The Woman Who Stole My Life (29 page)

Bryce Bonesman was lanky, in his late sixties, and oozing sophisticated charm. He held my right hand and clasped my forearm and said, with great sincerity, ‘Thank you for coming.’

‘… But thank
you
.’ I was flustered because he’d paid for the plane tickets and the magnificent hotel.

‘And thank you, sir.’ Bryce moved his attention to Mannix.

‘So they’re here,’ Phyllis said to him. ‘It’s great.’ She began moving down a corridor. ‘The usual place? Everyone in there?’

We followed her into a boardroom, where a small army of people was seated around a long table. Bryce introduced them all – there was Somebody Somebody who was Vice-President of Marketing and Somebody Else who was Vice-President of Sales. There was a Vice-President of Publicity, a Vice-President of Paperbacks, a Vice-President of Digital …

‘Sit by my side.’ Bryce helped me into a chair. ‘I’m not letting you out of my sight!’

The vice-presidents laughed politely.

‘So we love your book,’ Bryce Bonesman said. A cacophony of assent followed. ‘And we can make a great success of it.’

‘Thank you,’ I murmured.

‘You know that publishing is dying on its feet?’

I hadn’t known. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

‘Ease up a little,’ Phyllis said to him. ‘It’s not your mom you’re talking about.’

‘You’ve got a great back-story,’ Bryce said. ‘The Guillain-Barré thing. Mannix being your doctor. The stuff about you leaving your husband, that’s going to be a little trickier to finesse. Is he a sex addict? A drunk?’

‘No …’ Suddenly I didn’t like how this was going.

‘Okay. You’re still good friends with him? You all celebrate Thanksgiving together?’

‘Well, we don’t have Thanksgiving in Ireland. But we’re good friends.’ Sort of.

‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you, Stella. We’re offering a sizeable advance, but, if this works out, you could make a lot more money.’

I could? ‘Thank you.’ My voice was barely audible because I was embarrassed to be considered so worthy.

Almost as a throwaway, he added, ‘Of course, we’re going to need you to do a second book.’

‘Oh? Thank you!’ I was profoundly flattered, then seized with terror: how the hell would I do that?

‘Naturally, the offer is subject to conditions.’

 … Which are?

‘This book is not a slam dunk. You need to tour it and go on every talk show in the country. Grass-roots promotion, a lot of travel. We’ll tour you possibly four times, starting early next year. Each tour lasting two to three weeks. We’ll get you right out there in the boondocks. We want to make you a brand name.’

I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but I murmured, ‘Thank you.’

‘If you work hard, you could make it.’

‘I’m good at working hard.’ At least I was on solid ground with that.

‘So you give up your job and base yourself here for at least a year. You go hard or go home.’

I was surprised, almost shocked, then stricken with foreboding. I had already abandoned my children when I got sick and I couldn’t do it again.

‘But I have two kids,’ I said. ‘They’re seventeen and sixteen, and they’re still in school.’

‘We’ve got schools here. Excellent schools.’

‘You mean they could come with me?’

‘Sure.’

My head was whirling because I was almost obsessed with Betsy and Jeffrey’s academic life. Betsy only had one more year of school to go, Jeffrey had two. What would moving to New York do to their studies? But surely the schools here in New York would be better than the ones at home? And wouldn’t the life experience of living in a different city stand to them? And, even if it was a disaster, it wasn’t for ever …?

‘The new semester is just about to start,’ Bryce said. ‘How about that for timing? And we can organize an apartment in a good neighbourhood for you.’

One of the vice-presidents quietly said something to Bryce, and he replied, ‘Why, of course!’

To me, he said, ‘How does a ten-room duplex on the Upper West Side sound? With a housekeeper and driver and staff quarters. Our dear friends the Skogells are taking a year out in Asia, so their home is available.’

‘Yes, but –’ Instinctively I knew that Betsy and Jeffrey would kill to live in New York – the bragging they’d do would be second to none. And that Ryan would – reluctantly, perhaps – agree to it, but where did Mannix fit in?

Phyllis stood up and announced, ‘We need the room.’

Bryce Bonesman and his people got to their feet. I raised my eyebrows at Mannix – what the hell was going on? He messaged something with his eyes but, for once, I couldn’t read him.

‘A sidebar with my client,’ Phyllis said. ‘And you.’ She nodded at Mannix.

Everyone else filed out super-fast; clearly they were used to this sort of thing.

To Mannix, Phyllis said, ‘Over there. Don’t look. I want a moment with Stella.’

In a low voice, she said to me, ‘I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking about him.’ She flicked her eyes at Mannix, who had obediently turned away from us. ‘You’re crazy in love; you don’t want to be in a different country to him. But how about this? You need a person. An assistant, a manager, call him what you want. Someone running interference and taking care of business. There’s going to be a lot of interfacing between Blisset Renown and you – travel stuff, promo logistics. He’s good, your guy. He gets it. And before you even ask, I don’t do that shit. I do great deals but I don’t hold your hand.’

‘… But Mannix has a job. Mannix is a
doctor
.’

With contemptuous good humour, she said, ‘“My boyfriend, the doctor.” So why don’t we ask “the doctor” what the doctor wants?’

‘I’m thinking about it,’ he said.

‘You weren’t supposed to be listening.’

‘Well, there you go.’

‘Phyllis,’ I said, anxiously. ‘Bryce mentioned a second book.’

‘Yeah.’ She waved her hand dismissively. ‘Another collection of those wise, pithy bon mots, just the same as
One Blink
. You can do it in your sleep. First rule of publishing: if something works, just do it again, with a different title.’

‘… And do you think they’ll pay me the same amount?’ I hardly dared to ask.

‘Are you kidding me?’ she said. ‘I could do the deal for your second book right now, this afternoon, and get you another quarter of a million dollars. But my gut – which is never wrong – says if we wait for the right moment, they’ll pay you a shitload more.’

It was her certainty, more than anything, that convinced me that a new life could be fashioned from the bizarre opportunity Annabeth Browning had given me. This was real.

To Mannix, I said, ‘Would you be willing to give up your job for a year?’

‘… For a year?’ He went into some place in his head and I held my breath, hoping against hope. ‘Yeah,’ he said, slowly. ‘For a year, yes, I think I would.’

I exhaled and felt almost euphoric.

‘What about you?’ he asked. ‘Are
you
okay giving up your job for a year?’

It was nice of him to ask but, to me, mine wasn’t a ‘real’ job, not like his.

‘Perfectly okay,’ I said. ‘I’m in. A million per cent.’ Life had suddenly revealed a solution to all my problems. Jeffrey would love to live in New York and if the price for that was me being with Mannix, he’d suck it up. I’d get to live with Mannix, to share his bed, night after night …

‘Thank you, Mannix,’ I said. ‘Thank you.’

This was the perfect moment to tell him I loved him. It had been worth waiting for.

‘Mannix, I –’

‘So this is done?’ Phyllis interrupted. ‘We’re good?’

Deflated, I nodded. I’d get another chance to tell Mannix I loved him.

Phyllis went to the door and called, ‘All of you, back in here.’

When the various vice-presidents had resumed their seats and the chair-scraping and rearranging had finished, Phyllis stood at the head of the table and said, ‘You’ve got a deal.’

‘Terrific!’ Bryce Bonesman said. ‘Terrific news.’

Everyone was moving around and shaking hands and smiling and saying they were looking forward to working with me.

‘You’ll join my wife and me for dinner at eight p.m.’ Bryce Bonesman looked at his watch. ‘Which gives you time to view the Skogells’ place and check out the neighbourhood. I’ll give Bunda Skogell a call, tell her to expect you.’

‘… Thanks.’ I’d been hoping to go to Bloomingdales while I was still able to stand.

‘And your kids tonight – Fatima will take them out on the town. Right, Fatima?’ Fatima was one of the vice-presidents and she looked a bit surprised at this news. ‘Take them to the Hard Rock, then to a show, but not
Book of Mormon
. Give them a good time but keep it clean.’

He refocused on me. ‘Then go home tomorrow, shut your life down and get back here asap. We’ve got a lot of work to do!’

‘Have a Manhattan.’ Amity gave me a shallow glass from a silver salver held by a silent woman dressed all in black. ‘What better way to welcome you to Manhattan than with Manhattans, right?’

‘Thank you.’ I was awed by Amity Bonesman’s very high heels, her incongruously maternal air and her massive apartment, tastefully furnished with rugs and antiques.

‘Oh, Manhattans.’ Bryce Bonesman had come into the room. ‘Amity always makes Manhattans when people are new in town. Hi there, Stella. Looking lovely. You too, young man.’ Bryce kissed me, then shook hands with Mannix. ‘Manhattans are a little bitter for my taste. I have a sweet tooth, but don’t tell my dentist.’

Mannix and I laughed dutifully.

‘So!’ Bryce raised his glass. ‘To Stella Sweeney and
One Blink at a Time
. Here’s hoping it goes to the top of the
New York Times
best-seller list and stays there for a year!’

‘Lovely, yes. Thank you.’ We drank from our bitter drinks.

‘We’ve got a special guest for you tonight,’ Bryce said.

Oh really? I’d thought this was just a low-key dinner with my new publisher and his wife. I was half-crazed with jet lag and adrenaline backwash and I didn’t know how I’d handle any more hits to my system. But, obediently, I fixed a look of anticipation to my face.

‘We’re going to be joined by Laszlo Jellico.’

Laszlo Jellico. I knew the name.

‘Pulitzer-prize winner,’ Bryce prompted. ‘Great man of American letters.’

‘Of course,’ Mannix said.

‘You’ve read him?’ Bryce asked.

‘Sure.’ Mannix was lying. Fair play. Far better than me at this sort of thing.

‘I think my dad has read one of his books,’ I said. ‘
The First Casualty of War
, is that the name?’

‘It
is
! This is the old guy with the bad back who worked on the docks from when he was a kid?’

‘… Er … yes.’

Bryce Bonesman was probably the same age as Dad, but Blisset Renown seemed to have agreed upon a fiction that was my life – I came from a family of ill-educated, malnourished, soot-covered toilers, like the father and brothers in
Zoolander
.

‘Laszlo will get a kick out of that. Be sure to tell him,’ Bryce ordered. To Amity, he said, ‘Laszlo’s bringing a date.’

‘Oh wow. Who’s it going to be tonight? Last time it was a Victoria’s Secret model.’ She caught Mannix’s expression. ‘Not really. But young. Really young and
really
hot.’

She winked at me. ‘He’ll like her.’

‘Hahaha.’ I had to pretend that I wasn’t wildly jealous at the thought of Mannix finding another woman hot.

‘The one before last got drunk out of her mind and sat on Laszlo’s lap and fed him food like he had Alzheimer’s. It was a stitch,’ Amity said, with an eye roll.

‘We’re also going to be joined by Arnold and Inga Ola,’ Bryce said. ‘Arnold’s my colleague and my greatest rival. You met him this afternoon.’

‘In the boardroom?’ Was he one of the vice-presidents?

‘We met him by the elevators as you were leaving.’

‘Oh!’ I had a memory of a belligerent, toad-like man who’d said, ‘So you’re Bryce’s new baby.’

‘Was he sort of angry?’ I asked.

‘That’s the guy!’

‘She’s a pistol,’ Amity said, about me.

‘Arnold’s really pissed that he didn’t sign you. But he had his chance,’ Bryce said happily. ‘Phyllis gave him first look at your book and he said it was garbage. But as soon as I want you, so does he.’

Mannix and I exchanged a flicker.
Keep smiling; keep smiling; whatever you do, keep smiling.

‘Speaking of whom!’ Bryce said. ‘Here’s Arnold and Inga.’

Arnold – as belligerent and toad-like as I’d remembered – pushed towards me. ‘It’s Bryce’s new pet! And the tame boyfriend! Pleased to meet you, sir,’ he said to Mannix.

‘We’ve already met.’

Arnold ignored him. ‘So your little book has a publisher! How about that! And you’re going on tour – the little Irish colleen charming the US of A with her sad little story about being paralysed. I told my maid about you. She says she’ll pray to the Mother Mary for you. She’s from Columbia. Catholic, like you guys.’

My face was flaming.

‘And here you are in Brucie’s well-appointed home.
And
he’s booked Laszlo for tonight. You really must be important. He only books Laszlo when he really wants to impress.’

‘Laszlo is one of my dearest friends,’ Bryce said to me. ‘I’ve been his publisher for twenty-six years. I haven’t “booked” him.’

‘I’m starved,’ Arnold said. ‘Can we eat?’

‘As soon as Laszlo gets here,’ Amity said.

‘If we wait until that horse’s ass shows, we won’t get to eat
at all,’ Arnold muttered. ‘Miss,’ he said to the anonymous woman holding the drinks tray, ‘can I get a bowl of raisin bran?’

‘It’s okay,’ Amity said. ‘He’s here!’

In came Laszlo Jellico. He was tall and wide, like a petrol pump, with a big bushy beard and lots of leonine hair. ‘Friends, friends,’ he declared in a boomy voice. ‘Amity, my beloved one.’ He placed his hands on her breasts and squeezed. ‘Powerless to resist,’ he said. ‘Nothing beats the feel of real.’ He kissed all the men, calling them ‘my dear’; he refused the cocktails, demanded tea, then sent it away untouched; and he claimed to have been ‘quite transfixed’ by my ‘sublime novel’ when he obviously hadn’t a notion who I was.

‘And if I may introduce Gilda Ashley.’ His date was pink and golden and pretty, but, to my relief, she wasn’t devastatingly sexy in the way of a Victoria’s Secret model.

‘What do you do, young lady?’ Arnold asked, his tone of voice implying that she was a whore.

‘I’m a nutritionist and personal trainer.’

‘Oh yeah? Where did you go to school?’

‘University of Overgaard.’

‘Never heard of it.’

Mannix and I exchanged a glance.
What a prick
.

‘So you’re Laszlo’s nutritionist?’ Arnold asked Gilda. ‘Whaddya feed him?’

She gave a melodious laugh. ‘Client confidentiality.’

‘So what would you feed me? I’d like the same diet as Laszlo Jellico, the genius.’

‘Maybe you should book a consultation?’ Her voice was calm.

‘Maybe I should. Gotta card?’

‘… No …’

‘Course you’ve gotta card. Smart girl like you, smart enough to be working with Laszlo Jellico? Course you gotta card.’

‘… I …’ Gilda was flushed.

I watched, mortified for her. She probably did have a card but knew it would be bad manners to hand it out at a dinner party.

Salvation came from Mannix. ‘If she says she hasn’t got a card, maybe she hasn’t got a card.’

Arnold gave him a fake-surprised look. ‘Okay, farm boy. No need to get shirty.’

‘He’s a neurologist,’ I said.

‘Not in this city.’

I opened my mouth to jump in and defend Mannix but he put a calming hand on my arm. With effort I turned away and found myself face to face with Arnold’s wife, Inga. Without much interest she asked, ‘How are you enjoying New York City?’

Making a big effort to sound cheery, I said, ‘Loving it. I only got here this afternoon, but –’

Bryce overheard and said, ‘They’re going to rent the Skogells’ apartment.’

‘The Skogells’ apartment?’ Inga sounded surprised. ‘But you’ll have your two kids with you, I hear. Where will you all
fit
?’

That was a slightly sore point – a ‘ten-room duplex on the Upper West Side’ sounded fabulous and enormous, but when my visit earlier this evening revealed that four of the ten rooms were bathrooms, it started to seem less impressive. Basically, the Skogells’ apartment was a kitchen, a sitting room and three bedrooms. (The walk-in wardrobe counted as a room in realtor language. And the ‘staff quarters’ was one shockingly small en-suite bedroom.)

‘We’re not used to much,’ I said, sweetly.

‘It’s a palace to us,’ Mannix said, deadpan. ‘An absolute palace.’

‘And in a beautiful part of the city,’ I said. ‘I can’t believe that Dean & DeLuca will be my local grocery store.’ During our speedy walkabout of the neighbourhood, Mannix and I had dropped in and I’d almost swooned at the freshly baked breads, the endangered-species apples and the handmade pasta. ‘When I was here with my sister five years ago, we were staying near the SoHo branch and every day we –’

‘Dean & DeLuca?’ Inga said. ‘My, the tourists do love it.’

After a beat Mannix said, ‘We’re quite the pair of rubes.’

Inga gave him a sharp look. ‘Have you got a school for your kids? That’s going to be a toughie. Most schools, there’s a waiting list for the waiting list.’

Almost triumphantly, I said, ‘Tomorrow morning at ten a.m., we’re interviewing at Academy Manhattan.’

‘My. That’s fast.’

It was thanks to Bunda Skogell, who, perhaps sensing my disappointment over her less-than-fabulous apartment, had called in a favour. Her two kids went there and, in vague, delicate language, she implied that she had a certain amount of sway over the board of governors.

‘It’s a good school,’ Inga Ola said. ‘They do music, artwork, sports …’

‘Exactly what I’m looking for. A similar ethos to their current school.’

‘… Yeah,’ Inga said. ‘A good fit for the less academically gifted kid.’

Much later, when we got back to the hotel, the kids were asleep in their separate rooms. I hadn’t seen them since we’d
left for the meeting with Blisset Renown, hours and hours ago. ‘Should I wake them?’ I whispered to Mannix.

‘No.’

‘But all of this affects them. What if they don’t want to live in New York?’

‘Ssshh.’ His hand slid between my shoulders and the zip-pull of my dress whizzed down my back, the cold metal giving me a delicious shiver.

‘You said you weren’t going to have sex with me,’ I said.

‘I lied.’

His eyes were full of purpose. He steered me into our bedroom and kicked the door shut behind him, then flung me on the huge bed where, despite the presence of Jeffrey in the next bedroom, we had fierce, passionate sex. Afterwards, as we lay in each other’s arms, Mannix said, ‘That went well.’

‘What do you mean?’ Sex with us always went well.

‘I mean, Jeffrey didn’t burst in, in a big black cape, singing the song from
The Omen
.’

‘Ah, Mannix …’

‘Sorry. Will I turn out the light?’

‘I’m so wired I feel like I’ll never sleep again.’ I took a calming breath and was immediately seized by anxiety. ‘Mannix, Ryan is going to go bananas.’ I’d been saying this every chance I’d got, ever since I’d agreed to Bryce Bonesman’s condition that I relocate to the USA. ‘I should have talked to him first. What if he won’t let the kids move with us?’

‘Then they stay in Ireland and live with him.’

‘But he can barely handle them two weekends a month.’

‘Exactly. Call him out on it.’

‘You’re tough.’

He shrugged. ‘I want this to work. I want this for us. Can we talk about me for a minute?’ His tone was playful. ‘Tomorrow
morning I have to impress Academy Manhattan with my daddy skills.’

‘You’ll be great,’ I said. ‘You’re great with your nephews.’ Fresh fear grasped me. ‘Mannix, are we doing the right thing? It’s such a risk.’

‘I like risks.’

I knew he did. And I also knew he wasn’t stupid. If he was doing it, it couldn’t really be that big a gamble.

‘It was a weird night, wasn’t it?’ I said. ‘Arnold Ola and his horrible wife. And that Laszlo Jellico? It’s like they’d hired someone to do magic tricks. But Gilda was a sweetie.’

‘Is Laszlo Jellico her boyfriend?’

‘I hope not,’ I said. ‘She seems far too nice for him.’