The Perfect Match Read Online Free Page A

stupid.’
    ‘Alice! It’s OK to meet people on trains you know, even when you’re ancient, like you.’
    Alice laughed gently. ‘Well, that’s good because he’s emailed me. He wants us to meet up.’
    ‘But that’s amazing and lovely! Maybe I’d better get a train somewhere . . .’
    ‘But you’ve got Nevil!’
    ‘I know I have. I was only joking. Tell me about this man!’
    Alice said, ‘Maybe I will have that cuppa. You?’
    ‘I’ll come with you. We can sit in the kitchen.’
    Bella made tea, wondering about Alice’s man and, as always, thinking that her kitchen was just about perfect. Bella got to see a lot of kitchens in her job, some of them very grand, but none of them came up to the standard of Alice’s. Handmade units that didn’t look as if they belonged in a showroom, a huge table for sitting or eating round, a dresser crowded with china and the sorts of ephemera that proper kitchens accumulated over the years, a Rayburn and a jolly good ordinary cooker. The view over the garden and a comfy sofa added to the abundant charm.
    ‘So?’ she said, having put a mug of tea and some biscuits in front of her godmother. ‘Tell your Aunty Bella everything!’
    ‘Well,’ Alice began, obviously quite pleased to talk about it. ‘He came and sat opposite me and hadn’t had lunch. He’d left his wallet in his desk drawer and . . . I bought him a couple of sandwiches. He was terribly reluctant to accept them.’
    ‘Was it because you’re a woman?’
    Alice shrugged. ‘He didn’t actually say that specifically, but he did say that the women he knew liked men to pay for things.’
    ‘Old-fashioned,’ said Bella.
    ‘Possibly, but not that old. I think I might have flirted with a younger man. He wanted my address, but I knew you’d have told me off, so I eventually gave him one of those lovely cards you did for me for my birthday with my email address on it.’
    ‘But they also have your postal address on them.’
    ‘I somehow managed to overlook that.’ Alice bit her lip. ‘And he must have done too, or he’d have just sent a cheque.’
    ‘Noo! He didn’t send a cheque because he wanted to see you again. He must like you.’
    ‘Well, I hope he does. I was very nice to him.’
    ‘I don’t mean “like” in the same way you like the postman. I mean – well – fancy you.’
    ‘Don’t be silly, darling.’ Alice had no difficulty in dismissing this suggestion. ‘He was years younger – possibly only in his early fifties. Although I am very bad at guessing people’s ages.’
    ‘So why does he want to meet up then? When he could just send you a cheque? Or just forget about it?’
    Alice frowned. ‘Well, obviously he’s barking. Maybe I’d better not meet him.’
    Bella laughed. Her godmother never accepted that she was an attractive woman. Personally, she wasn’t at all surprised this man wanted to meet her again.
    ‘It’s wonderfully
Brief Encounter
! Have you made an arrangement? A where and when?’
    ‘No. He wants me to suggest all that.’
    Bella considered Alice. It was obvious from her added sparkle that she did not want to be talked out of this. ‘Well, I think you should meet him. He sounds lovely! And when did you last go out with a man? Not since I’ve been living with you, that’s for sure.’
    ‘Not for years – at least, not one who’s not an old friend I’ve known for ever and wouldn’t have if he was on toast and garnished with parsley. But I don’t think I’d know how to behave!’
    ‘Of course you will! You’ll just have a drink, chat for a bit, go through and eat, chat some more. Really, it’ll come perfectly easily to you.’
    ‘I was joking, actually. It’s just being with a man I don’t know – it might feel a bit awkward.’
    Bella became a bit more sympathetic. It had been a while since she’d been on a date as such herself. ‘I’ll keep texting, so you can tell me if you’re unhappy and I can sweep in and rescue you.’
    ‘Or I