Page 74 of The Matchmaker
“Someone’s at the door,” I say, kicking the covers off my legs.
“Katie, wait—”
“I’ll call you back. They’re going to wake Granny.”
I hang up, yawning widely as I shove my feet into my slippers and head down the stairs. The bell goes again just as I reach the hallway and I don’t bother to hide my frown as I nudge an equally confused Plankton out of the way and answer it.
A young woman stands on the other side, smiling radiantly. She’s wearing a blue trench coat and her dreadlocks are dyed silver and piled high on her head. Her lipstick is bright pink and so perfectly applied that I can only stare at it in envy.
“Katie Collins?”
“Yeah?”
“My name is Michelle Kayode fromThe Irish Weekly News. I was hoping I could—”
“As in the paper?” I interrupt, and her smile widens.
“That’s right. I was wondering if you’d be available for a quick chat?”
“Katie?” I glance over my shoulder as Granny yells from her bedroom. “Who’s that?”
“I’d really love to talk to you about the video,” Michelle says. “If you’ve got time?”
The…
Okay. Hold on.
“Can you give me one second?” I ask.
“Of course.”
“I just have to check something.”
“I’ll wait right out here,” she says. “There’s no rush.”
“Cool…I— okay. One second. Don’t leave. Stay right there.” I close the door to keep Plankton in, and retreat to the kitchen to call Gemma back. She answers on the first ring.
“What video?”
The words come out in a rush. “Noah filmed you and Callum arguing yesterday. And then he put it online.”
“He didwhat?” I hiss, as Granny shuffles into the room, a cigarette half-hidden in her hand.
“Who was at the door?”
“Nobody. Go back to bed.”
She gives me a look that lets me know I’m going to be paying forthatcomment for the rest of my life and disappears down the hallway.
“What do you mean, online?” I ask, as I hurry after her, making sure she does indeed go to her bedroom before taking the stairs two at a time to mine. “How online?”
“He put it up on one of his social media accounts yesterday. It was picked up by someone else overnight and it ballooned from there.”
“But how big is the balloon?”
“I’m sending you the link,” Gemma says. “I can’t apologize enough, Katie. And Noah feels awful too. I don’t think he realized what he was doing, but he definitely will when I ground him until he’s eighteen. He wants to say sorry if you can stand to face him.”
“Okay,” I say, distracted as I peek out the window. The reporter is still there, standing by a small red car. “Just let me deal with this first. You’ve sent the link to me?”
