Page 11 of Willows and Waterlilies

Step three, grip.

Step four, nock your arrow.

Step five, position my fingers like an Englishman giving a naughty hand gesture (yep, I know my history, ladies and gents).

Step six, find my aim-point.

Step seven, pre-draw.

Step eight, draw.

Step nine, aim.

Step ten, release.

Step eleven, take a breath and look at how close you got to the bullseye.

“Ah!” I cry out in gleeful shock, causing the man at the end to release prematurely and completely miss. I’m gifted with a scowl, causing me to wince with an apology. He simply tuts and stomps off. I bet he’s used to prematurely releasing anyway, the grumpy bastard.

Before I can worry too much about Mr Premature Releaser, my phone begins to buzz. I rush over to muddle through my bag of never-ending crap before finally answering it.

“Hi,” I gasp.

“Hey, Ellie,” Cam says casually over the phone, “you picturing different guys’ heads as you shoot arrows at them again?”

“Of course,” I reply with a smile in my voice. I bend down to pick up my stuff so I can begin heading over to the reception desk to return my equipment.

“Good for you, Ellie,” he says, with only marginal condescension in his voice. “I wish you’d tell me what happened with that Woods guy.”

“Why? So you can mount your steed, donning your armor? Sorry, Cuz, I’m no longer on your white knight list. I’m taking charge of my own battles. Anyway, what’s up?”

“How do you fancy a work trip to Paris?” he asks like such a thing is an everyday occurrence. “You’d be accompanying Nate for three days. All expenses paid of course.”

“Are you serious?! I’ve never been to Europe before. Sign me up yesterday!” I squeal, practically jumping up and down on the spot. This is just the thing I need to get me over the bad hand of men I keep being dealt. A break away from everything! My mind wanders over all the sights I’ll get to visit, completely dismissing the fact that I’ll have to work. However, Cam’s laughter soon snaps me back to reality.

“Excellent! You just need to act as his PA, plus keep him out of trouble.”

“Oh, hell!” I reply, the smile dropping from my face almost instantly. “Why isn’t Bea, his actual PA, going?”

“Do you really need to ask?” he scoffs. “He’ll ditch her the minute he can, and I need someone who will keep an eye on him. She’s a great PA, but not Nate-sitting material. You, on the other hand, can be counted on to kick him into touch if necessary.”

“Ah, I think I’m touched,” I tease, “can that go on my appraisal?”

“You keep him out of trouble, you can write your own appraisal!”

“Yes, Sir,” I say mockingly. “Cam?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, I really need this,” I tell him seriously. “You two are the big brothers I never had.”

“No problem, Ells. And you’re the little sis…“

I wince over his unfinished sentence. He does have a little sister; they just don’t talk anymore. I have no idea what happened between them, but whatever it is, it cut Cam pretty deep. As for Helena, his actual little sister, it practically destroyed her.

“See you later, Ellie,” he says, dropping the subject altogether. “I’ll give you and Nate the details when you’re back in the office.”

Three hours later, I’m glaring at my cousin, aka, my boss, like he’s grown an extra head. Conversely, he’s looking back at me with such a serious expression, it’s hard to turn away. His brother is standing just to the side of him, staring at me with his arms crossed and a stupid grin all over his face. I can’t believe I’ve been duped by the Carter brothers!

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