Me and Mr Carrington: A Short Story Read Online Free Page B

you first. Is that OK?’ Eddie says really fast and I’m sure my stomach does an actual backflip.
    ‘Of course it bloody is!’ I bellow, and for some ludicrous reason, I leg it into the hall to check my hair in the mirror above the side cabinet before grabbing my bag and turfing all the junk out to locate my new MAC lipstick in Chatterbox pink.
    ‘OK, calm down lover, only I thought it best to check, seeing as you went bonkers the last time I slipped up and gave that hot guy in the club your number.’
    ‘That was different. He wasn’t hot. And he looked like a bell end.’
    ‘Hmm, well, not one I’ve ever seen before, sugar pie.’ Eddie laughs at his own joke. ‘Anyway, what are you doing? You sound distracted.’
    ‘Nothing. Got to go.’ I toss the lipstick down, end the call and run back to the sofa. Tom could be trying to get through. Right now!
    It’s nearly midnight when my mobile eventually rings and I must have nodded off to sleep. I force myself awake and lean up on one elbow eagerly.
    ‘Georgie, it’s Tom.’
    ‘Hello. This is a nice surprise,’ I say, trying to sound breezy.
    ‘Did I wake you?’
    ‘Oh no,’ I lie.
    ‘So, how are you, Georgie?’ God, he sounds hot. His Downton voice (upstairs, natch) is still there, but there’s something different too, the hint of an accent. A deep, sexy Italian one – being in Sicily is obviously having a fabulous effect on him. Bonus.
    ‘Very well, thanks. How are you?’
    ‘Good. No, scrap that, I’m bored out of my mind, if I’m honest.’
    ‘Oh no, why?’ I say, magnanimously, but really thinking –
Good! I want you to be sooooo bored that you have to get back here RIGHT NOW
.
    ‘Just all this family stuff.’
    ‘You could always hop on a plane,’ I say hopefully, and wondering if it would be rude to ask what this ‘family stuff’ is all about.
    ‘I’d love to, I really would, but it’s just not possible at the moment.’
    ‘Ah, that’s a shame, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.’
Whaat??
What am I saying? I sound like someone’s old granny at a wedding, sucking on a pork pie as I dish out my guide to courting circa 1920. And I actually do a ridiculously coy giggle. Cringe.
    ‘Err, sorry Georgie, can you hang on for a second?’ he says, sounding distracted.
    ‘Sure.’ I shudder with relief that he seems to have missed my granny moment, while I listen to muffled voices and wait for him to come back on the line.
    ‘I have to go.’ And the line goes dead. I hold my phone out to check the connection and yep, he’s gone! Disappointment floods through me as I make my way to bed wondering what just happened there. Maybe I’m dreaming …

Chapter Five
    It’s the evening of the VIP sale preview event and I can’t believe a whole month has passed by already. That old adage of
time flying when you’re having fun
really is true – Tom and I have racked up over fifty emails now plus two late night telephone chats where things got very heated indeed. In a good way. Oh yes! Especially the bit on FaceTime where Tom showed me his tan line just below the waistband of his jeans. Cor! Luckily it was at the exact same moment I took a mouthful of wine, so the fake coughing fit to cover my ridiculously girly gasp was highly convincing, I hope. I just wish he was here – the last time we spoke he was in Milan but reckoned he’d be back any day now, and it really can’t come soon enough for me.
    ‘Are you ready?’ It’s Eddie looking very officious with a pen poised to tick a chart on his black clipboard.
    ‘Of course,’ I say, noticing a couple of cocktail rings are upside down in the display box on my counter. I quickly straighten them, tucking the price tags inside the velvet-covered cushion while Annie sees to a tangerine-coloured leather Chloé bag that’s managed to topple over on the shelf next to us.
    ‘Who put you in charge? Annie says cheekily as she turns back to face Eddie.
    ‘Nobody darling, but