My So-Called. A. Michael L.

saw Tabby walking past her to her usual seat. The journalist often sat at the back of the cafe around the same time of day. ‘Guinness cake! Good choice!’

      ‘I’ll regret it later.’ Tig smiled at the brunette as she got out her laptop and started faffing with her notepads.

      ‘No,’ the woman shook her head firmly. ‘There shall be no regretting cake. I do not regret the cakes I have eaten, only the ones I have not.’

      ‘Good mantra,’ Tig grinned. ‘Lot of work today?’

      The brunette sighed. ‘Last couple of articles for deadline. I’m travelling for a couple of months, off next week. Has to be finished.’

      ‘Awesome. Where are you going?’

      ‘I have no idea. My boyfriend decided I need more surprises in my life. Which is awful and makes me want to vomit. But if it’s one less thing to arrange, then that’s fine with me!’ The woman laughed, and Tig thought suddenly, I want to be like you. You know what you’re doing.

      ‘Well, I’ll let you get on. Happy working!’ Tig said.

      ‘You, too!’

      Tig turned back around, got out her own notebook. That was what she loved about this place, the comfort of it all, the familiarity. Home.

      A towering slice of moist chocolate cake and a green tea suddenly appeared on her table.

      ‘Well, don’t you look gorgeous.’ His voice seemed to laugh at her a little.

      Tig looked up. ‘I didn’t yesterday?’

      ‘Oh, you’re definitely acting like a girlfriend now,’ Ollie grinned. She looked at him, blue shirt rolled up to his elbows, straining at the biceps, black beanie covering most of his blond hair. His eyes were still as dangerously green as they had been the night before.

      ‘Isn’t it somewhere in the rules you’re meant to make a girl wait before you phone her up and ask her out. Something about a three-day rule?’

      He leaned in and she found herself taking a sharp breath at how close he was, how his cologne smelled spicy and intoxicating. ‘I don’t play games, Tigerlily. If I want something, I go for it.’

      He doesn’t want you, not like that, she reminded herself.

      ‘Oh, shut up, this whole thing is a game,’ she said, brash and loud, trying to stop him using that soft voice that made her stomach dip.

      ‘It’s a lesson, very different.’

      ‘It’s an arrangement, and had money changed hands for services we’d both be in jail.’ She looked back at her tea, wondering why she couldn’t be cool anymore. Tigerlily was nothing if not cool under pressure. Or, at least, the old Tig was. Ollie seemed to be intent on showing her that she was a newbie at all of this, and was enjoying every minute of it.

      ‘That makes no sense, unless one of us has offered services I wasn’t aware of. Not that I’d complain,’ he smirked.

      ‘I’m going to take all of that bullshit as an ill-fated attempt to tell me you like my dress, right?’

      ‘You take it however you want to, gorgeous. I’m afraid I have to get back to work.’ He winked. ‘I’m done at six – dinner?’

      ‘If you stop being such an arsehole,’ she said pointedly, watching as he grinned again, rearranging his hat. As he lifted his arms, the shirt slipped up, showing the barest sliver of his stomach, and Tig averted her eyes, unsure why that seemed so intimate.

      ‘It’s called flirtation, darling, it’s all good practice.’

      ‘Well, when you’re done reminding me why I don’t date, feel free to come back as the Ollie you were yesterday, who was capable of having an honest conversation.’ She huffed, exasperated.

      ‘You’ll learn to love it once you learn to play.’

      ‘That’s what they said about football and I still can’t stand it.’

      Ollie stood in front of her, hands on hips, head tilted as he smiled, as though he couldn’t quite believe her.

      ‘You are something else, Tigerlily James. Now I’ve got to go before I get fired for hitting on the staff. Ruby was very aware that I’d talked to you yesterday and that you weren’t here this afternoon. Apparently, wooing her favourite patron is not the done thing.’

      ‘Neither is using the term wooing,’ Tig grinned. ‘Oh, I think I’m getting the hang of this smart-arse thing now. You’re right, it’s enjoyable!’

      ‘Eat your cake, clever clogs.’

      *****

      ‘This isn’t really how it’s meant to work.’ Ollie made a face as he opened the door for her and they left Entangled together. It seemed so public, with the other staff there, the ones she’d sort of known for years, judging her somehow. He’d pulled on a leather jacket of his own, so now she was worrying that they looked like they matched, or that people would look at them and know they were faking it somehow.

      Shut up, Tig, you’re overthinking this, she thought furiously.

      ‘How’s it meant to work?’

      ‘Well, I pick you up from your house for a start.’ Ollie’s hand seemed to hover at the base of her spine, as if he was guiding a startled horse. It was somehow both irritating and comforting.

      ‘What if you turned out to be a nutcase, and then you knew where I lived?’ Tig shook her head. ‘This is a much better plan.’

      He nudged her with his elbow as they walked along. ‘Trust issues.’

      She stopped and looked at him pointedly. ‘Uh, duh?’

      He was almost painfully beautiful, and she wished she hadn’t stopped to face him now. If she’d only picked one of the nice, nerdy types who appreciated her brain and wanted to buy her coffee. The ones who would hover around as a ‘friend’ for months and months, until they got drunk and accidentally realised they were a couple. She could deal with that. That didn’t feel quite so … obvious as this. She just had to keep remembering it was all a lie. He hadn’t asked her out because he was attracted to her, and the banter wasn’t to get her into bed. It was literally him taking pity on a charity case. She had to think of Ollie more as a mentor, a lecturer in the world of dating, rather than a fake boyfriend. Right. Teacher.

      ‘You look wonderful, by the way.’ He smiled at her, so damn sincere. Or at least seemingly so. Not that you could tell. Urgh, this whole thing was a mess.

      ‘Oh, um …’ – she felt her skin heat up and bit her lip in irritation – ‘this dress is really old.’

      ‘Tigerlily? Step One of Ollie’s intro into dating: someone gives you a compliment, you say thank you. You keep rejecting nice words, people won’t give them to you anymore.’

      Ollie paused and raised his eyebrows, waiting to see if she was going to argue with him. ‘Let’s try again? Tigerlily, you look wonderful tonight.’

      ‘Thank you, sir,’ Tig purposefully chanted like a child.

      ‘Sarcastic, but I’ll take it. How do you feel about Thai food?’

      Tig grinned in relief. ‘My favourite.’

      ‘A little birdie may have mentioned that.’

      ‘And how does that little birdie feel about you fake-dating her favourite customer?’

      ‘She knows I’m leaving in four months, and thinks it’s terribly unfair of me to drag you into anything,’ Ollie shrugged. ‘But, Ruby seems the type to let you make your own mistakes. Plus, if I hurt you, I’m out of a job, so that should give you some confidence in the situation.’

      Tig grinned to herself. ‘Maybe a little.’