Free Cupid's Way by Joanne Phillips

waistline. She was saved from further engagement by an elegant hand that clutched her arm and a voice that said,
    ‘Evie? Oh, my, god. You’ve not changed one bit!’
    Evie swallowed the cupcake in one go and exclaimed in surprise.
    ‘Eloise? Is that really you? How are you?’ She leaned forward and embraced the woman, mainly to hide her shock. The pig-tailed girl she remembered from school had been obliterated, and Evie was struggling to reconcile her memories of that scrawny kid with this siren who stood before her. Eloise was gorgeous. The youngest of the Peacock kids, she’d always been skinny, but now her figure would be described as athletic, and her hair, once stringy and dull brown, reached past her shoulders and glowed with a hazelnut sheen. Her skin glowed too, and she was dressed like one of Bristol’s finest, designer-style down to her fingernails. ‘Wow,’ Evie said. ‘You, however, certainly have changed.’
    Eloise laughed, showing perfect white teeth. ‘For the better I hope.’
    ‘For the better, definitely. I didn’t know you were here, Gran didn’t say.’ Evie threw her gran a look – she certainly could have done with a head’s up on Eloise’s transformation. What use was a gossiping grandma who didn’t give you the right kind of gossip?
    ‘Do you live here in Cupid’s Way?’ Evie said.
    ‘Unfortunately not. I’ve got a flat over towards the river.’ Eloise sighed and shook back her mane of hair.
    ‘I’d have thought there was plenty of room for you.’ Evie looked across the gardens. She could see the upstairs windows of the Peacock houses and one of the front doors. Numbers five, seven and nine had been haphazardly connected over the years, but not in any way that couldn’t be reversed with the bricking up of a doorway or two.
    Eloise leaned in and whispered, ‘It’s a midden in there, Evie. Take my advice – if you’re ever invited in, say no.’
    Evie laughed and said, ‘Thanks for the warning.’ She noticed Zac giving Eloise the once over, which wasn’t so very surprising. She smiled to herself and began to hatch a plan.
    ‘Do you two know each other?’ she asked them, linking arms with Eloise and turning her to face their resident builder.
    ‘I’ve seen you around,’ Zac said, throwing out another dazzling smile. ‘Those two gorgeous kids are yours, aren’t they?’
    They all looked at the tow-headed boys, who were at that moment standing behind Frank and mock-belching. Frank lifted his hand in the air and told them to clear off or else. Both boys turned around and wiggled their backsides.
    Eloise laughed. ‘Yes, they’re mine I’m afraid. Sammy and Davy. They’re a right pair of tearaways. I can’t do a thing with them.’
    Which was patently obvious, Evie thought. Worried her plan would come to nothing, she said, ‘I bet their dad is proud of them too.’
    ‘Who the hell would know?’ Eloise said, inspecting her fingernails, which Evie noticed had tiny flowers embedded in them. ‘I haven’t seen him since they were in nappies.’
    Zac moved in a little closer. It was an almost imperceptible movement, but it wasn’t lost on Mavis.
    ‘Evie has the most wonderful job now, don’t you, Evie? And her own flat in Manchester, and her own car. She’s doing very well for herself.’
    If her gran was trying to impress Zac, Evie had the idea that a short blonde woman with a rented flat and an old banger couldn’t possibly compare with Eloise’s obvious assets. Her comments could, however, turn Eloise from a potential friend and ally into a sure-fire enemy.
    ‘Anyway,’ Evie said, turning her back on her grandma, ‘I was just about to ask Zac about his plans for his two houses.’ She stressed “two” and pulled Eloise closer. ‘Aren’t you doing one of them up for your mum, Zac?’
    He nodded and stood even more erect.
    ‘Oh, that’s so lovely,’ Eloise gushed. ‘And you’re a builder? Wow, that’s such a cool job. I bet you could build your