The Rom-Com Collection: The Plus One, Something for the Weekend, A Marriage of Connivance Read online

  The Plus One

  By

  Natasha West

  Copyright © 2016 by Natasha West

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Charlie Black was sleeping deeply when her phone rang. She was incensed at the interruption. She’d been in the midst of quite the dream about Lucy. Lucy naked, to be more precise. In real life, she’d seen Lucy undressed many times. But somehow, in the dream, it was all just a little more vivid, beautiful, perfect. Lucy was exactly what Charlie wanted her to be. Just the right mix of angelic and devilish. In real life, Lucy was great. Cool, funny, sexy. It was just that in the dream, she was perfection. Charlie’s idea of perfection, at any rate.

  The dream seemed to be set in the past, just at the moment before they’d gotten together. Before Charlie knew for sure that the thoughts she was having about Lucy might be returned. Those thoughts that were about a beautiful life together in the daytime, but at night went to an altogether more salacious place. Charlie didn’t know which feelings were more powerful. Was it love or sex she wanted from Lucy? She didn’t know for sure. But she had decided it was the first one. Because the first would inevitably lead to the second one anyway. Why not try to imagine it was the purest motives that led to the need to get Lucy out of her clothes? Wasn’t it all kind of the same thing anyway?

  It had been a slow jog to the finish line. They’d been in kind of the same circle for about three months. They were friends of friends of friends. But Charlie had noticed her immediately. Anyone would have. She was a tall redhead, cheekbones for days, a coy smile that hinted at sexy depths. But Charlie didn’t intend to do anything at first, being that she was in a relationship. But once she was single again, there was no reason not to pursue her. And coming off the back of being dumped by Megan, her girlfriend of eight months, Charlie had a feeling that Lucy was the answer to the blue mood she’d been in. And she was right. Lucy was something sweet to the thoughts at a time of irritating melancholy. And so they’d danced around it for those three weeks that Charlie was single, the occasional ‘hi’ at a party, the sideways glances at a barbecue, the shy smiles at either end of the bar. It had been perfect. Lucy could fulfil every need that Charlie had just by standing in her eye line, looking gorgeous.

  Eventually Charlie had decided, aided by more than a little beer, that she was done fantasising. She wandered up, full of booze-fuelled confidence, and struck up the first real conversation they’d ever had. God knows what about. They’d talked flirtatiously for about twenty minutes and then Lucy had said, ‘I’ve got a bottle of sassy red at mine, if you’re interested.’ It was the perfect pick up line, leaving Charlie to wonder if Lucy herself was the sassy red she’d be having shortly. And indeed she was.

  Charlie had been flat out drunk by the time one of them made the lunge for a kiss. To this day, she wasn’t sure which one of them had made the first move. She awoke the next morning, naked, unsure where she was. Then she’d turned to see the shape of Lucy underneath the sheet and thought ‘Well, I guess it’s on then.’

  And it was indeed on, so it seemed, because they’d been dating for about four months now. All Charlie’s fantasies and projections turned out to be way off, but it didn’t matter, because Lucy was great fun anyway. Maybe they didn’t have much in common but that didn’t bother Charlie too much because they had chemistry, which was much harder to find. You find a spark, the rest usually slots into place. That was Charlie’s ethos.

  And Charlie was thinking that maybe Lucy might actually be someone special, maybe even wife material. It wasn’t the first time that she’d had that thought about a girl, but this time felt different. Yes, maybe she’d gotten it wrong a few times before, but wasn’t that always the story before you found Miss Right? She’d just been kissing the compulsory frogs until she’d found her princess.

  And in dreamland, Lucy was most certainly the one. It was as though Charlie had re-written the first hook up. It started in the bar, but this time, Charlie was sober as a judge and smooth as silk to boot. And Lucy was innocent and virginal. Until she wasn’t. The kiss had been a perfect coming together of two people who had finally found water after years of wandering the driest deserts of love. From there, the seduction had been slow and elegant. And when they finally got to business, every move was right on the money. But suddenly, Charlie was dragged from a starring role in the most beautiful porn film ever shot by that shrieking ringtone.

  Charlie rolled over with a moan, her long lean frame almost falling out of the bed, and picked up her phone. She almost threw the bloody thing at the wall before remembering how expensive it was. The phone read ‘BRIDE-ZILLA CALLING.’ That was her younger sister Maddie’s current nickname. She was three weeks away from the big day with her fiancée Josh, and in all truth, she wasn’t being exceptionally demanding. It was just that at the moment, the wedding was all she talked about. Charlie could understand it in a way. It was an expensive and detailed event to organise. But that didn’t make it any less boring to have to listen to.

  Charlie, still sleepy and annoyed, almost didn’t pick up. But ignoring her sister’s phone call felt mean. She answered reluctantly.

  ‘How’s the planning going? Have you managed to book the fire-eater yet?’ she half said, half yawned. Maddie ignored Charlie’s joke.

  ‘Jesus, did I wake you? It’s eleven AM!’

  Charlie checked the time on her watch for confirmation. It was indeed practically noon. But Charlie had good reason to need some extra sleep. It had been a late night. Lucy had invited Charlie over for an evening in front of the TV. Which was of course code for ‘come over and have a sex marathon.’ Charlie had wanted to sleep over, but Lucy said she had plans to go for a run in the morning. Charlie had taken the hint and dragged her exhausted bones home. But she wasn’t about to tell her sister about her sexcapades.

  ‘You know how it is, I’m a nocturnal creature.’

  ‘Yes, I do happen to recall that from the hellish years I spent sharing a house with you. Look, I was just calling because I’m leaving in a bit and I wanted to check if you needed a lift?’

  Charlie’s mind was a blank.

  ‘You’re not working today, are you?’

  ‘No, not today’ Charlie said.

  Charlie was a personal trainer. It wasn’t exactly her passion, but she found that she was good at motivating people with even less get-up-and-go than she had. Those people tended to be rich men and woman with very little time to train, but a desperate need to at least try to keep themselves in shape for their new trophy husbands and wives.

  For Charlie, the career choice was a simple coming together of the fact that she had a very naturally fit physique and a need to pay the bills. So she got her training license and found some clients that appreciated her ability to make the workouts fun and not too challenging for them. It was a good fit for her. Because it was easy. Charlie prized ease above all else.

>   But today she was free. And she’d kept the day free for a reason, probably. Then she remembered why. It was the first Sunday of the month. That meant lunch at the ‘rents. But the realisation came too late. Maddie had clocked on.

  ‘You forgot, didn’t you?’ Maddie said without surprise.

  ‘No! Is Josh coming?’ Charlie said, trying to change the subject.

  ‘Yeah. Why, were you planning to bring someone?’

  That hadn’t occurred to Charlie, but maybe she should invite Lucy? The family had to meet her sometime, after all.

  ‘I might ask Lucy if she wants to come.’

  ‘Who’s Lucy?’

  Charlie wanted to reach down the phone and flick her sister in the eyeball.

  ‘My girlfriend. I have mentioned her.’

  ‘Did you? Oh yeah, Lucy, of course. Must have slipped my mind. It’s this bloody wedding’ she lied tactfully. ‘It’s pushing everything else out of my brain. But you should definitely bring her to Sunday lunch.’

  ‘I’ll give her a call right now, see if she’s free.’

  Charlie and Maddie said their goodbyes and Charlie dialled Lucy as she looked in the mirror. She looked knackered. She couldn’t show up to lunch like this. Her Mum would be down her neck anyway about something; she wasn’t going to give her any help by showing up looking like she was coming from a walk of shame.

  Lucy wasn’t picking up, so Charlie shot her a quick text inviting her to lunch with the family and jumped in the shower.

  An hour later, Charlie was about to leave, her long chocolate locks freshly washed and blown dry, her tiny, sleepless mahogany eyes made less small with the application of make-up. She looked like a person again.

  She’d had no reply to her text to Lucy, so she tried to call again. Lucy didn’t answer so Charlie decided to leave her a voice mail.

  ‘Hey, it’s me. Did you see my text about lunch? I’m heading over now so if you do hear this, my Mum and Dad’s address is in the text, head over if you’re free.’

  And off Charlie went.

  ‘Charlie! Shoes!’ cried Dawn.

  Charlie slipped her shoes off quickly. She didn’t know what it was, but she could never seem to remember her Mum’s rule about shoes in the house, even when she lived there. As a teenager, the cry of ‘Charlie, shoes!’ went up so often, it became Charlie’s nickname from her Dad, Ed.

  ‘Hey, it’s Charlie Shoes!’ Ed said on cue, coming out to give Charlie a bear hug of a greeting.

  ‘Dad, you know I hate that’ she said into her father’s chest. Charlie was tall, but her Dad was a whopper, a lean man of over six feet. Charlie took more after him physically than her mother, who was petite and demure. Except when she was shouting at Charlie. Then she seemed about eight feet tall in Charlie’s mind.

  ‘You’re late. Hello, love’ she said, adding her kiss to Charlie’s cheek. She somehow always managed to combine a criticism with warmth, which left Charlie in a frequent state of emotional confusion. ‘Your sister said you might be bringing someone?’

  ‘I don’t think she’s coming. Couldn’t get hold of her.’

  Dawn nodded, secretly relieved. She wasn’t sure she was up to meeting another of Charlie’s girlfriends. Mainly because she usually ended up hating them. They always seemed like such cold creatures. She couldn’t understand why her daughter seemed to keep choosing these icy women.

  Of course, if Dawn had asked anyone else that question, the answer would have been quite obvious. But luckily, she never did.

  ‘Leg, Josh? Or are you a breast man?’

  Poor Josh, Charlie thought. Ed had put him in an incredibly awkward position with one of his standard jokes. Josh was sat with his future wife and mother-in-law, and his soon-to-be father in law had as good as forced him to say something inappropriately sexual in front of them. There could be no way out as far as Charlie could see.

  Everyone turned to see what his response would be.

  ‘Actually, Ed, could I have a wing if there’s one going?’ said Josh casually.

  Charlie wanted to high five the man. He’d done the impossible in a high pressure situation, and he’d done it with grace. And that was one of many reasons that she thought he was the perfect man to marry Maddie. He loved her for a start. But nearly as important was the fact that he always made it seem easy to be around their parents. Charlie’s girlfriends had never managed that. But maybe Lucy would be different, Charlie hoped.

  As though Maddie had read Charlie’s mind, she suddenly asked ‘So where’s your main squeeze, then?’

  Before Charlie could reply, Ed jumped in.

  ‘Megan’s not coming.’

  Charlie winced internally.

  ‘I broke up with Megan five months ago, Dad. I did tell you.’

  Ed looked surprised. Dawn, having been briefed on the girlfriend swap by Maddie ten minutes ago, said softly to her husband ‘The new one’s called Lucy.’

  Charlie tried not to take the bait of ‘the new one’ but she couldn’t help it.

  ‘She’s not just the new one, Mum. She’s The One, probably.’

  Charlie knew you couldn’t really hear the sound of eyeballs rolling, but she felt like that’s what she was listening to. And she knew that was the reaction around the table without looking, because what she’d just said would have made her gag if it had come from anyone else. But that was family. They had a way of making Charlie reach for her inner dickhead.

  ‘Oh, really? So this is a real girlfriend, not one of your…’ Dawn trailed off, knowing full well what she was trying to say, but unable to find it within her to utter the term ‘Fuck Buddy.’

  Charlie charged on.

  ‘Yes, she’s an actual girlfriend. She’s thirty-two, she’s a vet and she lives in Park Hill’ Charlie blurted, groping for the most broadly summarising facts about Lucy. ‘And we’re getting pretty serious. So you should try to remember that name, Dad. Lucy.’

  Ed looked like he’d just realised his parachute was only a backpack.

  ‘I do try, Charlie.’

  Maddie had watched her Dad, who had never had much luck with social delicacy, struggling to know what to say to his daughter and she felt she should try to bridge the gaps of understanding that were crumbling around him.

  ‘It’s not Dad’s fault, Charlie. You are a bit of a serial monogamist.’

  There was a pause after that comment as Charlie sat with her hurt in silence. The implication of Charlie’s fecklessness had been clear. Yes, she’d had a few girlfriends. But it wasn’t her fault she hadn’t had Maddie’s luck. Maddie, who met Josh four years ago and settled down into smug coupledom from that day forth. It was easy to sit in judgment when you had everything. And now Maddie had humiliated her in front of the whole family.

  Maddie realised she’d said the wrong thing.

  ‘I’m sorry, Charlie. I don’t mean to…’

  ‘No, it’s fine. I suppose if you’ve been engaged for a million years, it can be difficult to remember how hard it is to find someone decent.’

  Another silence fell over the table. Until Charlie’s mouth, acting, it seemed, independently of her, said ‘Actually, this is a bit more serious than any of my other girlfriends because we’re moving in together.’

  Every head swivelled to look at Charlie.

  ‘Well, that’s big!’ Dawn said. ‘Why didn’t you say something?’

  Charlie wanted to take back the lie, but it was too late.

  ‘I’m saying it now.’

  Ed, just about caught up with the new events in his daughter’s love life, clapped his hands together.

  ‘So when will we be meeting… err..’

  ‘Lucy!’ Charlie almost shouted.

  Maddie, although very interested in this development in her sister’s life, found that her wedding-skewed brain had an important question, one that would need to be asked if she was able to find any peace.

  ‘How about the wedding? I’ve given you a plus one since you never sent back the RSVP, but there’s s
till time to cancel it… she said, a slight warning in her voice.

  Charlie had meant to post the RSVP for herself and Lucy months ago, but hadn’t gotten around to it. Which was ridiculous. Obviously Lucy would be coming, even if they hadn’t actually talked about it. And maybe she should broach the idea of them moving in together while she was at it? Perhaps it had come about in a strange way, but it was on the cards anyway, right? They were definitely getting serious.

  ‘Of course she’s coming. Her name’s Lucy Fisher. And you can mark that in ink.’

  Charlie didn’t know it then, but she would live to regret those words bitterly.

  When Charlie’s phone rang again later that day, she picked it up with no sense of foreboding. She saw Lucy’s name and felt nothing but delight. She never saw the axe coming down, not for a second.

  ‘Hi, hot stuff.’

  ‘Hi.’

  Charlie thought Lucy sounded slightly off in tone, but she wasn’t one to read into that type of thing too heavily.

  ‘I’m glad you called, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all day-’

  ‘Charlie. I need to talk to you about something.’

  That’s when the penny finally dropped. She’d heard that sentence before. And several variations on it.

  She was about to get dumped. Again.

  Chapter Two

  Charlie had been lying on the sofa for four full days in gradually ripening pyjamas. She’d cancelled all training sessions, telling her clients that she had a ‘personal emergency’ that meant she was unavailable for a week. Her only breaks in those days on the couch were for the toilet and to replenish her stock of junk food. And as she lay on the sofa, her thoughts were of a fairly predictable nature and could be summed up in two words. ‘Why me?’

  That train of thought was in full swing for hour upon hour, but why wouldn’t it be? This was far from Charlie’s first rodeo. This was, at Charlie’s count, the fifth time she’d been dumped. And what for this time?