Almost Perfect by James Goss Page A

would. Oh dear, she thought, am I starting to fancy dangerous men? She smiled at him.
    ‘It’s really handy, you know. We have to publish two versions of the magazine, but it’s been really useful for the Cardiff Business Community.’
    ‘You just pronounced that in capital letters.’
    ‘Yes. Yes I did. Oh god. I take myself so seriously these days.’ Again, his fingers drummed on the table.
    ‘You do take yourself terribly seriously, don’t you?’ Emma had a sudden urge to mother him. ‘What did you want to be?’
    ‘When I grew up? A poet? Or even a writer of horror books. Ever read The Fog ?’
    ‘It is my favourite book!’ Emma grinned, really liking him.
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Absolutely. I read it until the spine fell apart. No book’s lived up to it apart from… Oh, I can’t say.’
    ‘I know what you’re going to say.’
    ‘You do?’
    ‘ The Da Vinci Code .’
    ‘Yes! No! How did you know? I’ve never dared admit that to anyone.’
    ‘I can tell. It’s like KFC, Jeremy Clarkson… you know.’
    ‘Oh, I so do.’ He is perfect.
    I can tell you like him , said the voice in her head. The voice she had grown used to. The voice that had said ‘chat to him, let him buy you a drink’. The voice that oozed confidence, calmness and something else. Something Emma didn’t quite… like. Relax, Emma. I’m trying to stop you from blushing. It’s taking a bit of effort to calm down your body language .
    What do you mean?
    Well, I’m toning down the amount of shadowing you’re doing. Keeping you a bit more neutral. It gets him more interested .
    Oh, ta. I dunno, though. There’s something about him I like.
    ‘Anyway, Emma – look, do you mind if I nip outside for a smoke?’
    Oh damn.
    Hey, Em, you smoke .
    I know. But I don’t want him to as well. Then I’ll never give up.
    But Emma, love, you don’t need to – I can cure any little thing that pops up .
    And him?
    Yeah, I can .
    But can you just stop him from smoking?
    Sure .
    Emma paused, wondering. What about a little bit taller?
    OK. Anything else?
    Oh, I could do with a cigarette, decided Emma. She was aware that Joe was looking at her. Had she zoned out? It was hard concentrating with Cheryl around sometimes. She smiled. ‘Let’s,’ she said, reached for her packet, and slipped outside into the freezing Cardiff air.
    She and Joe huddled next to each other. He grinned and handed her a light.
    ‘Does anyone still smoke?’ he asked her, cupping his hands round the cigarette.
    ‘Just us left,’ she said.
    They looked at each other for a bit, and smoked quietly.
    ‘Er, you ever thought of giving up?’ asked Emma.
    Joe laughed. ‘Who hasn’t, these days?’
    She shrugged. ‘I’ve tried a couple of times. I’m getting pretty good at it. It makes me happy.’
    Joe nodded. ‘Nah, I’d never give up. Unless I wanted to.’
    Emma smiled. ‘What if I made you?’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yeah, what if I had a machine that made you want to stop smoking, could repair all the damage, could make you… well, perfect, I guess.’
    Joe laughed. ‘Well, if it can repair the damage, why give up?’
    ‘Good point,’ said Emma, feeling suddenly sad. She watched Joe go back inside and sighed. ‘Sorry, Joe,’ she said, stubbed out her cigarette and followed him back inside.
    For the second night in a row, the people of Cardiff slept badly.

JOE STERLING IS LISTED AS
BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP
WITH EMMA WEBSTER
    Early the next morning, Joe padded out into the living room, where Emma lay stretched out over the sofa, watching TV. He kissed her on the shoulder and she turned, her gorgeous hair falling neatly out of the way.
    He loved the way it did that. In fact he loved pretty much everything about her.
    ‘Hey!’ she said, in that lovely warm voice of hers.
    ‘I missed you!’ he said. ‘I woke up alone in bed, and you weren’t there. Is everything OK?’
    ‘Yeah, yeah,’ she said. ‘I just woke up and fancied a bit of… me time. Little bit of