Authors: Claudia Carroll

Love Me Or Leave Me (44 page)

BOOK: Love Me Or Leave Me

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Anyway, back to our famous first date. I remember Rob spent the whole week beforehand calling me from London at the oddest times and asking me the weirdest, most bizarre questions. Did I eat fish? Did I have any other food allergies? Had I been vaccinated for cholera? (Though he later confessed he only threw that in as a red herring, purely to wind me up.)

Sweet divine, was all I could think, getting my knickers more and more in a twist as the weekend drew nearer and our Saturday night first date grew closer and closer. Where was this fella taking me anyway? The Amazonian rainforest?

Anyway, Rob had to go back to London I remember, early that week, and all he said was to meet him at Dublin airport on Saturday at the main information desk. So in I trooped, wheelie bag in tow, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a pretty floral top I bought especially, fully prepared for all eventualities. Hail, rain, sun or snow, I’d packed just about everything.

And of course he was there ahead of me, looking tall and tanned and gorgeous and absolutely roared with laughter when he saw just how much luggage I’d brought.

‘Nothing like packing light, now is there, Ms Townsend?’

‘Rob!’ I giggled back at him. ‘Oh come on, this is mental! You have to tell me where you’re taking me … please!’

‘Surprise,’ he said flippantly. ‘But by the way, you’re looking extremely fetching today … loving those tight jeans on you.’

He bent down and kissed me lightly on the cheek and I swear, for a second I actually tingled. Next thing we’re checking in at – get this – Emirates airlines in business class!

And never before or since have I experienced anything like it. From the moment we stepped into our beautifully air-conditioned cabin where we were both handed a crisp glass of chilled champagne, followed by course after course of the most unbelievable grub known to man.

‘Whoever their head chef is,’ I told Rob in between mouthfuls, ‘I’m poaching him and bringing him straight back to Hope Street with me.’

‘Now, now,’ he said teasingly, cocking an eyebrow very sexily at me. ‘It’s your first weekend off in I don’t know how long. Put work right out of your head, relax and enjoy, would you?’

I’d never been to Dubai before, but the minute we touched down that night, I knew I’d adore it. Unbelievable! Kind of like Manhattan except in the intense heat, with some of the most fabulously ornate and exotic looking architecture I’d ever seen. Rob had really pushed the boat out and there was a private limo waiting for us at arrivals to whisk us off to … where, well, I hadn’t a clue. I kept asking him and he just kept lifting a finger to his mouth and telling me to be patient.

And then finally, we arrived at the Burj al Arab, the world’s only seven-star hotel and kind of like a mecca in the hotel business. My jaw dropped from the moment we arrived, as we stepped from the blistering desert heat into the cool foyer. Because this place was actually more like a palace than a hotel, with the most luxuriously ornate interior design job I’ve ever seen, all that wonderful Emirati design mode of ‘more is more’. I’ve never before or since seen so much glittering gold, from the banisters on the sweeping staircase, to the door of the lift, which we were assured, were twenty-four carat too.

When we both have such a laugh about it now, Rob teases me and said I spent the entire weekend with my mouth gaping like a goldfish, oohing and ahhing over every little thing. But as I remember it, as the evening went on and our dinner date grew ever closer, I started to get nervous and more than a bit antsy.

Ever the gentleman, Rob had reserved two separate rooms, which were right beside each other, but still. I had a knot in my stomach getting showered and dressed for dinner. (A brand new summery Cos number in a pale coral pink. Which sounds a bit bridesmaid-y, I know, but feck it, it was a bargain.)

This, I thought into the mirror as I lashed on mascara, could either turn out to be the most magical night of my whole life or else be an unmitigated disaster. In which case I broke the cardinal rule of dating not only someone I work with, but who’s my boss to boot. I could end up either a laughing stock or else a cautionary tale, if this all went skew ways.

In the end though, I needn’t have worried. Dinner in the Al Muntaha restaurant, on the twenty-seventh floor of the hotel was like something even no Hollywood studio would ever dare dream up. Rob was there at the door to meet me, for once actually all dressed up in white linen trousers with a pale blue shirt that really brought out his lovely, twinkly grey eyes.

And he looked so handsome, I do remember thinking as he kissed me lightly and handed over a perfect long-stemmed rose.

I remember laughing and jokingly pretending to hit him with it for acting like we were a couple going to a debs but he just smiled at me and said, ‘You just better get used to being treated like a goddess, Chloe Townsend.’

He remembers the food as being a bit over spicy, but I clearly remember him woofing back every last bite. He says I got a bit tiddly, with the amount of champagne he kept plying me with, but as far as I was concerned, I was utterly sober and in control, just an awful lot giddier than normal.

But the very end of the night?

Now that much at least, we’re in perfect agreement about …

And now, six months on, it’s my first weekend off from Ferndale in a full month and I’m like a bag of nerves sitting in the foyer of the Dorchester Hotel in London. Stomach clenched, palms sweating, the works. Because believe me, this is bigger and far, far more nerve-racking than any job interview.

And then I see them. Rob striding through the foyer and instantly lighting up when he spots me, as I sit tensely under a potted palm tree and try to look all relaxed. Over they come as I stand up to greet them both. Rob kisses me warmly and hugs me tight, then steps aside to introduce me to the other woman in his life.

‘Chloe, I’d like you to meet my beautiful little girl, Beatrice. Beatrice, say hello to Chloe.’

She’s a little doll of a child too. Beautiful long chestnut hair tied up into the most adorable pigtails and with grey eyes so exactly like Rob’s, it’s uncanny. She beams up at me, a big gap-toothy smile that makes her look even cuter.

‘Well, hello there!’ I smile warmly, bending down to her level. ‘I’ve heard so much about you from your Dad, but he never told me you’re even more gorgeous than in your photos!’

Beatrice giggles and looks so adorable, I want to hug her there and then.

‘Daddy’s always talking ’bout you too!’ she grins. ‘He says I’m the most beautifullest girl in the whole world, but you’re the next most beautifullest!’

‘Well, isn’t your Dad a dote to say that?’ I grin over at Rob, who winks back at me. Then I take one of Beatrice’s chubby little hands, Rob takes the other and the three of us make for the door.

‘Come on, ladies,’ Rob smiles happily, ‘or else Madame Tussauds will have shut before we get there!’

‘Chloe’s amazing, Dad!’ Beatrice smiles the cutest little gappy smile. ‘Just like you said! I really like her!’

‘Do you now, love?’ says Rob, eyes twinkling in my direction. ‘Well then, that makes two of us.’

And so we step outside into the mild spring sunshine.

Just the three of us.

THE END

If you liked
Love Me or Leave Me
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Heartbreaking and uplifting, Me and You is a story about how hard it is to leave our old selves behind, the tough choices we sometimes have to make and how love and friendship can heal the most damaged of hearts.

Buy
the ebook.

Acknowledgements

Thank you, Marianne Gunn O’Connor. You’re so much more than an amazing agent; you’re an amazing friend too. And that’s the best part of all. I love our chats where we take the whole world apart and put it all back to rights again. Next brekkie is definitely on me!

Thank you, Pat Lynch, who works so hard and is always so positive and uplifting. See you in The Farm very soon, Chicken.

Thank you, to Vicki Satlow in Milan who does such an incredible job with translation right. You’re a true star, Vicki.

Thank you, Eli Dryden at Avon. It really has been a joy and a privilege to work alongside you on this book. And I’ll keep nagging you till you eventually come back to visit us in Dublin!

Thank you to the fabulous team at Avon, HarperCollins, for your enthusiasm, friendship, hard work and incredible support. I’m so lucky to be part of Team Avon. Special thanks to Caroline Ridding, Claire Power, Sammia Hamer, Helen Bolton, Cleo Little, Lydia Vassar-Smith, Keshini Naidoo and Sam Hancock.

Thanks also to Jo Marino at Light Brigade in London. I’m so looking forward to working with you.

Thanks to Tony Purdue, who works so hard and does so much for all of us.

About the Author

Claudia Carroll is a number one bestselling author in Ireland and a top ten bestseller in the UK, selling over 600,000 copies of her paperbacks alone. She was born in Dublin where she still lives, and where she writes full time. Her 2013 novel
Me and You
was widely acclaimed and was shortlisted for the Bord Gáis Popular Choice Irish Book Award.

Find out more about Claudia Carroll by following her on Twitter or visiting her on Facebook.

@carrollclaudia

Facebook.com/Claudiacarrollbooks

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