Secret Schemes and Daring Dreams by Rosie Rushton Page A

confusion.
    She had scanned the text message.
    Have you got Harriet’s mobile number? Theo x
    She hadn’t been able to restrain a gasp of delight.
    â€˜There, I told you Theo was keen – if you don’t believeme, look at that!’ she had cried, thrusting the phone under Harriet’s nose. ‘Shall I send it to him?’
    Harriet had nodded so rapidly that she resembled a plastic dog in the back of a Robin Reliant.
    â€˜Wow! I mean, do you really think he likes me?’
    Emma giggled as she remembered Harriet’s joyful expression. She rammed her sunglasses on top of her head and turned to Lucy and Adam.
    â€˜So I did,’ she told them, having left out the bit of the story involving psychiatric hospitals and divided loyalties. ‘And then I came over here and left them to it.’
    â€˜Bring them along on Wednesday,’ Lucy suggested with a grin. ‘Then I can see whether all this is just a figment of your imagination.’
    â€˜OK, cool.’ Emma nodded standing up and brushing bits of grass from her shorts. ‘Oh well, I suppose – good grief, what’s that noise?’
    She winced as the screech of a siren sent a flock of starlings flying from the trees.
    â€˜The klaxon for supper,’ Lucy told her. ‘Got to dash. I’m on sausage duty.’
    â€˜The way some people choose to spend their summer defies belief,’ sighed Emma. ‘I’m going home to wax my legs and watch
Fifteen Love . . .
See ya!’

CHAPTER 6
Daring dream:
Pull the A-list guy and make sure everyone’s looking
    â€˜ GUESS WHAT ?’ HARRIET CRIED, BURSTING FROM THE sitting room on Monday morning as Emma was waving goodbye to the last of the weekend guests. ‘George has just said I can play the piano – you know, the baby grand in the back sitting room? It’s fantastic – we had to sell ours. Well, no, that’s not true. They came and took it away because Dad didn’t keep up the payments.’
    Too much information, thought Emma. She’d have to teach Harriet that, while honesty was great in theory, there were times when it was best kept under wraps.
    â€˜Lovely,’ she said. ‘By the way, that was such a cool idea of yours – about the photos on the website.’
    â€˜Oh, that.’ Harriet smiled. ‘It wasn’t my idea – I saw it on Mum’s hospital website. You know, nurses in starched caps pushing old-fashioned bath chairs alongside modern-day therapists, that kind of stuff.’
    â€˜Well, anyway,’ Emma persisted. ‘Theo’s thrilled. By the way, did he phone you after I texted your number?’
    Harriet nodded. ‘He wanted me to help choose whichof your tennis pictures to put on the website.’ She giggled. ‘They’re really ace . . . oh ha, ha! Ace? Tennis?’
    Even their sense of humour matches, thought Emma and then winced at her own choice of words.
    â€˜I told him to put music on the website,’ Harriet went on. ‘You know, the right period for each picture. He’s asked me to sort it for him.’
    â€˜Brilliant!’ Emma had to confess that Harriet was a constant source of amazement. She looked so dippy and yet she had some great ideas, which of course was exactly what a guy like Theo needed.
    â€˜The pictures of me were just practice shots,’ she said. ‘It’s you he wants to photograph. He said you were really pretty.’
    â€˜He did? Really?’
    â€˜Mmm,’ Emma murmured. ‘Which is lovely, considering.’
    â€˜Considering what? That I’m not really pretty, you mean? Well, I know —’
    â€˜No, silly. Considering he’s so desperately in need of someone to love him.’
    Harriet’s eyes widened. ‘Theo is? But he’s so fit – surely he’s got a girlfriend?’
    Emma composed her features into what she hoped was an expression of muted compassion. ‘Had,’ she