Page 6 of The Matchmaker
“I’m sorry,” she interrupts, glancing back at the cameraman. “I’m not a journalist. I’m part of the Glenmill marketing department. We’re making a promotional video for the website.”
“A what?”
She grimaces, adding in ayeah, yikes for youlittle shrug that extinguishes a good chunk of my energy until I’m almost swaying in place.
No one says anything for a long moment, and then Jack swipes his hands in front of him as though erasing the last few minutes. “Okay,” he says. “That’s enough of that. Callum? Could you take our illegally trespassing friend here away from what is about to be an insurance nightmare?”
“On it,” Callum mutters, crowding me until I’m forced to move or let him knock me down.
“Miss Collins? Rest assured we will take your comments on board,” Jack says, as I gape at him. “And if you’d like to email in about your noise concerns, I will get back to you personally. Thanks for coming down. Please don’t do it again.”
“You—”
Callum steps fully into my space, blocking my view of the group. “Come on.”
“But—”
“This way.” His tone leaves no room for argument, and frustration chokes me as I turn, stumbling back to the entrance. Callum’s learned his lesson from last time and stays glued to my side as though to make sure I won’t make a run for it again.
“He’s not going to get back to me,” I say, as we reach the gate. “Is he?”
“No,” Callum says.
“Because I’m in my pajamas?”
“I think it was the leaflet guy comment. He’s very proud of those.”
I return the hard hat to him before taking an exaggerated step over the line that marks public from private land. I want to end on something devastating. Something witty and clever that will make this whole disaster worthwhile, but I’ve got nothing. Nothing but a brain that feels like it’s wading through mud and a body that would happily curl up on a pile of leaves somewhere if it meant the chance to sit down.
“I’m not usually like this,” I say again, and he nods.
“I hope you get some sleep.”
“And I hope your boss falls into a very big hole.”
“He’ll have to crawl out of his own one first.”
My eyes go wide at the joke, but Callum’s back to being serious, and he does it so well that I’m almost certain I misheard him.
Almost.
“Have a nice day,” he says, when I don’t move and I waste another five seconds trying and failing to think of something to say, only for him to head back into the site, leaving me staring after him.
CHAPTER TWO
“You look terrible.”
Twelve hours later, after one terrible nap and three cups of coffee, I glance up from the lemon I’m slicing to see my friend Anushka take a seat at the bar, her dark hair pulled up into a messy bun. Two bright red pendants dangle from her ears and, in my half-awake state, I can only gaze at them for a few seconds, hypnotized by the way they catch the light.
“Katie.”
“Hmm?”
Nush stares at me, the electric blue lining her eyes making them appear even wider than usual. “Did you just cross into a different dimension or something?”
“I didn’t sleep.”
“Again? Did you use those earplugs I gave you?”
