LITMIR.BIZ

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loomed large over them. When Cher’s glass was empty, she stood to head back to the bar but was stopped in her tracks by the sight of two men weaving through the standing drinkers. Jake Long strode in front, his impeccable suit standing out amongst the casually dressed locals, an expensive overcoat folded over one arm. He was handsome for his age – his kind dark eyes and lightly tanned skin contrasting with the flashes of silver at his temples and running through his lustrous brown hair. Cher was suddenly all coy eyelashes and shy smiles as he approached the table.

      Elsie was so busy being impressed by Jake’s appearance that she forgot to look at her own date for the evening, who was waiting behind his boss, obscured from view by the crush of pub customers.

      ‘Delighted you could make it,’ Jake smiled at Cher, an obvious twinkle in his eye. ‘Apologies for our lateness – we had a last-minute meeting at the office.’ He extended his hand to Elsie. ‘Nice to meet you.’

      ‘You too.’

      ‘I have a feeling this is going to be a most pleasant evening,’ Jake replied, moving to one side. ‘Let me introduce you to our most brilliant junior partner in the practice …’

      As he was speaking, the young man beside him stepped forward, and instantly Elsie’s breath deserted her. Surely not …

      ‘… Torin Stewart.’

      Jake and Cher were grinning like a pair of hungry hyenas, but as Elsie’s eyes met Torin’s, neither of them was smiling.

      Forced by propriety to be civil, Elsie held out her hand. ‘Elsie Maynard. Nice to meet you.’

      ‘Is it?’ Torin briefly shook her hand, the shock of his warm skin on hers causing her to pull away as quickly as she could. The briefest of smiles passed across his lips before he turned to Jake. ‘I’ll get the first round in, shall I?’

      Jake clapped his hands together. ‘Excellent idea. Mine’s a single malt with water, no ice. Ladies?’

      ‘Red wine for me. Elsie?’

      Struggling to stop the room from spinning around her, Elsie wrestled her way back into the moment. ‘Same, please. Large.’

      Cher raised an eyebrow and Elsie managed a weak smile in return. As Jake sat opposite Cher, she quickly turned her attention squarely onto him and Elsie sank back into her chair. How was it possible for Torin to be her blind date? After their initial meeting and the excruciating second round in Croydon, Elsie had felt sure that she and Torin Stewart were never destined to cross paths again. Yet here he was – for the third time in as many weeks. What was she going to say to him?

      All too quickly, Torin returned with a tray of drinks, seemingly charmed when it came to being served quickly in the only pub in Brighton that made a virtue of its long bar waiting times – a fact attested to by a large sign over the bar bearing the legend:

       We don’t do ‘fast’. Our beer is worth the wait.

      ‘Blimey, we’ll send you to the bar again,’ Cher remarked, raising her glass to Torin. Grinning, he clinked his pint glass against hers and then held it towards Elsie.

      ‘To a pleasant evening?’

      Reluctantly, she accepted the toast. ‘A pleasant evening.’ Pleasant, she added to herself, meaning short …

      Jake and Cher immediately launched into animated conversation, their body language screaming attraction as they did so. Torin sipped his beer slowly, his eyes never leaving Elsie. Doing her best to present an unaffected air, Elsie returned his gaze, smiling pleasantly as she desperately scrabbled for suitable topics of conversation to make the evening pass quickly.

      ‘I take it you’re a solicitor?’

      ‘I prefer lawyer – bit of a fan of the US terminology, I’m afraid. But yes, that’s what I do. How about you?’

      ‘Assistant manager of a retro ice cream café.’

      This appeared to surprise him. ‘Oh? Whereabouts?’

      For a split second, Elsie was tempted to concoct a fake address to ensure he couldn’t find her, but then common sense prevailed as she realised Jake or Cher would gladly furnish him with the correct information in any case. ‘In North Laine – Gardner Street. I work for Cher.’

      ‘I see. So, who’d have thought us two would meet up again like this, eh?’

      Instantly, Elsie felt her insides clench into a knot and she looked down into her already half-empty wine glass.

      Torin gave an almighty sigh and muttered something into his beer.

      Suddenly irritated by this, Elsie glared straight at him. ‘Sorry? Didn’t catch that.’

      ‘I said it’s a shame you can’t be more civil, given the circumstances.’

      ‘Excuse me? I am being civil, thank you very much. I’m having a drink with you and making polite conversation. I fail to see what else I need to do to increase my civility.’

      Torin held up his hands. ‘Well – not do that, for a start.’

      ‘Do what?’

      ‘Fly off the handle. Totally overreact to everything I say. You’ve done it every time we’ve met and it hasn’t once been warranted.’

      ‘Everything good with you two?’ Jake interjected, the glow of a successful date illuminating his expression.

      Elsie and Torin smiled politely and, satisfied, Jake returned his attention to Cher.

      Elsie lowered her voice and leant towards Torin. ‘I beg to differ. You were completely full of yourself when you “rescued” me from the security guard and then you proceeded to stalk my sister and me around that store.’

      ‘I was pleased to help you,’ Torin hissed back. ‘And I wasn’t stalking anyone. You were the one walking against the arrows and your sister was perfectly charming, as I recall.’

      Elsie ignored him and drank her wine, looking across to the clock above the bar. Twenty minutes? She had only endured twenty minutes so far? Elsie had promised Cher an hour – but if their conversation continued to head down the dicey road it was careering along, it would be impossible to keep her promise. Reeling in as much of her anger as she could, she took a breath and returned her stare to his.

      ‘This is getting us nowhere. I think we should change the subject. I don’t want another fight and I would hazard a guess that you don’t, either.’

      The fury in his eyes softened. ‘I don’t. What else can we talk about?’

      At a loss for anything more creative to suggest, Elsie said, ‘Tell me about your job,’ instantly reprimanding herself for sounding like advice from a 1950s manual on successful dating conversation topics: Show an interest in his career …

      So Torin explained about the kind of law he practised, what it meant to be a junior partner, what his ambitions for the future were and how he had made the decision while at primary school that he would study law.

      ‘Classic case of going into the family business,’ he explained. ‘Only my mother’s side of the family, not my father’s. Dad owns a music shop in Hove – about as far removed from law as you can get.’

      ‘And you knew from the age of – what – eight or nine that you wanted to be a lawyer?’ Elsie momentarily forgot her consternation, the fact of his early conviction startling her.

      ‘Yes. Why, is that so surprising?’

      ‘It’s not, I suppose. But I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do with my life when I was that age, apart from have fun and maybe one day appear in Neighbours. In many ways, I still don’t really know if there’s a career that would fit me perfectly. But I love what I do, so that’s fine for me for now.’

      She could see him relax and was surprised

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