One Secret Summer by Lesley Lokko

Author:Lesley Lokko [Lokko, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General & literary fiction
ISBN: 9781409107767
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2010-09-16T00:00:00+00:00

52

JULIA

London, April 1997

A fortnight after the dinner that had turned her completely upside down, Julia stood in front of a mirror in the sort of shop she wouldn’t normally be seen dead in and fingered the silk dress indecisively. It was strapless, long and floaty – not the sort of dress she normally favoured, but it was beautiful. Plum, deepening to black at the hem, it had a fitted, fluted bodice and fell around her feet in loose, luxurious swirls. It came with a hefty price tag, too. She was standing in an agony of indecision, trying to picture herself in it, when the sales assistant suddenly appeared. Five minutes later, she was looking at her own reflection in the long triptych mirror in the changing room with anxious concentration.

‘It’s lovely,’ the assistant breathed, her voice dripping with the desire to make a sale. ‘Just lovely.’

‘It’s not too tight?’ Julia asked anxiously, turning sideways.

‘Not at all. You’ve got such a lovely figure. We’ve got the most adorable little shrugs just in, too. Let me get you one …’ She disappeared before Julia could open her mouth to protest.

Half an hour later she walked out of the boutique with the dress, a shrug, a pair of shoes and a necklace in one of those oversized, expensive-looking bags and tried not to think about the small fortune she’d spent. It was worth it, she reasoned. She would wear the dress again and again – yes, it was an investment, not a purchase. She hurried along Fleet Street, the bag banging awkwardly against her legs. She’d spent her entire lunch break in the changing room full of the scent of other women’s perfumes. Most unlike her. She hurried into her office and stowed the offending bag under her desk. She switched on her computer and tried to take her mind off the one thing that had been on it for almost two weeks. Aaron Keeler.

‘Julia?’ It was Katie Fitzsimmons. She popped her head round the door. ‘Doyle’s just asked if you’d sit in on the meeting with Aimée Sinclair. They’re starting now.’

Julia came back down to earth with a bump. She made a small sound of impatience. ‘Do I have to?’

‘Absolutely. What Doyle wants, Doyle gets. Good luck. Tell us if she’s had plastic surgery.’

Julia sighed and got up. ‘Where are they?’

‘Second floor. It’s the big meeting room at the end.’

She picked up her notepad and followed Katie out of the room.

‘Ah, Julia. Thank you for joining us.’ John Doyle looked up as she entered. She slid into the nearest seat as quickly as she could. It was obviously an important meeting. Three senior partners, two heads of department, two barristers – nothing but the best. She tried to concentrate on the conversation taking place. She’d heard of Aimée Sinclair – who hadn’t? A spoilt wannabe actress who had married an enormously wealthy music video producer in a blaze of publicity a few years earlier. She’d quickly produced two children, whom she paraded

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