looked businesslike. She wasn’t gorgeous. She typed back:
Hey Jonny. I’m fine.
Liar.
The reply came back lightning-fast, so quickly it made her gasp in the empty room.
Jay had said nearly the same thing.
Suddenly Jane was blinking back tears. She’d fought and fought for the past few days to act as if everything was okay, as if she had no worries. She was sick of it. Surrounded all day, every day, by people who wanted her at peak efficiency, who didn’t want to know how she felt, and when she came home, she was all alone. She didn’t even have anywhere comfortable to sit because Gary had taken his couch.
Gary and I broke up.
She typed and sent it before she could think better of it. And then she did think better of it, and wrote the more honest truth:
Gary left me for another woman.
It was a moment before Jonny replied.
I understand. I’m sorry, Jane.
He’s a bastard.
Well, that goes without saying.
And she’s a waitress with bad shoes.
Again, a slight pause before Jonny wrote back.
Why does her job make a difference?
Because I’ve worked so hard to be a success, to be good at my job, and Gary was proud of me. He said he was proud of me. And then he leaves me for somebody who comes home every night smelling of other people’s food?
As soon as she typed it, the answer felt inadequate, but she didn’t think she was going to get much closer to the truth typing into a silly little box, so she sent it.
I was wondering about the shoes, but now I think I get it. You’re saying she doesn’t even have good taste and it feels unfair.
It’s mostly because Gary wears these Italian shoes and I had some comfortable slippers I used to wear around the house and he kept on commenting about them until I had to throw them away. I’ve never found another pair that was so comfortable. How come it’s okay for her to wear crappy shoes and I can’t even keep my slippers?
Her fingers were flying over the keyboard and Jane didn’t feel like crying any more. Instead, she felt lighter. It was a huge relief to say what she was thinking to somebody who wouldn’t judge her and who tried to understand, even if it was via a computer and a network, even if it was to someone whom she never saw in person. She hit ‘send’ and started typing again immediately, without even taking a breath.
So now I’ve got this date tonight with this gorgeous model person and I don’t know what to do.
It’s a date?
Jonny’s reply came back fast as thought.
Yes. And I don’t know what to do.
Excuse me for a moment, while I run around the room whooping in joy.
Jane laughed out loud. She loved Jonny’s sense of humour, and it was typical of him that he was so happy for her that she had a date.
Okay, I’m back. I think I scared the neighbours. So what do you mean, you don’t know what to do?
Jane sighed.
I haven’t dated for ages. I’m not sure how you behave. Even with Gary, we didn’t really date … we were working together and we just sort of got together. I’m not sure I know what to do with a man.
I’m sure you know perfectly well.
She glanced down at herself again. Plain Jane, career woman with no social life. She couldn’t even keep a man faithful to her when she was engaged to him.
She understood men, she thought. She’d grown up with four brothers, after all. Most of her colleagues at work were male. She’d always thought that men were refreshing, because they usually said what they meant, and the motivations for their actions were usually pretty clear.
But when it came to relationships, she obviously didn’t have a clue. Because she’d thought that everything with Gary was fine, right up until the minute he’d introduced her to his new girlfriend. She wrote:
I don’t know what men like in a woman. I’m not sure what they think is sexy, or what they’d like a woman to do on a date.
She pressed ‘send’, and then, in one of her impulses, her second today, she typed:
Tell me what to do, Jonny. Tell me what you would like.
Jonny stared at the screen and swallowed.
Had he stepped into some strange virtual world, or was this one of his fantasies coming true?
Jane Miller was wonderful, beautiful, intriguing. It had been fifteen years and she was all grown up, and he’d recognised her the minute he’d walked into the restaurant. Even though her hair was pulled back neatly into a clip, the strands that escaped were still as thick and soft and wavy as he remembered. Her eyes were big and grey, her lips were a perfect bow, and her skin was as delicate as the petal of an orchid.
He hadn’t just recognised her with his eyes and his mind; he’d recognised her with his heart, as the girl he’d followed around and adored for years when he was a kid. She’d been a crush, yeah, the untouchable girl he’d dreamed unformed pre-adolescent dreams about, but she’d also been his friend. She was still his friend.
And he’d recognised her with his body, too. Because Jane had grown from a tomboy into a very attractive woman.
He’d barely been able to keep his hands off her. His first instinct when he’d seen her had been to sweep her into his arms and plant an enormous kiss on those doll-like lips. It was attraction, it was affection, and it was also a primitive urge to grab this woman and mark her as his, because he’d always wanted her to be.
But there had been her fiancé to consider, and Thom, and the charade he’d asked her to play.
And now …
This was a real date. Just the two of them. Two grownups, both of them single.
And she was asking him what he would like to happen. He replied carefully.
What do you mean?
I mean everything. What should I wear, for example?
Jonny closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
She’d been wearing a suit at lunch this afternoon, and it had been pretty modest, nondescript in colour, conservative in cut. It was probably
