Girl on the Run Read Free Page A

it, I say.’
    Marshall shot Jim an amused look and turned his attention back to Jane. ‘You started off working in the pharmaceutical industry, right?’
    Jane wondered if he'd been reading her CV, or whether that information had been part of the email that Ruth mentioned.
    ‘So why did you decide to leave Manchester and come down here to move into private practice?’
    Jane decided to ignore the first part of the question; it would be impossible to explain her reasons for leaving Manchester without mentioning Ashby. ‘I wanted to work on a wider variety of projects.’ She made eye contact with Marshall for the first time and immediately forgot what she was about to say.
    There was a brief pause and she realised that everyone was watching her. Reluctantly, she looked away from Marshall's eyes, only to find herself looking at his lips. Hurriedly, she focused on the safer territory of his eyes again. ‘How about you? Did you always work in private practice?’
    Before Marsh could answer, Keith said, ‘Marsh has always been with R and T.’ He clapped Marshall on the shoulder. ‘Started off as a mere trainee.’
    Marshall raised his eyebrows at Jane and nodded. ‘What he said.’
    Jim laughed. ‘Marsh is one of our bright young things,’ he said. ‘Who knows, he might make it to partner one of these days.’
    Keith gave a derisive snort.
    ‘I worked as a research chemist for a bit before I came here,’ said Marshall. ‘As you say, the variety appeals.’
    The arrival of Jim and Marshall had changed the tone of the evening. Jim's good humour was infectious and the conversation moved swiftly away from work to teasing Eric about his upcoming wedding. Jane noticed that Marshall didn't say a lot. She wondered if that meant he was shy. Keith had stopped looking at her legs quite so often and was using the time to make supercilious remarks, mostly aimed at Marshall. Marshall, whilst not openly ignoring Keith, appeared not to hear any of them.
    Jane found the interaction between the men amusing. After her second glass of wine, she found she was fighting the urge to giggle. For the first time in a long time, she relaxed and was surprised to realise she was enjoying herself.
     
    It was late by the time Jane returned to the flat. Polly was lying on the sofa reading.
    She looked up from her magazine. ‘Hiya. How was the pub?’ Moving to London had taken the edge off Polly's accent, but it was still noticeably from Lancashire.
    Jane found it comforting to come home to.
    She shrugged off her coat and sank gratefully into a chair. ‘Not bad.’ She eased her feet out of her shoes. ‘I seem to be in a mostly male team.’
    ‘ Oh aye? Anyone nice?’
    ‘ Well, there's Keith, who was definitely eyeing me up. A guy called Eric who was a bit creepy.’ Jane counted them off her fingers. ‘Jim, who's lovely, but married and Marshall, who's a bit quiet.’
    ‘ Huh. No one promising then?’
    Jane stared thoughtfully at her toes. ‘Marshall seemed all right.’
    Polly peered at her. ‘You're blushing.’ She leaned forward. ‘So, this Marshall. Tell me about him.’
    ‘ I ran into him earlier in the morning. Or rather, he ran into me. I stepped out without looking and he was jogging past and ran smack into me.’
    ‘ And then you met him again in the pub?’
    ‘ It looks like we might be working together sometimes.’
    Pol ly nodded. ‘Is he fit?’
    Jane felt her cheeks warm again. ‘Well, yes. In a Matthew McConaughey kind of way.’
    ‘ What?’ Polly sat up. ‘Dimples?’
    ‘ Only one.’
    ‘ Oooh. And?’
    ‘ And nothing.’ Jane decided not to mention that she'd got a good look at him in his running shorts. There were some details best kept away from Polly. ‘He seems very nice. But like I said, very quiet.’
    ‘ Maybe he's shy.’
    Jane laughed. ‘Don't get excited Pol. He's a work colleague. He's bound to have a girlfriend anyway. Most nice men our age do.’
    ‘ You mean you didn't find out if he was