Going Up | ✓

Your Dress Is From The Charity Shop - (13)

'It's nice to meet you, Hugh,' I smile genuinely at him.

'Hugh's the organiser of this event,' Ivan explains to me. 'We've been business partners for a long time now.'

I raise an eyebrow. 'You organised this thing?' I gesture around. 'Pretty impressive.'

Hugh waves a hand dismissively. 'It's no problem,' he responds breezily. 'The real issue here is that Ivan has failed to mention you. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen you before. How did you keep such a woman from me, Ivan?'

Ivan grins, squeezing me to his side. 'I couldn't let her get away, could I, Hugh? I needed to keep her all for myself, at least for a while.'

I roll my eyes at the two of them, taking a sip of my wine. 'Stop it, both of you.'

'Hugh, I think you need to stop harassing the poor girl,' a scolding voice comes from behind him and a woman appears, her face arranged into a playful frown.

Hugh shakes his head earnestly. 'I wasn't harassing her, darling, I promise. We were just having a conversation, that's all.'

The woman shoots him a knowing look. 'And we all know what that means, Hugh,' she says, her face stern, but her eyes give her amusement away. She turns to Ivan and quickly embraces him in a hug before dazzling me with a smile. 'In all of that, I didn't catch your name.'

'Poppy,' I smile, having a funny feeling that I'm going to like this woman.

'Miranda,' she introduces herself breezily. 'I'm the poor woman who has to keep this rascal in check,' she indicates Hugh with a large sigh, but winks at me.

I notice the ring on her hand and laugh easily. 'That must be a pretty tough job.'

'Oh, it is,' she agrees, sending Ivan a quick glance. 'I imagine your task isn't much simpler.'

I shake my head, refusing to let my laughter spill over. 'No, it's a lot of effort, unfortunately. I wish he would make it easier, but-'

'Baby,' Ivan interrupts suddenly. 'We both know that I'm the one who has to keep you in check.'

'Baby?' Hugh jumps in, a big smirk on his face. 'You two are further along than I thought,' he looks at me mischeviously.

I shake my head quickly. 'No-'

'I don't believe you,' Miranda ploughs straight through me. 'Don't deny yourself, honey, anybody can see that you two have something very special.'

Neither of us say anything for a moment and realisation dawns on her face slightly too late. She has no idea she's hit a nerve.

Of course Ivan thinks we have something more than this, but Oliver stands in our way. My gut lurches at the thought of my son and my pupils dilate with fear.

'It's not an issue,' Ivan quickly covers and if I wasn't looking so closely, I wouldn't notice the fury I'm certain only I can see under his carefully arranged mask of carelessness. 'We're just taking it slow.'

'Oh, I see,' Miranda offers me an easy smile. 'Well, it's nice that you turned up at this event, my dear, it's really good of you.'

Come to think of it, I have absolutely no idea what this event is for. All Ivan said to me was that it's a charity event. 'Yeah, well,' I grin. 'Ivan asked me, so how could I resist?'

She laughs merrily and my comment seems to have smoothed over any awkwardness. I notice that something akin to relief flashes in Ivan's eyes for a moment and he relaxes.

'So, Poppy, what do you do for a living?' Miranda asks me, her face curious. 'I'm presuming you must work somewhere.'

I nod, smiling. 'Yes, I work in a car dealer, actually. I'm a secretary, really, but I also show people the cars if need be.'