Free The Dating Game by Susan Buchanan Page A

exactly would you like him to do?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ spluttered Gill.  ‘I haven’t even met him
yet.’
    ‘Ah, gotcha, said Debbie, ‘you said yet .  That means
you’ve decided to meet him.’
    Thinking about it, Gill decided she had.  Charlie too.
    ‘I haven’t told the agency yet if they can go ahead with any
of these guys or not,’ said Gill.
    ‘Well, why not?’ asked Lisa, rearranging herself on her
chair to make herself more comfortable.
    ‘Cos I only received them today and I wanted to discuss them
with you lot first.’  It was only a tiny, white lie.  She had always intended
discussing them with Debbie.  ‘I’ll reply in the morning, saying they can go
ahead with Charlie and Anton.’
    ‘Oh, this is so exciting,’ said Lisa.
    ‘I hope they’re nice blokes,’ said Angela.  ‘You deserve
one.’
    ‘Well, I’m not intending to get hitched or anything,’ Gill
was keen to clarify.  ‘I’m just going to go on a few dates, see what happens,
find out if we like each other.’
    ‘Yeah, yeah,’ Lisa said. ‘We know you.  Within six months,
you’ll be a couple, doing coupley things and hardly having time for us.’
    ‘Oh c’mon, you know that’s not true,’ said Gill.
    Debbie coughed,  ‘Well, it kind of is.  That’s what you do,
Gill.  You get all loved up and then get tunnel vision and we don’t see as much
of you.’
    ‘But this is different,’ said Gill, aggrieved that her
friends thought she would ditch them when some bloke came on the scene.
    ‘I know and we’re happy for you, should it come to anything
of course, but just don’t be all or nothing.  Find a happy medium this time,’
Angela said.
    Gill knew her friends were right, but it would be easier in
any case.  She couldn’t dedicate a lot of time to a guy anyway; she had so much
to do running her company.  That hadn’t been a consideration last time around.
    ‘Anyway,’ Lisa shrieked, ‘more importantly, what are you
going to wear?  You can come by the salon beforehand, or I can come to yours
and make you your most be-a-yootiful.  Give you a complete makeover.’
    ‘Thanks, so what you’re telling me is I need an overhaul,’
Gill was a little offended.
    ‘No, of course not, but c’mon, this is what I’m good at. 
Emphasising your assets.  You don’t wear much makeup.  I can do your colours
for you properly and then apply makeup to suit. Nothing too heavy, I promise. 
Guide’s Honour.’
    Gill strongly doubted Lisa’s Girl Guide credentials, but
thought better of saying so.
    ‘OK, I suppose, but it better be tasteful,’ she warned. 
‘And I best not be any shade of orange.’
    ‘You’ll look great,’ Lisa assured her.
    The girls spent the rest of the evening discussing how
dressy Gill should be and whether they had anything appropriate to lend her to
wear. 
    Before long it was last orders.  Getting into two taxis on
Bath St, the girls went their separate ways home.
     

 
     
    Chapter Eight
     
     
    Next day Gill was pretty hungover and she rose later than
usual.  Her head throbbed and she didn’t want to take any painkillers before
eating anything.  When she got to work, she would beg Janice to run across the
road to the café and get her a muffin.  She was thankful that the car was in
town.  The walk to the bus stop had done her good and she needed the fresh
air.  She didn’t even care that it was raining.
    She’d e-mailed Caroline Morgan from Happy Ever After last
night around midnight from her phone, confirming she would meet Charlie and
Anton.  What was she like?  Caroline Morgan would probably be dissolving in
fits of mirth, seeing how desperate Gill was, replying to a dating agency
e-mail at midnight.  She probably realised it had been sent after a few drinks,
whether for courage or celebration.  In any case, this morning, Gill felt more
than a little mortified.
    Janice arrived not long after Gill.
    ‘You look rough.  Good night?’ she asked Gill.
    Janice