Page 60 of Is She Really Going Out with Him?
“Night, Anna,” he says. We both linger on the line for a moment, until finally, he hangs up.
When he’s gone, the room feels too quiet. My whole body feels flushed, and now I won’t be able to sleep. Picking up my headphones from my bedside table, I search a music app for Fleetwood Mac. The joyful, upbeat sound of “Go Your Own Way” fills my ears. Idoknow this song. I smile at the thought of Loretta dancing around the house in her underwear. Turning up the volume, I get out of bed and dance downstairs in my pajamas, imagining the soundtrack to a jubilant scene, not the scene where the heroine gets groped and humiliated by her celebrity crush.
I guess some things in life you don’t get to choose; you can’t choose the plot, but you can choose the soundtrack. As “Everywhere” comes on, I turn up the volume and shimmy around the living room, lip-synching to the words, not caring who might be looking in. Soon my blood is pumping, my skin is sweating, and my soul starts to sing.
Google searches:
Fleetwood Mac, greatest hits
Anna Appleby byline photo
Ryan Stirling, creep, Reddit thread
Chapter 19
The next time I seeWill, he’s sitting in a coffee shop laughing with someone. I’m walking past and he’s in the window, impossible to miss. I’m surprised to see him in this part of town. He doesn’t live anywhere near here. Then I recognize his coffee companion—Deedee. They’re laughing together; she has her hand on his arm as Will shows her something on his phone.
My body tenses, in anger or jealousy, I’m not sure. Logically, I know I have no right to feel aggrieved. Nothing really happened between us, I don’t have a claim on him. He’s writing a column about dating other women. But this feels different. He told me he doesn’t go on more than two dates unless he thinks it could be serious, so is this something serious? Why would he be meeting her all the way out here and why was he so cagey when she called him in the car? Tucking myself around the next street corner, I can’t help testing a theory. I pull out my phone and call him. He picks up after two rings.
“Hi, Anna,” he says, his voice warm, almost affectionate.
“Hey. I’m on my way to the office, I’m passing Colonna & Small’s. Do you want me to pick you up a coffee?”
“Oh no, thanks, I’m going to be in late today. Thank you, though.”
“Hot lead for a story?” I ask, peering around the corner, watching him talk to me on his phone. Deedee flicks her long blond hair, then pouts her pillowy lips.
“No, a dentist’s appointment,” he says, then clears his throat. He’s not a good liar. “They’re calling me in now. I’ll see you later?”
“Sure,” I say, then hang up.
Why is he lying to me? Why doesn’t he want me to know he’s seeing Deedee? Because this is Will, and I should have known. The flirty behavior in Hay, the thoughtful gift, and the cozy late-night phone calls—is this all part of some strategy to manipulate me? What did he say that day in the office? “If I needed to charm you, trust me, I would have.” My chest contracts. No, no one could be that diabolical.Could they?
—
An hour later,when he arrives in the office, Will comes straight over to my desk and presents me with a cinnamon bun from the bakery that he knows I like.
“For you,” he says, all sweetness and light. I swing around in the ergonomic chair that I’ve re-stolen.
“Let’s see them then,” I say.
“See what?” he asks.
“Your lovely clean teeth?”
He blushes, then rubs his neck, which I notice he does when he’s uncomfortable. “It wasn’t a clean. Just a checkup.”
I fix him with a skeptical look.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing. You’ve just got a little…” And I reach my finger to scratch between my teeth, then leave him desperately trying to find a crumb that isn’t there.
—
At midday weboth have a catch-up meeting with Jonathan. Our latest column went online last night and must have garnered more than average views, because Jonathan is in an exuberant mood. He’s wearing a checked three-piece suit and a yellow cravat, which he twirls around his finger as he talks.
“I have been getting so many e-mails about your column, not just complaints either, compliments too,” Jonathan says. “It’s just what we need to shift people’s perception ofBath Livingas a fusty old property paper. NitGate was hilarious, Anna.”
