The Dating Game Read Online Free Page A

was
doing well, but she could bring more business on board if she had more staff. 
Maybe she would get some of her life back, too.  It had been embarrassing
today, realising that she didn’t really have any hobbies, as she had no time
for them.  Something had to change.
    Her most urgent work tasks finished, Gill pondered where she
was going to get a photo, of just her, which was respectable enough and sexy
enough, without being too overt, which she could put on her dating profile? 
When had she looked her best?  Hair up, hair down?  An occasion like Michael
and Sarah’s wedding, where she was all made-up and wearing a dress, or no
makeup and wearing a t-shirt?  Maybe something in-between, not too casual, not
too formal – but not businesslike?  Perhaps on a night out with the girls,
before they started on the cocktails?  She scrolled through the photographs. 
There!  Got it – a smiling Gill beamed out at her.  Tanned, slightly slimmer,
happy, not a single sign of fatigue.  The girls’ trip to Kos.  They’d chosen a
villa away from the hubbub.  They’d partied a little, eaten out a lot, chatted,
reminisced and generally had an excellent time.  Debbie had convinced Gill to
take some time off work, and made her promise only to check her e-mails for an
hour each day, so she would have the break she so needed.  Angela had taken the
photo, she recalled, just after they ordered starters at Yannis’ Taverna.  She
remembered sampling the region’s famous rosé wine, which they had loved so
much, they had gone on to visit the Hatziemmanouil vineyard later in the
holiday.
    Wearing a blue spangly top, and with her hair hanging
loosely down her back, her soft curls framing her face, Gill thought she looked
quite pretty.  Lisa, of course, had done her hair and makeup that evening,
always keen to show off her beautician skills, particularly on a blank canvas
like Gill, whom she always moaned didn’t make the most of herself.  Lisa felt
that she hid behind her professional clothes too often and applied the bare minimum
of makeup.
    Before she could change her mind, Gill attached the picture,
which she thought gave the right impression.  The dates didn’t need to know she
didn’t always look like that.  And when she did go on a date, naturally she
would make a special effort.
    After adding a brief note to Caroline, she pressed Send,
shut down her computer, grabbed her mobile, turned off the lights, and headed
for bed.
     

 
     
    Chapter Four
     
     
    As Gill lay in bed, she had difficulty dropping off.  Should
she tell the girls what she was doing?  She couldn’t decide.  Debbie would be
appalled.  Lisa would say well done; and Angela?  Well, Angela would probably
demur and see how things panned out.  She rarely judged.  That was one of the
things Gill loved about her friend.
    Angela was a gentle soul really, so Gill found it difficult
to understand how she could teach at St Swithun’s.  Unlike the grand and
posh-sounding saint’s name, the school was anything but.  It was only one step
down from the problem inner city schools in the US.  The incongruity and irony
of a school named St Swithun’s in the east end of Glasgow wasn’t lost on any of
them.
    Giving herself a mental shake, her thoughts returned to the
dating agency.  For now, she decided to keep it to herself, just until she
received a few profiles and figured out how things were going to go.  If she
went on a date, then of course, she would have to let at least Debbie know. 
She didn’t want to meet some potential nutter without letting anyone in on
where she was going.
    Gill found herself thinking about her failed relationships. 
She may as well start at the beginning.  Barry.  Everything before that was
just messing around.  But Barry she had loved – a lot as it turned out.  It’s
true what they say , she thought, that you don’t know what you have until
it’s gone .  They met at Strathclyde University on their first