Celebrity Shopper by Carmen Reid

was too. His hair seemed to be sticking up even more crazily that usual. Good grief! His hair had got so grey … overnight ? How had this happened? Why hadn’t she noticed? As she got closer, she realized with relief that Ed’s hair too was covered in a clinging layer of plaster dust.
    ‘I bet your day’s been interesting,’ Annie began.
    Ed shook his head, releasing a fine cloud of dust into the air. ‘Don’t ask,’ he replied, before adding: ‘They’ve both got diarrhoea and Micky’s bum: one great big, burning, red disaster area.’
    ‘Oh dear,’ Annie sympathized and went to pick Micky up, although Minnie was bawling for her too.
    ‘Yes, I know,’ Annie said, leaning over Minnie once Micky was in her arms, ‘I’ll cuddle you too, just let Daddy finish your nappy. The house is …’
    ‘I know,’ Ed said, shaking his head again, ‘you don’t need to say anything.’
    ‘Oh, I think I do,’ Annie told him, ‘I think I need to phone Al’s mobile number right now and shout at him. A lot. I don’t think I’ll really be able to calm down until I’ve done that.’
    ‘The bulldozer arrived a day early apparently,’ Ed began. ‘Al said if he’d sent it away, to come back tomorrow, that would have been an extra four hundred pounds.’
    ‘To him!’ Annie retorted. ‘He’s the one who booked the bulldozer on the wrong day.’
    ‘Yeah, but you know how it is, that four hundred would have mysteriously found its way on to our final bill one way or another, so I said yes, go ahead, we would deal with the mess. I didn’t expect it to look quite as bad as it does. I mean—’
    ‘It looks like there’s been a bloody earthquake!’ Annie exclaimed. ‘We aren’t going to be able to eat in the kitchenfor a month. Stop shaking your head,’ she snapped, ‘you’re making Minnie dusty. And what about the floors?’
    ‘Yeah,’ Ed had to agree, ‘I was a bit shocked about that myself.’
    ‘Did you say anything?’
    Ed looked at her apologetically. ‘It’s awkward. He’s a nice guy, Annie, I wasn’t sure how to tell him he’d made a total mess.’
    ‘Awkward?’ she repeated. ‘Have you seen my stair carpet? I don’t know if that will ever, ever come clean again.’
    Ed hung his head.
    ‘I’m going to phone him right now,’ Annie added furiously.
    ‘No,’ Ed advised, ‘I don’t think that would be a good idea. I think he switches his work phone off in the evening anyway … you’ll just end up leaving a message that you’ll regret.’
    ‘Regret? Regret! The only thing I bloody regret is not having taped up every inch of flooring in the whole house before I let the wally in! If you want one single thing done properly, you have to do it yourself!’ she exclaimed.
    ‘Annie’ – Ed handed Minnie over and took Micky back – ‘Annie, let’s order in some pizza, open a bottle of wine and maybe we’ll all feel better.’
    The loud brrring of the front-door bell interrupted this thought. Annie headed down the stairs, still holding Minnie in one arm. If this was Al, she couldn’t help thinking to herself, she would give him a piece of her mind.
    Through the frosted glass of the front door, she could make out a shape clad in blue builder’s overalls. It was him. She felt her heart thud a little more quickly at the thought of having to say her piece. She would though. Look at that carpet!
    She opened the door wide and was immediately stopped in her tracks by the most beautiful-looking man she had seen in ages – possibly ever.
    He was in blue dungarees and the short sleeves of his white T-shirt stopped halfway down smooth, bulging brown biceps. He turned a squared jaw and chin with dimple towards her, revealing perfect white teeth as he smiled and said hello.
    Brown eyes with heavy black brows were fixed on her face, apparently waiting for an answer. Had he asked a question? Annie, just like Minnie, found she had been reduced to complete silence. In fact, she hadn’t even taken in