Free Life Or Something Like It by Annie Lyons Page B

stay-at-home mother – a little bit of banter and low-level flirting – but really, she found his smug confidence plain annoying. He was like the cock in a farmyard full of hens and for Cat the emphasis really was on the word ‘cock’.
    ‘I need a wee,’ said Ellie, wriggling her way over to Cat.
    ‘Me too,’ said Izzy brightly.
    ‘And me,’ said Daisy.
    Cat was almost grateful to be given the opportunity to leave Finn’s company but it was Claire who leapt up. ‘I’ll go,’ she said. ‘You two stay and
chat
.’ She emphasised the last word with a nod and a raised eyebrow.
    Cat kept her eyes fixed forwards to where Charlie and James were playing football. She noticed Finn glance over at her but didn’t feel the need to make eye contact. She would be having words with Andrew. Cat knew how his mind worked and she could bet he’d had an idea to do a little casual matchmaking whilst she looked after his kids. Why did the world have to pair all the single people off? Why couldn’t it mind its own bloody business? She felt her phone buzz with a call and gratefully extracted it from her handbag. She smiled as she saw the caller ID. She made an ‘excuse me’ face to Finn, who gave her a casual nod in reply.
    ‘Hi, Jesse,’ she answered.
    ‘Hey, Kit Kat. How are you?’
    ‘Itching to get back to work to be honest.’
    ‘Yeah, of course. I understand and we miss you a lot. Listen, I don’t really want to talk about it over the phone. Can you come to dinner tomorrow night?’
    ‘I’d love to.’ Cat smiled. Tomorrow was Friday night and she would officially be off duty. She longed to see Jesse too. She missed seeing him every day.
    ‘Great. Can you come to the house say around eight-ish? I think Alex is going out so we’ll be able to talk properly.’
    ‘Absolutely.’
    ‘Cool. Can’t wait to see you, Kit Kat.’
    ‘Me too,’ she said. ‘Bye.’ She finished the call and turned back to Finn. ‘Sorry about that. I had to speak to my boss.’
    ‘That was your boss?’ said Finn surprised. ‘I thought it was your boyfriend.’
    ‘No-o,’ said Cat quickly. ‘He’s
not
my boyfriend.’
    Finn raised one eyebrow. ‘But you’d like him to be?’
    Cat regarded him with a frown. ‘I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that I’d ordered a psychologist.’
    Finn grinned. ‘Apologies. I do that sometimes. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s cool.’
    Cat folded her arms and studied her phone. ‘I do not want to talk about it.’ She flicked to her Twitter feed and started to read.
    ‘So Andrew told me you work in PR but that you’re taking a little break,’ said Finn.
    Cat looked at him, expecting more judgement, but the question appeared to be genuine. ‘I made a mistake.’
    ‘We all make mistakes,’ said Finn. ‘What did you do?’
    ‘I was involved in the Diaz launch,’ she said, glancing up at him ready for a reaction. Finn looked blank. ‘You know, Alvarro Diaz? The footballer?’
    ‘Of course,’ said Finn. ‘He’s one of the best attacking midfielders in the world.’
    ‘If you say so. Well you know that coffee company launch that went spectacularly wrong?’
    Finn was squinting at her now. ‘No.’
    Cat was amazed. ‘How could you not know about that?’
    Finn shrugged. ‘I like football but I don’t really care what the footballers get up to. Was it bad?’
    ‘It was very bad,’ said Cat. ‘And I had to step down from my job but hopefully not for long.’
    ‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ said Finn.
    Cat could tell that he meant it and decided to be civil. ‘So you look after your niece, do you?’ She couldn’t hide the surprise in her voice.
    ‘Do you find that hard to believe?’
    ‘Well I suppose it’s unusual.’
    ‘I love it,’ he replied. ‘It helps out my sister, Ronnie, while she’s at work and I get to have all the fun.’
    ‘Good for you,’ said Cat. ‘I love my job too.’
    ‘And what about this temporary arrangement?’
    Cat gave a little