'How dare he snub my daughter?' he said angrily.
'You should be glad. Phoebe can see for herself that he's being very immature, which is surely what you want.'
'Of course it's what I want. The sooner she gets over her infatuation with that high-handed young puppy the better.'
'Well, then-'
'But he's still got no right to snub my daughter and make her unhappy,' Daniel said stubbornly.
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
