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As for Joss, she could not be stopped. We all let Jo keep her phone on her in case Cole needs her,
so cut her a little slack if you see her checking it obsessively. She s a little overprotective. She s a
really good sister.
Would you stop pimping me out! I threw an accusatory look at Ellie, whose eyes grew round with
confusion. I blame you, I told her.
Ellie sighed, the confusion melting from her gaze as understanding dawned. Would it help if I
trained her better?
It would help if you hit the RESET button on her.
Hey, Joss protested.
Ellie shook her head vehemently. No, I like the new Jocelyn.
Well, I m lost. Cam s gaze bounced back and forth between us.
Yeah, if only you d stay lost. Never mind. I shook my head and looked at Joss. What are you
doing here tonight anyway?
Joss smiled wickedly. Just checking in.
I couldn t help the irritation that settled into my eyes and Ellie choked on her laughter. I think it s
time we checked out. She took hold of a reluctant Joss and tugged on her arm.
Fine, Joss muttered, her calculating gaze shifting between me and Cam. Jo, tell Cam about
Cole s comic books.
I groaned inwardly. Goodnight, Joss. Night, Els.
Ellie waved and ushered Joss out of the bar.
Even though the conversation around us was a wordless babble of noise above the music, silence
reigned within the bubble containing me and Cam behind the bar. No noise could penetrate the thick
tension between us.
Finally Cam took a step towards me. For the first time since I d met him (and it was weird to
realize that I d met him only twice, since it seemed like we d known each other a lot longer), Cam
looked uncomfortable. So & Cole s your wee brother, then?
Screw you. I stared at him blankly, trying to decide what I should say. Finally, I came to the
conclusion that it would be better if Cam and I remained at a distance. No matter how much Joss
wanted him to see me in a different light, I didn t want him to. He d jumped to his conclusions like
everyone else, and frankly I didn t want to be on friendly terms with someone who had taken to
tearing me down, and that was before he had got to know me. I sighed and strode past him. I m going
on my break.
Cam didn t answer me.
And for the rest of the night he endured my cold-shoulder treatment in tight-lipped silence.
6
As I had been on every Wednesday that had come before it, I was shattered the next day. My Tuesday
shift at Club 39 followed by my Wednesday day shift at Meikle & Young was the worst part of my
week. I shared the job as personal assistant to Mr Meikle with another girl called Lucy. I had never
met Lucy, but we left little messages all the time to let each other know what had been done and what
still needed to be done, so I felt like I knew her. She always put smiley faces at the end of any request
so it didn t come off as a demand. I thought that was nice and often wondered if Mr Meikle was
pleasant to the girl with the smiley faces. I hoped so.
He certainly wasn t pleasant to me.
That morning I d almost managed to get everything right. With three hours to go in the workday, I
had been sitting franking mail that was to go out that night, trying to get Cam s stupid, arrogant voice
out of my head, when Mr Meikle came out of his office and obnoxiously waved a letter in my face.
As I gazed up at him from my seat I wondered for a second if his problem with me had something to
do with my height. I was a good three inches taller than he was, and he always looked rather
nonplussed when we were standing together, and smug whenever I was sitting and he was standing
over me. Sir? I asked, my eyes crossing as I tried to make out what the bloody hell he was dangling
before me.
I was about to sign the letter you were sending out to this client, Joanne, when I discovered two
errors. His face was red with frustration as he pulled the paper back to shove two fingers in my face.
Two.
I blanched. Damn my lack of sleep. Sorry, Mr Meikle, I ll fix that right away.
He harrumphed and slapped the letter on my desk. It had better be perfect. Lucy can always
manage it, for goodness sake. He strode back to his office and then snapped around, his eyes
narrowed behind his glasses. I thought I had two appointments this afternoon, Joanne?
I had worked for Mr Meikle for almost two years now, so it was long past the appropriate time to
correct him on my name. He d called me Joanne instead of Johanna since the beginning, despite the
fact that he was the one who handed me my wage slip every month. The wage slip that clearly said
Miss Johanna Walker on it. Numpty.
Yes, sir. In fact one of his appointments was with Malcolm. You have Mr Hendry in fifteen
minutes and a four o clock appointment with Mrs Drummond.
Without another word he slammed back inside his office. I stared at his door and then at the letter
he d slapped on my desk. Turning it over, I noted he d circled the two errors in red pen. I d missed
the apostrophe in Meikle & Young s and had missed the colon after telephone number . Pedantic
twit, I muttered, pushing my chair back to the desk. It took me only seconds to find the file on the
computer, fix the errors and print the corrected version off. I left it with him without a word and
closed his office door behind me.
The firm rented its space on the first floor of one of the old Georgian buildings on Melville Street.
The street was quintessential Edinburgh picture-perfect period properties with their black wrought-
iron fencing and shiny big doors. Mr Young s office and reception area were in the front of the
converted flat, and two other accountants offices were across the hall from Mr Meikle s. Meikle s
reception area had a large window that looked down over the street. So did his office. It was a pity
his personality didn t match the refined elegance of the firm s residence.
When Malcolm walked in, I hurriedly clicked the solitaire game off my screen so he couldn t see I
was mucking around, and I beamed at him, pleased to see him. This was where I d met him.
After breaking up with Steven, I d dated a few duds. Then several months later, Malcolm had
walked into Meikle s office for a consultation. While he waited for Meikle to call him in to his office
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