Welcome to the Real World by Carole Matthews Read Free Book Online

not sitting in the back listening to Abba hits at full blast or swigging cheap Cava and pretending it's champagne.' She fiddled with her hair, twining it round her finger. 'And there are no disco lights.'

    'So what you're trying to tell me is that this limousine experience is distinctly more sedate.'

    'Yes.' Fern twiddled with her thumbs and tried to sit nicely. She pulled her floral skirt over her knees.

    Evan thought she might have smartened herself up today, but she still looked like a hippy. A cute hippy, but a hippy nevertheless. He wondered why he'd wanted to bring her to the rehearsal. And he had wanted to, even though the invitation was out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider it. His assistant, Erin, accompanied him everywhereof coursebut this was different. Fern certainly wasn't Erin. Despite Rupert's protestations to the contrary, Evan was sure that he could have managed without a temp for the time being. As it was, he was quite pleased that he'd chosen Fernif 'chosen' was the right word. But this woman was here for a matter of weeks. All she had to do was open the post and make some appointments, and yet here he was, for reasons best known to himself, trying to form some sort of bond with her.

    Perhaps he was simply tired of spending all his time with Rupert. He was, after all, a good agent but a pretty awful companion. Evan took in Fern's appearance once again. There was no doubting she was a pretty little thing. And a good few years younger than him. Nothing wrong with that, these days. She was certainly a breath of fresh air. Everyone else he knew seemed to be in the same business, and here was Fern not knowing her Turandot from her La Traviata. Somehow that was quite appealing. Maybe it would be fun to mix business with pleasure for once. It was certainly a long time since he'd enjoyed a woman's company.

    Before he could think of a thousand reasons why he shouldn't ask the next question, he leaned towards her and said, 'Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?'

    Her eyes widened in shock. 'No,' she said, backing away from him. 'No. No. I can't. I've got a commitment tonight. I've got commitments every night.'

    Evan felt himself tighten up. Well, she couldn't put it any plainer than that. An unexpected feeling of disappointment washed over him. 'I wanted to fill you in on some of your duties,' he said briskly. 'Nothing more. I thought it would be a good opportunity.'

    'It's not that I don't want to,' she said, blushing. 'It's just that I can't. I've got...'

    'Commitments.'

    Fern fell silent.

    With perfect timing to save him from further humiliation, they pulled up outside the rehearsal room.

    'Okay, governor?' the chauffeur said.

    'Fine. I'll call when I need you to come back for us, Frank.'

    If he hadn't been so embarrassed, Evan might have smiled to himself. Normally, he had trouble fobbing females off. There was a queue of women at the Stage Door every nightwomen who were only too willing to share dinner and a lot more with him. And yet he'd very nearly been in danger of making a fool of himself with his young assistant.

    Fern gathered her bag and the laptop to her, giving him a rueful smile as she clambered out of the car. 'I can't wait to hear you sing though,' she said.

    He shook his head as he followed her. She was certainly different, this one.

Eleven

    S ometimes I am the biggest jerk you can imagine. I follow Evan David into the rehearsal room with a heavy heart. Do you thinkto use a musical termthat he was making overtures to me? It's so long since I've been asked out to dinner that I'm not sure whether he did mean it to be purely work-related or not. The only experience I've had with men in recent years is with Carl, and dinner with my dear friend would involve stopping for a kebab or some chips on the way home from the pub.
    Evan David is so sophisticated, while I must appear so gauche. Fancy blabbing about being in a limousine at Jemma MacKenzie's hen night. As if