Free The Making of Mia by Ilana Fox Page B

and he had the healthy complexion of a man who worked outside rather than of someone who ran a bar. He was still dazzling,
     and Jo longed to touch him.
    ‘I can’t believe you remembered,’ Jo exclaimed. ‘But now you know how old I am, I think it’s only fair you tell me your age.
     You’re so old I’d guess about fifty,’ she teased.
    William laughed. ‘I’m twenty-seven,’ he said. ‘Not that much older than you. But as I am older than you, you need to do as
     I say … And I want you to shut your eyes.’
    Jo did as she was told, and William brought out a candle-lit chocolate-frosted birthday cake. Before he told her to open her
     eyes William gazed at her for a long, lingering moment, and realised just how different Jo looked to the girl he’d first met
     – she was confident, happier and slimmer. Head chef Michael, who’d been watching them, noticed the affection in William’s
     eyes that hadn’t been there before, and when Jo opened her eyes and saw the cake they both burst out laughing, as if sharing
     a private joke.
    Michael smiled as he watched Jo blow out the twenty candles William had dotted on the cake. Then he looked at William again,
     who was staring at Jo with such adoration he wondered why nobody had noticed it before.
    August 2002
    Jo couldn’t believe it.
    When she stood in front of the mirror she noticed that her rolls of fat had got smaller, that she had the beginnings of a
     waist, of cheekbones, of an ass that sat on top of her legs rather than merging into her ample thighs. In her eyes she was
     still massive – Jo guessed she was a size sixteen – but she had lost loads of weight. Jo grinned to herself. She was definitely
     on her way, and she phoned Amelia up with her good news.
    ‘So, yeah, I’ve lost five stone.’
    There was silence at the end of the phone.
    ‘Sorry, did you say five stone, Jo?’
    ‘Yup! Five stone! I’m not going to tell you how much I weigh as I have plenty more to lose but I’m getting there. I’ve got
     two stone to lose to get to my target weight!’
    Amelia looked at the phone first in disbelief, and then in amazement. ‘Jo, that’s incredible! Well done! Congratulations!
     I’m so proud of you!’
    Jo fell about laughing. ‘I’m proud of myself too, but it’s been such hard work. I run and cycle every day.’
    ‘Christ, you must be exhausted.’
    Jo shook her head happily. ‘But that’s the thing, I’m not! And the best bit is that I’m no longer going to be hidden in the
     kitchen and only allowed out to serve meals when the bar is busy. I’ve been promoted to barmaid.’
    Amelia laughed. ‘I’m impressed. And what about your plans to actually send one of those articles you’ve been writing to a
     magazine?’
    Jo paused. ‘When I’m at my target weight I’ll do it,’ she said. ‘If a magazine rejects something I’ve written I’ll start comfort-eating
     again. I just know it. I’ll do it in the autumn.’ Jo sounded so sincere that she almost believed herself, and as she hung
     up the phone she resolutely refused to acknowledge the fact that for the moment she could only think of William, and not her
     career.
    Jo looked at the small clock she kept by the side of her bed, and was dismayed to see it was three in the morning. For hours
     she had been desperately trying to get to sleep, but there was a gentle hum of anticipation in her body that she had never
     experienced before, and the longer Jo stayed awake, the more intense it got. It was almost as though she was hungry, but she
     had no appetite, only a craving to be close to William. Jo sighed, and just as she started to imagine William leaning over
     to kiss her, she heard a crash in his bedroom. Without thinking about what she was wearing or caring about her state of semi-arousal,
     Jo flung open the door to William’s bedroom and stared at the scene with wide eyes.
    Although Jo had never been in William’s bedroom before, she’d always assumed it was similar to