Rory had just got home with the flat-packed IKEA shoe cabinets she’d had delivered to work – one for her, one for Belle – and was about get them out of their boxes and put them together, when an attractive young woman knocked on the front door. An attractive young woman in overalls.

‘Hi. I’m Chris.’

‘Chris?’

The attractive young woman held up a wrench. Her ponytail waved behind her. ‘Your plumber. For your bathroom? You are Rory?’

Of course! John had offered a couple of weeks ago to contact a plumber friend of his to plumb in Rory’s new bathroom suite, but Rory clearly hadn’t written the date down in her diary. Also, she’d assumed that Chris would be a man. How embarrassing. She should have known better with a name like her own. Sexist.

‘Of course, come in.’

Chris picked up a heavy-looking toolbox and followed her inside. ‘I don’t normally work evenings, but I can never say no to John. He’s a special case.’

Rory was beginning to realise that. She paused at the bottom of the staircase. ‘Have you known John long?’ Chris looked to be about three years older than Belle. Practically a child.

‘A couple of years. I met him on a job shortly after I qualified. He puts a lot of work my way. Shall I go straight up?’ She pointed upwards with the wrench.

‘Yes, of course. The bathroom is at the top of the stairs. The basin and bath are already in there. The toilet is in the hall. I’ll make you a drink. Tea?’

Chris grinned. ‘I’d love a black coffee, thanks.’ Of course she took it black. You wouldn’t stay that slim and attractive drinking builders’ tea with two sugars.

---

Chris had already started hefting things into place when Rory took her coffee to her. Standing in the doorway with the mug, Rory watched her getting everything into position. Attractive and capable; no wonder John ‘put a lot of work’ her way. ‘So, John keeps you busy?’

Chris grunted as she gave the bath a shove, then stood to take the coffee from Rory. ‘Thanks. I haven’t stopped today. Yeah, John usually recommends me to his female customers. They feel more comfortable having a woman round.’ This made perfect sense. Some women on their own might feel vulnerable with a strange man in the house. Don’t read anything into this.

‘He has a lot of female customers, does he?’ Was it possible to say that without sounding like she was fishing for information? Or desperate?

Chris took a gulp of her coffee, put it on the window sill and nodded. ‘Yeah, quite a few. Which is great for me.’ She dropped down onto her haunches and started to lay out pieces of plastic tubing. ‘This bathroom suite is nice. Must have cost a bit?’

It was the kind of bathroom Rory had assumed would be out of her price range. Stand-alone bath, shower with six body jets, taps that looked like a modern water feature. Fabulous. ‘Actually, John managed to get it for a really good price. Some of it was ex-display, I think. I really love it.’

Chris looked up sideways, lips pressed together and a twinkle in her eye. ‘He’s good like that, our John.’ She winked at Rory, then went back to her plastic pipes and elbow joints.

Rory felt a warmth rising in her cheeks. ‘I’ll be downstairs if you need anything.’

Chris nodded and started to whistle softly to herself.

Back in the sitting room, Rory opened the cardboard boxes and pulled out the components of the shoe cabinets, laying them across the floor in a production line. Beneath her, the floorboards looked great now they’d been sanded down. By John. The walls and cornice were smooth and crisp now they’d been properly plastered and painted in the same neutral shade. Which John had helped her choose. And the fireplace? Well, that had been a joint effort. Would she have managed all this without him?

She hadn’t appreciated the twinkle in Chris’s eye: it was time to reassert herself. She had her hammer and screwdriver set and was ready to go at the shoe cabinets when the doorbell rang again. When she saw who it was, her stomach flip-flopped.

‘Hi, Rory. Just checking Chris found you okay?’

Rory held the door open. ‘Come in and see for yourself.’

John walked through the hall, pointed up the stairs and, when Rory nodded approval, took them two at a time up to the bathroom. There was a little mumbled conversation, a few laughs. What could be so funny about plumbing? When she heard him coming down the stairs, Rory dashed back into the sitting room.

John knocked on the frame of the door and came in. ‘Look, I was thinking. I don’t have anything on tonight, so I’ll hang round and help Chris. The sooner we get this finished, the sooner I can get the tiles up. You could have a fully functioning bathroom in the next week.’

Tempting though his offer was, Rory had to stick to her principles. ‘You’ve done enough and I know you have other work on. I can get someone in to do the tiling later.’

John frowned. ‘But the tiles are here and I’ve got time this week. Plus, I won’t charge as much as it would cost you to get a tiler in because it’s part of the whole job. It makes sense, doesn’t it?’

How could she tell him no without sounding rude? ‘Actually, I’m going out shortly. I wouldn’t feel right, leaving you here slaving away whilst I’m drinking wine at Penny’s.’

John shrugged. ‘I don’t mind. I’ve been here on my own several times and anyway, it’ll give me a chance to catch up with Chris. Haven’t worked with her in a while.’

He was making it impossible for her to refuse his help without making a big deal out of it. And the promise of a beautiful bathroom by the end of the week was appealing. She couldn’t stay here while he worked, though. Her stomach was already doing somersaults. It hadn’t got the memo from her brain. He is not interested in you. He just helps people. Needy women. You are not needy.

‘Okay. If you’re sure. But I am going to have to shoot off.’ She prayed that Penny was home and in the mood for alcohol. ‘You’ve got a key, haven’t you?’

John fiddled around in his pocket, brought out her spare key and held it up. ‘Certainly have. You go and enjoy your night with Penny.’

But when Rory called Penny from her car, she was out to dinner with the new boyfriend. ‘I’m so sorry. Shall I come home and meet you there?’

‘Don’t be silly, it was just a last-minute thought. You enjoy yourself and we’ll catch up another time.’

Sheila didn’t answer her home phone, Susie was already out, Charlie was with his mum, and Belle was with Fiona. Allegedly.

There was no way Rory was going back in. She headed to a service station ten minutes’ drive away. At least there would be coffee.

Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting at a plastic table drinking Costa Express and thumbing through her phone. She’d tried to read a book on the Kindle app but couldn’t focus without her mind wandering back to her bathroom and whether John and Chris were enjoying their ‘catch up’.

This was ridiculous. Hiding here, when she should just go home and get on with her shoe cabinets. So what if John had a lot of female clients? What business was that of hers? And to feel jealous about him and Chris – because that’s surely what was causing this burning feeling in her chest – was absurd. Chris was young enough to be his daughter. And who was Rory to have an opinion on that, anyway? Especially as she had a date lined up with Susie’s boyfriend’s friend at the end of the week. Rory shuddered. She still wasn’t convinced the date was a good idea.

Susie had been very excited at the prospect of setting her up. There is no one as infuriatingly in love with love as someone in the early stages of a relationship. ‘This will be so much fun! The two of us out with two friends! I’ll come over to yours beforehand and we can get ready together. I can’t wait!’

Why had Rory agreed?

But, if she didn’t make an effort to meet someone, was tonight going to be the shape of her evenings to come? Rory enjoyed her own company, but you could have too much of a good thing. The blind date was already arranged, so she just needed to put on her big girl’s pants and turn up. What’s the worst that could happen?

Belle sent her a text at 9.30 p.m. to say that she was home with Charlie and they were keeping John and Chris in black coffee and sugary tea. Belle seemed quite enamoured with Chris, who was, apparently, ‘a right laugh.’

Even though it was childish, Rory left it until 11.00 p.m. to return home, wired on caffeine and lemon drizzle muffins. There were no vans outside and the house was quiet. She was safe.

Belle and Charlie were both in their rooms, so Rory completed her usual tour of the downstairs, checking locks and switching off lights. In the sitting room, where she’d left the components of the shoe cabinets laid out, were two completed cabinets and a note from John: Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

Caffeine and muffins could really make your stomach feel weird.