Brand New Friend (32 page)

Authors: Mike Gayle

BOOK: Brand New Friend

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Half an hour later, as she shook the hand of the last person – a fifty-something woman who had bought two copies of
Fifty Words For Snow
for her two twenty-something daughters – Jo had finished. She stood up and looked round the now empty room for any sign of Rob.

‘Well, that went well,’ said Matt. ‘You had a great turn-out.’

‘Thanks,’ replied Jo, disappointed that Rob had gone. ‘It was great, wasn’t it?’

‘There’s a taxi downstairs,’ said the woman from Waterstone’s. ‘It’ll take you straight to your hotel.’

‘Thanks,’ said Jo again, as she picked up her Biro and dropped it into her bag. ‘That’s very kind.’

‘Oh, and before I forget,’ said the woman from Waterstone’s, ‘a member of the audience came up to me a while ago and said he knew you and wanted to say hello but that he had to go. He said to give you this,’ she handed Jo a red plastic WHSmith’s carrier-bag, ‘and that you’d understand.’

Jo took the bag from her and looked inside. It was a DVD of
Dirty Dancing
, still in its shrink wrapping. Across it he had written in marker-pen: ‘Another for your collection.’

‘Who is it from?’ asked Matt.

‘No one, really,’ said Jo, smiling to herself. ‘Just an old friend.’

Also by Mike Gayle:

His ’n’ Hers

My Legendary Girlfriend

Mr Commitment

Turning Thirty

Dinner for Two

Wish You Were Here

Life and Soul of the Party

The To-Do List