Chapter 1
When Maeve was still in the office at eleven thirty on Saturday night, searching online for a loo seat with a floral design, she had a feeling something had to be wrong with her life.
And when a client phoned her at six the next morning, screeching that the curtains in her bedroom were the wrong shade of purple, she knew things had to change.
But it wasn’t until she was at the surgery of her local GP a week later and heard the words ‘exhaustion’ and ‘panic attacks that could turn into heart arrhythmia’ that she was forced to make a decision.
‘You need to take some time off,’ her doctor said as she lay like a dead fish on the examination table.
‘Not possible,’ she mumbled. She struggled to sit and buttoned up her shirt. ‘We have taken on a huge amount of work at the office and I’m one of the top—’
He looked at her sceptically. ‘Top what? Rocket scientists?’
‘No. Interior designers.’
‘And that’s so stressful you end up in casualty twice with panic attacks and a pulse of over a hundred?’
‘You haven’t met our clients.’
‘I don’t think I’d like to.’ He put his stethoscope back around his neck and pushed his glasses up his nose as he sat down behind his desk.
‘I’m going to give you a prescription for some beta blockers.
But that doesn’t mean you can pop them like Smarties and carry on.
’ He looked at her sternly. ‘I’ve seen so many young women like you ending up with serious health problems because they’re so bloody driven.
Please don’t be one of them. Take some time off, relax, get some exercise and then see if you can’t manage your time a bit better. ’
‘I’ll try,’ she promised, knowing it would be next to impossible. Her mobile rang as she put on her shoes.
‘Ignore that,’ the doctor ordered as she reached for it. ‘Learn to turn off your phone and not be available all the time.’
‘Is that what you do?’ she asked cheekily. The doctor looked quite tired himself.
He looked startled. ‘Er, okay,’ he said with a wry smile. ‘Maybe not as much as I should. But my job is a tad more important to humanity than yours, I would imagine.’
Maeve had to giggle. ‘Yeah, I know. The wallpaper clashing with the upholstery is not exactly life-threatening, of course.’ She paused and looked at him. ‘Your waiting room needs a little update, now that we’re on the subject.’
‘I know,’ he said with a sigh. ‘The magazines are out of date.’
‘Yeah, well, that too. And they were all messed up, so I straightened them and organised them in chronological order.’ Maeve felt a dart of pride. He was sure to be grateful for that little favour.
‘You do need a break, my dear,’ the doctor said, with a hint of exasperation. ‘Could you try to turn your mind away from such things for a while? Maybe go out with your boyfriend to a movie or dinner?’
‘I would if I had one,’ Maeve said wistfully. ‘But going out alone isn’t much fun.’
‘Oh. Sorry. I had no idea. But do try to take time off in any case.’
‘I will,’ Maeve promised. ‘I just want to tell you about the waiting room. It’s very depressing, you know. That green paint on the walls and the burgundy fabric on the chairs clash horrendously.’
The doctor lifted one eyebrow. ‘That’s hardly any concern of yours.’
‘It is if I have to sit there waiting for half an hour,’ Maeve argued.
‘It would give anyone a headache. But you know what? It’s easy to fix.
Dulux does this lovely white paint with a pink undertone.
And IKEA has some great chairs right now.
I got a few for a client recently. Very cheery colours and really comfortable. ’
‘Lovely,’ he said and handed her a prescription.
‘Take these beta blockers and a couple of weeks off and you’ll be fine.
I want to see you back for a check-up in a month with a tan, a smile on your face and a little more flesh on your bones.
Stop even thinking about design or other people’s houses.
Go out there and have fun, drink wine – and why not even fall in love, if that’s possible. ’
‘I’ll do my best,’ she said, knowing the falling in love bit was the greatest challenge.
Fat chance of finding some man out there in the dating jungle.
Been there, done that, got dumped and picked herself up.
Bitter? No, but still in pain – even after three years – and determined not to get fooled again.
She didn’t have the mental energy to go out there and be fascinating enough to catch whoever might take her fancy.
Maeve took the prescription, wishing it included some kind of medicine for broken hearts.
‘He said I have to slow down,’ Maeve told her boss later that day.
‘Or I will have a heart attack… or something,’ she ended lamely.
She looked at Ava across the desk, which was littered with bits of fabric and books of wallpaper samples.
‘I’m run down. Burnt out. I need a break. Right now. Doctor’s orders.’
Ava fixed her with a steely look. ‘A break? Right now? You mean you won’t finish the townhouse in Knightsbridge? Or the flat in South Kensington?’
‘I can do the Knightsbridge one,’ Maeve sighed. ‘But not the South Ken one. That woman is driving me nuts.’
Ava rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t they all?’ Her mobile rang. She looked at the caller ID and turned it off. ‘The rich bitch in Battersea. For the fifth time today. You were saying?’
‘I need some time off,’ Maeve stated. ‘My doctor is worried.’
Ava lifted a perfectly arched eyebrow. ‘Worried? About a young woman like you? You’re only in your thirties. What could possibly be wrong with you? Wait till you’re my age, then we can talk about health problems.’
Maeve sat up straighter. ‘Look, Ava, I’m about to turn forty.
Not that I’ll be shouting it from the rooftops, but that’s the fact.
My workload has been impossible lately. You have given me all the new clients we’ve been flooded with since that house was featured in Vogue. It’s nearly impossible to keep up.’
Ava fixed Maeve with a steely look in her pale blue eyes. ‘We can keep up. We have to, and we will. End of story. I’m doing two houses, a flat and a boutique hotel at the moment. If I can cope, so can you.’
Maeve met Ava’s gaze with a stern look of her own.
‘You’ve given me six new clients in the past two weeks.
That’s more than I can cope with. My dreams are full of wallpaper designs and sofa cushions, and clients call me at six in the morning.
On a fecking Sunday!’ She paused and lowered her voice.
‘I’m taking two weeks off. Doctor’s orders.
My summer holidays are overdue anyway. I was supposed to have my break three weeks ago, remember?
I delayed it because of all the new jobs.
’ Maeve sighed, feeling a knot of tension in her chest. She took a deep breath and tried to relax her shoulders.
‘Please?’ she asked. ‘Just two weeks. My doctor told me to take a break or I’ll have to go on sick leave.
Can’t you get Rufus to take over? He’s been chomping at the bit since he started last spring.
And then there’s that nice trainee we took on – she seems terrific. ’
‘I gave Rufus all the house doctor jobs so you could have more time for the new clients. And the new girl has to be broken in slowly.’
‘I know. But you can free up Rufus by giving the trainee the house doctor jobs, can’t you? Those are quite easy and the most fun. I loved making houses and flats look enticing for the property market when I first started.’
‘We’re not here to have fun.’ Ava sighed and flicked her sleek blonde mane behind her shoulders.
‘Okay, then. It’s against my better judgement to let you take leave now, but I have to say you do look bloody awful.
Not a sight we want our posh clients to be confronted with.
But I want you back in time to prepare for the interior design fair in October.
We’ll have a stand there and I’ll need you with me. ’
‘I’ll be back in plenty of time, I swear,’ Maeve said in a near whisper, knowing she’d promise anything so she could have some time off.
She knew without glancing in the mirror that she looked more than a little under the weather.
Her usually rosy cheeks were a sickly white, there were bags under her normally sparkly green eyes, and her thick auburn hair hung lankly down her back.
She had lost at least five pounds in the last few months, not because of dieting, but because she hadn’t had time to eat properly.
‘Where are you going?’ Ava asked.
‘Home,’ Maeve said. ‘To Ireland.’
She met Ava’s eyes and noticed a flicker of concern.
Her boss wasn’t without empathy, she was just a very driven woman who fought hard to make her business run smoothly and to keep earning enough money to support her family.
Two teenage girls, a flat in Chelsea and an actor husband constantly ‘resting’, as actors say when they’re out of work, didn’t come cheap.