A Funny Thing About Love by Rebecca Farnworth Read Free Book Online Page A

just fuck off and leave me alone to play on
Grand Theft Auto
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)
    Carmen took the lift, and as she got out at her floorand tried to walk nonchalantly towards her office she felt as if she had a large sign pinned to her back: ‘I kissed Will and I liked it!’ Her nervousness increased as she drew near his office and she steeled herself for the encounter. But Will wasn’t there.
Damn
! It would have been better to get seeing him out of the way sooner rather than later, otherwise she was bound to obsess about it all day.
    She sat down and switched on her MacBook, but there was no chance of any peace as one by one Lottie, Christina and Trish all found excuses to troop into her office and interrogate her. Dirty Sam was the last to just happen by. ‘So, good night, Carmen?’ he said, leaning against her door frame.
    Carmen tried to fob him off. ‘It was great, wasn’t it? Mamma Mia does a mean penne arrabbiata, doesn’t she?’
    Dirty Sam was not to be deflected. ‘Will seemed to have a good time didn’t he?’
    â€˜You’ll have to ask him.’
    â€˜Well, I thought you might know after last night. Did the birthday boy get his wish?’
    â€˜I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
    â€˜I think you do, Carmen. Come on, give it up for Sam.’
    He was insufferable! Carmen shook her head. ‘No idea.’ But then, as Dirty Sam was about to head off, she called out, ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Sam, I kissed him but that was it. I didn’t sleep with him, so can you please tell everyone so I can get on with some bloody work?’
    â€˜Didn’t sleep with whom?’ Matthew wandered into her office.
    â€˜Oh, Matthew, not you as well! Will, I didn’t sleep with Will Hunter, okay?’ She had raised her voice. Probably the entire corridor had heard her.
    â€˜Well, that seems to have cleared that up, doesn’t it?’ Matthew said drily. He looked especially dapper today in a navy-blue pinstripe three-piece suit, complete with a violet orchid buttonhole. He always wore a suit, but this seemed extra smart.
    â€˜Let’s forget I said that,’ Carmen groaned. ‘Anyway, you look particularly lovely. Is someone getting married? Are you being presented with an award for being such a super-fantastic silver fox agent?’
    Matthew gave a wry smile. ‘Not exactly.’ He paused and adjusted the buttonhole. ‘I wanted to let you know before the management meeting, where I’ll announce it formally, that I’m resigning. This is my farewell-cruel-world suit.’
    Carmen looked at Matthew in total astonishment. He loved his job, loved the company, which he’d founded. It was his life. ‘Why on earth are you doing that? You’re too old for a midlife crisis!’
    â€˜I suppose I should take that last comment as a kind of backhanded compliment,’ Matthew replied, folding his long, thin body into the chair opposite Carmen’s desk. ‘It’s time for me to go, Carmen; I can’t fit in with these new people. Penny’s online furniture business is going well and we’re lucky to have a fairly decent pension. I’d like to leave while I still have fondmemories of the company. I simply can’t go on like this, with Tiana on my back every two minutes, wanting to know about figures. It’s all spreadsheets this, projections that, it’s sucking the life blood out of me. I’ve been drinking too much, you must have noticed.’
    Carmen thought back to the day before, when Matthew had been lying drunk on his sofa, and it wasn’t the first time that she’d gone to his office and discovered that he was half-cut. In spite of the dapper suit, Matthew looked exhausted, a man at the end of the line, with huge bags under his eyes that a small hamster could have cheerfully slept in.
    Carmen gave a heartfelt sigh. The thought of work without Matthew’s wit, kindness