Chapter One
The Delivery
It should have been just another delivery.
I’d already been out for a couple of hours, working my way through the
evening run one address at a time. Park the van, grab the shopping, knock
on the door, exchange a few polite words, then move on to the next
customer.
Nothing exciting.
And that was exactly how I liked it.
I pulled up outside the next address and checked the details on my handset.
It looked straightforward enough: a quiet residential street, a couple of bags
and a few crates.
I climbed out of the van, opened the back doors and started getting
everything together.
A few minutes later, I was walking up the path towards the house.
I knocked.
After a moment, the door opened.
A woman stood there, probably around my age. She smiled automatically
at first-the usual polite smile you give a delivery driver-but then something
changed.
She stared at me.
Not rudely. More like she was trying to work something out.
“Hi,” I said. “Delivery for you.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
She was still looking at me.
I glanced down at my uniform, wondering if something was wrong.
“I’ll just grab the rest.”
As I turned towards the van, I could feel her eyes following me.
Maybe I knew her.
That was the problem with delivering locally. Every now and then I’d
arrive at a house and discover the customer was someone I’d met years ago,
worked with, gone to school with, or simply seen around town.
But I was fairly certain I’d never seen this woman before.
I brought another crate to the door.
She looked at me again.
Then she smiled.
Not the polite smile from before.
This one was different.
“Sorry,” she said. “This is going to sound really strange.”
Here we go.
“What?”
“I recognise you.”
I laughed.
“I thought you were looking at me strangely.”
“I wasn’t looking at you strangely!”
“You definitely were.”
She laughed, but there was something about her expression that made me
curious.
“So where do you know me from?”
For the first time, she seemed embarrassed.
She glanced down the street, then back at me.
“You really want me to say?”
Now I was even more confused.
“Why wouldn’t I?”
She hesitated.
Then she lowered her voice.
“OnlyFans.”
For about three seconds, neither of us said anything.
Of all the answers I’d been expecting, that hadn’t even made the list.
“You’ve seen my OnlyFans?”
The moment the words left my mouth, I became extremely aware that I was
standing on someone’s doorstep wearing my delivery uniform while
holding a bag of groceries.
She burst out laughing.
“Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, it’s fine. You just caught me completely off guard.”
“I wasn’t sure it was you at first.”
I looked down at myself.
“I suppose the uniform wasn’t in any of the pictures.”
She laughed again.
“No. Definitely not.”
I suddenly realised I still had half her shopping sitting in the van.
“I should probably finish your delivery before I get myself into trouble.”
“Probably.”
I turned towards the van.
Behind me, I heard her say, “Although I have to admit...”
I stopped and looked back.
She was leaning against the doorway now, smiling.
“I never expected you to turn up at my house.”
Neither had I.
And suddenly, this wasn’t feeling like just another delivery anymore.
