Knowing Me Knowing You (4 page)

Now feeling angry Kate turned to the laptop and pressed
a key to
submit. She wanted to forget Matthew, perhaps Hermione was right, maybe a night out
was
in order.

When the telephone rang it woke Kate up. She had eaten the chewy pasta meal, finished the bottle of wine and attempted to watch a programme about overweight children at a fat camp. It had been such a good documentary she had fallen asleep within the first five minutes, ju
st after fifteen
stone Kylie from Stoke had admitted her partiality for ring doughnuts. Half asleep she grabbed the phone and put it to her ear.

‘
Hello.
’

‘
Hello is that Kate Baxter?
’
a male voice asked.

It was a nice voice.
Soft and deep, strong yet not overpowering.

‘
Yes it is,
’
Kate answered.

She was
slightly concerned it could be her bank manager. It didn’t sound like him but he had been known to make his assistants do the initial call before he came on the line and gave her an earful about her financial situation. Like she wasn’t fully aware she was poor.

‘
Hi Kate, I’m from
Elite Escorts, my name’s Joel,
’
the lovely voice informed her.

‘
Joel?
’
Kate queried, rubbing her eyes and trying to wake herself up. She was glad he wasn’t from the bank but concerned he wasn’t called Stephen.

‘
Yes, I know you were expecting Stephen but I’m afraid he’s booked up the whole weekend and I was your next best match,
’
Joel continued.

‘
Oh, well, I…
’
Kate began.

‘
I’m just ringing to check what time you want to meet up and where,
’
Joel spoke.

‘
Oh, I don’t know, um, I haven’t done this before,
’
Kate blurted out.

And very unlikely to do it again and in fact wouldn’t be doing it at all if it wasn’t for
her
interfering childminder.

‘
That’s OK. Li
sten, I usually meet people at
Fenton
’
s the wine bar in the town square. Do you know it?
’
Joel asked her.

‘
Erm
-
I’m not sure,
’
Kate began, looking around for a pen and paper in case she needed to make notes.

‘
It used to be the biker’s pub,
’
Joel added.

‘
Oh yes, I know where that is, used to avoid it like the plague,
’
Kate spoke, overturning
Bethan’s
drawings in an attempt to find a piece of paper that hadn’t been drawn on.

‘
Good, so what time?
Seven?
Half past?
’

‘
Erm
, better make it seven
, the me
al’s supposed to start at eight
,
’
Kate replied, finally pulling out an A4 pad and reaching for a pen.

‘
And where are we going? In your email you said it was a work function.
’

‘
Yes, it’s a dinner, banquet thingy, something pos
h like that
. It’s at the Grand,
’
Kate replied
.

‘
Is it black tie?
’

‘
No, at least I don’t think so. Shall I check?
’
Kate
asked
, becoming flustered.

It would be posh but she didn’t know the dress code.
T
he Lady Dragon was wearing an Oscar worthy dress
though so
maybe it
was
black tie.

‘
That’s OK; I’ll dress smart and bring the dinner jacket in the car just in case,
’
Joel replied.

‘
Good,
’
Kate said not knowing what else to say.

H
ow could she find out the dress code without actually speaking to the Lady Dragon?
Lynn
! She would ask
Lynn
.

‘
Right, well I’ll meet you at
seven at
Fenton
’
s on Friday,
’
Joel spoke.

‘
Good, OK
-
wait
-
how will I recognise you?
’
Kate wanted to know, a hundred things going through her mind.

‘
I’ll be wearing a tulip in my lapel,
’
the honeyed voice replied

‘
A tulip, right, OK,
’
Kate responded, writing it down on her pad.

‘
I’m just kidding! You can have a look at my profile on the website, there’s a photo,
’
Joel responded a hint of amusement in his voice.

‘
Oh, yes, of course,
’
Kate answered, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment.

She was so glad he couldn’t see her or he would be running a mile in the other direction and changing his phone number.

‘
OK, well I’ll see you on Friday.
’

‘
Yes, good, Friday.
I mean not as in Good Friday, as in next Friday, sorry,
’
Kate babbled, her cheeks reddening as she cursed herself.

‘
Bye,
’
Joel ended.

‘
Bye.
’

Her heart was racing as she put the phone down. What had she done? She had engaged the services of a male escort to accompany her to a work function. If it backfired and people found out, she would never be able to hold her head up again. And it wasn’t going to be Stephen! Smiling Stephen with the kind eyes and a hint of
stubble,
that
she thought had really suited him. She had almost got used to the idea of passing a few hours with Stephen. Kate raced back over to the laptop. She didn’t have a clue what this Joel looked like
.
W
hat if he wasn’t appropriate? God had she really said that? What a snob! He had said he was a close match to the criteria she had entered. But what if that meant he had one eye instead of two or no hair when she had definitely asked for hair. She almost couldn’t bear to look as she typed the name into the search engine and waited for something to appear. She didn’t have to wait long. In a matter of milliseconds Joel’s profile appeared on her screen and looking through her fingers she let out a horrified gasp. There was no way she could take him to the function, no way in the world.

Kate was still flustered the following morning when she dropped
Bethan
off at Hermione’s. She had spent a fretful night wondering what she was going to wear and whether she c
ould possibly attend on her own. She could
say her date had gone down with swine flu or something equally contagious. Yes, her date could have been an important, influential member of the Mexican government who she had met at the embassy when she had been doing research for a client matter, Mr Gonzales’ divorce, his new Will and ownership of the taco business. That way the Lady Dragon would be impressed at his status and she wouldn’t have to go through the whole humiliating experience of employing an escort.

‘
Hello Sweetie, Cyrus and Sky are just setting up a den in the living room
.
S
o you want to go and play? There we go,
’
Hermione spoke as she let the two females into her house and relieved
Bethan
of her coat.

‘
Give Mummy a big ki
ss
Bethy
and I’ll see you later.
H
ave fun with Aunty Hermione,
’
Kate said, cuddling her daughter and kissing her lightly on the lips.

‘
Cyrus, Sky, play nicely with
Bethan
please
.
N
o curtain pulling or climbing on the chairs,
’
Hermione ordered the older children.

‘
Yes Mum,
’
Sky replied with a laugh
.

Cyrus also let out a whisper of agreement.

‘
Have you time for tea? I sense there’s something
you want to get off your chest.
A
m I right?
’
Hermione asked Kate as she led the way towards the kitchen.

‘
I did as I was told, stupidly. I took your advice. I looked at the website, I inputted my criteria
and I was matched with
Stephen
.
He was
good looking but nothing too striking, perfect for my purposes. Then I get a phone call from someone called Joel telling me that Stephen’s
unavailable and that
he’s
my closest match,
’
Kate blurted out, pacing up and down Hermione’s kitchen.

‘
So you got someone, well that’s good, I don’t see the problem,
’
Hermione answered, watching Kate walking back and forth.

‘
This!
This
is the problem!
’
Kate exploded and she banged down Joel’s profile and photograph on the table.

Hermione picked up the papers and began to smile, much to Kate’s annoyance.

‘
Well
,
well
,
well,
’
Hermione remarked shaking her head and putting her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

‘
It isn’t bloody funny! Look at him for God’s sake, just look at him! I cannot take him with me to a work function; I would be a laughing stock,
’
Kate said, tears welling up in her eyes.

‘
I think the Lady Dragon will have a hard job
keeping her tongue in her mouth.
H
e’s absolutely gorgeous,
’
Hermione said, still staring at the photo.

‘
Exactly!
He’s gorgeous; he’s one of the most gorgeous men I’ve ever set eyes on,
’
Kate remarked, snatching the paperwork back from her friend.

‘
Then I don’t see the issue. And
it would be one in the eye for Miranda, there’s no way she’ll be bringing a date that tops this Joel
.
H
mm
,
even that name is sexy isn’t it?
’
Hermione remarked, trying to get another look at the escort from over Kate’s shoulder.

‘
The problem is no one’s going to believe that he’s going out with
me!
Look at him
Mione
and look at
me! He’s -
perfection personified and I’m
-
a mess,
’
Kate answered.

‘
That isn’t true; you’re just a busy mum who’s neglected herself a bit that’s all. I thought we had this conversation yesterday, all you need is a little bit of
“
you
”
time and you’ll soon have your sparkle back,
’
Hermione assured her.

‘
I could have a whole year of
“
me
”
time, Trevor
Sorbie
and
Gok
Wan at work
twenty four
hours a day and I still wouldn’t have enough sparkle to pull off pretending I was
his
girlfriend,
’
Kate replied.

‘
Nonsense!
’
Hermione responded with a snort of annoyance.

‘
It isn’t going to
work,
I shouldn’t have done such a mad, stupid thing in the first place
.
I mean
please
, a male escort!
W
hat was I thinking?
’
Kate asked.