Irrepressible You Read Online Free Page B

all the same, sticking her nose up in the air when Jo was proven correct. ‘Smarty pants.’
    Jo chuckled. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment. So what’s bugging you?’
    ‘Nothing. Everything.’
    ‘Man trouble?’
    ‘Yeah, or more to the point, lack of man trouble.’ Amy pushed a marshmallow around her hot chocolate before raising her finger to her lips, licking off the icing sugar that clung to it.
    ‘Want to talk about it?’
    ‘Nope.’ Amy smiled to take the sting out of her rejection. After a truly epic fight nearly a decade before, she and Jo had come to an agreement that her love life was off-limits. ‘You can tell me how the wedding plans are going instead, though.’
    Jo smacked a hand over her eyes. ‘Thanks, Ames. Stick the knife in and cut me to the bone, why don’t you? Tell me, why did I agree to get married in the first place?’
    ‘I dunno. From memory it had something to do with falling for an awesome, lovable lug and having spectacular sex on a regular basis, but what’d I know?’ Amy grinned widely at Jo’s obvious distress. ‘You know it’s not really the drama you’re making it out to be. Stephen’d get married in a shearing shed to make you happy. You’re just upset because you know I’ll insist you wear a frock.’
    Jo grimaced. ‘Yeah, you would too. Bitch.’
    ‘Love you too. Come on, it can’t be that bad.’
    Jo averted her eyes. ‘It’s not, but setting up the brewery has taken up all our time the past two years and it’s still gonna be another few before we start making any kind of profit. The thought of arranging a wedding right in the middle of it all is giving me the willies. That, and . . . I dunno . . . it’s awkward, you know? Stephen’s got such a big family and on our side there’s just you and me. Not that I’d want Mum and Dad there in a million years after what they did . . . but it kinda seems a bit sad, eh?’ Jo scuffed her foot across Amy’s floor, scowling at her big toe, poking through a hole in the threadbare sock.
    ‘What about Scott? He’s our family too.’ Amy reached across the table to put her hand over Jo’s, her heart aching in sympathy. Ever since meeting her fiancé, Stephen, Jo had been happier than Amy had ever seen her. It was awful that their crappy childhood was returning to cause Jo unhappiness now, when things were going so well. In the past few years Jo had gone from strength to strength, quitting her job in the oil industry to set up the brewery with Stephen at his family’s winery.
    ‘Yeah, but Scott is Stephen’s cousin, so he sort of doesn’t count in this case. Although I’ve been threatening to make him a bridesmaid.’ Jo’s wide mouth curved up in a reluctant, wry smile. ‘He’s pretty enough.’
    They shared a mutual grin at the thought of their six-foot-two friend wearing a frock.
    ‘Pink for preference,’ Amy chuckled.
    ‘Hell, yeah.’ Jo withdrew her hand and broke off a large chunk of chocolate cake, moaning with pleasure at the first bite. ‘Hmm, Jesus this stuff is good.’
    ‘I know, I made it.’
    ‘No ego on you, Ames.’ Jo chuckled. ‘So you gonna get around to telling me about giving an opera singer the brush-off, or do I have to drag it outta ya?’
    ‘Scott told you that too?’ Amy felt a heated blush creeping up her cheeks.
    ‘Mmm hmm,’ Jo said, her mouth full of cake.
    ‘He’s such a tattle tale,’ Amy grumbled. She’d Googled Alex Crane the minute she’d returned home with her hardware supplies earlier and had quickly discovered Scott had been right; Crane was an operatic superstar. Even more embarrassing, he was in Perth for a huge sellout production that was being advertised all over town. How she’d failed to recognise him from the billboards, the flyers and the TV ads was beyond her.
    She’d also tried looking up his rude friend but hadn’t been able to remember the man’s last name. It was Ben . . . something. All she knew was that he’d featured in