Chapter 18
Justin Baird had invited Anna to lunch at the Ivy. Main chat: contracts, film deals and celebrity gossip.
She arrived fifteen minutes late, a tradition she had always kept, dressed in her fifties glamour: a sleek brown mink that Evelyn had given to her, a chic black dress, patent-leather high heels and a velvet pillbox hat.
‘Mr Baird’s table, please,’ she said to the ma?tre d’.
‘May I take your jacket?’ he asked.
‘Thank you.’ She dropped it from her shoulders and walked gracefully to the table.
‘Hello, Anna.’ Justin Baird stood up to greet her – a tall, good-looking guy with rugged features and dark hair, who wore an elegant navy suit with a silk tie.
Early fifties , she guessed. A proper man: old school, Evelyn would say .
Attractive, late thirties , he mused.
Justin Baird didn’t waste time. ‘ The Dog T hat Lost I ts Bark is magical. The agency would love to represent you. I think we could tie the story up with a book and a movie deal. We’ll pitch it to Disney.’
Just as she’d imagined.
‘That’s wonderful, Mr Baird,’ she said.
‘Do call me Justin.’
‘Justin.’ She was keen to complete the scenario she’d written in her head. ‘I hope you won’t think me pushy, but may I suggest that if all goes well with the publishing deal, I might read my story on Tell Me a Tale ? It’s a children’s show at teatime on the BBC. Do you know it?’
‘Yes, I do. We’ve had a few writers on the programme. I think you would be very good. As soon as we get a publishing deal, I’ll phone the producers.’
‘Thank you.’ She gave him a sweet little kiss on the cheek. ‘I’m delighted to have found you. I’m sure that I will be in very good hands.’
‘So let’s celebrate. Champagne?’
‘Yes, please.’
‘A bottle of Krug,’ he said to the hovering waiter.
Krug, how sophisticated. ‘Don’t jump the gun,’ she could hear her mother say, ‘until you’re absolutely sure you have him hook, line and sinker. And that means a ring on your finger.’
Anna laughed to herself. Her mother had lost the plot. Better to be naughty, now she was forty. Book first and then to bed. The ring on the finger came last.