Cloudy with a Chance of Love by Fiona Collins Page B

weren’t they? All that working outdoors, the creative nature of the job, being good with their hands… I started to feel quite excited about it. I remembered Ben’s face – nice, cute, friendly and, above all, interested in me .
    â€˜What are you going to wear?’ I could hear her slurping her coffee. I could visualise her Minions slippers.
    â€˜God knows!’
    â€˜Send me a photo later, so I can critique you.’
    â€˜If I must…’
    â€˜Right. I’m going to have to go, Mum. I want to do some prep before work. Busy day.’
    â€˜Okay darling.’
    I had a busy day, too. Work, a spot of decorating, then a date. I was already feeling quite embarrassed about the fact I had to tell Will I had a date later in the evening. I could put him off, maybe. I could perhaps tell him I couldn’t make the decorating thing now… No, I couldn’t. He’d been so kind to offer, it would be terribly rude.
    â€˜Let me know how it goes tonight.’
    â€˜Will do.’ Oh dear, it was another failure in the whole ‘reversing our roles back to normal’ plan. I was going to keep my daughter updated about a date; I was still Edina to her Saffy, it seemed. ‘Oh, and don’t tell anyone else about it. By that I mean Grandma.’
    I really didn’t want my mother knowing. I’d never hear the end of it.
    â€˜Okay, I promise,’ trilled Freya. ‘Oh, it’s so exciting! Byeee!’
    It was a little bit exciting, wasn’t it? I placed my phone back on the floor and tried to get back to sleep. Tiny bubbles of nerves started to churn inside me. About Gabby being at the graduation – damn! And about my date tonight. My first man since Jeff. The possible beginning of something. Fun, romance… I suddenly thought about Sam’s love forecast again. Was Ben my ninety-nine percent chance? The thought of falling in love still absolutely terrified me; I didn’t want to be in love again – no way. Look what had happened! Look how it had ended up! No, I didn’t want love, but maybe it would be good to have a (risk-free) man in my life again. Maybe Ben was my ninety-nine percent chance of that.

Chapter Nine
    Scattered showers will sweep across the region this morning, buffeted by strong winds from the east, before bringing an uncertain picture for this afternoon and tonight – windy weather with the chance of rain and perhaps some blustery, isolated episodes of hail…
    I’d just done one bulletin and was at my desk, writing my next. The office was crazy busy this morning. People were dashing around, carrying things here and there, a news package had gone AWOL, causing all sorts of chaos and there were seven people in reception, including an up-and-coming pop star and a man dressed as a dog, waited to be interviewed at various junctures. The door to Studio One kept being opened and the sound of Queen was currently wafting through to the office. ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’. Oh, indeed.
    I was feeling… weird. Extremely excited and nervous about the date tonight. Incredibly nervous and absolutely terrified about the graduation on Friday. I was doing a lot of finger waggling, pen twiddling and foot tapping. I do that a lot when I’m working, anyway, but I suspected I may have looked like I was auditioning for a one-man band. Peony passed my desk, looking all fresh and gorgeous and unruffled. I wished I was still thirty-something with it all ahead of me. Forty-something just seemed to mean lots of complications and baggage and sagging faces. Everything was just harder (not firmer, obviously, harder ).
    â€˜Time to grab a quick coffee?’ she said.
    â€˜Why not?’
    I laid down my twiddling pen, reprieved my fingers and my foot and followed her into the kitchen. Sam was in there; we all grinned at the sight of each other.
    â€˜So, tell me all about it,’ said Peony.
    â€˜It was a very funny