Swell (40 page)

‘I think he’ll do him justice.’

Ruby lifted my hands from where they were twitching in the lap of my exquisite designer dress that was the colour of Jason’s eyes. She held them between her own.

‘You did him justice, darl’. You are the only girl who could have written about my Rory and brought him back to life with your words.’

‘Thank you, Ruby, you don’t know how much that means to me.’

I had received many compliments and rave reviews about my book
Lucky 13
. Not least, but most surprisingly perhaps, from my agent, Tristan who read it in one sitting and immediately called me himself. No ‘Audwey’ or ‘Wowwy’ calling me on his behalf this time. At last, it seemed, I was worthy of his expensive breath. Tristan soon scribbled me back into his books when he realised I had written a potential worldwide bestseller. A bestseller that would, he told me excitedly, appeal not only to surfers but also to anybody who had dreams, to anybody who was seeking a bit of escapism and to anybody who had loved and lost or simply loved. I thought that pretty much covered almost everybody.

‘This is bloody marvellous stuff, darling,’ he gushed when I met him in his office, his fingers tapping furiously on the manuscript as if he were subliminally adding up the profits he would make on an imaginary calculator. ‘You couldn’t make this stuff up.’ Tristan paused, his jowls wobbling. ‘You didn’t did you?’

‘Not at all, Tristan. This is how these people live. It’s all true.’

‘Good Lord. Really and truly? You mean the women and the waves and the women and everything?’

‘Everything.’

‘Unbe-bloody-lievable. Not a bad life is it? Apart from the killer waves perhaps but all in all, good Lord, I never knew this world existed.’

‘Neither did I, Tristan, neither did I.’

Lucky 13
was more successful than I could ever have imagined and I was very soon on my own world tour signing books and making appearances. It was everything I had ever dreamed of and, best of all, I had someone to share it with.

Jason and I worked our schedules so that he could be by my side when I needed support and vice versa. We even returned to Bali together and delivered a book to Wayan in his restaurant on Jalan Legian. If having an unknown author dine there had been lucky for Wayan, having the world’s greatest surfer and his published biographer pop in for a banana jaffle was, judging by Wayan (and Made, Ketut, Made, Wayan and Ketut’s) reactions, akin to Buddha himself dropping by. It was an eye-opener how much of a seasoned traveller I felt in Bali the second time. My horizons had broadened over the year I had been on tour. My world felt much bigger and more exciting than it had once been.

Ruby and I quickly did the girl thing and reapplied our lipstick for the fifth time that hour and then exchanged nervous glances.

‘Shall we, darl’?

‘We shall,’ I smiled.

Ruby and I stepped out of the limo and walked towards the blue carpet. Just before I reached the bank of photographers, a couple of British tourists dressed head to toe in Disney merchandise stopped me, unperturbed by the cameras flashing in our direction.

‘Excuse me,’ said the man from beneath a hat with Mickey Mouse ears, ‘can you tell us what all the excitement is all about?’

‘It’s a film première,’ I replied politely.

‘Goodness, isn’t that Zac Efron?’ the woman yelped, slapping her hand to her Pluto sweatshirt.

‘And are you two actresses?’ the man asked.

‘Of course they are, Terry,’ his wife said, ‘look how pretty and slim they are.’

Ruby and I laughed and she nudged me in the ribs.

‘This,’ said Ruby, ‘is the girl who wrote the totally amazing book on which the film is based.’

Terry’s ears fell off. By which I mean his mouse ears not his real ones.

‘Gosh so you’re a writer,’ he gasped. ‘She’s a real live writer, Gwen.’

‘I know, Terry. I heard. Isn’t that wonderful?’

They leaned towards me while a cheer erupted for Zac’s arrival.

‘And have you written anything we would know?’

I paused and savoured the question I had so dreaded in the past.

‘Yes,’ I replied with a confident smile. ‘Yes I have.’

THE END