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A cold feeling begins to creep over me. This is all wrong.
'All right?' says Luke, turning back to me.
'No,' I hear myself saying. 'No, it's not. You didn't tell me that case was for your girlfriend. You didn't even tell me you had a girlfriend.'
Oh God. I've done it now. I've been completely uncool. But somehow I don't care.
'I see,' says Luke after a pause. He picks up a piece of bread and begins to break it up with his fingers, then looks up. 'Sacha and I have been together a while now,' he says kindly. 'I'm sorry if I gave… any other impression.'
He's patronizing me. I can't bear it.
'That's not the point,' I say, feeling my cheeks flushing beetroot red. 'It's just… it's all wrong.'
'Wrong?' he says, looking amused.
'You should have told me we were choosing a case for your girlfriend,' I say doggedly, staring down at the table. 'It would have made things… different.'
There's silence and I raise my eyes, to see Luke looking at me as though I'm mad.
'Rebecca,' he says, 'you're getting this all out of proportion. I wanted your opinion on suitcases. End of story.'
'And are you going to tell your girlfriend you asked my advice?'
'Of course I am!' says Luke, and gives a little laugh. 'I expect she'll be rather amused.'
I stare at him in silence, feeling mortification creep over me. My throat's tight, and there's a pain growing in my chest. Amused. Sacha will be amused when she hears about me.
Well, of course she will. Who wouldn't be amused by hearing about the girl who spent her entire morning marching up and down Harrods, testing out suitcases for another woman? The girl who got completely the wrong end of the stick. The girl who was so stupid, she thought Luke Brandon might actually like her.
I swallow hard, feeling sick with humiliation. For the first time, I'm realizing how Luke Brandon sees me. How they all see me. I'm just the comedy turn, aren't I? I'm the scatty girl who gets things wrong and makes people laugh. The girl who didn't know SBG and Rutland Bank had merged. The girl no-one would ever think of taking seriously. Luke didn't bother telling me we were choosing a suitcase for his girlfriend because I don't matter. He's only buying me lunch because he hasn't got anything else to do – and probably because he thinks I might do something entertaining like drop my fork, which he can laugh about when he gets back to the office.
'I'm sorry,' I say in a wobbly voice, and stand up. 'I haven't got time for lunch after all.'
'Rebecca, don't be silly!' says Luke. 'Look, I'm sorry you didn't know about my girlfriend.' He raises his eyebrows quizzically, and I want to hit him. 'But we can still be friends, can't we?'
'No,' I say stiffly, aware that my voice is thick and my eyes smarting. 'No, we can't. Friends treat each other with respect. But you don't respect me, do you, Luke? You just think I'm a joke. A nothing. Well…' I swallow hard. 'Well, I'm not.'
And before he can say anything else I turn, and quickly make my way out of the restaurant, half blinded by disappointed tears.
7 Camel Square
Liverpool L1 5NP
Ms Rebecca Bloomwood
Flat 2
4 Burney Rd
London SW6 8FD
20 March 2000
Dear Ms Bloomwood
PGNI First Bank VISA Card No. 1475839204847586
Thank you for your payment of ?10.00, received today.
As I think I have pointed out several times, the minimum payment required was in fact ?105.40.
The balance currently overdue is therefore ?95.40. I look forward to receiving your payment as soon as possible.
If satisfactory payment is not received within seven days, further action will have to be taken.
Yours sincerely
Peter Johnson
Customer Accounts Executive
BANK OF LONDON
London House
Mill Street EC3R 4DW
Ms Rebecca Boomwood
Flat 2
4 Burney Rd
London SW6 8FD
20 March 2000
Dear Ms Boomwood
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With a Bank of London Easifone Loan, you don't even have to fill in any forms. Simply call one of our friendly 24-hour operators on 0100 45 46 47 48 and let us do the rest.
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Yours sincerely
Sue Skepper
Marketing Executive
PS Why delay? Pick up the phone now – and dial 0100 45 46 47 48. It couldn't be easier.
Twelve
As I arrive home that afternoon, I feel weary and miserable.
Suddenly, triple-A rated jobs in banking and Harrods with Luke Brandon seem miles away. Real life isn't swarming round Knightsbridge in a taxi, choosing ?1,000 suitcases, is it? This is real life. Home to a tiny flat which still smells of curry, and a pile of nasty letters from the bank, and no idea what to do about them.
I put my key in the lock, and as I open the door, I hear Suze cry, 'Bex? Is that you?'
'Yes!' I say, trying to sound cheerful. 'Where are you?'
'Here,' she says, appearing at the door of my bedroom. Her face is all pink, and there's a shine in her eyes. 'Guess what! I've got a surprise for you!'
'What is it?' I say, putting down my briefcase. To be honest, I m not in the mood for one of Suze's surprises. She'll just have moved my bed to a different place, or something. And all I want is to sit down and have a cup of tea and something to eat. I never did get any lunch.
'Come and see. No… no, shut your eyes, first. I'll lead yon.'
'OK,' I say reluctantly. I close my eyes and allow her to take my hand. We start to walk along the corridor and of course, as we near my bedroom door, I start feeling a little tingle of anticipation in spite of myself. I always fall for things like this.
'Dadaaa! You can look now!'
I open my eyes and look dazedly around my room, wondering what mad thing Suze has done now. At least she hasn't painted the walls or touched the curtains, and my computer's safely switched off. So what on earth can she have…
And then I see them. On my bed. Piles and piles of upholstered frames. All made up perfectly, with no wonky corners, and the braid glued neatly in place. I can't quite believe my eyes. There must be at least…
'I've done a hundred,' says Suze behind me. 'And I'm going to do the rest tomorrow! Aren't they fab?' I turn and stare incredulously at her.
'You… you did all these?'
'Yes!' she says proudly. 'It was easy, once I got into a rhythm. I did it in front of Morning Coffee. Oh, I wish you'd seen it. They had such a good phone-in, about men who dress up in women's clothes! There was this one guy-'
'Wait,' I say, trying to get my head round this. 'Wait. Suze, I don't understand. This must have taken you ages.' My eye runs disbelievingly over the pile of flames again. 'Why… why on earth did you-'
'Well, you weren't getting very far with them, were you?' says Suze kindly. 'I just thought I'd give you a helping hand.'
'A helping hand?' I echo weakly.
'I'll do the rest tomorrow, and then I'll ring up the delivery people,' says Suze. 'You know, it's a very good system. You don't have to post them, or anything. They just come and pick them up! And then they'll send you a cheque. It should come to about ?284. Pretty good, huh?!