pitying glances and memories of last Christmas, how very handy.
‘What are you talking about?’ Sarah demanded. ‘You disappeared on Christmas Day last year and all we got was a text saying you weren’t coming back until the day after Boxing Day – and we totally understood after what happened,’ she rushed out, ‘but you know Mum’s hoping we’ll all be together to do the family Christmas celebration, thing.’
Jake bit back a grimace. If he had his way no one would ever find out where he’d ended up on Christmas Day.
‘You really won’t be in Whispers Wood this Christmas?’ Sarah asked.
‘Correctomundo.’
‘And you don’t think everyone will worry when they hear about this?’
‘It’s just a holiday, Sarah.’
‘Bull. You’re running. In fact I’m changing your name to Running Bull.’
He could tell the moment she realised he wasn’t going to change his mind. That she could call up the family and get them all to call him Running Bull but that nothing could get him to change his mind from vacating Whispers Wood over Christmas.
Emma
‘Em, heads up. Incoming.’
Emma looked up from concentrating on measuring out a shot of tequila and just managed to catch the bottle of water being thrown at her.
‘Take the water and grab five minutes.’
‘Are you kidding?’ Emma looked at Bar Brand’s manager, Rudy, like he was insane and then jerked her head pointedly at the three-deep throng at the bar.
‘Not actually kidding,’ Rudy confirmed. ‘You haven’t had a break since you got here and this is your third double shift of the week. DiNozo’s going to cover you.’
Emma felt Tony (DiNozo’s actual name) bump her hip as he reached over to grab the jigger from her hand. He flashed her one of his trade-mark grins. ‘What are we making?’
‘Looks like you’re making a Mulholland Drive,’ she said, whipping off her black apron and stepping back. ‘Apparently I’ll be seeing you in five.’
‘Make it thirty,’ her boss threw over his shoulder as he loaded a tray of drinks.
Thirty? Rudy was certifiable if he really thought she was going to be able to sit upstairs for thirty whole minutes on a busy Friday night.
But as if he knew she was about to argue, he added a, ‘That is a direct order, Danes.’
‘Sir, yes Sir,’ Emma shouted back, giving him a mock salute as she backed out of the bar doors into the kitchen.
‘Jeez, Emma, is there any chance you could come through the doors and not nearly knock me over?’
‘Sorry, Jade. You’re going to have to direct that stellar sarcasm, we’ve all come to know as wit, at DiNozo for the next few.’
‘Sure thing, shirker. Nothing I like better than having to repeat an order eleven million times over to the guy who can’t think for smiling at the ladeez.’
Emma grinned because the way DiNozo was looking at Jade it really wasn’t going to take too much more of her wince-worthy wit for him to decide that the best way to silence that mouth of hers was probably with his. And once they locked lips…
With a happier heart than a few moments before, Emma walked through the busy kitchen and headed up the steep staircase to Rudy’s office.
Flinging open the door she took two steps and flung herself down on the fake leather Admiral’s chair. If she lowered her aching limbs to the equally fake Chesterfield sofa shoved along the wall beside the filing cabinet she was pretty sure she’d fall asleep and sleeping on the job?
Yeah.
Tended to be thought of as one of those things you didn’t do.
Moving a crate containing a new brand of vodka off the desk, she decided thirty minutes was enough time to check Rudy had added all the forms for Christmas parties to the spreadsheet she’d set up for him.
She got so engrossed that when the office door opened and in walked Rudy, she turned in surprise.
‘Relax,’ he said, holding out his hands. ‘Break’s not over. I couldn’t take the chemistry down there any longer.’
‘Jade and Tony? It’s True Love, Rudy. Can’t stand in the way of it.’
Rudy groaned. ‘You and your match-making. Why can’t you let Tinder take care of all that?’
Emma shuddered. Dating via an app took all the romance out of it. She knew because she had the unbroken heart to prove it. Dating in the movies was a whole lot different to dating when you worked in the movies. In Hollywood it was virtually impossible to even get a date without using an app and once you did, if you wanted anything more than a casual hook-up, then anyone from within the industry tended to only be interested in what you could do for each other’s careers and anyone from outside of the industry tended towards petty jealousies or secretly wanting into the industry anyway.
‘Tinder takes care of one thing and one thing only, Rudy. When it comes to matters of the heart, human intervention works best.’
At least it did for others. If only she was as good at match-making herself as she was her friends. It was like when you saw an outfit in a shop window and knew instantly who it would look good on, but when it came to choosing one for yourself, you just couldn’t see it.
Maybe she was just blind to ‘Eligible Guy Reveal Yourself’, because she only had eyes for, ‘Let The Actress See The Role’.
‘What am I going to do if they discover that the path to true love doesn’t involve working together?’ Rudy asked.
‘They’ll be fine. Trust me. Think of it this way, won’t it be nice to be around Jade when she’s singing like Cinderella instead of spitting nails?’ She grinned, and then gestured to the screen, ‘You need to order more glassware if you’re really going to say yes to this number of private Christmas parties.’
‘Yeah, yeah. Danes, listen up.’
‘It should be okay,’ she continued, not really listening-up. ‘As long as you don’t double book anyone.’
‘Stop about the holidays for a moment. Look, you keep running around here like you’re indispensable, I’m going to start wondering what I’d ever do without you.’
‘What are you talking about?’ She turned towards him and blinked. ‘When I get The Call, you’ll just hire someone else.’
