Part 6 (2/2)

Turning round, Thea felt as if she'd been punched in the stomach. Standing in the doorway was Luke, looking even more charismatic than she remembered him. Like a double espresso he sent a jolt through you.

And holding tightly to his arm was a girl, no one could reasonably call her a woman, looking absolutely petrified. f.u.c.k, though, she was pretty with her fine blonde hair and tiny feet in gold ballet slippers. Jealousy crackled off Thea's body in green lightning forks as all the insecurities she nursed about her appearance: that she was too dark, too shapeless, needed to trowel on make-up to look even halfway presentable, danced for attention in her head. Her vision narrowed as if she was about to faint. With superhuman effort she smiled.

'Luke.'

'Thea.'

Kiss. Kiss. Soft, newly shaved cheek. Smell of Imperial Leather. Once Thea had discovered it was his soap (he didn't believe in aftershaves) she'd gone out and bought a b.u.mper pack and slept with it under her pillow.

'It's great to have you back,' he said warmly. 'Now, I don't believe you've met Poppy. My wife.'

'So, Poppy, what have you done with your incredibly short life? How have you filled it in the ten seconds since you were a child? Do you want to see the tattoo on my spine I had done when I was backpacking in Laos? Do you want to hear about the awards I've won? Do you want to know how often I've f.u.c.ked your husband? Or that you're only married to him because of an email I was stupid enough to send?' That was what she wanted to say. What came out of Thea's mouth was: 'Pleased to meet you. I'm Thea. I used to work a lot with Luke as a producer. But I've been in America for the past couple of years. Just got back.'

She waited to see if her name would bring a flicker of recognition, but Poppy just smiled politely.

'Where were you in America?' Her voice was so soft Thea had to strain to hear her.

'Thea, hi! How are you?' It was Emma Waters, one of the chief reporters and Luke's regular female co-presenter. Emma was in her forties, pretty, if a bit haggard. She had three kids she never spoke about and was a very good friend of Hannah Norton's.

'Emma, hi! How are you? You look great great.'

'Thanks,' Emma said somewhat less gus.h.i.+ngly. Too late, Thea remembered how huffy Emma got about compliments on her appearance rather than her journalistic skills. She nodded brusquely at Poppy. 'h.e.l.lo, you must be Poppy.'

'Yes,' Poppy said. 'Hi.'

Emma ignored the hand that was offered. There was an ugly silence, then Poppy hastily turned back towards Thea. 'Have you been anywhere especially interesting recently, Thea?'

'I was in Cuba not that long ago.'

'Oh? I did a modelling job there once. In Varadero. The beach was beautiful. Did you go swimming with dolphins?'

Thea knew she was trying to be friendly, but she couldn't help the b.i.t.c.hiness that rushed over her. 'Hardly,' she said, catching Emma's eye in a we-are-women-of-the-world way. 'I was researching an item about the effect the revolution has had on the Cuban health system, so I spent most of my time in one-horse towns deep inland not tourist tourist resorts.' resorts.'

'Oh,' said Poppy.

'You're not modelling now, though, are you, Poppy?' Emma asked. There was no mistaking the hint of mischief in her voice.

'I... Well, no. My daughter's very young still, so-'

Luke interrupted. 'We've agreed to look for an au pair or a nanny or something so Poppy can get out and about a bit more.'

'Oh, that'll be nice.' Emma smirked. 'Give you more time for the health club and shopping.'

Poppy flinched as if she'd been hit. To her astonishment, Thea felt a moment's pity for Luke's very young wife. But only a moment's.

'It's very fas.h.i.+onable to be a stay-at-home mum these days,' Emma continued. 'You should see my local branch of Fresh and Wild. You can hardly get into it with all the yummy mummies sitting around decoratively with their designer prams. It wasn't like that when my kids were born; then it was just a.s.sumed you'd be going back to work otherwise you'd be letting the side down.'

'So you're looking for a nanny, are you, Poppy?' said Farrah, who'd been hovering on the sidelines.

'Well, I hadn't really thought...'

'Because mine is up for grabs,' she said. 'Now my youngest is at prep school, we don't need her any more. She really is fabulous. You should s.n.a.t.c.h her while you can. Shall I give you her number?'

'That sounds good,' Luke said. 'You should take Farrah up on that, Poppy. Word of mouth is always the best way to find a nanny.' He gave Farrah his most dazzling smile. Watching him, Thea's heart felt as if it had been ripped in two. She'd thought she'd got over Luke, but she'd just been in remission. And now, just like that, she had relapsed.

'Do you have children, Thea?' Farrah was enquiring.

'No.' A tiny pause and then, 'I don't want any.'

Silence fell like a safety curtain in front of a stage set. People always reacted like this when Thea told them she didn't want children. Anyone would have thought she'd confessed to a fondness for fried puppies in a burger bun. It infuriated her the way everyone a.s.sumed she must either be a heartless witch or, worse, that she was actually desperate to breed and putting a brave face on things. But the truth was as predictable as E = mc2, rivers running downhill or your boyfriend wanting all the details about how you French-kissed your best friend at a party when you were fifteen. Thea wanted a family as much as she wanted to ski down Mount Everest dressed in a chicken suit.

Farrah laughed.

'Very sensible, I must say. If you should be stupid enough to change your mind you can always adopt mine.'

'That's our Thea,' said Luke, who had somehow joined the group. 'She's the ultimate career girl. Too busy burning the candle at both ends to fit in a family.'

'Well, I've managed,' Emma said sharply. She turned to Roxanne Fox, who was hovering on the sidelines. 'And so have you, haven't you, Roxanne?'

'Managed what?' For a woman who liked to sack six people before breakfast, Roxanne had a bizarrely babyish voice to match her china-doll face. There was something about her Thea found creepy.

'Manage to have kids and a career.'

'Oh, yes.' Roxanne didn't sound pleased by this conversation. Thea grinned. There was a famous story in the office of Roxanne calling home and declaring, 'h.e.l.lo, darling, it's me!!' There was a pause before she snarled: 'Your mummy, darling.'

She hid her smile as Roxanne said, 'And how are you, Thea? Good to have you back.'

'Good to be back,' Thea said for the umpteenth time, just as Farrah put her arm on hers.

'Sorry to interrupt, ladies, but it's time to go in for dinner.' She turned to Emma. 'Hi, Emma, we haven't been introduced. I'm Farrah, Dean's wife. Just wanted to say that necklace you were wearing last night on the programme was beautiful beautiful. Where did you get it?'

10.

Poppy was seated between Marco Jensen and a middle-aged man called Bill.

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