Free Firestarter by Patsy Collins Page A

boots she could actually walk in. Yes, they'd be perfect – they had furry turnover tops in the same dark grey as her skirt. A white blouse on top? No, too much like school uniform and she didn't want to give the wrong impression. In this case the wrong impression would be of an awestruck fourteen-year-old with mild acne; exactly how she'd been whenever she came in contact with him in fact. Besides, she didn't want him thinking she was so uniform obsessed she wore one herself.
    Her black velvet top? No, it'd seem borderline goth with the rest of her outfit. The pale yellow? No, she'd freeze. A cream blouse might be OK, that would go with her woolly tights so she'd be super co-ordinated and classy. And if she put something colourful over it then it wouldn't look like school uniform. Her mad orange jumper with the 3D knitted oranges complete with black stalks and vividly green leaves? It wasn't what anybody would consider appropriate dress for any occasion she could think of, but it was colourful and it was cosy. She pulled it on. If anything it looked even more mad once contrasted with the crisp pleats of her skirt.
    This was hopeless. Maybe she should ask Kate's advice after all. She picked up her phone and saw it was a quarter to seven. Yikes! She tugged on her boots and rushed down the stairs and out the flat doing up her coat and stuffing her hands into her gloves as she went. Women weren't objects to be judged solely on appearances anyway, were they?
    Hamish already had a drink in front of him when she arrived at the Sunken Yacht. He got up to give her a peck on the cheek and a hint of his citrussy aftershave. Alice resisted looking at her phone to check the time or just apologising for being late in case she was. He'd said about seven and it must be somewhere around that time.
    They went through the conventional, 'nice to see you', 'can I get you a drink?' and 'where shall we sit?' in a rather stilted manner. That could be good though, couldn't it? If she was just some girl he was having a drink with because he happened to have gone to the same school as her, he'd be chatting as easily as he had on the previous occasions they'd met, wouldn't he?
    Alice removed her coat and hung it on the back of a chair. She saw Hamish had noticed her jumper. His lips twitched and sea-green eyes sparkled as though he'd thought of a good joke and was trying to resist saying it.
    'So, Alice, there's something I'd like to get straight.'
    Was he wondering if she were the new man from Del Monte? She'd certainly find it easy to say yes to him.
    'The boyfriend situation. You were on your own at the reunion and you phoned me, so I'm hoping he's now an ex?'
    'Yes. Definitely.'
    'That's OK then. You didn't sound so sure this afternoon.'
    Alice explained her break-up with Tony was very recent. 'He was possessive and wanted me to move in and... it was all a bit intense. I guess I'm still adjusting to being able to do what I like without having to get approval first and check in afterwards.'
    'So you don't want to get involved with anyone for a while?'
    Looking at him she did want that very much, but maybe it wasn't a good idea to jump from the frying pan into the arms of a fireman? 'I don't know.'
    'Let's just see how things go. If you want space, just say.'
    She nodded. Already she felt more comfortable. 'So when did you decide to become a fireman?'
    'When did you develop a thing about them?'
    She thought of denying it, but instead said, 'I asked you first.'
    He put his hands up in surrender. 'They came into school once, do you remember?'
    'Oh, yes. There were three of them, an older guy and two younger ones who were actually quite...' Too much information, Alice! Hamish probably wasn't interested in their eye colour and inside leg measurements. 'Er, yes. I do vaguely recall that.' She should as she'd been partly responsible.
    'All the classes had safety talks I think and got to set off extinguishers,' Hamish said.
    'Yes, we did that. There was a