Miranda's Big Mistake - Jill Mansell [106]
At least she couldn't be charged with possession of the dreaded Celine Dion tape; that was safely back with Bev.
But when she re-emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later with her hair back to its normal - well, relatively normal - colour and her crocus-yellow Lycra dress clinging to her still-damp skin, she found Miles inspecting the contents of the blue glass bowl on top of her chest of drawers.
Oh well, could be worse; he could have been lying naked in bed… no, no, mustn't even think those kind of thoughts
'I'm in love,' said Miles.
Not with Bros, surely.
Miranda braced herself, then saw what he was holding. `That's my lucky pig.'
`How do you know he's lucky?'
`I tucked him into my bra before my maths GCSE exam.'
He sounded impressed. `And you passed?'
`God, no, failed miserably.'
Miles shook his head, mystified.
`So why was that lucky?'
`My maths teacher suggested I gave a career in nuclear physics a miss and went into hairdressing instead.' He laughed.
`Two hours inside your bra, you say? Can't get much luckier than that. Definitely a pig after my own heart. Can I borrow him for next Sunday's race?'
`For luck?' Miranda hesitated. `You want to tuck him inside your bra? Won't he ruin the line of your Teflon fireproof suit?'
`You don't want me to have him.' Sensing reluctance, Miles dropped the pig back into the bowl.
Miranda wavered. She loved her copper pig.
`No, no, you take him.' She nodded to show she meant it. `Just don't blame me if you don't win. It could be his way of telling you to become a Kwik-Fit fitter instead.'
`Where are we going?' said Miranda as their cab bowled through the back streets of Putney.
`To the rescue. I'm the Lone Ranger, you're Tonto.' `Where's Silver, stuck down a canyon?'
`I promised Johnnie we'd meet him. Tricky first-date scenario,' Miles murmured and lowered his voice. `If he starts talking about star signs, it means the girl's a disaster and we have to get him out of there.'
Miranda frowned.
`If she's a disaster, why did he invite her out in the first place?'
`Tonto, you're on form. Okay,' he admitted, `it's more of a blind-date scenario. But don't make a big thing of it - Johnnie's never been on a blind date before and he's sensitive about it.'
The restaurant was tucked away at the end of a narrow mews, safe from passing trade and the likelihood of Johnnie bumping into anyone he knew. The look of relief on his face when he saw Miles and Miranda told them all they needed to know, but just to be on the safe side he pumped her arm with enthusiasm and said, `Miranda, great to see you again! Hmm, good firm handshake. Pisces, am I right?'
`Gemini.' Gingerly Miranda retrieved her mangled hand. `Intelligent, beautiful and excellent at falling into swimming pools with my clothes on.'
`And this is Alice. She's Sagittarius.' Johnnie rolled his eyes fractionally as he spoke but Alice didn't notice. She was too busy braying with laughter at Miranda's swimming pool remark.
`That's so funny! Well, Geminis are funny, aren't they? Did you just make that up or did you copy it from someone on TV?'
`Um…'
Alice beamed at Miles. `I heard a really funny joke on The Generation Game once. I wrote it down and told the other girls at work.' She leaned forward, her pale-blue eyes bulging. `And guess what? It was awful, they didn't laugh at all! I felt like writing to Jim Davidson to complain!'
Behind them, a waiter hovered eagerly. Miranda couldn't
decide who she felt sorrier for, Johnnie or poor honking Alice.
With an edge of desperation in his voice, Johnnie said, `I wonder what Jim Davidson's star sign is?'
`I just can't believe I'm sitting here talking to Miles Harper the racing driver,' Alice squealed. `This is such a thrill… wait till I tell the girls in my office, they'll just die!'
`Hadn't you better tell Johnnie why we're here?' prompted Miranda, because Miles was clearly starting