Beauty and the Dark

“No, you haven’t ruined anything. She’s curious about you so she’ll be back.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah, I do. You’re a natural with a good touch. Why don’t you volunteer here, help out with the kids sometime?”

I feel her shrinking away from my suggestion. A frown mars her forehead. “Oh! I don’t think that would be possible. It’s much too far to come down on a regular basis.”

“What wouldn’t be possible?” her sister asks, popping up next to us. Her smile and question are casual, but her eyes are watchful and intense. She reminds me of mother tiger, protecting her cubs.

“Nothing really,” Sofia mumbles.

Her sister looks at me questioningly and I realize that she could be an ally.

“I was just telling Sofia that she should volunteer to work with the kids since she is such a natural at it, and she was explaining to me that she lives too far away to commute.”

Her sister glances from me to Sofia and back to me before breaking into a grin. “Actually, that is an absolutely brilliant idea. We could both come. Let’s say once a week. We have an apartment in London so when my husband has business in the city we could even stay overnight.”

I look at Sofia and raise my eyebrows encouragingly. “Well. Do you want to see Lori again?”

She clasps her hands and looks suddenly anxious. “But how would we help?”

“Well, you could either teach the children something useful or expand their horizons in some way. Kids Rule is all about empowering these children and turning them away from drugs, gangs and alcohol. You’ll have to check with Lana, or one of the girls in the office, but I’m sure you’ll be able to work out something between the two of you.”

Sofia frowns uncertainly, but her sister is very enthusiastic. “I could give piano lessons, or teach them all the fashion tips I learned while modelling, and Sofia could hold singing classes. She was always the best singer in our family.”

“Cool,” I say.

Sofia turns to me eagerly. There is a kind suppressed excitement in her face, as if she doesn’t want to get too excited in case she is disappointed. “You really think it’s a good idea?”

I grin. I don’t know why but the thought of Sofia coming here to teach makes my whole body tingle with anticipation. “Absolutely. As far as I know no one is giving them piano or singing lessons at the moment. And as for the idea of fashion tips from an ex world famous model, you’ll have the entire population of girls signing up for your class.”

“Thanks, Jack. We’ll talk to Lana about this,” Lena says.

“No problem,” I say.

“I had no idea until Lana told me today that you are the Jack Irish,” Lena says.

I shrug, vaguely embarrassed. She’s making it sound like I’m famous or something.

She smiles. “I must say your name used to come up a lot while I was in the modeling world.”

Sofia looks at her sister curiously. “Why?”

She gives Sofia a sidelong glance. “Jack is one of Britain’s top plastic surgeons. He runs a very famous clinic in Harley street.” She pauses, wrinkles her forehead. “I even know a couple of girls who got their noses done by him. You did an amazing job both times, by the way.”

“Thank you,” I say quietly.

Then the bell rings and it is time for everybody to get down to the canteen for the big lunch. Lana and the other women have decorated the place with a huge Christmas tree and plenty of tinsel, and there are a lot of gasps and comments of “wicked man” and “cool” from the kids.

Twelve

Sophie

The lunch is fun and the kids appear to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The adults are served wine. I have a glass and it goes straight to my head.

A few times when I look up I catch Jack looking at me, but I become red and get so flustered I have to look away quickly and pretend I did not see him, even though we looked directly at each other. It’s so stupid, but Jack Irish has a crazy effect on me.

Later when Santa is giving out gifts there is a loud noise outside. A fight has broken out between some drunks returning from a pub nearby. Jack and another man go to check it out and I find myself waiting for his return nervously. How bizarre, but already I can’t bear the thought of him getting hurt.

When he comes back in, the sleeve of his jacket is torn. I breathe a sigh of relief. Some part of me desperately wants to go to him, but my feet will not take me there. It is a good thing I didn’t because I notice Susan, a member of staff introduced earlier to me, go up to him, take his hand in hers and examine it.

She stands so close to him that I feel a strange sense of resentment rising in my chest as if he belongs to me and she is intruding. I watch her look up at him with doe eyes and say something, but he shakes his head, extricates his hand from her grasp, and walks away.

Once he leaves, the afternoon seems duller and though I try to join in the games, I can’t stop thinking of him.

Before we left, Lena arranged with the woman at the front desk for us to take a class on the coming Thursday. I must admit I spend the next three days worrying myself sick about it. What if no one comes? What if I screw up or worse, freeze? I chewed my nails right down to raw flesh, but it turns out my anxiety was baseless.

Jack was right, droves of giggling girls flock to Lena’s Modelling, Fashion and Make-up Tips class. There are more than forty and we have to use the hall instead of one of the classrooms, but Lena shows no signs of nervousness, in fact, she is brilliant.

She starts off by showing them some simple catwalk moves then turns the class into a sort of finishing school lesson. Which I think is really cool. All these little girls from the estate who will have more etiquette than nineteenth century debutantes.

Her class is interesting even to me. She teaches them little tips that models employ. Apparently they don’t say cheese or sex when they want their photos to look pouty and sexy. They say prune.

“Try it,” she says, and more than forty little girls echo her and laugh at the expressions of those sitting next to them.

To my great surprise halfway through Lori turns up, but she stays at the back of the hall and does not interact with anyone. Once, I catch her giggling to herself at one of Lena’s jokes.

An hour later Lena ends the class by telling the girls to bring their make-up bags the next time. As soon as Lena says, “See you next week,” Lori jumps up and makes for the door, not however, before she catches my eyes, and flashes me a shy smile.

I grin back, pleased that she made that bit of contact with me.

Most of the girls immediately mill around Lena, so I wave to her and go into the classroom next door to conduct my singing class. My group is very much smaller, seven girls, but they are

sweet, eager little things, and I forget to be nervous. Sitting at the piano I completely enjoy the session. At the end of it I feel quite proud of myself.

Baby steps.

I pack up my stuff, get into my coat and walk out to the foyer. As I open the door I see Lena leaning against the reception counter talking to Jack. He has obviously come from work and is dressed in a white shirt and a pair of black trousers. He turns his head to look at me and my heart starts pounding so madly I can barely say hello.

“How did the class go?” he asks.

“It was okay,” I reply as casually as I can.

I’m wearing a blue jumper and jeans so not even a clear outline is on show, but his eyes run down my body with interest. When his gaze returns to my face, he smiles and says, “Good. Now who wants to join me for something to eat?”

“Not me,” Lena says. “Got a hot date with my husband later,” she says with a wink. “Besides, I haven’t seen my daughter all afternoon and I like to catch a couple of hours with my baby before she goes to sleep. Why don’t you guys go off and get something to eat?”

“No, I’ll come with you,” I say.

Ignoring me she looks from me to Jack. “You’ll drop my sister off at our place when you’ve finished your meal, won’t you?”

“Of course,” Jack assures suavely.

“That will be great. Please take care of her because she is very precious to me,” she says, and smiles at him.

His eyes slide in my direction. “Yes, I agree. She is very precious.”

Thirteen

Sofia

Outside the air is damp. There is a cold wind blowing and I pull the edges of my tweed coat closer together. After we wave my sister out of the car park, Jack turns towards me.

“How hungry are you?”

“Very.”

He grins a devastatingly sexy smirk, making my stomach twist. Stop it Sofia. He’s not for you and this is not a date. He offered to take both Lena and me out, only Lena didn’t want to come.

“What kind of food would you like to have?” he asks.