Chapter 5
Friday morning, 7 a.m., Claudia was up and dressed, emails read, having breakfast with Peter in the kitchen of their elegant house in Holland Park, when Anna rang.
‘Sorry to call you so early, but can you give me a reading in the next couple of days?’
‘Hello, Anna. Why the urgency?’
‘I’ve met a gorgeous man, and he’s going to help me with my book, and I want to see if there’s more to it than that.’
‘You’ll have to wait until next week. I’ve been invited to read at a hen party in Rome.’
‘I just need to know when you’re leaving?’ Anna asked.
‘Later this afternoon. I’ll be back Wednesday.’
‘Too late. He’s coming into the practice on Tuesday.’
‘Look, why don’t you Skype me in ten minutes and I’ll pull a card for you.’
‘Okay, thanks. Sorry again, Claudia. I didn’t mean to interrupt your breakfast.’
‘Then why do it? I’ve told you before – text me first. When you phone me this early, I think it’s an emergency.’
‘Okay, next time, I promise I will. Thanks so much! Speak in ten.’
Claudia took her iPad and moved into the dining room. She picked up the tarot cards, shuffled them and spread them across the table.
Anna’s face came up on the screen. She wasn’t dressed and looked ghostly pale.
‘Aren’t you going to work?’ Claudia said.
‘Yes, but I didn’t sleep well last night. Had a dream about that bully, Nurse Aileen. She was poking my gums in the dental chair. Kept on calling me a dirty girl. She hurt me. It was horrible. She bullies me every day! I wish I could give this all up.’
‘Okay, Anna, we can deal with that when I get back. So, what would you like to ask the cards?’
‘Will there be a romantic future with the man I met who said he was going to help me with my story?’
‘What’s his name?’ Claudia replied.
‘I’d rather not say. He’s very well known, and if it doesn’t work out I’ll feel foolish.’
‘Come on, I’m not going to tell anyone.’
‘Okay. His name is Damien Spur. You know, the novelist.’
‘Certainly do.’ Better not say too much. Keep Anna on track.
She pulled the card.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘the Knight of Wands. A man who charges fearlessly into many relationships and often out again. Loving the challenge and excitement, living in the moment, but not easy to tame. There will be fire, but not necessarily love and security.’
‘Oh dear. Sounds as if he’ll break my heart,’ Anna said.
‘Probably. If you’re easy prey. He’s a must-have-can’t-have man. Enjoys the challenge. Look, let’s do a spread when I come back from Italy, to allow a wider perspective.’
‘Okay. Just have to keep my cool on Tuesday, then. At least he’s going to read my story.’
‘Well, that’s good. He’s a terrific writer. I’m sure he’ll give you excellent advice. Just don’t throw your body at him!’
***
When Damien arrived at the practice, Anna made sure she was standing by the printing machine.
She wanted him to see her legs. Especially as she was wearing black patent high heels that showed off her neat ankles and shapely calves.
‘Can I make you a cup of tea, Mr Spur? Or perhaps you’d prefer coffee?’
Great pair of pins , said the Voice, but keep it professional. If she can’t write, it’s best not to encourage her.
‘No thanks, Anna. Just your story.’
‘Here you are.’ She took out a brown Manila envelope from a plastic bag under her desk and, with a covert glance around the waiting room to make sure no one was watching, slipped it to him.
He leant forward to take it. His neck smelt of soap and Vétiver. Anna’s nose twitched. So sensual, so manly. If only.
Pity I can’t kiss you. The electric current sizzled through her body.
‘Contact number?’ Damien said. ‘It’s not on the back.’
‘It’s inside,’ she said.
‘I’ll give it a read when I have time. It might not be till the end of next week.’
‘So lovely of you to do this,’ she replied.
Nurse Aileen, who was talking to the porter, had seen the exchange.
‘Ah, Mr Spur,’ she said, approaching the desk, ‘Dr Lacey’s ready for you.’
She noticed a bag of boiled sweets on the desk.
‘Anna!’ The nurse grabbed the packet. ‘Not a good advert for a dental practice.’
‘May I have them back, please?’
You nasty bitch. How dare you embarrass me in front of Damien Spur.
Damien plucked the bag from the nurse’s hand and gave them back to Anna.
‘You’re lucky to have such a lovely receptionist,’ he said. ‘She deserves better treatment, and if you don’t stop bullying her, I’ll speak to your supervisor.’
He turned to Anna. ‘I’ll be in touch next week.’
He swept past the nurse and headed up the stairs.
***
Anna couldn’t wait to tell Sophie, her younger sister, about Damien.
She phoned her every day. Just to say hi, make sure she was all right.
The beautiful and lonely widow had lost her husband, Daniel, and son, Mikey, in a tragic accident six years ago off the coast of Mallorca.
The little boy had been swept off the rocks by a tidal wave. His father had dived in to try to rescue him. Both had drowned.
But now she’d made a dangerous friendship with Nicholas, a married man.
‘How are you, Sophie?’ Anna asked.
‘I’m okay. I really wish you wouldn’t ask me that every day.’
‘I just think you’re barking up the wrong tree. Why can’t you find someone single?’
‘Here you go again. Please stop treating me like a baby. I’m perfectly capable of leading my own life.’
‘Has Nicholas told his wife about you? Surely, she must know what’s going on. All the things you tell me and she doesn’t seem to care where he is? I think she wants him to have an affair.’
‘Anna, please. You’re jumping to conclusions. Our relationship is platonic.’
‘Platonic! But for how long? It’s your life, Sophie. Just be careful that you don’t fall for a man who’s already taken.’
‘Actually, I have met a very interesting single man, but I’m not sure he’s my type.’
‘Where?’
‘At a book launch.’
‘That’s great!’ Anna had a feeling that maybe her sister was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear.
‘I met him last week at the launch party of his new thriller, Writing in the Sand . Good company,’ Sophie said. ‘Charming and funny, but I think he’s quite a handful.’
‘I can’t believe it. You’re talking about Damien Spur.’ Anna’s cheeks burned. Her throat was dry. Her damn sister always got there first.
‘And funnily enough,’ Sophie said, ‘last week he popped up at a gallery opening of an amazing painter, Olga Krilova. Claudia was there, too.’
Anna tried to keep her voice steady. ‘Well, that’s uncanny, because I also met him! He came into the practice, said he would help me with my book. So, are you keen, Sophie?’ Anna tried to keep her voice light.
‘Not really. I told you, he’s not my usual sort of guy. You know I’m a bit of a masochist.’
Anna sighed. ‘Well, I have to say that makes me feel better. To be honest, Sophie, I really like him. And what’s this about Claudia?’
Anna’s paranoia had got the better of her. Claudia was hypnotic. She knew how to make men fall in love with her.
‘She didn’t tell me she’d met Damien,’ Anna said. ‘When I asked her to pull a card on a future relationship with him, she said she knew who he was, and that was all. So, you saw them together last week?’
‘Yes. I definitely saw them chatting.’
‘For a long time?’
‘I don’t know,’ Sophie said flippantly. ‘There were so many people there and, frankly, I was more interested in looking at the work… and, of course, the Russians. What a glamorous lot.’
‘Well,’ Anna persisted, ‘maybe they were talking about the art. They probably didn’t exchange names.’
‘Really, I can’t tell you any more. Besides, Claudia adores her husband. She wouldn’t jeopardise her marriage for another man.’
‘Okay, let’s leave it at that,’ Anna said. ‘Anyway, I’m glad that we don’t share the same taste in guys. But you really need to find someone else. Nicholas isn’t good for you. Do you want to spend your best years being a well-kept secret?’
That’s exactly what Evelyn would say. But, although she paid lip service to their mother’s words, a tiny part of Anna was glad to see her sister wasting her life with a married man who would never leave his wife.
Perhaps this time Anna could be first to the finishing post.