! Apparently it’s
infested
with oestrogen from the wee-wee of women on the pill. What’s that, Michael? Oh, he’s saying it apparently only affects men’s fertility.’ She gasped. ‘I must phone Robbie! He goes up to London for meetings sometimes!’

The line went dead. As soon as Lizzy put it back on the hook it started ringing again.

‘Mum, for God’s sake …’

‘It’s Ken Dennings, Lizzy!’

‘Sorry about that, Ken, I thought you were someone else. How are you?’

‘I’m afraid I’m about to throw my toys out of the cot. I’m not sure about the direction A Helping Hand is going in.’

‘Oh.’ Lizzy sat up. ‘In what way?’

‘I’ve been thinking it would be a good idea to change the name back.’

This could be tricky. When Ken had first come to Haven PR his product had been in dire trouble. It had been a long and arduous process for Lizzy to convince him to rebrand.

‘With all due respect, Ken, I think the reason A Clear Passage didn’t take off was because it was a bit too literal. There’s still a certain amount of embarrassment associated with buying constipation products. As yet most people unfortunately aren’t as enlightened as you or I.’

‘How about U Bend?’

‘I think you’ll probably run into the same issues.’ Lizzy fervently hoped he wasn’t going to suggest A Bum Deal again.

‘OK, OK, I’ll take your word for it. I’ve also had an idea for a new online campaign.’

‘Great! What is it?’

‘It’s from this programme I saw the other night about the Alps.’

‘Oh?’ Lizzy said, wondering where he was going.

‘There was this big avalanche, and it got me thinking. Isn’t that a great analogy for A Helping Hand?’

‘I’m not sure I follow …’

‘Follow through, more like! Ha ha!’

‘You were talking about avalanches.’

‘Ah yes. What I mean is, all that compact ice just sitting there. One rock dislodges it and boom! The whole lot comes tumbling down. A Helping Hand could be that rock, Lizzy.’

‘Wow!’

‘I knew you’d like it. I was thinking we’d release it as a thirty-second clip on YouTube and watch it go viral. And you know all about that, Lizzy, ha ha!’

A new alert flashed up on her phone. It was another message from Reuben.

So when can I take you out for a drink?
xx

Yes!
She metaphorically punched the air.

‘Lizzy? Are you still there?’

‘Sorry, Ken, I was thinking it through. Can I sit on it and get back to you?’

‘Be my guest. That’s where I sit when I need inspiration.’

‘Sorry?’

‘The toilet! Ha ha ha!’

Avalanches of poo were far from Lizzy’s mind as she went to meet Reuben two days later. They’d arranged to meet in a pub on the Strand but when Lizzy arrived five minutes fashionably late and walked through the bar, she almost walked straight out again. The dark, tousle-haired vision of gorgeousness sitting alone in the corner couldn’t possibly be the man she was meeting for a blind date.

‘Lizzy?’ He got up from his chair. ‘It is you, isn’t it?’

She couldn’t take him in fast enough. The soulful brown eyes, the dimples, the muscular body modestly nestling under a simple white T-shirt. Reuben was even better-looking in real life!

‘Can I have my hand back?’ he asked.

‘What?’ She let go. ‘Oh, sorry!’

He grinned adorably. ‘What can I get you to drink?’

‘So what do you do?’ he asked. They were sitting at the table with a half lager each.

‘I work in PR.’ Lizzy knew she was staring gormlessly, but it was beyond the realms of her control. People this good-looking just didn’t go on dates with girls like her in real life.

There was a short silence.
Now you ask him what he does.
‘What do you do?’ she asked.

‘I’m a graphic designer.’

‘Oh cool, who do you work for?’

‘I’m freelance, I mainly work from home.’ Reuben gave Lizzy a questioning smile. ‘I hope you don’t mind me asking, but it is you, isn’t it? From YouTube I mean.’

She was yanked out of her lustful reverie. ‘Yep, I guess you found me out.’

Reuben’s handsome face was sympathetic. ‘I didn’t know whether you’d want to talk about it. Being jilted is a pretty traumatic thing to get over.’

‘I wasn’t jilted …’ Lizzy gave up. It didn’t matter how many times she said it, for the rest of her life she’d always be known as the girl who got the heave-ho by the man she wanted to marry.
Here lies the lonely grave of Lizzy Spellman. No one wanted to end up with her.

‘I think you’re coping really well,’ he told her.

Lizzy smiled bravely. ‘Onwards and upwards!’

‘If it was me I don’t think I’d be able to leave the house. All those people looking at me, making judgements.’

‘It’s really not that bad,’ she said.
Were
people looking at her and making judgements? ‘Anyway, we don’t want to talk about me all night. Do you come here often?’

He raised his eyebrow. They both started laughing. ‘I can’t believe I said that,’ she said.

‘It’s my first time.’ Reuben looked down at his hands. ‘Actually, it’s my first time out in a long time. I suffer from major depression.’

Lizzy had been admiring his shoulders. ‘Oh,’ she said awkwardly. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘None of my mates really understand.’ Reuben gave her a devastating smile. ‘You look like you’re a good listener, Lizzy. Can I talk to you about it?’

‘It basically turned into me giving him two hours of free therapy.’ The next morning Lizzy was still feeling slightly drained from the experience. ‘He suffers from clinical depression and low self-esteem. Apparently it comes from abandonment issues from when his dad walked out when he was a child.’

‘How can anyone that hot have low self-esteem?’ Poppet asked.

‘An ex-girlfriend broke his heart.’ Lizzy mouthed ‘Thank you’ at the girl behind the counter and walked out of Starbucks with her coffee. ‘He thought after what I’d been through we’d connect on some deeper level.’

‘Are you going to see him again?’

‘He tried to take an overdose last year, Pops. I don’t think I’m ready to take something like that on.’

‘That is a bit heavy. How did you leave it?’

‘This is the thing. I hailed a cab outside and I thought we’d just say bye and that would be it, but then he sort of kissed me on the lips and asked if he could see me again!’

‘Was it nice? The kiss I mean?’

‘It was only quick, but yes. Like when I have my mad sex dreams about David Beckham.’ Lizzy had been left very confused by the experience. Reuben was extremely hot, but he clearly had loads of issues. Should she see him again or run for the hills?