The Rom-Com Collection: The Plus One, Something for the Weekend, A Marriage of Connivance

by Natasha West

  Janice almost lost it. She covered her mouth until she knew that laughter had safely passed. Ellie gave Jordan a reprimanding nudge in the ribs and Jordan put her hands up in apology.

  Janice, now recovered, said ‘And I’m very pleased to be getting in touch. I’ve been talking to my partners and we’d like to offer you an opportunity with Vindictae.’

  A little squeal of delight came down the phone and then Caitlin said ‘That’s great news.’

  ‘I take it you’re interested?’ Janice asked.

  ‘I’m more than interested-’ Caitlin began. But Janice cut her off.

  ‘Well, before you give me your answer, there’s a few details I’d like to run through with you.’

  ‘Shoot’ Caitlin replied, sounding deeply happy with herself.

  ‘Well, you see, we think your work would do best in our Asian market, so we’d need you to spend some time out there, in Tokyo, working with our people. We’d give you an apartment and a studio, of course. Still think you might want to do it?’

  There was a small pause. Finally, Caitlin said ‘Well, of course that sounds amazing, Samantha. But how long would that be for?’

  Janice glanced up at Ellie who gave her a short nod to let her know she was doing a great job.

  ‘Initially, it would be for six months, but with an option for a longer contract if we all feel it’s working out.’

  ‘Oh!’ Caitlin said, her stride clearly broken.

  ‘I know this isn’t quite what we discussed, Caitlin. But Vindictae feels that you’re a good fit for the position. But I’m sure you’ll need to think it through before you give us your decision.’

  ‘Yes. Yes, I’ll need to do that. It’s tempting obviously, but it’s a really big move. I should discuss it with my girlfriend.’

  ‘Of course. When do you think you could give me an answer?’

  ‘Well, I’m going for dinner with her tomorrow night. I’ll discuss it with her then. Maybe I could give you a call after?’

  Ellie immediately began to scribble on a piece of paper, which she then held up to Janice. It read ‘FIND OUT WHAT RESTAURANT.’ Janice read it and nodded.

  ‘That would be fine. Going anywhere nice?’

  ‘The Orange Tree’ Caitlin replied.

  ‘That’s a nice place’ Janice said.

  ‘Yes, my girlfriend booked it. She’s sweet that way.’

  ‘She sounds like a keeper. OK, let’s speak in a few days.’

  ‘Thanks Samantha. Speak soon.’

  After they hung up, Jordan turned immediately to Ellie.

  ‘Why did you want to know the name of the restaurant?’ she asked.

  ‘Isn’t it obvious? She’s going to propose there. She’d want to do it somewhere nice.’

  Jordan nodded and said ‘Yeah, of course.’

  ‘Right then’ said Janice, five steps ahead, as usual. ‘How are you going to do this?’

  ‘Do what?’ Jordan asked.

  ‘Watch it all unfold. I mean, we’ll find out what happens whether or not you see it. Caitlin’s answer will tell us that. But wouldn’t it be much better to see the whole thing collapse in front of you? I know that’s what I would want.’

  Jordan looked to Ellie, who simply shrugged. This thing was coming to a close. Might as well see it through, Ellie thought.

  ‘She’s right. We’ve been orchestrating all of this. We need to find a way to be there to see the fat lady sing.’

  Jordan nodded in agreement. But it wasn’t going to be that simple.

  ‘We don’t even know what time they’ll be there’ she said.

  Janice picked the burner phone up again saying ‘Well, that’s easy enough. Ellie, would you find me the number for this place?’

  A few minutes later, after Janice had called The Orange Tree pretending to be Zoe checking her reservation time (‘I’d forget my head if it wasn’t screwed on!’) they knew exactly when and where Zoe was planning to propose to Caitlin.

  ‘But how are we going to get a front row seat? We can’t just plonk down at the next table to watch. They’ll spot us in a second.’

  ‘Maybe that won’t have to be a problem’ Jordan said, thoughtfully.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Ellie was in her bedroom. Now that all the furniture was in place and she’d unpacked her case, the room was looking pretty good. It felt surprisingly like home, considering the circumstances of her decampment.

  She’d arranged the room to best fit everything into its space and in addition to her bed, she also had her wardrobe and her vanity table, which she was now sat at to finish getting ready for the evening.

  She looked into the mirror as she applied her lipstick, the last touch to her make-up, which was a little heavier than usual. Her usually wavy, thick, golden hair was straight and sleek. All she had to do now was get dressed and she was ready for one of the strangest evenings of her life.

  In Jordan’s bedroom, it was a similar scene. But Jordan was a little further on in her preparations. She was examining herself in her full length mirror, wondering if she was trying too hard.

  She was wearing a blood red strappy dress made of satin, a change from her usual worn out jeans. She hoped that Ellie wouldn’t think she’d worn it for her. Part of the reason she was so concerned about that was because the truth was, she sort of had. Jordan was going to make it plain that she didn’t care what Ellie thought about her, that she was too gorgeous to care what anyone could ever think. She’d look as fabulous as a reject could.

  But it wasn’t quite working.

  Ordinarily, Jordan would have known full well that this dress made her look hot. But tonight, she was filled with doubts. The dress, the evening, the plan, Ellie. It was all so confusing. She missed that crystal clear sense of purpose she’d once felt about all of this.

  Ahh, Jordan reminisced. The Golden Age.

  Ellie had been her partner in crime. They’d had a plan. And that plan had various elements that had slotted together to take down two people who deserved it. It had all had its own kind of logic to Jordan.

  But now none of it really made sense anymore.

  Caitlin and Zoe, once bitter objects of purest hate, they were like shadows to her now. And the plan? How could that matter? Now that they didn’t matter to her? And Ellie. In a mountain of confusing things, she was the most perplexing.

  Jordan felt so pent up with unwelcome longing that she wanted to scream. But she might have had a hard time explaining that scream to the person who was the subject of it. The person who, after tonight, would simply be her flatmate. Someone to split the bills with. Someone to draw up a cleaning rota with. Someone with whom to argue over whose turn it was to buy toilet roll.

  Jordan couldn’t understand how she’d gotten drawn into any of this madness. And the worst thing was, she’d done it all to herself.

  And maybe it was time to pull herself back out.

  A few minutes later, Jordan opened the door of the bedroom. She couldn’t put it off any longer. There was a schedule to keep. She hoped she’d be first out, so that she wouldn’t feel like she was making an entrance. She’d just be sat on the sofa when Ellie came out, dressed to kill, watching a crap gameshow.

  But when she walked out into the living room, Ellie was already waiting for her, wearing a sheer black lace dress that hugged her figure in all the right places. Jordan’s breath caught at the sight of her. She was a beautiful girl on an average day. But seeing her dressed to the nines, it was overwhelming.

  ‘Well’ Jordan said as she groped for words, any words. ‘Kick me square in the cootch. Don’t you scrub up nice?’

  At that moment, Jordan wished somebody actually would kick her in the cootch. Why on earth had she said that?

  Ellie gave a small, surprised laugh at Jordan’s statement. She knew full well it was a compliment. It was Jordan-Style, but that didn’t make it any less flattering.

  And Ellie had to admit, it was better than the nonverbal response that she herself had had to Jordan
’s appearance. She looked spectacular. Ellie had felt the need for a sit down and a hot, sweet cup of tea when she’d walked out.

  Ellie couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like if Jordan had dressed up like that for her.

  It was a nice dream.

  ‘We’d better get going’ Ellie said.

  ‘Guess so’ Jordan replied.

  Zoe was waiting at the table for Caitlin, who was taking an astonishingly long time in the toilet. It wasn’t the greatest time to be left alone with her thoughts. She had an engagement ring burning a hole in her handbag right now. And she was starting to wonder how on earth it had ended up there.

  She’d walked into the jewellery shop on a crazy whim and picked out an expensive ring that she thought was to Caitlin’s taste, convinced she was doing the right thing. And then she’d booked the fanciest restaurant she could think of. She was going to pull out all the stops.

  But a couple of days had passed since then. And now Zoe wondered if this was actually quite a stupid idea.

  And Caitlin had seemed a little on edge lately. She seemed distracted. Zoe wondered if it was possible that she’d found the ring and decided not to say anything. If she had, what did her strange behaviour mean? Would Zoe get a yes or a no? She didn’t have the first clue.

  She dabbed the back of her neck with a tissue, mopping up a slight sweat that had broken out there. Why was it so warm in here?

  Caitlin suddenly plopped down in her seat and began to manoeuvre the chair loudly back and forth, as though she absolutely needed to sit a very precise distance from the table if she had any hope at all of being happy.

  ‘Hey, are you OK?’ Zoe asked.

  ‘Yeah, why do you ask’ Caitlin replied with another screech of the chair.

  ‘I don’t know. You just seem a bit…’

  ‘Well, actually’ Caitlin began, hoping that this was a good moment to discuss her job offer. ‘There was something I wanted to talk-’

  ‘Oh my god!’ a voice suddenly bawled. ‘What are the odds of this!’

  Zoe turned to see who’d spoken and when she saw who it was, it was like something from a nightmare. It was Ellie and Jordan. Again. They were standing next to their table. Zoe could scarcely believe it. She was planning to propose to Caitlin tonight and not one, but both their exes had shown up. For the second time this week. And the pair of them also happened to look amazing, just to rub salt right into the wound.

  Zoe turned to see how Caitlin was taking this and saw that her eyes were as wide as saucers. She looked utterly horrified. As well she might. Because Zoe hadn’t mentioned anything about the shocking news of their engagement. In the run up to her proposal, Zoe had decided that it might prove to be rather distracting information, putting it mildly. And she’d wanted Caitlin’s attention very squarely on her, not on Jordan and Ellie’s bizarre relationship.

  But that hope was now quite dead, kicked to death by a staggering coincidence. Zoe wasn’t at all sure how the evening was going to come back from this.

  Caitlin, still looking like someone was pointing a shotgun at her, simply gaped as Jordan leaned in to give her a greeting kiss on the cheek.

  ‘You look well’ Jordan said warmly. ‘How have you been?’

  ‘Why?! I mean, yeah…’ she trailed away looking back and forth between Jordan and Ellie. ‘Have I lost my marbles or are you two together?’ she asked.

  Ellie’s surprise was real.

  ‘Didn’t Zoe say? We saw her the other day and…’

  Ellie stopped talking as she noticed the look that Caitlin gave Zoe. This was even better than they’d thought. Zoe had withheld the encounter. Very interesting.

  Zoe looked like she was suffering. Ellie almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

  ‘Yeah, I…’ Zoe said, wondering how she was going to explain herself. ‘…I bumped into them in town.’

  ‘And you didn’t think to mention it?’ Caitlin asked, a tad shrill.

  Zoe was saved from answering the question by the next round of shocking news.

  ‘So I guess you don’t know we’re engaged’ Jordan said merrily.

  ‘Engaged?!’ Caitlin screeched.

  ‘Yeah. I know it probably seems weird. No one was more surprised by all this than us’ Jordan added.

  ‘I wouldn’t bet on that’ Caitlin said, still struggling to acclimate to all the madness. She turned to look at Zoe again, searchingly. Why wouldn’t she tell her about this?

  Ellie watched them looking at each other, tapped Jordan on the arm and said ‘I think we’re intruding. We should probably just head to our table.’

  Jordan nodded and then turned to the pair, saying ‘See you around, guys. Enjoy your meal.’

  They left Zoe and Caitlin, still stuck in an awkward stare off.

  ‘Would you like to explain what the hell that was!’ Caitlin demanded.

  Jordan and Ellie sat down at their table, which happened to be within twenty feet of Zoe and Caitlin’s, thanks to a crisp twenty pressed into the maître d’s appreciative palm. It wasn’t close enough to catch every word they said but it was good enough to get the gist of the goings on at their table.

  ‘I thought that went pretty well’ Ellie whispered to Jordan. ‘Don’t you?’

  ‘I didn’t hate the look on Caitlin’s mug, I know that for sure’ Jordan replied. She was beginning to feel a little amused by the scene they’d just witnessed. Maybe there was some fun to be had out of this evening, after all.

  ‘Don’t you think it’s weird that Zoe didn’t tell Caitlin about seeing us?’

  ‘Weird is definitely the word for it’ Jordan said.

  ‘What do you think stopped her?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘Not sure’ she said, keeping an eye on the other table with her peripheral vision. There was definitely some kind of little spat going on from what she could tell. ‘Maybe she’s still secretly in love with you. Hurt her too much to talk about, something like that?’ Jordan said nonchalantly.

  ‘That’s insane. Why would you say that?’ Ellie asked.

  Jordan shrugged, not prepared to go into it. Ellie looked over at Zoe.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Ellie asked, struggling to make out a full sentence. ‘What can you hear?’

  ‘Hang on’ Jordan muttered, trying to lean in ever so slightly.

  ‘I’m sorry’ Zoe pleaded. ‘I didn’t want to tell you because I thought it might upset you.’

  ‘Why would it upset me?’ Caitlin asked in soft, dangerous tones.

  ‘Well… You’re upset now, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’m upset because I was just thrown in the deep end. If I’d known ahead of running smack into them, I probably wouldn’t have given a shit. You could have spared me that. And you didn’t.’

  ‘I put my hands up, Cait. It was an error.’

  ‘An error? You didn’t forget to add an attachment to an email! You kept this from me intentionally.’

  Zoe didn’t have a reply. But that was fine with Caitlin, who wasn’t close to being done. ‘Is it because you’re upset about it? Is that what this is? Maybe you wish you hadn’t been so quick to swap girlfriends?’

  Zoe was taken aback.

  ‘How can you say that? Is this some kind of projection thing? Maybe you’re the one who’s regretting your choices of late?’

  ‘Oh my god!’ Jordan muttered. ‘They’re totally having a full-on row.’

  ‘Can you tell what it’s about? I’m only hearing bits and pieces.’

  ‘Me too. But the general vibe is pretty clear.’

  But then both of them heard Caitlin hiss something pretty clearly. It was Jordan’s name.

  ‘Are they arguing about you?’ Ellie asked.

  ‘I’m pretty sure it’s about both of us’ Jordan said.

  ‘How dare you bring up Jordan!’ Caitlin said. ‘I was the one who put myself on the line for you. You told me to ‘Make it work with Jordan’, that you were going to have a sprog with Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes.’

  ‘Shh�
�� Zoe urged. ‘She’ll hear us!’

  ‘I don’t give a shit!’ Caitlin said loudly. ‘And neither should you! I gave up everything for you! And you only care about her feelings!’

  ‘That’s not true. You know it isn’t’ Zoe said desperately. ‘You’re the most important thing in the world to me. You always have been.’