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boss to be there too, who happens to be rather gorgeous.’

      Elsie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘So you’ve set us up on a double date?’

      ‘Don’t say it like that, Els, you make me sound conniving.’

      ‘Well, maybe that’s because you are …’

      ‘I really like him. I mean, I think he has serious potential. And I’ve been trying to score a date with him for over a year.’ She lowered her voice and clasped her hands together like a plaster saint. ‘He has his own house, Elsie! Not like the last one. And his own teeth! He’s normal and has no strange hobbies or questionable personal habits. Do you know how hard it is to find someone that sane in this town? Practically impossible! Not to mention the fact that he’s successful and interesting and I know he thinks I’m attractive. You know how rubbish my dating life has been. This one is normal! So I’m not even going to ask you: I’m going straight to pathetic begging. Please?’

      Elsie knew she had no choice. If Cher could have the chance to enjoy a normal date for once, perhaps it was worth one uncomfortable evening in presence of a ‘someone’s brother’.

      ‘I don’t have anything to wear,’ Elsie replied slowly.

      ‘I’ll give you cash to buy an outfit at lunchtime,’ Cher answered. ‘Shoes too, if you like.’

      ‘I haven’t brought my make-up with me.’

      ‘You can borrow mine. Or buy new. Please?’

      Elsie weighed up her options. ‘Fine. But I’m only staying for an hour.’

      Cher beamed like a kid at Christmas. ‘One hour is all I need.’

      The day passed with excruciating tardiness, every minute outstaying its welcome. The more she thought about it, the greater Elsie’s dread of what could lie ahead became. By four-thirty, her nerves were beginning to get the better of her, and there was only one person she knew who could help to keep her resolve strong. Leaving Cher manning the counter, Elsie grabbed her mobile and stepped outside. Gardner Street was a buzz of busyness, the warm hum of chat and countless footsteps reverberating the length of the street. She smiled at Emma from the Vegetarian Shoe Shop as they passed one another and watched as a group of Goths crowded with surprising enthusiasm in the doorway of Cybercandy. Smiling to herself, she dialled her sister’s number.

      ‘Hello, Daisy Maynard speaking?’

      ‘Daisy, it’s me. Can you chat for a minute?’

      ‘No problem. Wait there …’ Elsie could hear the click-clack of her sister’s heels as she walked from her office to somewhere more conducive to a private conversation. ‘OK. What’s up, lovely?’

      Elsie moved to let a dog walker hurry past. ‘Cher’s set me up on a completely daft double date tonight. I agreed at first but now I’m freaking out about it. I mean, it’s too early – I haven’t had any time to prepare, or make sure my head is in the right place. What was I thinking? This is the craziest idea. I can’t go through with it, can I?’

      Daisy’s laugh was not unkind. ‘Slow down, Speedy Gonzalez! Take a deep breath and let’s look at this practically. Where are you meeting the bloke?’

      ‘At The Feathers, this evening.’

      ‘Right, a public place, that’s good. So, what do you know about him?’

      ‘Only that Cher fancies his boss, he’s a brother of someone she knows and he’s supposed to be a nice guy.’

      ‘Anything else? What he does for a living? What he looks like?’

      Elsie kicked a screwed-up crisp packet at her feet. ‘Nothing. That’s the problem, Dais. How on earth am I meant to know whether I have anything in common with him or not?’

      ‘Well, you don’t. But that’s kind of the point of dating, isn’t it? All you are doing is meeting someone who may or may not be interesting enough for you to want to get to know him. It’s hardly rocket science, is it?’

      Daisy was making sense and, as so often happened when Elsie talked things over with her sister, the situation began to look less like a forty-foot-high brick wall. ‘Thanks, honey. I don’t know what happened there.’

      ‘You were scared. And it’s totally understandable. Blind dates are notorious for dodgy dating encounters. But I know you’ll be fine. It’s been a long time since you last dated. Things have changed – and you’ve changed too, remember. I think you should try not to over-think this and just see it for what it is. You’re doing a favour for a friend and possibly meeting a nice bloke in the process. It’s a step, not an entire journey.’

      Daisy’s words were still resounding in Elsie’s mind as she changed in the small cloakroom at the back of the café an hour later. The kooky bluebird-print dress she had hastily purchased from the small boutique a few doors away from Sundae & Cher in her lunch break with a bunch of notes thrust into her hand by a very excited Cher was sweet but casual and, teamed with her favourite red ballerina pumps, felt comfortable. Cher had loaned her a red cardigan, which completed the look. She gathered her blonde, shoulder-length bob into a relaxed up-do and held it in place with a couple of black combs. It wasn’t the most inspired dating attire, but it felt like her.

      Cher went a little over the top with her enthusiastic reaction when Elsie walked into the kitchen, but Elsie accepted the compliments anyway. She needed to feel confident and, after Daisy’s pep talk, she was determined to enjoy the experience. You love surprises, she reminded herself, her fingers closing around the piece of paper from the satin box in the pocket of her coat, as she and Cher walked to the green-tiled pub near the Theatre Royal where many local shopkeepers headed after work for a drink.

      The pub was already packed with post-work revellers, the loud buzz of conversation peppered with stabs of raucous laughter. Elsie had always loved this place and liked the way it had stubbornly resisted the urge to succumb to gastro-pub tweeness as so many others in the area had done. It was her father’s favourite watering hole and she had often accompanied him there in her mid to late teens when he met fellow councillors or furniture suppliers.

      They squeezed through the bodies to reach the bar and waited for a full five minutes before catching the attention of Nick, the cheerful, red-faced landlord.

      ‘Evening, girls,’ he shouted. ‘What can I get you?’

      ‘Just an orange juice for me and a red wine for Cher, please.’

      ‘Right you are.’

      ‘Is Jake Long in yet, Nick?’ Cher asked.

      ‘Not yet.’ He placed a glass of wine in front of her and flicked the top off a bottle of orange juice to pour into a glass of ice for Elsie. ‘Early, though. He’s normally in about six. Why, you looking for him?’

      ‘Might be.’ Cher winked at Nick and disappeared into the crowd to find a seat as Elsie paid for the drinks.

      ‘Hot date,’ Elsie confided.

      ‘Serious? He’s too normal for Cher, isn’t he?’

      Elsie laughed. ‘It’s a bit of a new direction for her.’

      Nick gave an overdramatic sigh. ‘I’ve told her: if she’s looking for a real man, she knows where I am.’

      ‘I’ll pass the message on,’ Elsie replied, taking the drinks and winding through the throng of bodies until she found Cher proudly guarding a table with four chairs by the window. ‘Nick offered to be your real man again.’

      Cher rolled her eyes heavenwards and took a large gulp of wine. ‘He can go on dreaming. I’ve heard too many rumours about Nick Plass to go there.’ She looked at her watch. ‘Jake shouldn’t be long. Aren’t you drinking?’

      ‘I might have one later.’ Elsie might have been thankful for a little Dutch courage, but she fully intended

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