‘Dodgem dust,’ she sniffled, wiping her eyes.

Meagan manoeuvred herself to face Todd again.

‘Thank you,’ she said, the strange sensation of vulnerability almost overwhelming.

‘No problem,’ he replied taking her hand. ‘Anytime, Meagan. You know that… Anything for you, even this book thing.’

‘What book?’ said Meagan dabbing the last of her tears as the curtain swooshed open again.

‘Hiya. I’m Camilla. Going to pop this bandage on,’ she chimed.

‘Whatever,’ Meagan said turning back to Todd. ‘What book?’

Todd shifted in his chair as Camilla pottered, neatly laying out her bandage and Tubigrip.

‘I was going to talk to you about it at the Hudson Hicks do but I thought I’d be the last person you’d want to see…’

‘Todd, seriously. What the fuck are you talking about?’ said Meagan wanting to shake the information out of him.

‘Look, I know how you girls sometimes overshare after a couple of glasses of wine. I get it.’

If Todd didn’t get to the point soon, he was going to get something, Meagan quietly growled.

‘Okay, so, crime fiction isn’t my area but I was curious. I knew Jemima was your buddy and I heard about her run-in with Eve so I thought I’d read it,’ Todd said.

Meagan gestured for him to continue.

‘Anyway, as I was reading I spotted this… phrase you used to use to describe my…’ He looked at Camilla whose entire focus was on securing Meagan’s bandage.

‘Your what?’ said Meagan.

‘You know,’ said Todd glancing at his groin.

Camilla’s eyes crept over and then back to her bandaging.

‘Cams. Give us a minute,’ said Meagan as politely as she could, given she might kill someone.

Camilla went to speak but then received a full wattage Meagan glare and left, swishing the curtain behind her.

‘Can you explain, using the smallest words you know, what the hell you are talking about?’ said Meagan in a menacing whisper.

‘“Package like a clenched fist… like going ten rounds with Anthony Joshua…”’ he said shifting in his seat. ‘There were some other things – about you that sounded familiar too but, like I said, I don’t mind. It’s not every day your old fella gets immortalised in print.’

Meagan threw her legs off the bed and pushed herself into a sitting position.

‘What are you doing? You need your anti-inflammatories.’ Todd panicked.

Meagan leaned forward and grabbed Todd by his jumper.

‘Fuck anti-inflammatories. Get me a copy of that book… NOW.’

Chapter 40

Simi

Simi revelled in her deep, deep attraction to Chance. She gazed across the kitchen counter at him wondering what she might say were he to propose there and then. Yes, it was only their second date but the signs were so good. He’d already shown how in tune they were with his choice of date – a Mexican cooking class. Clearly, he’d intuited her love of world food. It was sweet too that he’d wanted to make up for his faux pas with the London Eye. Despite taking twenty minutes to recover after, Simi was pleased that had happened. It had brought them closer and scored her a second date – which was shaping up very nicely. The only thing she was slightly nervous about was the tequila tasting later. She just hoped, as with wine tasting, you got to spit it out – but by the way everyone was going on about it, she suspected not.