Free The Dating Game by Susan Buchanan Page B

didn’t mince her words.
    ‘Yes, but I’m feeling a touch delicate this morning,’
admitted Gill woefully.  ‘Would you be an angel and get us some supplies from
the café, please?  I could murder a blueberry muffin and a latte .’
    Although they had a perfectly good cafetière in the
office, sometimes Gill just needed a professionally prepared latte .
    ‘Coming right up.  Can’t have you going around like that all
day.  You’ll scare people.  Go and put some makeup on,’ and with that Janice
dug into the piggy bank Gill kept for their café jaunts and upended eight pound
coins into her palm.  As Janice headed over to the café to fetch their
elevenses, even if they’d be long gone by nine thirty, Gill pulled out her
compact and examined her face.  ‘Ugh.’  She didn’t like what she saw.  Never
mind a caffeinated latte ; she should probably be drinking five litres of
water to rehydrate her skin. That’s what Lisa would tell her.  Lisa might drink
like a fish, but she always had a pint glass of water beside her, which she
sipped alternately to her cocktail/wine/spirit.  Unzipping the make-up bag she
kept in the office for emergencies, of which this was one, Gill slowly applied
foundation then concealer to the enormous bags under her eyes and flicked her
mascara wand briefly over her eyelashes.  Janice was right.  She didn’t need to
feel like crap and look like crap.  Gill got up and walked over to the
oval mirror which stood at one end of her office.  A slightly improved version
of her stared back.
    There, that was better.  She had to laugh at Janice’s
forthrightness.  Janice looked like a less well-dressed, more eccentric version
of the crazy girl, Alice Springs Horton in The Vicar of Dibley .  Their
tastes differed greatly, but all that mattered to Gill was having an efficient,
reliable and honest receptionist, and Janice fitted the bill perfectly.
    When Janice returned with their snacks, Gill thanked her and
both of them returned to their desks.
    When she’d finished her muffin, Gill felt considerably more
human.  Turning her attentions once more to business, she short-listed
candidates to call for the recently advertised technical position, and started
to sort through the CVs of those who had applied for the SRC role within her
own firm.  There were so many.  She thought maybe a woman would be best, but
then some MDs and CEOs only wanted to deal with a man.  Unfair, she knew, but
it happened.  If she hired a man, then they would be able to address those
gaps.  Part of her was relieved at taking on an additional member of staff, but
another part felt sad as, since the agency opened, it had always been only her
and Janice.  At least the eleven o’clock meeting had been worthwhile.  The chap
seemed just right for the technical role they’d been asked to fill.  Plus the
appointment hadn’t overrun; a welcome bonus.  By the end of the morning, Gill
felt back to her old self, all traces of hangover gone.  How much was down to
positive, mental attitude and how much to the two aspirin she had taken, she
would never know.
    By one o’clock, Gill’s stomach was rumbling again. 
Stretching like a cat, shaking out the stiffness from her limbs, she decided
she needed some fresh air.  She’d go across to the café and get their lunch.
    Janice was happy that Gill was going out, as the weather was
blustery and miserable.  They chatted briefly, catching up on the morning, then
after taking Janice’s order, Gill ran across the road to the café, which was
thankfully less busy than usual due to the inclement weather.
    Back at her desk, sandwich unwrapped; Gill took the opportunity
to check her personal e-mails.
     
    8:42 - Caroline Morgan – Thanks for your confirmation. I have contacted the two gentlemen. 
If they are interested, they will be in touch directly by e-mail.  Regards, CM.
     
    Fair enough , thought Gill.  Hopefully she didn’t have
to wait too long.  She felt a bit