Page 63 of Between Us
Roisin grinned. She realised she relished being in Webberley too, which was also unexpected. The pub was full of ghosts, but the landscape around the village had no such negative associations. She had temporarily escaped the claustrophobia of West Didsbury and the mind games of Joe Powell.
‘Rained-on bracken! You don’t know how much you’ve become a city git until you realise you never see bracken,’ Roisin said, pointing.
‘Yes, look at us, present, enjoying the moment. Not a Marmalade Negroni in sight,’ Matt said. ‘I usually only see bracken in television shows with police tape.’
‘Hah, we were saying this about Benbarrow Hall. Why are all our reference points for grand things related to murder?’ It occurred to Roisin this could segue intoHunterchat,and she wasn’t ready.
‘Not seeing Amelia any more? What happened there?’ she added.
‘Ugh. Don’t.’
‘Sorry! I didn’t know how serious you were.’
‘Completely unserious, but she still managed to get me sacked from my job before we ended things after two dates, so …’ Matt paused. ‘Actually, no, I got myself sacked, with her help. What’s that saying, “meet one asshole, you met an asshole; meet them all day, you’re the asshole”? Last weekend taught me that when catastrophe follows you everywhere, youarethe catastrophe.’
‘Sacked from work? You’re out of a job?’
‘Yep, on gardening leave for six weeks.’
‘Gardening leave?’ Roisin waited until they’d passed some other walkers, making the mumbled nod-smile hello. ‘Does your line of work have that? I thought it was a corporate thing. Not that I’m slyly running it down! I’m ignorant.’
‘You’re never slyly running me down. Unlike some people we won’t mention.’ Matt threw her a smile that she returned uncomfortably.
‘That jaunt to Lisbon was a work trip. It came with the strings that I had to take a friend or a girlfriend and postcontent featuring both of us. I’m chatting to this mysterious redhead on Hinge and late night, she says,why don’t we have a first date in Lisbon. I’ll meet you there.I thought, cool, yes, why not. Embrace the spontaneity.Her photos are super lifestyley, she’s very modelly, so it never occurs to me she’d mind taking selfies clinking brandy balloons …’
‘Did you really not spot who she was?’
‘No, she’d been clever. Amelia was always in a face mask, at a distance pulling a yoga pose, or half obscured by that dog. She’d only matched with me a week before and to be honest, I’d not paid hugely close attention.’
Plus ça change re: Matt and lady friends,Roisin thought, but didn’t say.
‘I see. Then she meets you in Lisbon and says,no photographs?’
Roisin stopped, poked both her hands out of her cagoule and shook her index fingers up and down, as if she was indicating plane cabin lights.
Matt laughed and groaned.
‘Weirdly like Ryanair pre-take-off, wasn’t it?’ Roisin said. ‘Should the cabin lose pressure, an oxygen mask will drop from the overhead area.’
‘I needed an oxygen mask by the end of that, let me tell you.’
‘Hahahaha.’
‘Yeah, so. She arrives. I find out who she is. I think it’s the most incredible publicity for the vineyard imaginable, and then realise it’s utterly useless. She won’t let me so much as have her hand in shot. What do I do? Tell her to go? Draftsomeone else in? Call my boss and say, “I’m very sorry, I invited a woman I never met before? It turns out she’s so famous she’s brought a bodyguard who’s ex-Special Forces, and I’ll not be providing any evidence of this claim?”’
Roisin put a hand over her mouth and laughed. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s alright. I know it’s ridiculous. Much like me. I return with no pictures, and this deeply bullshit-sounding story. I run our online content, to make it worse. The MD’s son has recently taken over the business and he’s been gunning to get rid of me from the start. The old MD loved me and paid me well, so I’m a sore thumb on the wages bill. The son uses this fuck-up as a reason to let me go. He had me in on Monday and gave me the speech. “No hard feelings, go quietly and we’ll see you right. Take us through a tribunal and even if you win, we’ll make the North West scorched earth for you.” Also, imagine the tribunal. I’d have to argue, how should I know my date was an A-lister? Can you imagine the story in theManchester Evening News?’
Roisin started hiccup-giggling again. ‘I mean, that’d make the nationals. Unfairly dismissed for accidentally dating Amelia Lee.’
‘Quite. Plus the payoff is very generous. I get gardening leave as I was about to close a deal with a small chain of restaurants up here and it was a large contract. They don’t want me mud larking about while the contracts are sorted.’
‘You’ll get another job, easy,’ Roisin said. ‘You’re you.’
‘Yeah,’ Matt sighed. ‘I’m me.’
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