Free A Date with Fate by Cathy Cole

We’ve all done it.”
    â€œOh!” said Rhi, her eyes opening a little wider. “I did click on something recently.”
    â€œMe too,” said Polly. “That must be it!”
    Lila took her invitation out of her locker again and reread it. “Maybe,” she said, sounding doubtful.
    Just one more push , Eve thought.
    â€œIf you go,” she said, “you have to try the lobster. It’s incredibly expensive, but worth every morsel.”
    â€œDinner is included,” Lila said. She cocked her head thoughtfully. “It doesn’t say anything about not including extremely expensive lobster. I’ve never had lobster.”
    â€œThere’s a pool and a spa,” Polly said, biting her lip. “One bad experience shouldn’t put me off Heartwell Manor, should it? I never even stayed the night. Their beds are supposed to be the softest in the world.”
    Eve could tell her friends were wavering.
    â€œYou only live once,” she said, putting her bag over her shoulder. “Go and see what it’s like. You might never get another opportunity.”
    Turning her back on her friends, she headed down the corridor and into the darkening afternoon. If this didn’t work, she thought ruefully, she was in for a lonely night.
    Â 
    Heartside Manor was looking particularly lovely in the clear evening light. Eve sat tensely by the fireside in a big blue wing chair, sipping her juice and checking her watch. She’d arranged everything for her friends in connecting suites at the top of the hotel, with views over the gardens. Gifts, food. Everything except the truth. That this was her attempt at apologizing, and getting her girlfriends to like her again.
    She heard Lila’s voice first, echoing through the tiled foyer beyond the bar. Eve’s heart leaped. She knew no one entering the hotel could see the person sitting in this particular chair if they curled their legs up and kept very, very still. She did exactly that.
    â€œHello, can I help you?”
    Eve heard the sound of the invitation being plonked on to the reception desk. “Um, yes, I hope so,” Lila said. “We got these invitations today.”
    â€œWe don’t know who they’re from,” said a second voice.
    â€œWe think maybe it’s a competition?” said a third voice.
    Eve closed her eyes gratefully. Lila, Polly and Rhi had all come. This was going well – so far.
    â€œOf course,” said the receptionist smoothly. “We are expecting you Miss Murray, Miss Nelson, Miss Wills.”
    Eve heard Polly’s explosion of giggles. She snuggled a little deeper into the wing chair, listening.
    â€œWe’ll take your bags up right away,” the receptionist continued. “Here are your keys. Have a pleasant stay with us at Heartwell.”
    â€œThis isn’t a key,” Eve heard Rhi say in surprise as her friends passed the high back of her chair. “It’s a credit card.”
    â€œIt’s a key card,” said Lila. “Haven’t you ever seen one before? I am so having lobster tonight.”
    Eve waited until the elevator door slid shut with an expensive purr. Then she uncurled her legs, tried to calm her loudly beating heart, picked up the carrier bags she had stowed by her feet and took the elevator to the third floor.
    Suites 304 and 305 were the best rooms in the hotel. Eve’s dad was always recommending them to visiting business associates. Eve herself had once spent a Christmas Eve in Suite 305, watching TV and bickering with Chloe while their parents dined downstairs.
    She paused outside Suite 304, her key card in her hand. It was stupid, feeling this nervous. Eve straightened her back.
    â€œRoom service,” she said bravely, opening the door and stepping into the pale pink carpeted room.
    Rhi, Lila and Polly stared at her, open-mouthed. Polly had already put on her hotel bathrobe.
    â€œWhat are you doing here,