Counterfeit Love by Julie Fison

Chinese food? She had to rearrange the date with Byron. She couldn’t miss a chance like this.
    But what to wear, what to wear? She had loads of work clothes, and a busload of gorgeous killer heels, but no actual cocktail dresses. Charlotte, on the other hand, had a whole wardrobe full of them. Lucy hoped she could borrow one and, just to make sure Yu didn’t recognise her from Rusty’s, she would wear her hair up. Charlotte could probably help with that too. What type of dress works better with my hair up – strapless or backless? Lucy wondered. Charlotte had a backless emerald green dress that was a total showstopper – unfortunately it wouldn’t work on Lucy because it plunged at the front as well as the back. Lucy didn’t have the cleavage or the confidence to get away with that one.
    Durban laughed. ‘Do I understand from the way you’re bouncing up and down that you’re going to come to the party, after all?’
    Lucy smiled. ‘Yes, I’d love to. I’ve been trying to organise an interview with Yu for months. It would be amazing to meet him in person.’
    Durban slipped his arm around Lucy’s shoulder and squeezed her into his side. ‘Well, aren’t you lucky you met me then, Lucy Yang reporting?’
    Lucy’s body stiffened and she mentally struck off the possibility of a strapless or backless dress for Yu’s party. The feeling of Durban’s hand on her bare shoulders was putting her teeth on edge. She wasn’t a fan of her new nickname, either. Lucy fought hard to keep smiling, even though she wanted to hit him. ‘Yes, lucky me.’
    Durban winked. ‘My ex-wife used to say that, too.’
    ‘So, what time’s the party?’ Lucy asked, wriggling free of Durban’s arm and trying to get away from an ex-wife discussion.
    ‘The party starts at eight. But why don’t you come around to my place at six? We can have a drink first. I’ve just taken delivery of a case of Dom Perignon 1961, thanks to our lovely leggy bell captain, Charlotte. I bought it to bathe in, but what the heck , let’s be old fashioned and drink a bottle.’ Durban laughed. ‘Just kidding.’
    Lucy didn’t see the joke – she was starting to feel ill. She had a sickening visual of Durban in a bath full of champagne. She knew he was just mucking around, but he’d put it out there and now she couldn’t shake it from her mind. Lucy was also disturbed by the way Durban had referred to Charlotte as his lovely leggy bell captain – so patronising! But for the sake of meeting Yu, Lucy sucked it up and smiled sweetly.
    ‘Six might be a bit early. I’ll probably still be in my bikini. How about I come over at seven?’
    ‘Come over at six in your bikini if you like and we can have a swim first.’
    ‘Not much of a swimmer, really,’ Lucy said, but Durban didn’t seem to hear. He’d taken an interest in a boat in the marina.
    ‘Come over here,’ he said, grabbing Lucy’s hand. ‘I want to show you something.’
    Lucy had never been a hand holder. In fact, she’d fought against holding hands with her parents from the age of three, according to family folklore. She preferred to keep control of her own extremities and destination. Even holding hands with a boyfriend seemed like giving away too much control. She only consented on special occasions – and Durban was neither her father, nor her boyfriend, and this was definitely not a special occasion. The feel of his palm wrapped around her hand as he dragged her to the other side of the junk was really testing Lucy’s tolerance. She resisted the urge to rip her hand free from him. Just hold on for a minute , she thought to herself. I want to meet Yu tonight.
    But even when they reached the other side of the boat he kept hold of her hand. Durban was on about a big yacht that he was buying with the commission he’d made from a property he’d sold. It was something Lucy would normally be keen to hear about, but she couldn’t keep up with the conversation because she was too busy