The Decoy Date

Chapter Thirteen

"How was the party last night?" Jess handed Imogen a cup of coffee as they sat at the counter in the shop. It had been a quiet morning, not unusual considering the rain was pelting against the windows and that November was well underway; it was still a couple of weeks before the Christmas shoppers would be around.

"It was really great actually, normally I hate those type of things but last night was good. I, uh, met a guy." Imogen smiled at the memory of meeting Jack last night, when she had been talking to him she thought he was exactly the man she would be looking for. He was articulate and funny, he was good-looking but not so stunning people would wonder what he was doing with her and he'd seemed genuinely interested in her until Charlie had disturbed him. Her mind wandered to that kiss, it had took her by surprise, the passion and force behind it, like he was actually her jealous boyfriend. She didn't want to admit it but it was really hot, she flushed at the memory and took a sip from her cup to hide the pinkness that had blossomed across her face.

"Please tell me his name was not Charlie Ramsey."

"No, Jack Livesey. He works for the museum. He came up to me when Charlie went to help Adam with something and we just chatted for a while. He was really nice and funny and gorgeous."

"Well, good for you, did you get his number?" Imogen nodded and fished around in the back pocket of her jeans for the business card Jack had given her last night, she pulled out the small card and handed it to Jess. Taking it she raised her eyebrows, impressed at her best friend. "This is a nice business card, thick, quality; I bet he's got some money. You should give him a call."

Imogen laughed and shook her head at her friend, whenever Imogen met a guy she only needed to know two things about him: whether he was hot and whether he had money. Yet she wasn't bothered about either of these in her own relationships. She'd been dating Matt for a year now and they'd moved in together a few months ago, he was a painter and decorator from Barnes but they'd moved into a flat just round the corner from the shop.

"Maybe I will but he's going to China for a month for the museum, so I'll have to wait until then." She saw the disappointment on Jess' face and smiled, when he'd told her last night about the trip she'd been disappointed as well, but then she thought it worked out better with Charlie. They had planned to stay together until after the wedding anyway and she didn't want to just throw him aside now she'd found someone else. Her stomach lurched at the thought of throwing Charlie aside, he'd been great since they'd been in their "relationship" and she really didn't want him out of her life completely; they'd become sort of friends now.

The rest of the morning was quiet and she jumped when her phone started to ring, she'd been nodding off as Jess was playing Angry Birds on her phone. Reaching into her pocket she saw the picture of Charlie she'd taken when they'd gone for lunch at Alberto's last week. She smiled at the memory, they'd talked about food the whole time; their likes and dislikes. He loved Italian like her but couldn't stand restaurants that gave you a few pieces of food on a giant plate, whilst she had revealed her hatred of Thai food, there was just too much coconut and lemongrass in the world for her.

"Hello." She put the phone to her ear and felt herself grin as she heard him reply.

"Hi, I just wanted to check in after last night, I had a really good time."

"Me too, it was a lot better than I was expecting. Thank Adam for the tickets."

"I will do. I also called to ask if you were doing anything tomorrow night?"

"No, I'm free after four. We're closing the shop early because Jess has got to be somewhere." At the sound of her name Jess looked up from the game she was playing, she pressed paused and listened into the conversation.