give Logan the impression that this was a subject that interested her and convinced that he would appear by her desk the following morning to carry out a quick spot test on what she had learned so far.
‘You know,’ continued Laura with relentless optimism, ‘that’s a really good sign. It means that he was thinking about you even after the meeting had finished. He could have forgotten all about the articles.’
‘I wish he had,’ Ellie muttered gloomily.
‘But look on the bright side Ells! Look at the progress you’ve made.’
Ellie thought for a moment. She didn't think it was entirely what Fliss had meant when she’d advised Ellie to build a connection. But at least they’d spoken, he had used her name which was even better and they now had something in common. Well not exactly in common but at least it had resulted in a conversation.
‘Why am I finding this so hard,’ she sighed.
Laura watched her downcast friend and waved at the barman for a couple of top-ups. Reaching over, she tilted Ellie's glass upwards towards her lips, encouraging her to drink the contents. ‘You’re taking it all far too seriously honey,’ she offered. ‘I mean, come on! You've got a crush on a guy at work. It's no big deal, I get them all the time. They usually last a couple of weeks, maybe even a couple of months then someone else comes along. You're behaving like it’s a scene out of Romeo and Juliet and you two are star crossed lovers, meant to find each other over the water cooler.’
‘It’s not a crush,’ said Ellie firmly. ‘It's love.’
‘One-sided love. How can you say you’re in love with someone you’ve never even met properly?’
‘Love at first sight exists. You read all the time about people whose eyes meet across a crowded room and they fall instantly in love.’
‘Yeah, but there’s usually two of them and it’s probably more a case of instant lust than true love.’
‘It’s love. Anyway, why are you having crushes? What about Gareth, I thought you loved him?’
‘I do.’ Two more glasses of wine arrived. ‘But that doesn’t stop me having a crush on someone else. It happens all the time. You see a hunky guy with gorgeous eyes and you can’t stop thinking about him.’
Ellie gasped. ‘Laura! You shouldn’t feel like that about someone else when you’re with Gareth! If you love him you should have eyes only for him.’
‘You're a funny little soul Ells. You’ve been born in the wrong time. There’s nothing wrong with fancying someone else, it's not as though I’m going to do anything about it. A little bit of swooning, a bit of flirting, it keeps the soul happy. You are taking the whole thing far too seriously.’
Shaking her head, Ellie wondered if Laura had any idea just how seriously Ellie had taken it. She would be shocked if she knew the truth.
‘Well I think that if you love someone, truly love them, you shouldn’t have those sorts of feelings for anyone else,’ she muttered. ‘And if it does happen you should ask yourself if you really are in love in the first place. It wouldn’t be fair to stay with someone if you’re not prepared to give them your entire heart.’
Laura put her glass down, her eyes opening wider as she leant across the table. ‘Oh my God Ellie, is that why you and Carl ……’
‘I need to ask you something,’ jumped in Ellie quickly. ‘What would you do if someone you've been with for a while started to lose interest? You know, if they stopped thinking about you like they used to, maybe they prefer to go out with their friends rather than have a romantic dinner with you?’
‘Good grief! You're jumping the gun a bit. All he did was say hello and send you an email. He needs to show a lot more interest before you can worry about him losing any!’
‘Not Logan. I mean in general.’
‘You mean if the relationship starts to flag a bit?’
‘Yes, sort of.’
‘Is this about your agony aunt?’
‘Not exactly. Well maybe a bit, I just wondered what you would do.’
Laura took a thoughtful sip of her wine. ‘Well, underwear has always worked for me,’ she announced, digging into her bag of crisps and munching. ‘There was a spell when Gareth was spending more time at the pub than he was spending with me. It was because they were showing the World Cup matches but even so, I was getting pretty fed up