Amy didn’t meet her gaze. It hadn’t been like that for her at all. An evening job in an Oxford student pub, The Bear, had changed everything for her. Although she was studying at Oxford Brookes, working at the Bear put her in the orbit of students from the older, grander Oxford University. Her friend behind the bar, Pog, was studying at Lincoln College, and when a room came up in his city-centre house share, he asked her if she wanted it. At once, a world of connection and privilege opened up to her. Getting her foot in the door at one of London’s magazine houses wasn’t difficult at all when you knew who to call.
‘Why doesn’t she come and do some work at Verve?’ she said without even thinking.
Karen’s face lit up. ‘Are you serious?’
‘We’re not recruiting at the moment, so it would only be work experience. She’d basically be there to get coffee and, if she’s lucky, do some photocopying, but she’ll get a sense of the way it all works and it’ll look good on her CV.’
Karen’s mouth was open. ‘That would be amazing, Ames! Josie will be over the moon.’
‘We can’t pay her or anything, and it’ll only be a week.’
‘Anything, anything at all. It will mean the world to her.’
It was a moment before Amy realised her old friend was crying.
‘Karen, what’s the matter?’
‘Sorry, sorry. It’s just . . . it’s been so hard. Josie’s the light of my life, but it’s been tough. God, you have no idea. And being on my own, money being tight, I’ve . . . But if I can just get her started, get her standing on her own two feet, I’ll feel it’s been worth it.’
Amy leaned over the table towards her. ‘I should have been a better friend.’
‘You had your own life to live.’
‘I could have done more. I should have paid more attention – to both of you.’
Karen shook her head. ‘Do you remember that summer we went to north Wales? Hitched to Anglesey?’
Amy smiled. ‘How could I forget? We drank half the booze in Wales.’
‘Well, do you remember sitting on that clifftop?’
Amy nodded. It was one of the few clear memories she had of those times, one of those perfect days that only happen when you’re a teenager. Cider, friendship, boys, open spaces, possibility.
‘We were staring out to sea, watching the gulls, and you said, “One day I’m going to open my arms and fly across that bloody sea. I’m going to go to America and Japan and Australia and I’m going to have everything we’ve ever dreamed of.”’
‘Did I say that?’
Karen nodded. ‘And that’s what I want for Josie. I want her to spread her wings. I want her to see the world, do all the things and have all the opportunities that you’ve had. I guess what I’m saying is that it’s not just Josie who wants to be Amy Shepherd when she grows up. I want my daughter to be just like you too.’
Chapter 2
Marion’s Brasserie had only been open three months, but it was about as hot a
s it was possible for a restaurant to get. Even before the chic Notting Hill diner had opened, people were talking about Marion’s as ‘the new River Café’. There had been a feature in Vogue, mentions in the society pages, whispers about the ultra-secret booking line only open to insiders. It didn’t hurt that owner-chef Pierre Hubert was already a celebrity in his own right, having made his name in the notoriously picky gastro scene of the French south; hence his much-heralded debut in the Smoke had seen the paps camped outside Marion’s like shoppers anticipating the Boxing Day sales.
Amy, David and their daughter Tilly walked straight past a group of anxious would-be diners hovering at the front door hoping for a cancellation, and were shown to a long table at the far end of the restaurant.
‘Better late than never,’ said an attractive brunette, getting to her feet.
‘Sorry, sorry. Tilly couldn’t decide which tutu to wear.’
‘Blue,’ said Claire Quinn thoughtfully. ‘Very Elsa. Very Frozen,’ she said as Tilly squealed with delight.
Juliet James and her husband Peter were already sitting nursing bloody Marys.
‘Where’s Max?’ asked David, sitting down next to Juliet.
‘Table-hopping,’ said Juliet, skewering an olive.