A Perfect Proposal (23 page)

Amanda was a very satisfactory listener, Sophie decided. She had responded instantly to Sophie’s request for a debrief and had agreed to meet Sophie, who was jet-lagged but also a bit hyper and desperate to talk through her recent experiences. Milly had heard the story, but until both of her old friends had, Sophie felt she hadn’t talked it all through sufficiently.

Amanda had bagged a table with a sofa at their favourite wine bar and had ordered Sophie a glass of Pinot Grigio and a bottle of sparkling water. She pushed the wine towards her friend. ‘Tell me everything, starting with your farewell dinner with Mills.’

When Sophie had taken a large gulp of wine she said, ‘It was so sad to leave her! We didn’t see all that much of each other but we did have some brilliant times. Her boyfriend cooked a lovely meal and then we went out for drinks afterwards.’ Sophie rummaged in her bag – she hoped Amanda wouldn’t ask about it just yet, or assume she’d bought a knock-off from the street – and produced a parcel. ‘This is for you! Only little, I’m afraid, but I thought you deserved a present from me that wasn’t home-made for once.’

‘Oh, cool!’ said Amanda. ‘Bobbi Brown! My favourite!’

‘Make-up is cheaper over there. I hope I got the colour right.’

Amanda opened the lipstick. ‘Perfect. You have such a
good eye for colour. Now, tell me all – did you go to the Magnolia Bakery and have cupcakes?’

‘Uh-huh! And oh, Mands, you should see the Christmas decorations! It’s like fairy land. And they have outdoor skating in Central Park and in Times Square.’

‘They do that in London, too.’

‘But it’s more glittery in New York,’ Sophie insisted.

‘So tell me about Milly. Is her boyfriend nice?’

‘Sweet, although him being a chef they don’t see that much of each other. She works really hard too. People do seem to, over there.’

‘So, what else?’

‘Well, I met a
wonderful
old lady. She asked me to stay in her mansion – I am not exaggerating,
mansion
– in Connecticut. I met her my second night in New York when I went to an opening that Milly was working on.’

Amanda sat back and listened while Sophie embarked on a detailed, if slightly garbled, account of her trip to America, ending with her feelings of guilt about the new clothes Luke had bought her.

‘I have to say,’ Amanda said, looking at Sophie’s extended leg, ‘I wouldn’t have been able to take those boots back either. Or the bag.’

‘You don’t think keeping them makes me a sort of tart?’ Sophie took another fond look before replacing her leg under the table.

Amanda took a thoughtful sip from her glass. ‘No. Why would I think that?’

Sophie sighed. ‘The trouble is, when you mix with very rich people you feel sort of touchy, as if you want to prove that you’re as good as they are—’

‘And you are!’

‘I know! And I don’t value myself because of how much money I have – which is just as well – but they were so
generous to me. Matilda treated me like a daughter – granddaughter.’

‘She liked you. If she didn’t she would have just said, “Thank you for stopping me falling on my arse—”’

‘She wouldn’t have said that!’ The thought of Matilda using such language made Sophie clap her hand to her mouth.

‘And carried on looking at pictures,’ continued Amanda, unfazed by Sophie’s reaction. ‘Or whatever she was doing.’

Sophie subsided and then sighed. ‘I know, but giving me the ring.’ She stretched out her right hand where the ring now set off her nail varnish very nicely. ‘It was so kind.’

There was a tiny pause before Amanda said, ‘What did Luke say about you keeping it?’

‘Oh, he was keen too! Apparently he said I’d worked very hard for it and if Matilda wanted to give it to me, I should have it.’

‘And had you worked hard at the brunch?’

Sophie nodded. ‘It was quite hard to begin with. I felt such a fraud. This woman called Ali, who Luke really liked, sort of – I don’t know – warned me about his previous wife, saying how young she was, implying I was too young too.’ She paused. ‘Having the ring gave me credibility. Although …’ She paused. ‘Looking back I wonder if the ring did convince her? She’d be able to tell it wasn’t all that valuable. Maybe she knew we were just pretending?’

‘Well, not being there I can’t really say, but it sounds like you did as good a job as you possibly could and so Luke thought you should be rewarded.’ Amanda peered at the ring. ‘It probably isn’t worth a huge amount of money, by their standards, anyway.’

Sophie decided to put her faint doubts about Ali out of her mind. Either she’d been convinced or she hadn’t. She turned her mind back to Luke and his presents. ‘True. But he’d
already bought me the clothes and the bag and the boots, not to mention taken me to Mystic to eat pizza – we must get that film out – and, well, been really nice.’

‘So you quite like Luke, do you?’

Sophie made a face. ‘You’re such a romantic! Just because you’re really happy with David, you want to pair everyone else up.’

Amanda chuckled. ‘No! But you are talking about him rather a lot. It is a bit of a sign.’

‘I didn’t realise—’

‘So? Do you like him? Or not? Maybe you just don’t fancy him.’

Sophie struggled to explain feelings she didn’t understand herself. She had found herself thinking about him quite a lot since her return but she put it down to the fact that he was so different to all the other men in her life, past and present. She’d quickly dismissed the adage that opposites could attract.

‘Well,’ she said now, ‘I wouldn’t kick him out of bed, but honestly, Mands, I’d be better off fancying Prince Harry. At least he’s fairly normal and lives on the same side of the Atlantic.’ She sipped her wine, which she’d turned into a spritzer. ‘Luke is too grown up for me, somehow.’

‘But he sounds lovely!’ Amanda had been impressed when Sophie had first described him with his good suits, nice shirts and lovely cologne. ‘And you’d be really going against type, too.’

Sophie tried not to smile. Amanda and Milly were always going on about her hippy boyfriends who never took her anywhere nice, always expected her to pay – and not just her half – and didn’t wash often enough. The cheese to Luke’s chalk, in fact. ‘Well, that’s true.’ She paused. ‘But he would never fancy me. You should see the girls he usually mixes with. Paris Hilton lookalikes!’

‘Who he wanted you to protect him from. If he liked that sort of girl he wouldn’t have got you in to help.’

‘I was the only person available. It’s not going to happen. I’m not his type, not his class, not his financial bracket. These things don’t work in real life.’

‘So why drag you along to a “brunch”’ – something about the way she said this gave it inverted commas – ‘posing as his fiancée?’

‘Because he’s America’s most eligible bachelor! Didn’t I tell you about the bar where I met him? There were these girls talking about him. He’s the one they all want. Probably because he’s not only loaded but young – ish – and straight. He can’t go anywhere without being hounded by gorgeous women. He’s been divorced. He probably just doesn’t need the hassle. If people think he’s taken, they won’t bother him so much.’

‘He sounds a bit arrogant to me. “Oh, I’m so gorgeous, I can’t handle all these gorgeous women fancying me.”’

‘No, it wasn’t like that,’ Sophie defended. ‘He can handle it perfectly well but he didn’t want to be rude – and they’d see it as being rude – to the granddaughters of Matilda’s old friends.’

‘Fair enough. So he chose you because … ?’

Sophie chuckled ruefully. ‘Because I was in his grandmother’s house? Handy, like?’

Amanda dismissed this. ‘If you’d been … well, to put it bluntly, a bit of a dog, he wouldn’t have taken you! He did it because you’re gorgeous, English, posh and different from what he’s used to.’

‘America is supposed to be a classless society.’

‘But it isn’t. It may be more to do with money but I don’t think any society is classless.’

Sophie silently agreed. ‘Whatever. Anyway the money thing would always be a barrier. But we don’t need to worry
because he lives in New York and I live here. Let’s have another drink.’

When they both had full glasses and had ordered a pizza to share, Amanda went back to her task of wheedling every detail out of Sophie. Sophie, who had now told Amanda everything she thought she needed to know, wanted to talk about something else but it wasn’t easy to divert Amanda when she was in full interrogation mode.

‘So does Luke know about Matilda and the picture?’

‘Don’t think so. I think she felt he would think she was on too much of a wild-goose chase, trying to find a house she knew so little about.’ Sophie sighed. ‘It’s a shame. I’d really love to help her find it but I don’t even have a name. She thought she knew the name of the place or person who owned it but when it came to it she couldn’t remember. She is quite old.’

‘Ooh, it is rather little to go on, just a photocopy of a picture of a house that might not still be standing.’

They both laughed. ‘Just a little!’

‘But Matilda said the name would come back to her if she stopped thinking about it and she would email me when it did. And if she can do email she’s still completely on the ball. Then I’ll have to think how to proceed.’

‘It sort of matches, doesn’t it? You’re helping Matilda to find her house and Luke is helping you find your long-lost relatives. Any news on that?’

‘He is on the case.’ She frowned. ‘Or maybe Ali is. He left a message saying “We’re on to it”, meaning my project. And she does work for him.’

Amanda sipped thoughtfully. ‘I think you might see him again, Soph.’

‘I don’t agree but let’s not argue about it. I’m just going to snitch that paper from that table over there and start looking for a job. I’m determined to get on my course, just as soon as
I’ve got enough money. Lucky it’s nearly Christmas, there should be loads about.’ She got the paper and flicked through to the jobs section for a few minutes before sighing. ‘None of these seem very inspiring. Mostly care work, which I do like but it’s not terribly well paid. Oh, look at this!’ She shoved the paper under Amanda’s nose.

‘What? Which one are you looking at?’

‘This one. “Can anyone remember Mr Henry Bowles …”’ She read out the advertisement.

‘Yes? But why are you interested?’

‘I could put an ad in a Cornish paper when I get the name. I could say, “Does anyone remember a person or place called whatever, and if so, get in touch.” It could narrow down the search quite a lot.’

‘Well, you need the name first.’

‘And a job,’ Sophie agreed.

‘They might take you here,’ said Amanda, finally accepting Sophie wasn’t going to tell her anything else interesting. ‘Then we could see each other without waiting for you to have a night off.’

Sophie considered. ‘They’re not actually advertising, are they? I didn’t see anything written on the board outside.’

‘Just go and tell them you’re available. They’ll snap you up.’

After some lively discussion about the unlikeliness of this happening, Sophie did as she was told. And fortunately for Sophie, they did just as Amanda had foretold and snapped her up.

Sophie’s family were very pleased to have her back. It was only when she wasn’t there to do it that they noticed how much she did. They were thrilled to hear all about her meeting and staying with Matilda. Sophie didn’t show them the ring; she felt it would require too much explanation. She
wrote Uncle Eric a letter, telling him that while she hadn’t found her, Cousin Rowena was being looked for and that he shouldn’t get his hopes up. This was a little tease; he’d told her it was all hopeless right from the beginning. She knew he’d appreciate the joke.

The wine bar got used to Amanda coming in after work and to her and Sophie having a good chat, especially after Sophie pointed out that Amanda’s cups of coffee were bought and paid for. ‘I’m bringing the customers in,’ she explained.

As Amanda wasn’t the only customer Sophie brought in and she polished glasses while she chatted, this was accepted.

‘I’ve had an email!’ Sophie said when she next saw her friend.

‘Exciting,’ said Amanda, sliding on to a bar stool, looking tired. ‘And did it offer to extend bits of you that you don’t have?’