Charlotte had shown great promise in her short time in the insurance business, so Paul made her Office Manager of the new premises. She had been shocked when he offered her the position, but Paul had faith in her ability and recognised her organisational skills. Bets and Kerry thought it was more likely he fancied her, but that was one very wrong tree they were barking up, as Paul was gay. He was very open about it and had told Charlotte as soon as she had started working for him.

Charlotte had worked for him ever since building up a great friendship with Paul over the years, not only helping to run his business, but also his life. She’d even been the one to introduce him to his partner, Adam, an old school friend of hers. She was extremely loyal to Paul and was his right hand woman; Paul in turn rewarded Charlotte with a fantastic salary, a company car and lots of responsibility in the business.

During her years working for Paul there had been some romance in Charlotte’s life; one relationship in particular had been serious, but had ultimately broken her heart. Grant Beddows entered her life with a bang, a few days before Christmas. She’d been doing some last minute shopping in a department store and was rushing to get back to work, studying her shopping list at the same time. Failing to see the tall, dark haired man running towards her, they collided at speed, sending Charlotte’s bags flying.

“Oof watch where you’re going,” she yelled, bending down to retrieve a box of chocolates that had flown under a rail of Christmas jumpers.

“Sorry,” the man replied. “Here let me help you.” He reached across for the bags that were strewn over the floor.

Charlotte looked up to give him a long, hard stare for being so clumsy, but hadn’t expected him to be so handsome. His dark fringe hung boyishly over bright blue eyes, his perfect complexion was pink with embarrassment. She quickly looked him up and down, a solid frame filled out a Hugo Boss suit over what looked like an Armani shirt.

“I wasn’t looking where I was going.” he broke her thoughts. “I was rushing to get back to my car before my ticket runs out.” His deep, warm voice sent shivers down Charlotte’s spine.

“No, don’t worry, it was my fault too. I was too busy reading my list to watch where I was going.”

He got to his feet, holding his hand out to Charlotte.

“I think that’s everything, I can’t see anything else.”

Charlotte took his hand blushing at the feeling that she got from his touch. She felt as though her whole body had been injected with a shot of electricity. Her heart was hammering and she could barely stop herself from groaning aloud in pleasure.

All thoughts of rushing back to work, and to the car park were forgotten. They chatted, realising they lived just 3 miles from each other and Grant Beddows, as he introduced himself, asked Charlotte to join him for a drink that evening.

Later that evening, he told Charlotte that he was in the insurance business, which she thought was fate. He was 27 years old and lived alone in a detached house, on one of the new estates that were continually springing up around town. He also told her that he drove a classic car, however Charlotte’s excitement waned when he told her it was a “red Ford Capri with black leather interior”; the type of car her dad always referred to as prick mobiles. Grant was charming and easy to talk to, although even then, Charlotte realised she listened more than she talked. So after a fantastic first date, spending the entire following weekend in bed together, Charlotte knew that she’d met her soul mate. She wanted her family to meet him and grow to love him as much as she did.

Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go to plan. Her family pretty much realised straight away that Grant was in fact an idiot and, was indeed, driving exactly the perfect car for him.

The day of Grant’s introduction to the Prices was the weekend following the New Year. Charlotte wondered if it might be too soon, but Grant allayed her fears, and told her that he was happy to meet everyone. The day, got off to a bad start. The household woke up on the Sunday morning to find Tom lying in his own vomit at the bottom of the stairs. Tom’s birthday, on New Year’s Day, was often forgotten due to the hangovers from the night before, so he generally celebrated it the weekend after the New Year. Hence, on this particular Sunday morning, they all woke to a rather pungent smell pervading the house.