The Secrets Sisters Keep: A heartwarming, funny and emotional novel (The Devlin Sisters Book 2) (14 page)

As I opened the door, Helen handed me an envelope. ‘Please just read this.’

‘Fine.’ I dashed out of the door and headed for work.

T
he cocktails
-and-canapés party was in full swing when I arrived. It was being thrown by Style Central department store to introduce everyone to its new management team in Ireland. I really wanted to sign them up as a client. They currently used several modelling agencies, but my aim was to secure exclusivity for the Beauty Spot.

I searched for Quentin. He caught my eye and waved. I crossed the room, which was full of industry people and models, all looking suitably stylish.

Quentin, in his favourite red velvet suit, greeted me warmly and introduced me to the man he was talking to. ‘Darling, this is Andrew Longhurst. He’s the new financial controller of Style Central.’

Andrew was extremely attractive.

‘Great to meet you,’ I said, giving him my best smile.

‘Sophie is my partner in the Beauty Spot, but not in life.’ Quentin chuckled at his own joke.

‘I have a feeling your partner in life would be more of a Simon than a Sophie,’ Andrew said, with a grin. Then, turning back to me, he added, ‘Very nice to meet you. I’ve heard great things about the Beauty Spot. You have a reputation for hiring the best-looking models.’

I smiled. ‘We aim to please.’

‘That’s music to my ears.’ Andrew gave me a flirty wink.

‘I must go and see about … something.’ Quentin wandered off and gave me the thumbs-up behind Andrew’s back. I tried not to laugh.

Andrew and I chatted about work and life. He was very charming and attentive and I could feel myself coming alive again. It was so nice to feel attractive for once. I had barely been out since my fiasco with Julian, and Andrew was good-looking, confident and funny. I smiled, flirted and laughed a lot. I was the old Sophie, the fun Sophie, the happy Sophie. I felt my confidence soaring. I could tell that Andrew was attracted to me. There was an electricity between us. But I was wary. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself again. Yet it was hard to resist the chemistry.

I never normally drank at work events, but I allowed myself one glass of wine. I was having too much fun. It didn’t feel like work. It felt very much like play.

When Andrew told me a funny story about his time at university, I laughed loudly. ‘You’re so funny,’ I said, batting my eyelids at him.

‘And you’re a very beautiful woman,’ he said.

Yes! He did like me. I wasn’t imagining it or misreading the signs. I could feel my cheeks flushing and my eyes sparkling. I missed male attention so much. This was wonderful.

Andrew and I chatted on and after about an hour he asked me if I was attached. I flicked my hair back. ‘No, I’m divorced, but I have a daughter, Jess. She’s nine.’ I wanted to be upfront and I never hid Jess. I was proud to be a mum and she would always come as part of my package.

‘Me too,’ he said. ‘I’m separated with two daughters. Kate is fifteen and Amber is thirteen.’

‘It looks like we have a lot in common.’ I smiled up at him.

‘It certainly does. I’d like to know exactly how much.’ He smiled a slow, sexy smile and my stomach flipped. ‘How about we get out of here and have a drink somewhere away from our colleagues?’

I wanted to jump up and down and whoop but, thankfully, I managed to control myself. ‘I’d like that. Just let me grab my coat.’ I floated to the cloakroom to pick it up.

As I was putting it on, Quentin pounced on me. ‘Well?’

I grabbed his hands. ‘Oh, Quentin, he’s perfect. We really hit it off. He’s taking me out for a drink now!’

Quentin hugged me. ‘I’m so glad. You really need cheering up. It’s been rotten for you lately. Now go out and shag him senseless.’

We giggled like teenagers. ‘I feel young again,’ I admitted.

‘You’re glowing. Now go. Don’t leave him waiting.’

T
wo drinks
and a lot more flirting later, Andrew dropped me home in a taxi. He walked me to the door and bent to kiss me. I lifted my face to his and we kissed deeply and hungrily. I could feel all of my senses burning. I really wanted to have sex, but I couldn’t bring him up to my apartment with Jess there.

‘I would love to ask you up, but the apartment is small and my daughter is a light sleeper.’

He cupped my cheek with his hand. ‘It’s OK, I understand. We’ll just have to do this again soon.’

‘I’d really like that.’

‘I’ll call you.’

‘Great.’ As he turned to go, I pulled him back and kissed him again. It had been years since I had kissed a man passionately. I longed for the physical closeness.

‘Wow, you’re quite a tiger, I bet you’re fantastic in bed.’

‘If you play your cards right, you may just find out.’ I winked at him and went into the lobby of my apartment. All the dating books would have said, ‘Don’t look back,’ but I couldn’t resist. I turned to see if he was still there. He was standing at the door watching me go. Yes!

W
hen I walked
into the apartment, Gavin and Shania were flaked out on the couch, watching a movie.

‘Is Jess asleep?’ I asked.

‘Yep, she’s been in bed since nine thirty, as instructed.’ Gavin yawned.

‘Thanks. Sorry I’m a bit late.’

‘You’re all glowy.’ Shania was looking closely at my face. ‘OMG, did you get laid?’

‘Dude, that’s my sister.’ Gavin was appalled.

I blushed bright red.

‘Oh, my God, did you?’ Gavin asked.

‘NO! Stop staring at me. You’re making me really uncomfortable.’ I pulled a cushion over my face like a child.

‘I think someone’s had a hot date,’ Shania teased.

‘Who were you with? I thought you said you were going to a work thing,’ Gavin said.

‘It was a work event, but I did meet someone very nice.’

‘Go on,’ Shania encouraged me.

‘Well, he asked me out for a drink and we had a lovely time.’

‘Did you arrange to meet up again?’ she asked.

‘He said he’d call.’

‘That’s, like, amazeballs. I love when you meet someone and they give you butterflies in your tummy. It’s so awesome.’ Shania beamed at me.

‘Did you feel like that when you met me?’ Gavin asked.

‘Totally, babe,’ she said, planting a kiss on his cheek.

I kicked off my shoes and sank into the couch. ‘How’s work going?’ I asked Gavin.

‘Good, actually. I’ve been promoted to assistant manager.’

‘He’s being totally fast-tracked,’ Shania said proudly. ‘They love him in Stars and Stripes. I think he’s going to end up being, like, the CEO or something.’

‘That’s great, Gavin. Well done.’

He shrugged modestly, but I could see he was thrilled. Gavin knew that we all thought he was a bit of a joke when it came to working. It was good to see him sticking to something and being successful at it.

‘What about you?’ I asked Shania. ‘Do you like working in Stars and Stripes?’

She wrinkled her nose. ‘I’m just there while I try to work out what I really want to do. Daddy wants me to do a Cordon Bleu cookery course in France, but I’m so not into cooking. It’s boring. Besides, I’m, like, totally dyslexic so I struggle to read English. Trying to read French cookbooks would be torture.’

‘Have you ever thought of modelling?’ I asked.

‘I did a bit when I first left school, but I got, like, sick after doing a bikini shoot in January and ended up in hospital with a really bad chest infection. So my dad was, like, no way.’

‘What did your mum think?’

‘She died when I was ten, so …’

‘Gosh, I’m sorry. That must have been awful.’ I tried to picture Jess if I died and felt tearful.

‘Yeah, it was, but I’ve had loads of therapy so I’m fine now,’ Shania reassured me.

‘Well, if you ever wanted to try modelling again, I promise I’d look after you and make sure you’d never have to do a bikini shoot in January.’

Shania looked at me. ‘Really? Maybe I will try it again. I’m kind of over folding clothes and dealing with teenage girls stamping on my toes and pushing me out of the way to flirt with the guys in work.’

Gavin stood up and stretched. ‘Actually, babe, that could be cool for you. Stars and Stripes is a waste of your talent. You could be the next Irish supermodel. You should be modelling our clothes, not selling them.’

I wasn’t sure about Ireland’s next top model. Shania had a very pretty face but it was more suited to catalogue work than high-end fashion. Mind you, she’d look good on a runway: her legs went on for ever.

‘OK. Give me your digits and I’ll call you.’ Shania picked up her bag.

Gavin, sensing my confusion, explained, ‘It means your phone number.’

‘Oh, right.’ I smiled. I might not feel it tonight after my date, but I was old. I’d have to try to keep up so I’d know what Jess was talking about. I didn’t want to be one of those mothers who hadn’t a clue what was going on. I bet Pippa knew what ‘digits’ meant. I’d have to work harder at keeping up so Pippa didn’t totally take over my daughter’s affections.

Shania typed my number into her phone, then she and Gavin left. I tidied up the living room and went in to check on Jess. She was sleeping peacefully. She looked so young and sweet. I tidied her clothes and put her books in a neat pile on her desk. When I glanced up, I saw it. In the middle of the cluster of photos on the cork board over her desk there was a big picture of Pippa and Jack. They were at some black-tie ball. Pippa was wearing a shimmering silver dress and Jack was gazing at her adoringly … the way he used to look at me.

It was obvious that Pippa had given Jess the photo to put up. Clearly she hadn’t been happy to see all the photos of Jack with me and had wanted to stamp her mark. The sneaky cow. I was tempted to take the photo down and rip it into tiny pieces, but I knew Jess would go mad. So I left it … for now. It might just get vacuumed up ‘by accident’ during the week. It was bad enough that Pippa was living with my husband, having his baby and worshipped by my daughter. I didn’t need her stupid face beaming at me in my own home as well. She must have been born without a single sensitive bone in her irritatingly perfect body.

T
he next day
I hummed as I put on my makeup. I applied it carefully, smiling to myself as I thought about my great night. I looked younger and everything about me seemed shinier. It made me realize that I hadn’t been happy in a long time. I decided to wear my Prada dress, the one I had kept from the good old days. I got dressed, stood in front of the mirror and, for the first time in ages, I liked what I saw. Instead of concentrating on my flaws I focused on the positives, and it wasn’t half bad.

When I came into the kitchen, Jess was eating her cereal with her earplugs in, listening to music.

I leant down and pulled them out. She glared at me.

‘You know it’s rude,’ I said. ‘So, what’s happening today in school? Anything interesting?’

Jess rolled her eyes. ‘School is the same every day, 
boooor
ing.’

‘Well, I hope you’re working hard. I want you to do well in school. Every woman needs to be able to work –’

Jess cut across me ‘– and earn her own money. God, Mum, you’re always going on about it.’

‘That’s because it’s important, Jess. After what happened to Dad’s company, if I hadn’t been able to work, we would have been homeless.’

‘No, we wouldn’t. Granny and Granddad would have let us stay with them.’

‘The point is, you need to be able to earn money in case anything goes wrong. I learnt it the hard way. I want you to go to college and be brilliant, like your aunt Louise.’

‘I want to be a TV presenter like Pippa. She didn’t go to college.’

I took a deep breath. It was astonishing how quickly my good mood had vanished. ‘I didn’t go to college either and I wish I had. Louise doesn’t need a man to look after her or Clara. She’s completely self-sufficient. I really admire her for it.’

‘Louise is kind of scary, Mum. She never laughs or has fun.’

‘Yes, she does.’

‘When?’

I paused. When did Louise have fun? She worked long hours and was very serious about her job and about raising Clara. The weekends were full of exercise and educational activities with Clara. Had I seen her laughing and having fun lately? Not really.

Then again, until last night, I hadn’t had any fun for ages either. And Julie didn’t seem to be having a barrel of laughs. Gosh, when had we all got so serious and stern? We did laugh together sometimes, but Jess was right: of we three sisters, Louise was probably the one who let go the least. She was very controlled and controlling.

I wondered if she had fun with the man she had sex with. I hoped so. But somehow I couldn’t see Louise whooping with laughter during foreplay. I could more easily imagine her ordering him about – ‘To the left … up a bit … Harder … Deeper.’ I smiled to myself. I doubted Louise ever relinquished control, even in the bedroom.

I decided to change the subject. ‘So, what do you fancy doing this weekend? I was thinking we could go and see that new 
Glee
 movie on Saturday.’

Jess played with her spoon. ‘Actually, Mum, Pippa has tickets to the première on Thursday night, and she wants to take me. Dad’s away working, so she wants me to be her date.’

Of course she had tickets to the première. Anything I could do, bloody Pippa could do better. ‘It’s a school night, Jess,’ I reminded her.

‘I know, but it’s going to be amazing. Apparently the new guy, Brad Hooper, is flying into Dublin for the première and he is, like, so gorgeous. You have to let me go, Mum, you 
have
 to.’

‘I don’t actually have to let you do anything, Jess.’

She slammed her hand on the table. ‘Don’t say no. Do not ruin my life.’

I sighed. ‘Can you please not be so dramatic? I just don’t –’

My phone buzzed. I glanced down. It was Andrew: 
Morning. I really enjoyed last night. U free Thurs for dinner?

I looked up at Jess, who was waiting with bated breath for my answer. ‘OK, you can go.’

She jumped up and hugged me. She hadn’t done that in months. It felt so nice. I hugged her back. Andrew was already having a positive impact on my life.