Damian slid into the chair beside Fran. He spun around once, twice, then let out a long sigh before he stopped, facing her.
“Why the long face?”
“Why the long sigh?”
Damian gave her a slow shrug. “I spoke to marketing to see if we could get Fast Forward’s next single moved up to jump on the success of this one. But the dates don’t work, which sucks.” He paused. “Your turn.”
“I was just looking at the trains back to Snowy Bottom on Saturday and wondering if they were going to be running. There’s currently a tree on the line and more snow forecast.” She glanced out the window, where a light flurry was still falling. Fran blew out a breath and Googled car hire. The prices made her wince.
Damian put both his palms up and sat forward in his chair. “Can we just take a moment to stop and marvel at the fact you’re getting a train in the snow to Snowy Bottom, and then heading to Mistletoe? If I didn’t know this was true, I would never believe you.”
Fran laughed. Damian was always good at light relief. “You can’t help but say the names and feel happier, can you? Everyone is happy in Mistletoe.” She thought of Audrey, Mary, Norman and the gang. “Eccentric, but happy. I just hope I can make it for tomorrow.”
Fran also hoped Ruby had remembered her words. She’d texted last night to say she was having issues.
Damian studied her, went to say something, then sat back.
“What?” Fran asked.
Damian shook his head. “Nothing. It’s just… This is about Ruby, right? You really want to get back for the gig. I get it. But you’ve never been like this before with anyone else. Certainly not with you-know-who.”
“I wasn’t allowed to be anything with her.” Fran remembered everything about being in a relationship with Delilah. Most of it was bad. She was glad they could be friends now.
Fran just hoped Ruby felt the same.
“But you’re distracted. You’re different.” He paused, tilting his head. “I think you’ve found someone you really care about.”
Damian was only 29. The same age as Ruby. However, he was wise beyond his years. He’d also been in a committed relationship for three years with a lovely woman named Isla. If anyone was the relationship expert of the two of them, it was him. Damian managed to juggle work and love, a trick Fran had never mastered. Instead, she’d just put love on hold and thrown herself into work. The only reason she and Delilah had met was because it had happened at work.
But Damian had a point. Fran was distracted. She wasn’t focused purely on her job.
Ruby had her attention.
“I like this new side of you, by the way. It makes you seem more human. More vulnerable.”
Fran knew vulnerable was all the rage. However, it wasn’t normally her thing. She glanced at her pink trousers. Just as colour hadn’t been, until she met Ruby. “Vulnerable wasn’t what I was going for, but I’ll take your word for it.” She paused. “But yes, I would like things to work out with Ruby. But it means I have to get home on Saturday.”
Damian raised an eyebrow. “Home?”
Fran sat up, rolling her shoulders. “Back to my parents’ place. You know what I mean.”
Damian said nothing, just shot her an amused smile.
“Stop staring at me like that.” Fran checked her phone. No new messages from Ruby since her good morning message today.
What was she doing?
Fran had work to do, and she was fretting over a woman and allowing Damian to see it all.
“You’re mooning,” he told her.
“I’m going crazy not being able to talk to her. Also, I’m worried that she’s seen photos of me and Delilah online.”
“So long as Delilah wasn’t pawing you like she was when I came in the other day.” More eyebrow raising.
“It was a momentary thing and it was hardly pawing.” But Damian was right. “Why is real-life dating so hard?” Fran lowered her voice so nobody else overheard the next bit. “Dating Delilah was easy because I just had to pretend she didn’t exist.”
“It’s ironic you’re worrying about being seen with her now you can be, isn’t it?”
The irony was not lost on Fran.
“If you’re going a little crazy, that says to me you’re falling for this woman.”
Fran’s flush began in her toes and hit the very edges of her eyelashes. “It’s a bit early for that. We’ve slept together once.” But she already knew there was some truth in Damian’s words. She couldn’t stop thinking about Ruby. Their sex had been off the chart. She desperately wanted to do it again. It was another reason she wanted to get back to Mistletoe as soon as she could. London, which had always held such glamour, paled beside Ruby.
Damian shrugged. “I knew the first time I kissed Isla that I wanted to kiss her for a very long time.”
“But tell me truthfully: can it ever work with a singer? You’re with a teacher. A far more sensible profession.”
“Ruby O’Connell is not Delilah.” Damian’s words hit home. He lowered his voice. “She’s as far away from Delilah as she could possibly be. She’s sorted and sane. Plus, she has a better voice, but don’t tell Delilah I said that.”
Fran snorted. “Your secret’s safe with me.” She closed her eyes and spun in her chair, still thinking. “But I’ve tried going out with a singer and it was a car crash. I can’t escape that.”
“Thanks very much,” Delilah said.
Fran’s eyelids sprang open, and she jumped up, clutching her chest. “Where did you come from? Shit. I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” Bugger. She threw Damian a why-didn’t-you-warn-me? look. Had Delilah heard Damian’s comments, too? They’d just got back onto solid ground with their friendship. She didn’t want Delilah to think badly of her.
Delilah shook her head, glancing around the office. There was nobody close by. “I was a car crash, no need to sugar-coat it.” She threw Fran an apologetic look, then glanced at her screen. “Why are you hiring a car?”
“She needs to get back to Mistletoe for Ruby’s concert tomorrow,” Damian replied.
Delilah glanced at Fran, then shook her head. “Don’t hire a car. Take my Porsche. You’re still on the insurance, and I’m not using it.”
Fran’s mouth gaped. “Are you sure?” Delilah was proving more useful this week than she ever had when they were together.
“Positive. I’ll get someone to drop it around to yours in the morning and give you the keys. Just let me know a time.”
“That would be perfect, thank you.”
Delilah shrugged. “Happy to help. I just stopped by to check about Fast Forward’s gig tonight. I can get there for 8pm. Is that okay?”
Damian nodded. “I’ll tell security to expect you.”
Delilah squeezed Fran’s shoulder. “Great. Gotta dash, I’m meeting my new producer. See you later.”
Fran stared as she left the office. She turned to Damian. “Did that just happen? My ex, who used to cause me no end of problems, is now the expert problem-solver?” Fran’s mind was still whirling.
“Maybe singers aren’t the tyrants you make them out to be,” Damian replied.
Fran shook her head. “Maybe not.”
“Now you can go back to Mistletoe with no worries. I’ll take care of things this end.”
Emotion rose up through Fran. Damian wasn’t just a work colleague. He was a friend, too. She got up and hugged him.
He hugged her right back. “One condition, though,” Damian said. “I want a present from mystical Mistletoe. Plus, I want to come to the Tree Contest next year. It sounded awesome.”
Fran smiled. “You’re on. My parents can put you and Isla up.” She put a hand to her chin. “A present from Mistletoe.” She twisted her mouth. “How about some shit on a twig?”
Damian let out a howl of laughter. “That would be perfect.”