Page 173 of Falling for You

I place the fabric back under the sewing machine and slowly press my foot down on the pedal.

All in all, the christening was fine. A standard event with our extended family and friends, lots of chat about mortgages and promotions, engagements and babies. All of which I couldn’t really join in with, but it was fine because everybody loved my dress (I ended up wearing a dress I’d made last year) and kept asking where it was from. Which made Mum prouder than she’d be if I announced that I was closing on a six-figure townhouse in Camden, was about to start my new position as Managing Director at the Bank of London and was pregnant with triplets with my gorgeous, highly successful husband.

I got back home to Clapham about three hours ago, and have been glued to my sewing machine ever since.

I hear a half-hearted knock at my bedroom door as it creaks open, but I keep my eyes firmly fixed on my hem. I will not mess this up again.

‘I brought you a tea.’

In my peripheral vision, I see Penny sit down on my bed and place two cups of tea on my bedside table.

‘Thank you.’

‘Well, Tanya made it. I just brought it in.’

Right on cue, Tanya bustles through the door and climbs onto the bed next to Penny.

‘How was your weekend?’ she asks. ‘How are your mum and dad? Ooooh … what are you working on?’

I narrow my eyes as the needle skims the final piece of fabric, and then finally turn to face them, letting out a sigh of relief.

Done. Perfect.

‘Another commission,’ I say. ‘This one is a gremlin for an eighteenth. This is the body piece.’

I hold it up so they can see and Tanya reaches forward, fingering the fabric.

‘It’s beautiful. I love it.’

‘Thank you.’

‘You seem to be pretty busy with commissions!’ Penny says, and I can hear the hope in her voice.

‘Not busy enough,’ I say, reading her mind. ‘But yeah, it’s nice that we’ve got a few more coming in. How are you guys?’

‘Good now,’ Penny says, tucking her feet under my duvet. ‘Yesterday was awful.’

Tanya pulls a horrified face at me and I grin. ‘Yeah, I figured from your messages that you’d opened that champagne.’

‘And the rest!’ Tanya cries. ‘We had so much prosecco. God, it was so bad, we could barely move yesterday.’

I smile, taking a sip of my tea.

‘But,’ Tanya says, blowing the steam away from her cup, ‘we actually have good news.’

I raise my eyebrows at her.

‘We found American Boy.’

Immediately, I feel my heart lift.

I’ve really tried to shake this. I only met him once for a very brief conversation. There is no reason why I should still be thinking about him – it’s ridiculous! Also, London is a huge city and the chances of us ever meeting again are near impossible.

Unless Tanya and Penny really have found him …

‘Look at your face,’ Penny grins. ‘I knew this was a good idea.’

‘How have you found him?’ I say, ignoring Penny’s stupid grin. ‘How do you know it’s him?’