Page 42 of Hot Mic

Sienna felt her jaw go slack. ‘A double date.’

‘Yeah,’ Claire said. ‘She’s offering an appearance fee this time. Four hundred quid.’

‘Dora Jenks emailed you,’ Sienna repeated, her brain struggling to catch up with the words. ‘Before she mentioned it to me.’

‘Well, it came into my inbox two minutes ago,’ Claire said, waving the phone slightly. ‘Maybe they did email you, and you haven’t seen it?

Sienna reached into her coat pocket, pulled out her phone, and tapped the screen. There it was. An unread email from Dora, sent three minutes ago, subject line: URGENT: Episode 5 Concept / Double Date.

Sienna stared at the glowing text. Her heart was beating very fast again, but for a completely different, furious reason.

‘So,’ Claire said, setting her phone down next to her coffee mug. She looked across at Sienna, her eyes bright. ‘What do you think?’

Sienna looked at her. ‘What do I think?’

‘I mean, I think it sounds hilarious,’ Claire said, taking another sip of her flat white. ‘Four hundred pounds for a free dinner and a bit of awkward small talk on mic? And I get to see what this Robin person is actually like in real life. I’m definitely in if you are.’

Sienna opened her mouth. She looked at Claire. She looked at the email on her own phone.

If she told Claire right now that it wasn’t going anywhere, Claire would tell Dora and then one way or another, Robin would find out Sienna had backed out with Claire. Robin would sit across from her in the studio with that smug, sympathetic look on her face, knowing Sienna couldn’t even handle a second date with a perfectly normal risk analyst.

Sienna might have accepted that she wanted Robin. It still didn’t mean she’d give her the satisfaction of beating her. Not after what she’d said about her on her date with that Valeska woman before they no doubt went off and had crazy, passionate sex. She didn’t buy that story about walking her to her car at all.

‘Sienna?’ Claire asked, tilting her head. ‘Are you okay? You look a bit pale.’

Sienna closed her phone and slid it back into her pocket. She picked up a paper napkin, folded it neatly in half, then folded it in half again.

‘I’m fine,’ Sienna said, still folding. Her voice was completely flat. ‘That sounds... Yeah, great.’

‘So you want to do it?’ Claire checked.

‘Yes,’ Sienna said, forcing her lips to curve upward into something that felt like a smile. ‘Yes, of course. Why not?’

She looked down to find she was now holding the world’s densest, smallest napkin, the paper fibres crushed so tightly together that it was practically solid cardboard.

Claire picked up her flat white and took a cheerful sip. ‘Brilliant. I’ll reply to Dora and tell her we’re in.’

‘Splendid,’ Sienna said to the tiny napkin, her mind already racing toward the double date. She was going to have to sit at a dinner table, fully mic’d, eating three courses in front of Robin and the travel photographer she was banging, all while pretending Claire was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

Thirty-Four

Robin was running late. She was practically jogging from the tube station, her jacket flapping open in the damp air, her hair sticking to her forehead.

She rounded the corner and nearly collided with a maroon suit jacket.

Sienna was standing outside the glass front of the restaurant. She was hovering on the pavement, checking her watch with furious flicks of her wrist.

Robin pulled up short, breathless. ‘Sienna?’

Sienna jumped, turning around fast. ‘Robin. You’re late.’

‘I know,’ Robin said, panting slightly. She squinted at Sienna. ‘Why are you standing out here? Aren’t you late too?’

‘I am not late,’ Sienna said instantly. ‘My train was delayed.’

Robin let out a short, raspy laugh, a grin breaking across her face. ‘Sienna Vance. Late. Mark it in the history books. Is the world ending?’

‘It was a signal error,’ Sienna snapped. She wasn’t looking at Robin. Her eyes were fixed squarely on the restaurant door.