‘Well. In his day, his books were …’ OhGod,what had Mr Bradley called them? ‘Must-reads! But now we have GCSE classes readingGreat Expectations. Just because fiction is popular, that doesn’t mean it’s unworthy.’
‘Quite,’ Carolyn said, looking suddenly impressed. ‘So, we’re moving from a launch party to a much broader event, of which our imprint will be the host andatwhich we’ll make a fuss about how groundbreaking we are. I’m thinking themed food and drink. I’m thinking press coverage and social media hashtags. I’m thinking merchandise! The sky’s the limit.’
Amy felt almost faint with dread. When she told Carolyn they had nowhere to hold this ‘festival’, she was surely going to be sacked. But there was no sense in putting off the inevitable …
‘It sounds amazing,’ Amy said, not entirely dishonestly. ‘But in terms of the venue, we need to—’
‘Oh, yes! I’m afraid that whatever you’ve already lined up may prove unsuitable now we’ve reconsidered the scope of the event. I’m assuming there’ll be no budget implications if we cancel, since you haven’t expensed anything yet?’
Amy considered giving Carolyn both-barrels honesty and admitting that, actually, she hadn’t had anywhere sorted in any case. She discarded the idea immediately, simply agreeing that it wouldn’t be a problem to ‘move’ the event to another location.
‘Marvellous, because I have the perfect place lined up,’ Carolyn said. ‘I think you’re going to be as excited as I am when we discuss it properly– but I have to jump on another call in a moment. Are you okay to join a RomFest kick-off meeting this afternoon? Say 3 p.m.? The MD of the venue will join, too– he’s already agreed that if I push the button on this he’ll support you with organisation. I think that would be helpful, now that the scale of this thing has spiralled somewhat.’
RomFest? Dear God.
Amy instructed herself not to turn her nose up at Carolyn’s chosen terminology and instead focus on the fact that– against all odds– the universe seemed to have thrown her a bone here.
‘Yes, I’m free then,’ Amy said. ‘Just send me the meeting details.’
‘Marvellous,’ Carolyn said. ‘And Amy– good work so far on this. Torch is shaping up in precisely the way I’d hoped it would. I know heading up this project was rather a forced decision on your part– and that it probably wasn’t your dream to take on the launch of a romance imprint– but my faith in you clearly wasn’t misplaced.’
‘Thanks,’ Amy said, practically breathless with shock. This was the most effusive praise Carolyn had ever given her, and they’d worked together for the best part of a decade.
‘Until three, then,’ Carolyn said, her ringing mobile already in her hand. ‘Hello, Penelope. Yes, I got your email. And no, I donotunderstand—’
Amy shuddered and pressed the ‘X’ in the corner of her screen. She felt immensely grateful for her own good luck, as well as decidedly sorry for Penny in Accounts.
At around ten to three, Amy flipped the kettle on to make a cuppa and clicked into the RomFest email Carolyn had sent her a couple of hours ago. It contained a Zoom link but not much else, and it was addressed to both Amy and ‘kdbookonline.com’. What the heck was RHE when it was at home? Royal Horticultural something? She supposed she’d find out shortly.
Cup of tea in hand, she settled down at the kitchen table with Bertie jumping around her feet in the hope she might have brought biscuits, too.
‘Sorry, pal,’ Amy told him affectionately. ‘Gran and Ken ate the last of the garibaldis this morning.’ The two of them had gone to an art class this afternoon– a regular fixture on what Amy had begun to realise was a rather packed social calendar. Grace– despite having to be careful not to overdo it– had a busier and more varied life than her granddaughter, not to mention a functional relationship with someone who seemed to adore her. Not that Amy herself was bothered about finding a new boyfriend; based on this morning’s conversation with Carolyn, it was clear she’d have more than her fill of sappy nonsense between now and September.
Amy was first to dial in to the meeting, so she left the Zoom window open and clicked away to answer an email from an agent she’d just started working with, then check the latest news on theGuardianwebsite. This she did while absent-mindedly singing along to Sam Fender on Spotify.
Her computer chimed and a voice said: ‘Verymelodic. Glad to see you’re still into angsty rock about class struggle– it would have crushed my whole belief system if I’d caught you listening to Steps.’
What the fu—
Amy told Alexa to stop playing, then scrambled to find the Zoom window– now buried beneath about seven others. Even before it surfaced, she knew what it would show.
The grim meaning of the letters ‘RHE’ was suddenly made manifest. At the very least she could take a good guess at it, based on the fact that Sam Ainsworth’s face was grinning at her from her laptop screen. Rowton Hall Estates? Rowton Hall Enterprises? It didn’t matter. The salient point was that Carolyn seemed, inadvertently, to be in the process of destroying her life.
Ignoring his jibe about her musical taste, Amy said: ‘I’d ask what on earth you’re doing in this meeting, buthowyou’ve ended up in it seems a better question. I thought your family didn’t do “venue for hire” stuff. My understanding was that the very idea was beneath you.’
‘It certainly isn’t beneathme,’ Sam said. ‘Hence my attendance this afternoon.’
Amy scowled at him. ‘That doesn’t answer the question.’
‘Carolyn– your boss, I believe– is acquainted with my mother from years back,’ Sam explained.
That figured, Amy thought. Posh people didn’t seem to follow the ‘six degrees of separation’ rule, whereby everyone in the world was connected via a chain of so many acquaintances. It was more like a rule of two or three degrees, the whole thing concentrated by having been to the ‘right’ schools, debutante parties and polo matches.
‘Somehow,’ Sam went on, ‘with a little help from me, she managed to convince Pam, and then my father, that an outdoor event like this would be highly profitable and not too disruptive.’ That also figured. Carolyn was doggedly determined when she wanted something, but also excellent at making whoever she was working on believe her plans were all their own bright idea. ‘I said that as MD of the estate, I’d do all the necessary work to make it happen. As you can probably imagine, the prospect of a healthy return fornoinvestment of his own time or effort was too tempting for Roger to resist.’
Amy couldn’t help noticing that Sam referred to his parents by their first names. It felt almost derisive– like he disapproved of them. That said, she always called her own mother Lily; Mum felt like a title you had to earn, and Lily– though Amy rarely felt resentment towards her– had never put the necessary work in.
‘You didn’t think that working with me on this might be … Well. Hideous?’ Amy asked. ‘You didn’t think that perhaps you shouldnotinvolve yourself in my professional life, given how much we dislike each other? At the very least you could have given me some warning. I was at your bloody house last night!’