Page 70 of The Matchmaker
Callum’s brows draw together, looking like he’s about to argue, but I march out of there before he can. Just as the door bangs shut behind me, I hear Jack’s furious voice as he turns on his brother.
“What does she meanagain?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Okay, so I’m moving to France.
I’m going to learn French, and I am going to move to France.
Or maybe I’ll move to Japan. I think Japanese would be much harder to learn as a beginner, sure, but it’s a lot farther away than France.
A lot farther away from Callum Dempsey.
Callum Dempsey, whom I can certainly never see again.
I mean, what was that?
What thehellwas that?
What was Ithinking?
I stare at the cobweb in the corner of my kitchen. The same cobweb that’s been there for a few months now. The same one I’ve been staring at all morning.
I can never see him again. That’s the only answer.
Because way to think with your vagina, and not your head, Katie.
Way to be a completeidiot.
“You alright?”
“I’m fine.” The words are clipped and a lie, but Gemma doesn’t call me out on it. She came over after her shift at the nursing home to help me with some admin, and I’ve been nothing short of rude to her all afternoon. She knows something’s up. I’m just too embarrassed to tell her.
I click through my email, scrolling through my unanswered pleas to local journalists, begging for scraps of attention. I’d been bullish about it before, so concerned with getting the venue ready that I didn’t think about the fact we weren’t even selling tickets. But now it’s all I can think about. Especially after what Jack said yesterday. The whole point of this was to get attention and we weren’t getting any of it.
Every small town in the country had some sob story about something closing down. Nush was right. We should have gone flashier. “Do you know any famous people?”
“Do you?” Gemma asks dryly, and I look up to see her licking one of the dozens of envelopes she’s been stuffing to mail out to local businesses. As I watch her reach for the next one, she starts to blur before me, and I blink, rubbing my eyes. They’re sore and slightly stinging from staring at a laptop screen for the past few hours. And of course, by my lack of sleep.
“My internet is slow,” I say.
“Frank said they’re doing some work in the area today.”
Of course they are.
“We can go to mine,” she offers. “But I don’t think it will be any better. Or maybe Bridget has some—” She breaks off with a curse as a horn suddenly blares outside. “What the hell is that?”
Jack’s revenge. “The traffic started again this morning.”
“But I thought you said Callum—”
“I know.” I doubt it was him, though. All my money was on the brother. “Looks like they changed their mind.”
“That’s just petty,” she says.
And that’s who we’re dealing with.
“You’ll get used to it.” My phone lights up, a local number flashing on the screen. I grab it, and head into the hallway. Granny took Plankton with her to a friend’s house for tea, so I have the front room to myself.
