The Bridesmaid's Secret. Sophie Weston

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      ‘I can see that,’ said Annis, equally careful. ‘What’s your boss like?’

      Bella’s face suddenly creased into its irresistible gamine grin. ‘Impressed. For the first time in her life, apparently.’

      Annis grinned back. ‘Oh? You must have been writing like an angel.’

      ‘Nothing to do with me. It’s all down to you.’

      ‘Explain,’ said Annis, entertained.

      ‘Well Caruso never wanted this exchange thing. She doesn’t like trainees or foreigners and foreigners begin in New Jersey. But she just loves high-achievers. You and Dad have done it for me.’

      ‘Me?’ echoed Annis, genuinely taken aback.

      ‘The consultancy got a name check in the Wall Street Journal. Caruso saw it and asked me if that was my sister. So I said yes and basked in your reflected glory.’ Bella chuckled at Annis’s expression. ‘We don’t only read about fashion and film stars, you know. Caruso has a regular feature, millionaire of the month. Carry on the way you’re going, and I’ll get you a slot.’

      ‘Thank you,’ said Annis.

      Bella laughed aloud.

      ‘No, I haven’t got the influence yet. But I’m getting there. Caruso has given me a piece to write about what it’s like starting out in New York. It’s called New In Town. It’s in the April edition. I’ll send you a copy.’

      ‘I’ll buy it.’

      ‘No need to go that far. I know you never read anything but the financial press.’

      ‘I told you, Kosta’s educating me.’

      Bella flinched. She could not help it. The name came out of nowhere and she was not ready for it.

      Fortunately Annis was concentrating on her fettucini and did not notice.

      ‘I shall expect fan mail, then,’ said Bella after a minimal pause. Her amusement did not even sound forced, she congratulated herself.

      ‘Count on it.’ Annis stirred her pasta absently. ‘Bella, look, I don’t want to interfere with your job, of course I don’t, but my wedding—’

      Bella braced herself. But Annis was talking more to herself than she was to Bella.

      ‘I don’t know what’s happening. You know that we wanted it to be really small, just immediate family and a couple of friends. But I keep bumping into people who tell me they’re coming, though I haven’t asked them and neither has Kosta. And we’re getting wedding presents from people I haven’t seen for twenty years.’ Her voice rose. ‘Lynda says everything’s fine, she’s got it all under control, but she doesn’t listen to me. I don’t know what to do.’ She looked up then, her face pinched. ‘When I said I need you, I wasn’t joking.’

      Bella stared at her, horrified.

      Suddenly she was swamped by memory. Annis was not the cool-suited businesswoman who’d impressed Rita Caruso any more. She was the Annis who had climbed up to get Bella out of the apple tree when she’d been stuck; the Annis who was scared of heights and clumsy with it, but who had still told Bella to stop crying and not look down; the Annis who had got her back on the ground and then had been violently and noisily sick. Anxious and determined and scared but still the Annis who did not give up just because she didn’t think she could do it.

      How could Bella let her down?

      Yet how could she not? Surely the best thing for Annis was for Bella to stay away from the man they were both in love with. Annis was going to marry him, after all. Only Bella could not say that she was in love with him, not ever, not out loud. Annis must never know.

      ‘Oh, Annie.’ She groaned.

      ‘I mean, if you can’t come over until the wedding, that’s fine. I can moan to you down the phone. Or email, like you said. Just as long as I know you’re part of it. That you’ll be there on the day.’

      Bella felt as if she were being torn apart.

      ‘I don’t know,’ she said wretchedly. ‘It’s so damn complicated…’

      ‘Can we at least talk about it?’ said Annis.

      ‘We are talking.’

      ‘I mean properly. Without you looking at your watch every minute. This evening. What are you doing after work?’

      Bella pulled a face. ‘Taking some honoured visitors on the town. I’m supposed to be the best in the department on the guided tour of the Big Apple.’

      ‘Oh.’ Annis was disappointed but not defeated. She fished in her shoulder bag and brought out a typed sheet. ‘Let’s see.’

      She scanned it.

      ‘What is that?’ said Bella, recoiling.

      ‘My timetable. My client’s idea. When I told him I was coming to see you, he gave me the day’s itinerary, so I could catch up with him if I got delayed anywhere.’

      Bella was revolted. ‘The dweeb,’ she said. ‘Could he also be a control freak by any chance?’

      Her sister smiled. ‘He thinks ahead.’ She went back to the list. ‘Dinner, venture capitalists, blah blah blah. No, that won’t do. Hey, what about this? Hombre y Mujer Club, ten-thirty.’

      ‘If you try and talk at Hombre y Mujer you’ll get burst eardrums,’ said Bella.

      ‘We don’t have to talk there. Just meet. Then I could come back to your place and we could thrash this thing through.’

      That gives me ten hours to find an excuse she’ll believe, thought Bella. Just great.

      She said, ‘Fine. I’ll see you there. Now tell me all the gossip.’

      And, recognising that she had won a battle, if not the war, Annis allowed herself to be diverted.

      Bella kept the conversation light and away from weddings for the rest of lunch but she knew that the evening was going to be heavy. Everyone noticed how silent she was all afternoon. She still teased the post boy, and was merciless with Sally coming back from a fashion shoot with orange sequins on her cheekbones. But her heart wasn’t in it.

      ‘You in love, English?’ asked Sally, handing her a revised production schedule.

      Bella pulled a face. ‘All the time.’

      But Sally had a suspicion she wasn’t joking.

      ‘Doesn’t he like you taking the Japanese on the town tonight? They can get possessive these love-of-your-life types.’

      Bella just shook her head and laughed. But Sally noticed in the mirror that as soon as she turned away Bella’s laughter died. The only thing that cheered her up, perversely, was a message from her sister that she was feeling too ill to join her at the СКАЧАТЬ