by Lucy Gordon
The following day Brenda accepted an assignment for Phoebe, and after that she was seldom out of work.
'It's almost laughable,' Lee complained to Gillian eventually. 'Daniel assumed I'd be keeping Phoebe in work, but I can hardly get her. I want her for that jeans ad. It's going to be a huge spread, and three days' work for the models, but Brenda ummed and ahhed for ages before letting me have one day as a special favour.'
A week later she encountered a situation that exasperated her even more.
'I can't believe it,' she fumed to Daniel. 'I just cannot…' Words failed her.
'Have a sherry,' he said soothingly, pressing her back into the leather cushions of his sofa. 'Calm down. Then tell me all about it.'
'I get a call from Lindsay Elwes, the fashion editor of Woman Of The World, which is a magazine I've always wanted to work for. It's not Vogue or Tatler, but it's coming up very fast. Lindsay wants me to take the pictures for a big wedding spread. Then we come to the crunch line. She desperately wants Phoebe to be one of the models but Brenda's not keen, because Phoebe's schedule is so tight. But I'm supposed to be able to get her because of my "personal connections". No Phoebe, no assignment.'
'It must be maddening for you, darling,' Daniel said, preserving a straight face.
'If you dare to laugh-'
'I'm not, I swear it,' he said in a shaking voice.
'It's not the only time-I mean, there have been hints before-but this is the first time an editor I really mind about has said it openly. After all the years I've been in this business, building up my credit, suddenly I'm just the door to Phoebe-a girl I started off. Did you say something?' she demanded ominously.
'I wouldn't dare. After all, what can I say except that if anyone has been hoist with her own petard- But I'm not saying that,' he added hastily, reading retribution in her eyes.
'Well, it's not fair,' she said crossly. 'I've really dreamed about that last step up. I want to be in demand in my own right, not…' She sighed.
'I guess it's not enough to take terrific pictures of fashionable people,' Daniel observed. 'You need to be fashionable yourself.'
'Oh, I'm fashionable all right,' Lee said crossly. 'As Phoebe Raife's friend.'
'She's doing well, isn't she?'
'She's a real success, and she's loving every minute of it. She was modelling jeans for me today. In fact, we had a bit of a chat.' She eyed him.
'Ah!' Daniel said uneasily.
'You're not really keeping all those promises you made her, are you?'
'I'm trying, Lee, I really am. But it's hard when I see her doing silly things. Take the food she eats-or doesn't eat. She's starving herself. Her figure's perfect, but because of this modelling nonsense she's obsessed with the fear of being fat.'
'She's not obsessed and she's not starving,' Lee explained patiently. 'She's trimmed off exactly five pounds, because the camera makes people look a little fatter. Now she's eating sensibly to maintain her new weight. She showed me her diet sheet and it's excel-lent-lots of low-fat, high-nourishment foods. She's full of energy.'
'So what would have been wrong with one little steak?'
'It was a big steak,' said Lee, who'd heard this story from Phoebe. 'And you fried it in butter and tried to make her eat it with chips. If you'd grilled it and cut out the chips she'd have eaten it.'
'She's always loved steak and chips. She used to say that no one cooked them like I did. But that seems a long time ago.'
The chasm yawned between them again. Looking across it, Lee saw blame in his eyes. 'She still loves steak and chips,' she said. 'That's why she refused them so vehemently. She was afraid she'd be tempted. It's not easy to turn down something you desperately want to eat. You should admire her strength of character.'
'Even when she's strong against me, you mean, don't you?'
'Well-'
'All right,' he broke in hastily, for he too had seen the danger. 'Let's drop it.'
'Not until I've given you your present,' Lee said, getting up.
'What present? It's not my birthday.'
She reached into the depths of her bag and pulled out a parcel. 'Open it,' she said.
Puzzled, he did so, and found himself looking at a book. 'The Low Fat Cookbook,' he said, and a grin spread over his face. 'Clever. Very clever.'
'I bought that for you this afternoon when I left work. It's just what you need to get back into
Phoebe's good books. Ask her to give you a copy of her diet sheet. It'll tell you what she needs to eat and in what amounts. Then find the recipes that fit.
'And another thing. Presentation is important. You'll need to do a lot of checking to get the amounts right, so let her see you weighing food very precisely. And don't tell her this was my idea. You thought of it and scoured the shops until you found this book.'
'Did I?' He looked startled.
'Certainly you did. When she feels you're on her side things will come right between you again.'
He hugged her. 'Thank you, darling. I've been feeling completely cast adrift, but with your help I'll find the far shore.' He added wryly, 'Although what it will look like I can't imagine.'
'The important thing is that Phoebe will be there too.'
'And you?' he asked, suddenly intense. 'Will you be there?'
'Maybe. Who knows what the future holds?'
'Say yes, Lee. Marry me. I need you.'
'Don't press me, Daniel. Wait and see how things work out.'
He smiled and conceded, but a light had gone out inside him. Lee felt distracted. She loved Daniel, but she was further than ever from marrying him. Now every casual chat was a minefield. Their old, easy, happy association seemed only a memory. Love held them together-just-but the gap was always there, growing inexorably wider. How long would it be, she wondered, before it was too wide for them to reach across, or even to see each other?
* * *
A week later Daniel made a date with her, but beyond telling her to dress up to the nines-'And I really mean the nines.'-he refused even to hint at their destination. Lee called Carol Halden, a fashion editor she was friendly with, to ask advice. The result was the loan of a black slinky dress that brought out a femme fatale side she hadn't known she possessed.
'Wow!' Sonya said when she saw it. 'It really suits you, Mum.'
'Thank you, darling. Will you be all right here this evening?'
'Course I will. I won't be alone-unfortunately. My uncle will be here.'
'Why have you suddenly started calling Mark uncle? I know he is, but why suddenly now?'
'The other day he actually dared to say I ought to show him some respect. I ask you! Five years older than me, and he tries to come the heavy uncle.'
'So now you're making him regret he ever mentioned it?'
'Of course.' Sonya giggled. 'It makes him so mad.'
'I wish you two could get on better.'
'No one could get on with Mark in his present mood. He goes around looking mournful so that everyone knows his heart has been broken by a cruel goddess.'
'Has he finally broken up with Phoebe?'
'We-ell, hard to say if it's final. He saw her being driven by a young man in a Mercedes. Phoebe said he was only a photographer driving her to the location of a shoot.'
'How silly of Mark to make a fuss about it.'
'Apparently the car stopped at traffic lights and
Mark crossed in front and got a grandstand view of them laughing together. Phoebe looked up and there was Mark glowering at her through the windscreen, very much the student: jeans, trainers and a day's growth of beard. Of course, she looked as if she'd stepped out of a bandbox. Mark just stood there while the lights changed, and the man had to toot his horn to make him move.'
'Oh, dear,' Lee said sympathetically. 'At his age that kind of thing feels like a real tragedy.'
'They were supposed to have a date that night.'
'She didn't forget again, did she?'
'No, but she was late. It wasn't her fault. The
shoot overran and the photographer actually drove her to meet Mark-in his Mercedes. Of course, Mark threw a wobbly. Now he's waiting for her to apologise. He's been waiting for a week.'
'How do you know all this? Don't tell me Mark confides in you?'
'Not exactly confides. He just moans incessantly while I'm in earshot. I wish he wouldn't. It's dead boring.'
'Poor Mark.'
'He'll survive,' Sonya said cheerfully.
It was probably for the best, Lee decided. At Mark's age romances came and went. Then she forgot about him in thinking ahead to the evening with Daniel.
He whistled when he saw her, and nodded in satisfaction. 'Just perfect for this,' he said, producing a long, flat box and raising the lid. Inside, a diamond pendant and matching earrings glittered against black velvet. Lee caught her breath.
Daniel fixed the pendant about her neck and the earrings to her ears, then turned her so that she could see herself in the mirror. She could hardly believe that the glamorous creature looking back was herself. This woman was poised, sophisticated, and she matched the man beside her, dressed in a dinner jacket and bow tie. She gave a little pleasurable shiver.
'Darling, I-'
He kissed her. 'Don't say anything. I'd like to spend my whole life giving you things.' Before she could reply he added, 'The taxi's here. No driving for me tonight. We're having gallons of champagne and I want to be able to enjoy it.'
The 'taxi' turned out to be a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce. Lee began to feel as though she was moving in a dream.
'Where are we going?' Lee asked as the car moved off.
'Miranda's,' he replied simply.
Lee gasped. Miranda's was a nightclub that had opened a couple of months earlier and had fast acquired a reputation as the place to party. Being seen there was a sign that you were 'in'. Surely, Lee thought, Daniel was indifferent to that sort of trend? But maybe a television celebrity had to nod in its direction once in a while.
'Is it a special occasion?' she asked.
'Sort of. I've arranged a surprise for you.'
When they entered, heads turned at the sight of the famous Daniel Raife with a mystery companion. Everywhere she looked Lee saw well-known show business people. They all greeted Daniel and shook hands with Lee.
She noticed some friends-a model, a fashion editor, a photographer. They greeted her in her own right and this time it was she who made the introductions. She began to feel more at home, and by the time they sat down to eat she was at ease.
'Is this the surprise?' she asked as Daniel refilled her champagne glass.
'No, that's still to come. Wait and see.' He lifted his glass. 'Here's to you. And thank you.'
'For what?' she asked, clinking her glass against his.
'For the cookbook. It's a great success. Phoebe was thrilled that I was helping her.'
The next moment Jon Harriman, a gossip columnist, joined them. 'Daniel, introduce me,' he said jovially, his eyes flickering appraisingly over Lee.
'Lee, this is Jon Harriman, whose column you read avidly every day,' Daniel said.
'Do I? I mean, yes, of course I do.'
Harriman chuckled amiably. He was a big man with a jolly face, and Lee found herself liking him. Daniel completed the introductions.
'Jon, this is Lee Meredith, the well-known fashion photographer.'
To Lee's surprise Harriman instantly said, 'Loved that stuff you had in Vogue last month. I know all the fashion editors, and they speak highly of you.'
He mentioned other things she'd done, proving that he really did know her work. Lee couldn't help being flattered, and then she realised that this was a golden opportunity to raise her profile. With a little encouragement from Jon Harriman she began to talk about herself. He was a good listener, drawing her out and seeming to be really interested.
Daniel claimed her for a dance. The lights were low and the music sweet. As he held her close Lee wished they could always be like this, cocooned in their own world, with problems far away. Tonight she could forget the uneasiness that was always there, just below the surface of their relationship, and think only of the fact that she loved him. If only love alone could be enough.
She looked up and saw him watching her, his lips close to hers. He dropped a soft kiss on her mouth. There was a sudden flash of light and Lee blinked.
'Just one more,' said a man's voice, and when she looked he clicked the camera again.
'Do people always take your picture when you come to nightclubs?' she asked Daniel.
'Sometimes, which is why I hardly ever come.'
'But Daniel, that man-'
'Forget it,' he said, swinging her around until her head whirled. 'Let's dance, sweetheart. The night is young yet.'
She slept later than usual next morning and came downstairs in her dressing gown. She'd drunk only moderately at Miranda's, but it had been five a.m. before she slid into her bed, and her whole body was protesting that it needed to finish its sleep. Her eyes, in particular, didn't want to open, and she almost groped her way into the kitchen. Sonya guided her the rest of the way, sat her at the table and set a cup of tea in front of her.
"Thank you, darling, but shouldn't you be at school?'
'I'm just about to go. Besides, I wanted to be the one to show you the newspaper.'
'Why? What's happened?'
'Drink your tea first.'
She sipped the tea, finally managing to get her eyes to function. Sonya laid the paper out on the table, open at the gossip column. At the top was a picture of Jon Harriman beside the headline Jon's Day 'n' Night. Halfway down the page was a picture of herself and Daniel, dancing. Then, there was a piece of text.
For the first time TV star Daniel Raife took the wraps off his new love, top fashion photographer Lee Meredith. They met when she took his picture for the cover of his latest book and have seen a lot of each other since. Last night they were at Miranda's, and although they wouldn't admit to being more than just good friends it was clear that neither had eyes for anyone else. Daniel refused to say much about the lady, but when I asked if we could expect an announcement soon he didn't throw me out. Any guesses what that means, folks? Lee works for all the top magazines, and is in great demand…
There was more, but before Lee could finish reading the phone rang. Sonya lifted the receiver off the kitchen wall, and Lee heard her say, 'Hi, Gillian. Yes, Mum's here, but she's not compos mentis yet. A bit of the morning-after-the-night-before-'
'Give me the phone while I have some reputation left,' Lee commanded, stretching out her hand. 'Hello, Gillian. Don't take any notice of that little wretch. I'm just half-asleep.'
'Have you seen the paper?' Gillian asked excitedly.
'This minute. I can't believe my eyes.'
'Jon Harriman has really done you proud, hasn't he? The phone hasn't stopped ringing this morning. Your diary's filling up fast. That's what I called to say. Everyone's curious about you.'
Lee woke up abruptly. 'People want me to take pictures because I was seen with Daniel in Miranda's? It doesn't make sense.'
'That's how celebrity works,' Gillian said cheerfully. 'You're as good as all the top names, and better than some, but they've been "in" and you've been "out". At least, not "out" exactly, but hovering on the fringes. Now you're "in".'
'I can't follow that when I've only just got up,' Lee complained.
'OK, finish waking up. Then come into work and enjoy your fame.'
Lee read the piece through. Jon Harriman had turned her into an overnight celebrity. Of course her fame would be fleeting, unless she made it last by building on it. Gillian was right. She was as good as the best, but they'd had fashionable contacts at work for them and she hadn't-until now.
She called Daniel and Phoebe answered. 'Dad's asleep,' she said. 'He left me a note saying he's not to be disturbed, but he'll call you at the studio later.'
She giggled. 'He also told me to find out what sort of mood you're in.'
'You can tell him grateful,'
Lee said with a smile.
'I'm so excited,' Phoebe bubbled. 'You looked smashing in that dress.'
Lee's first act was to despatch the dress back to Carol Halden, the fashion editor who'd loaned it. She was on the phone to the studio within minutes of Lee's arrival.
'Aren't you a dark horse?' she drawled. 'Darling, he's the most exciting man in London. So when do we get the announcement?'
'You don't. We're just good friends.' As Lee said the traditional words she felt a blush go right through her body. Carol roared with laughter.
'All right, I'll wait patiently-or impatiently. Fancy you and Daniel Raife being a couple.'
'Yes,' Lee said slowly. 'Fancy.' It was dawning on her that perhaps there was more to this than met the eye.
She was sure of it later that evening, when Jimmy telephoned. He'd seen the paper. Sonya took the call and relayed her father's comments to Lee.
'Dad says he hopes Daniel Raife is loaded,' she said, 'because it would be a shame for you to miss out twice.'
'Tell your father, from me, not to be vulgar,' Lee retorted.
'Dad, Mum says don't be vulgar…Mum, he says it's too late now.'
'Don't you have homework to do?' Lee enquired frostily.
When Daniel called her his first words were, 'Are you mad at me?'
'For doing me a favour?' she asked lightly. 'Why should I be?'
'For showing you off to the world without asking you first.'
'No, I like it. Being known only as a rung on Phoebe Raife's ladder was undermining my self-confidence. After last night I can double my prices.'
'That's the spirit. And in a few years I'll be boasting that I once knew Lee Meredith-that is, if you still remember me by then.'
'Stop fishing,' she told him wryly. His self-confident chuckle was the last thing she heard before she put the phone down.
She sat musing for a while, recognising again what a very subtle operator Daniel was. Under cover of doing her a favour, he'd established them publicly as a couple-which meant he'd taken her a step further along the path to marriage than she'd meant to travel.
Lee had too much good sense to complain that she was famous for the wrong reason. Daniel, who knew the value of publicity, had done her a kindness and done it very thoroughly, and she was honestly grateful.