‘Well, I’m sorry to hear that,’ Luke is saying. ‘Of course you’re our number-one priority. Sage … Listen, Sage … No one’s saying that, Sage …’
Yes! She’s obviously giving a brilliant show. Well, of course she is. She’s an actress.
‘Well, of course I can … 8 a.m.? At Pinewood. OK, fine. I’ll see you there.’
There’s silence from the living room, and I wonder whether to tiptoe away, when I hear his voice again.
‘Bonnie? It’s Luke here. Just had Sage Seymour on the phone. I’m afraid she’s confirmed every suspicion I ever had. Nightmare woman. She’s insisting I come to her movie set first thing tomorrow.’ He pauses. ‘I don’t know why! This has come out of nowhere! She was talking gibberish about press statements and strategies, she seems totally self-obsessed, paranoid we’re not taking enough interest … Anyway, I’ll call you when I’m on my way back to the office.’ He lowers his voice, so I have to press even harder against the door to hear. ‘Thank goodness I didn’t tell Becky. Something told me to wait until we knew it was going to work out—’ He breaks off. ‘No! Of course I haven’t mentioned that to Becky yet. It’s only a possibility. We’ll cross that bridge when we need to.’
My ears prick up. What’s a possibility? What bridge?
‘I’ll see you tomorrow, Bonnie. Thanks for that.’
Shit. He’s coming. I dart back to the kitchen, where of course the risotto has burned at the bottom of the pan. I’m briskly stirring the burnt bits into the rest when Luke comes in.
‘I’ve got an early start tomorrow, by the way,’ he says guardedly. ‘Seeing a client.’
‘Have some food, then.’ I put a plate down in front of him, like a perfect, unsuspicious wife. ‘Big day tomorrow. Your birthday, remember?’
‘Shit. Of course it is.’ Alarm briefly crosses his face. ‘Becky, you haven’t made any plans, have you? You know we’ve got this big company training programme? It’ll go on into the evening, I don’t know when I’ll be back …’
‘Of course.’ I manage an easy tone. ‘No worries! We’ll do something nice on Saturday.’
Oh God. I can’t cope. My mouth keeps twitching with faint hysteria and I feel as if thought bubbles must be floating above my head.
There’s a marquee outside the window! It’s your party tomorrow! We’re all in on the surprise except you!
I can’t believe he hasn’t guessed. I can’t believe I’ve kept it secret for this long. I feel like there’s only the thinnest curtain hiding everything in my brain and any minute he’ll sweep it aside and see the lot.
‘Becky …’ Luke is surveying me with a perplexed frown. ‘Is something up? Are you upset about something?’
‘What?’ I jump. ‘No! Nothing! Don’t be silly.’ I grab my glass of wine, take a swig, them beam at Luke as convincingly as I can. ‘Nothing’s up. It’s all good.’
Keep it together, Becky. Just keep it together. Less than twenty-four hours to go.
People Who Know About Parti
Me
Suze
Tarquin
Danny
Jess
Tom
Mum
Dad
Janice
Martin
Bonnie
Those three women who were listening at the next-door table
Gary
Janice’s plumber
Rupert and Harry at The Service
Erica
Marketing directors of Bollinger, Dom Perignon, Bacardi, Veuve Clicquot, Party Time Beverages, Jacob’s Creek, Kentish English Sparkling Wine
Cliff
Manicurist (I was so stressed out, I had to talk to someone, and she promised not to blab)
165 invited guests (not including Brandon C lot)
500 readers of Style Central
Elinor
Ritz waiter (I’m, sure he was listening)
Elinor’s staff (6)
Caterers (how many actually know? Maybe only one or two?)
35 Brandon C staff
10,000 Brandon C contacts
97,578 users of You Tube. (In fact, 98, 4-71 – has just gone up)
1.8 million readers of Daily World
Total = 1,909,209
OK. Don’t panic. As long as they all keep quiet until tomorrow.
TWENTY
And suddenly it’s three clock on the day of the party. Less than four hours to go.
I haven’t sat down all day and my legs are aching and my wrist is stiff from clamping my phone to my ear … but we’re there. We’re really there. Everything’s in place and it all looks breathtaking. Everyone’s in position. The team-leaders have had their final meeting. Elinor’s in overdrive. She and Jess have become a sort of sub-team, ticking off lists and double-checking every detail obsessively together. In fact there’s a competitive spirit growing between them, as they locate all the glitches and find solutions as fast as possible, like crack party troubleshooters.
Jess keeps telling Elinor that she’s a talented woman, and she should come out to Chile and use her organizational skills for something worthwhile, and has she ever thought about voluntary work? To which Elinor just puts on that blank, stony expression. (I couldn’t help retorting to Jess yesterday: who says a party isn’t worthwhile?)
Luke is still with Sage on her movie set at Pinewood and she keeps sending me updates by text. Apparently everyone’s in on the secret, the whole cast and crew. They confiscated his new mobile phone as soon as he arrived, and plonked him on a director’s chair with earphones. When he got restless, they showed him around all the sets and trailers. Then they gave him lunch. Then Sage made up a load of stuff to complain about. Then they plonked him back on the director’s chair. Every time he tries to speak to her she says ‘Shh! I have to concentrate!’ or the director tells him off.