Never Too Late by Cathy Kelly

Author:Cathy Kelly
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: General, Friendship, Ireland, Fiction
ISBN: 9780755356324
Publisher: HEADLINE REVIEW
Published: 1999-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

They walked along a corridor to the dressing rooms,

with Linda explaining how often they’d need Olivia if she

was to be hired. Two mornings a week for a fifteen-minute

slot at ten-thirty, which would involve discussing the menu

with the researchers and coming in at half-eight to get the

preparation done.

As they walked past several open doors, Olivia could see

that the dressing rooms were compact little boxes each

containing a tiny sink, a clothes hanging space, a few chairs

and wall-to-wall mirrors.

Then, they reached Nancy’s dressing room.

Nita, the star’s beleaguered assistant, opened the door

gingerly when Linda knocked and let them into a large airy

room that looked like at least three ordinary dressing

rooms knocked into one. Painted in Nancy’s signature pink,

the room contained a zebra-print armchair, a cherry pink

and gilt chaise-longue and a coffee table groaning under

the weight of fan letters and a glossy magazines opened on

purpose at fawning profiles of the star herself. There was

even a pink-tiled bathroom.

One lightbulb-edged mirror was a shrine to Nancy with

scores of pictures of her stuck haphazardly on to the glass:

Nancy with Frank Sinatra, Neil Diamond, the President

and Barney. A vase of fresh pink roses sat beside the shrine,

with another cellophaned bouquet of baby pink ones on

the floor, waiting to be arranged.

The star herself was arranged on the chaise-longue, feet

up and a glass of champagne in her hand.

In her pink boudoir, on the pink and gilt chaise, Nancy

looked like everybody’s vision of a brothel’s madam. She

was tough enough for the job, too, Olivia reckoned,

imagining Nancy personally throwing punters on to the

.street for not paying up.

‘Olivia, how lovely to meet you,’ Nancy said in her

television voice. Thrilled that Nancy had decided to be

nice to her, Olivia held out a hand. Nancy, however, wasn’t

into hand shaking. ‘So formal,’ she tittered, giving Olivia an

air kiss on both sides of her face. The waft of overpowering

Hypnotic Poison left Olivia reeling. Nancy must have used

half the bottle in one go.

‘Do sit.’ Nancy patted the end of the chaise and Olivia

sat down, waiting to see how the encounter would

progress. It was a bit like entering the lioness’s den and

finding her no longer hungry for fresh meat but in the

mood to toy with you. One false move and you were dead.

‘Where did you find Olivia?’ Nancy asked Linda, still in

sweet mode. Nancy was obviously wary of Linda, Olivia

decided, which was why she was being so nice to the

producer.

‘She’s a friend of Max Stewart’s.’

Nancy’s eyes turned into slits at the word ‘friend’.

‘Really?’ She gave Olivia the once over. ‘You’re his type,

I’ll say that for you.’

‘I’m happily married and Max isn’t my type,’ she replied

tartly.

Nancy giggled girlishly. ‘Poor pet, you’ll have to get used

to our bitchy ways in television,’ she said in a patronising

voice. ‘You won’t last long if you can’t develop skin a little

thicker than that, Olivia. This business is very incestuous,

you know, that’s why I asked. We all live in each other’s

pockets. Everyone sleeps with everyone else eventually.

How do you know Max, anyway?’

‘He’s a friend of my husband’s,’ Olivia lied, innocently

thinking that was one way to scotch rumours of anything

between herself and Max.

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