Page 94 of The Gin Lover's Guide to Dating

‘Concerned?’ I suggest.

‘Yes.’ Reyes nods vigorously. ‘This is it. You are looking like… there are words on your shoulders.’

‘Huh?’ Amir glances at her distractedly.

‘I think she means you look like the world is on your shoulders,’ I clarify. ‘And she’s dead right. What’s up? Are you OK?’

‘I’m…’ Amir rubs his forehead. ‘Eh…oh man… I’m sorry, Liv, I have no choice but to do this. Can you come with me?’

‘Err… sure.’ I look from him to Reyes in confusion. ‘Where are we going? Do you need help with something?’

‘Look, do me a favour and don’t ask any questions, yeah?’ Amir looks sick.

Faint alarm bells start ringing in my head – though I have no idea why. ‘OK, yeah, of course. I’ll come right now.’

Amir turns and heads back out of the bar, leaving me to trail behind. I glance back at Reyes as I go. She simply shrugs and holds her hands out in a gesture of bewilderment. I begin to feel quite uneasy as I trot along behind a silent Amir through the echoing staff corridor, past the canteen until we reach a door I’ve never seen before. He opens it, steps inside and I follow.

As I enter the room, which is very small, and hosts just a table with a laptop on it, and four chairs similar to those in the canteen, I gasp in surprise.

‘Josh. Hi. What are you doing here? What’s going on?’

Josh, like Amir, doesn’t look himself at all.

‘Take a seat, will you, Liv.’ He doesn’t make eye contact.

As I tentatively pull out a chair and sit down, my insides begin to churn. This feels eerily familiar. This time, Icantell at this early stage that something is very wrong. Amir walks round the table and takes a seat next to Josh. I wait silently for someone to speak, my heart pounding in my ears.

‘Liv,’ says Amir eventually. ‘We’ve had a complaint from a customer.’

‘Right.’ My eyes dart to Josh, hoping for some kind of reassurance, but he’s looking at the floor. ‘What’s it about?’

‘It’s pretty serious.’ Amir opens up the laptop and types in a password. ‘Liv, is this yours?’

He turns the laptop round, and I immediately feel like I might pass out. Staring back at me from the screen, plain as day, is my blog site.

‘Oh no.’ My hand flies to my mouth in shock, my breathing suddenly shallow and irregular. ‘Yes… yes, it’s mine.’

I realise there’s no point in denying it. I’ve been caught out.

Amir puts his head in his hands and lets out a groan of exasperation. ‘I had hoped this was some kind of mistake.’

‘It’s… no mistake.’ I struggle to get the words out; my whole body is shaking inside. ‘How… how did you find out about it?’

‘A customer recognised her “situation” in this most recent post – although she didn’t quite agree with this rather…caricaturedversion of events.’

‘Shit.’ I bite my bottom lip anxiously.

‘She’s one of your subscribers,’ Amir continues. ‘But on this occasion, she didn’t see the funny side, as you can imagine. When I read it, I knew it had to be you, because that’s just too fluent and polished to be Reyes.’

He gestures towards the laptop screen in frustration.

‘Oh shit, Amir… I’m sorry. I’msosorry.’ I feel my face heating up. ‘I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. I tried to keep it as anonymous as possible. This was never meant to happen.’

‘I’m sure it wasn’t, Liv,’ says Amir. ‘But the problem is that it has. This woman – who’s a regular customer – is demanding that you’re fired, or she’s going to the local press to out you. She’s pretty well connected. I don’t doubt that she’ll be successful in getting a headline that will – while protecting her anonymity – damage the reputation of the hotel, as well as harm the entire company.’

As the enormity of the situation dawns on me, I feel sick with shame and humiliation. Having been a communications and PR professional, I know exactly the kind of headache this could cause for the hotel. I glance at Josh, hoping to get some kind of reaction from him, but his eyes remain fixed to the floor.

‘I’m so very, very sorry,’ I begin to babble. ‘I really am. There was no mal-intent, I promise. I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I just… I was just trying to make some extra money so that I didn’t lose my apartment…’ I trail off realising how pathetic that sounds.

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