Read The Plus-One Agreement for Free Online Page B

child herself. No father—at least not in any way that mattered to a kid. Plenty of ‘uncles’, though. He hadn’t been short of those. And plenty of random babysitters—friends of his mother’s, neighbours, hardly the same person twice. What he wouldn’t have given for an interfering nosy mother at the age of thirteen, when babysitters had no longer been required and he’d been considered old enough to be left home alone.
    He dismissed the thought. Things were different now. He’d learned to rely only on himself, without influence from anyone else. Maggie had been the one time he’d deviated from that course, and it had turned out to be an agonising mistake that he had no intention of repeating. He had no need for family. Past or future.
    ‘Got your message, baby, but there’s no way we’re going to be able to make the gay wedding,’ Alistair said.
    Dan watched Emma’s smile falter and suppressed an unexpected urge to grab Woods by the scruff of the neck.
    ‘Why not?’ she said. ‘I can’t miss Adam’s wedding. I promised him.’
    Dan recognised her tone as carefully neutral. She was upset and trying to cover it up. Did this Alistair know her well enough to pick up that little nuance? Hardly.
    * * *
    Emma took a sip of her coffee in an effort to hide her disappointment. Had she really thought it would be that simple? That he would just agree to her every whim?
    ‘We’re spending that weekend in the Hamptons,’ Alistair was saying. ‘I’ve been in talks to land a movie role and one of the producers is having a garden party. Can’t miss it. Lots riding on it. I’m sure Arnold will understand. Career first, right?’ He leaned in towards her with a winning expression and squeezed her hand. ‘We agreed.’
    His career first.
    ‘Adam,’ Emma corrected. She could hear the disappointment, cold and heavy, in her own voice. ‘His name is Adam. And I really can’t miss his wedding.’
    Alistair sat back and released her hand, leaving it lying abandoned in the middle of the white tablecloth. His irritation was instant and palpable, and all the more of a shock because he’d never been anything but sweetness and light so far. But then, she hadn’t demanded anything from him so far, had she? She’d been only too eager to go along for the ride. His ride.
    ‘You do whatever you have to do, baby,’ he said dismissively. ‘You can fly out and join me afterwards.’
    ‘But I really wanted you to be there, to meet my family.’
    ‘Sorry, honey, no can do.’
    Alistair turned to the waiter to order a drink. She noticed that Dan was looking at her with sympathy and she looked away. Everything was unravelling and it was a million times worse because he was here to witness it. She tried to muster up an attitude that might smother the churning disappointment in her stomach as her high hopes plummeted.
    From the moment she’d met Alistair he had made her feel special, as if nothing was too much trouble for him. But it occurred to her that it had only related to peripheral things, like flowers and restaurants and which hotel they might stay in. Now it had come down to something that was truly important to her he hadn’t delivered the goods. It wasn’t even up for discussion. Because it clashed with his own plans.
    Disappointment mingled hideously with exasperated disbelief. She felt like crashing her head down despairingly on the table. Would she ever, at any point in her life, meet someone who might actually put her first on their agenda? Or was this her lot? To make her way through life as some lower down priority?
    ‘Look, I don’t want to interfere,’ Dan said suddenly, leaning forward. ‘But how about I step in?’
    * * *
    ‘What do you mean, step in?’ she asked, eyes narrowed.
    Suspicion. Not a good sign, Dan thought. On the other hand Alistair was looking more than open to the suggestion.
    Dispensing with Alistair to some swanky party on a different continent was far too good an opportunity to