Chapter 32
‘His name is Ben, and yes, he was very nice, and yes, we are meeting up again, but no it’s not a date, it’s an afternoon pursuing our, um, shared professional interests.’
Jenni took a sip from her freshly made coffee, her second of the day already, and moved out of the way so that Tim could use the machine. She’d arrived at the office early today and was already suffering because of the early morning start.
‘Uh-huh,’ Tim replied, eyebrows raised. ‘Sounds like a date to me but—’ He held up a hand before she could interrupt. ‘Whatever you need to tell yourself. You have an excellent time pursuing your – what was it? – “professional interests”.’ He added air quotes to the last couple of words.
Jenni rolled her eyes. She didn’t care what Tim said. It really wasn’t a date.
Ben had been so easy to talk to. He’d told her about his job, although he’d brushed over the more harrowing parts, and she’d told him about the snow shoot and he’d laughed when she’d described the horror of finding out her photo had appeared in the subsequent campaign.
‘And then Clive put photos up all around the office. I have flashbacks if I see an orange bobble hat now.’
‘I hate to tell you, but now you’ve mentioned it, I actually remember that advert. I thought you looked vaguely familiar! It was on the side of buses.’ Jenni had winced. ‘Okay, okay, enough! I can’t bear to even talk about it anymore. Tell me your most embarrassing work story.’
‘Well, there was an incident involving gas masks, when I passed out playing table tennis,’ he’d begun, and Jenni had leaned in.
One more coffee had turned into three, but, as they were getting up to leave at closing time, Ben had spotted a flyer pinned to the noticeboard behind the counter.
It was for an exhibition in a gallery housed in a decommissioned fire station.
The artist exhibiting was a local woman that Jenni followed on Instagram, whose work she loved.
Her intricate collages made from tiny pieces of torn paper were delicate, but powerful, and Jenni was in awe of the designs.
Ben, meanwhile, had been interested as the building was where some his crew had been based before it had closed down and they were relocated to their current station.
Now, telling Tim, Jenni was feeling nervous again. Was it a date, despite her insistence otherwise?
‘Oh my God, do you think he thinks it’s a date?’ she asked Tim in alarm. ‘Maybe I should have been clearer that it wasn’t when I suggested we go together and—’
‘Just relax, for God’s sake, Jenni. What’s wrong with you?’ Tim asked, a confused frown wrinkling his forehead. ‘He sounds like a nice guy, you had a nice time, just see what happens.’
Seeing Jenni on the verge of panic, Tim hastily added.
‘It’s fine – he probably just wants to see if the old fire pole is still there or something, or take a look at the vintage signs or helmets or whatever on the walls.
That’s all. And you’re just going to look at, what did you say they were?
Torn-up bits of paper? All perfectly normal and not at all date-like.
Anyway, come on, we need to get going. Clive is giving a shout-out to my walking range this morning. ’
Cup in hand, Jenni followed Tim to the Monday Motivational, her mind whirring.
It was going to be fine. It wasn’t a date. There was no need to panic at all.
Not. At. All.