Perfect on Paper
Page 27
‘Well, I suppose …’
‘There’s no suppose about it! We’d be arguing over who made the tea, or whether it was your or my turn to have Mum for Christmas within the first month!’
‘I’m sure we could—’
‘Anyway, it’s not that.’
‘It’s not?’
‘No. It’s just – I mean, it’s really kind of you. But it’s not something that I want to do. Law stuff, I mean.’
‘Oh.’
‘Yeah. I know I complain about looking after Wilbur … and things haven’t been great. But my therapist, she’s really helping me to see some possibilities in my future. And I’m hoping, maybe when Wilbur’s a bit bigger and I hopefully feel better, that I might get back to the tap dancing.’
‘Tap dancing?’
‘Yes. Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to start performing, or asking to perform with some young back-up dancers. I mean, that would be embarrassing, right?’ Steph grinned, looking more like herself than she had in a while.
‘Touché!’
‘Well, anyway. I thought I might start running classes. Maybe,’ Steph took a deep breath, ‘maybe in the long term start a little dancing school.’
‘Oh, wow!’
‘Yep! And I suppose, not entirely, but a bit of it’s down to you.’
‘What the Martha B. thing?’
‘No, you. You starting your own firm. Being frustrated and doing something brave about it.’
‘Thank you!’ Clare said, feeling her cheeks go red.
‘It’s true though. Taking a risk, that sort of thing.’
They looked at each other with genuine affection. ‘I’m proud of you, sis,’ Steph said.
‘Right back at ya.’
When Clare got home from her first day, a day full of form-filling and admin, and not at all as glamorous as she might have imagined, Toby was slumped in front of the TV in his habitual pose. Flies undone, shoes kicked off, glass of wine in his hand.
‘Hi,’ she said.
‘Hi. Come and see this,’ he said, gesturing to the TV.
She picked up a small glass of wine he’d already poured for her and sat down next to him.
On the TV, Dan from Eezee Troupe was being interviewed. ‘Yeah, we’re looking forward to it,’ he was saying.
‘What’s he talking about?’ she asked.
‘Oh, they’ve been booked to support that other dance act, Street Boyz, on their tour apparently.’
‘That’s great.’
‘Yeah – well done.’
‘Oh, I think they did that all by themselves. Pretty talented, those boys.’
‘What about you? Or should I say Martha B.?’
‘Oh, she’s got plans, believe me. I’m still working on the new rap – and I’m hoping the boys will support me. But I think it’s important they have their own path, too – they’re so talented.’
‘That’s great, really great. But actually I meant what about you? How was your day?’
And as she told him all about the boring minutiae of her first day as a #girlboss, she realised with a jolt that he was actually listening.
Acknowledgements
Thanks are owed to the wonderful author Nicola Gill who supported me when I had a book related wobble. And to Natalie Hodencq who stepped up to help just when I needed it.
And to Ger Nichol from the Book Bureau, my lovely agent, who is always so amazingly supportive.
Thanks too to Charlotte Mursell, Victoria Oundjian and Olivia Barber at Orion for their editorial support, to Ellen Turner for her hard work on publicity and to all the people who kept the printing presses running in these challenging times.
Thanks as always to my lovely husband Ray Harvey for clocking up nearly 20 years with me and reading drafts and edits without complaint. For always being supportive and giving good advice, most of the time.
To the lovely #writingcommunity on Twitter who’ve made publishing in 2020/21 more bearable, The D20Authors and Debuts2020/21 groups on Facebook who have helped keep this wobbly show on the road.
To the lovely book bloggers and readers I’ve connected with in the past couple of years.
And to my kids. Thanks for the cuddles that kept me going (and sorry if I squeezed you a bit too hard).
Author Biography
Gillian Harvey is a freelance writer and author, who lives in France with her husband Ray and their five children. Perfect on Paper is her second novel.
Also by Gillian Harvey
Everything is Fine
Credits
Gillian Harvey and Orion Fiction would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of Perfect on Paper in the UK.
Editorial
Charlotte Mursell
Olivia Barber
Copy editor
Kate Shearman
Proof reader
Laetitia Grant
Audio
Paul Stark
Amber Bates
Contracts
Anne Goddard
Paul Bulos
Jake Alderson
Marketing
Tanjiah Islam
Design
Debbie Holmes
Joanna Ridley
Editorial Management
Charlie Panayiotou
Jane Hughes
Finance
Jasdip Nandra
Afeera Ahmed
Elizabeth Beaumont
Sue Baker
Production
Ruth Sharvell
Publicity
Ellen Turner
Rights
Susan Howe
Krystyna Kujawinska
Jessica Purdue
Richard King
Louise Henderson
Sales
Jen Wilson
Esther Waters
Victoria Laws
Rachael Hum
Ellie Kyrke-Smith
Frances Doyle
Georgina Cutler
Operations
Jo Jacobs
Sharon Willis
Lisa Pryde
Lucy Brem
AN ORION EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2021
by Orion Fiction
an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd
Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
Copyright © Gillian Harvey 2021
The moral right of Gillian Harvey to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
All the characters in this book, except for those already in the public domain, are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (eBook) 978 1 4091 9190 2
Typeset at The Spartan Press Ltd,
Lymington, Hants
www.orionbooks.co.uk
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