From Notting Hill to New York . . . Actually

by Ali McNamara

And that’s not the only interview I’m asked to do.

  Over the next week, I do three more US TV shows, all of them national, and the phone never stops ringing. Sean is constantly on his mobile, taking calls from companies and individuals offering to donate to this new venture of mine, once I get it up and running.

  ‘Well, Red,’ he says one evening when we’ve finally got some time alone and we’re out having dinner together. ‘It looks like I was wrong. Looks like this really might be a viable business. If you can actually trace people, that is. The success you had with your dad and Jamie was just luck, really.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter. If all these people are going to put their faith in me, I’ll do it.’

  Sean smiles. ‘You’re a very determined person, aren’t you, when you put your mind to something. Scatty a lot of the time, with your head in the clouds, but your heart is in the right place, and that’s what really counts in life.’

  ‘What’s made you suddenly say that?’

  ‘I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, that’s all. About us, and what it will mean if you start running this business over here.’

  I put my hand across the dinner table and take hold of his. ‘It doesn’t have to change anything. Things will just be a bit different, that’s all. I’ll be here in New York some of the time, and in London the rest. A bit like you, when you’re jetting off on your business trips.’

  Sean nods. ‘I know; it’s just odd.’

  ‘What, because it’s me doing it and not you?’

  ‘No, I don’t mean that. I mean …’ He struggles, which is very unlike Sean. ‘I know you had the business with your father before, but that was different. This time it will be all yours, and it sounds as if it could be big, too, from the interest we’ve been getting already. But if you’ve got all that going on in your life … Well, you might not need me in it any more.’

  I’m almost lost for words. This is so unlike Sean. He’s usually so confident and self-assured about everything.

  ‘Sean, don’t be silly! Of course I need you, I’ll always need you.’

  ‘Really?’ Sean looks across at me with genuine concern on his face.

  ‘Yes! Absolutely I will.’

  ‘Even if life with me isn’t very exciting any more?’

  ‘Sean, please. I love every day I spend with you, whether there’s excitement involved or not.’

  Sean is about to say something else, but his phone rings; he rolls his eyes. ‘Better get it; it might be more investors in your scheme. We’ll be needing an assistant and an office soon, if it carries on like this.’ He gets up from the table and takes his phone outside.

  I think about him while he’s gone. I’ve never seen Sean like this … how would I describe it … lost, vulnerable even. The last time I’d seen him look anything like that was when we were at the top of the London Eye together last year, and he was about to declare his true feelings for me.

  ‘Scarlett,’ Sean says coming back into the restaurant. ‘Good news. Peter thinks he might have found your brooch.’

  Thirty-four

  ‘Where?’

  ‘A lady has just called the TV station and said she saw it being worn at a fashion show about a week ago.’

  ‘A fashion show? How ever could it have ended up on a runway?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Sean throws some dollars on the table. ‘But Peter has a name we can speak to at the fashion house. He’s already called, and we can go round and see the chap now.’

  ‘At this time of night?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s working late, apparently. Come on, Scarlett, look sharp. Do you want to get this brooch back, or not? Plus,’ he grins, ‘We’re off again – it’s just like old times!’

  We head over to the address Peter has given us. Wave Designs, just off Fifth Avenue, is located three storeys up in one of the older buildings I’d admired, when I first came to New York, as being brave enough to hold its own against the soaring new ultra-modern skyscrapers that dominate the skyline.

  We buzz the intercom outside, then take the elevator up to the third floor and Sean knocks on the appropriate door along the hall.

  ‘Yo, it’s open,’ a male voice calls.

  We push the door ajar to find a large open-plan office. Inside there are boards all over the walls with sketches and swatches of fabric covering them. Desks are equally as haphazardly strewn with paper, fabric, plans, old coffee cups – just about everything you might find in a fashion designer’s office. Except that it’s not sleek and sophisticated, as I would have expected a New York fashion house to be; it’s really a bit of a pickle.

  ‘You guys must be the Scarlett and Sean Peter was telling me about. I’m Julian, Julian Jackson, I’m the owner of Wave, how can I help you?’

  In contrast, Julian is dressed a bit more how I imagine a fashion designer should look. He’s wearing an eclectic mix of clothes, some new, some possibly secondhand, in an assortment of mismatched colours. His look is completed with a purple trilby sporting a brown ostrich feather. Oscar couldn’t have worn it better if he’d tried.

  ‘Yes, we are,’ Sean says, walking over to shake Julian’s hand. ‘Our apologies for bothering you at this time of night, Julian, but Peter said you might have some information for us.’

  ‘Yeah, he said you were looking for a brooch, right, and some lady had seen it at one of our shows?’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. I guess one of the models might have been wearing it,’ I suggest hopefully.

  ‘We showed all our new collections recently, not quite on the scale of New York Fashion Week, you understand, just a few local events,’ he explains. ‘We’re just a small outfit. I’m only lucky enough to have an off-Fifth Avenue address to work from because my uncle owns this building and rents me these offices pretty dirt cheap.’

  ‘I see.’ That explains a few things. ‘Well, it’s a brooch in the shape of a dragonfly. It’s green and blue, about this big.’ I hold up my fingers to demonstrate.

  ‘Hmm …’ Julian thinks. ‘Blue and green, you say? I wonder if we used it on the Enchanted collection. My assistant was in charge of gathering accessories for that one. Just one moment, she’s out back.’

  He goes to a door and calls down a staircase. ‘Jenny, darling, could you come up here? There are some people that would like to ask you a couple of questions.’

  Suddenly I get an odd feeling in the pit of my stomach. And that feeling only intensifies when ‘Jenny’ appears at the top of the stairs, carrying a roll of fabric that’s almost as big as she is.

  ‘What’s wrong, Ju?’ she asks, resting the roll on the ground so that she can see who she’s talking to. And now we can see all too clearly that the person standing in front of us wearing a crimson dress is Sean’s ex, Jennifer.

  ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ she asks, running her hand over her blond hair and straightening her skirt.

  ‘I might ask you the same thing!’ I demand. ‘You told Oscar you worked as a PA for the boss of a high-class fashion house.’

  Jennifer wrinkles her pert little nose. ‘I may have exaggerated that fact slightly when I spoke to him over the phone. How the hell did I know you two were going to show up here? Anyway, it wasn’t a complete lie; it’s in my career plan. Sorry, Ju,’ she says when Julian makes a small pained noise behind her. ‘But even you know we’re just small fry here. Looking good as ever, Sean,’ she says, fluttering her spider-like eyelashes at Sean.

  I can only shake my head at the audacity of her.

  ‘The feeling isn’t mutual, Jen, I can assure you,’ Sean replies flatly. ‘We’re here about a brooch. A dragonfly brooch, to be precise. Do you have it?’

  ‘I’m sorry, you’ll have to be a bit more precise,’ Jennifer says, her blue eyes wide with innocence. ‘What exactly do you mean – a dragonfly?’

  ‘Oh, for God’s sake, Jennifer, stop messing about,’ I snap. ‘You know exactly what Sean means. It’s the brooch I auctioned off at the ball we were at the other week.’
<
br />   Jennifer pretends to think. She puts a bright pink fingernail to her chin. ‘Can’t say it rings any bells.’

  I’m about to lunge at her, but Sean holds me back. ‘Don’t let her wind you up, Red.’

  ‘Oh, how very quaint, you have nicknames for each other; what does she call you, Sean, Yellow?’

  ‘Enough, Jen,’ Sean says firmly. ‘Did you, or did you not, use that same brooch in a show recently?’

  ‘I might have.’ Jennifer says huffily. ‘But I bought it fair and square in a thrift store. It’s not like I stole it, is it? It was just there waiting to be purchased.’

  ‘But you must have known it was the same brooch,’ I ask, trying to remain calm.

  ‘So?’ Jennifer shrugs her bony shoulders. ‘There’s no law against me buying your old tat, is there? It was perfect for the show.’

  Sean’s hand is already there in front of me before I can move.

  ‘Don’t you watch TV, Jen?’ he asks calmly. ‘Only Scarlett’s been all over it this week, appealing for help in finding that brooch.’

  ‘Not that much, no,’ Jennifer says airily. ‘What’s she been on? Some grotty little cable channels that no one watches, that go out in the middle of the night?’

  I hope they don’t have a smoke alarm in here, because the amount of steam coming out of my ears right now is bound to set it off in a minute.

  ‘Pretty much every prime-time TV channel, talk show and news bulletin,’ Sean says proudly. ‘You can’t have missed her.’

  ‘Well I’m afraid I did.’

  ‘I thought you looked familiar.’ Julian, who has been perched on the edge of a desk watching in wonder at all this unfolding in his offices, suddenly pipes up. ‘Weren’t you on Marsha the other day? We watched that, don’t you remember, Jenny? When we were waiting for that fabric to be delivered, we had it on in the office.’

  Jennifer flushes the same colour as the burgundy velvet she’s been carrying up the stairs. ‘No, can’t say that I do, Ju. I don’t think I was really watching it.’

  ‘Yes you were, you made a comment about how it looks like TV actually adds more like twenty pounds than ten, and … oh my,’ Julian says, realising what he’s saying.

  ‘So you did see it, then?’ Sean asks. ‘Why didn’t you give me a ring and tell us you had the brooch?’

  ‘Because,’ Jennifer snaps, shoving her roll of fabric to the ground. ‘Because of her.’ She points viciously at me. ‘She always gets everything.’

  ‘Whatever do you mean?’ I ask. ‘I don’t get everything. Far from it.’

  ‘You got Sean. You took him from me.’

  ‘No I didn’t, and you know it. He wasn’t yours to take by then, anyway.’

  I glance at Julian, who’s looking even more mystified now. ‘Jennifer thinks I stole Sean away from her. The truth is he wasn’t interested in getting back together with her.’ I quickly explain for his benefit.

  Julian nods encouragingly.

  ‘And you took my brother away from me. It’s all “Scarlett this” and “Scarlett that” when you speak to him. At least when he was friends with that other girl he had more time for me.’

  ‘Do you mean Ursula? Oscar still is friends with her, we both are. You’re just being ridiculous now, and anyway, how can he have time for you? You live on the other side of the world from him.’

  Unfaltering, Jennifer tosses her hair back over her shoulders. ‘And then finally you monopolised Jamie at the ball. You weren’t content with having Bradley Cooper fawning over your every move onstage, and everyone telling you how wonderful you were at helping out with the auction by giving away your own stuff, no: you had to take him away from me too.’

  ‘I did nothing of the sort! And Jamie’s my brother, for God’s sake.’

  ‘But you didn’t know that at the time, did you? No, Jamie wasn’t interested in being with me. He kept wanting to know if you were OK, and where you were all night. Do you know what that feels like? Do you?’

  I shake my head.

  ‘No, I thought not. Because everyone wants to be Scarlett’s friend, everyone wants to help Scarlett. Because Scarlett is so bloody well damn-near perfect, isn’t she? Well, just this once I wanted to mess things up for you so you didn’t have your fairy-tale ending. Everything didn’t go according to the will of Scarlett. But here you are, claiming your stupid dragonfly back and making me look like the villain of the piece yet again.’ She folds her arms and turns her head away from us.

  There’s silence in the room as we all reel a little from Jennifer’s outburst, and I feel something I never thought I’d feel for Jennifer: it’s pity. She must be very insecure to behave like this.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear you feel like that about me, Jennifer,’ I say in as sympathetic a voice as I can muster. ‘I can assure you, I’m not perfect. Far from it. Anyone who spends any time with me can vouch for that. Few things I do ever go according to plan. But,’ I glance over at Sean, ‘my heart is in the right place, and everything I do, I do with the genuine intention of trying to help the people around me.’ Sean smiles lovingly back at me. I turn towards Jennifer. ‘So if you have a problem with my actions, I’m sorry, but it’s your problem, I’m afraid. It’s certainly not mine.’

  Jennifer scowls at me so ferociously I’m surprised her Botox will allow such a deep furrow to appear in her forehead.

  ‘Jen, are you going to do the right thing and give me my dragonfly back?’ I ask, again surprised I’m able to remain this calm.

  Casting one last vindictive look in my direction, Jennifer swivels on her heels and stomps off downstairs. She returns a few minutes later with a box, which she thrusts at me. ‘Here, take it.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I say, taking it from her. I open up the box and there inside, winking up at me with its one blue eye and one black, is my dragonfly. I reach into my bag and open up my purse. ‘Please have this,’ I say, thrusting a fifty-dollar bill into her hand.

  ‘What’s it for?’ she asks, looking at the money.

  ‘I’m reimbursing you what you paid for the brooch at the thrift store. I wouldn’t want you to think I’d stolen something else from you, now would I?’

  As we thank Julian and leave the offices, I clutch the dragonfly tightly in my hand. It feels as if I’ve been reunited with yet another member of my ever-growing family.

  Thirty-five

  ‘The reason I’ve gathered you all here today is that I have it back again,’ I announce to the table as everyone sips their drinks and makes polite conversation in between courses at the lunch I’ve organised at the Serendipity 3 restaurant.

  Everyone turns expectantly towards me.

  ‘With help from Peter, and of course you, Jamie, and Max, Sean and I managed to locate the dragonfly a couple of days ago. We won’t go into the details now, it’s too complicated.’ I try not to look at Oscar. I don’t really want him knowing too much about Jennifer. ‘Anyway, this is why I’ve asked you all here today, so that I can formally return the brooch to its original owner, Eleanor.’

  Oscar claps excitedly as I take the dragonfly in its blue box and walk around the table to where Eleanor is seated. She smiles as she pushes her chair back and stands up to greet me. As she takes the dragonfly from my hand, she gives me a kiss on the cheek and whispers, ‘Thank you,’ into my ear.

  While I return to my seat, Eleanor remains standing. She looks down at the dragonfly now lying in the palm of her hand. Then she holds it up to the light so that its green and blue body shimmers and sparkles under the bright lights of the restaurant.

  ‘Well, my friend,’ she says, ‘you’ve not changed much over the years, but countless other things have, and now it’s time for you to bring some sparkle to the eyes of many others instead of being kept inside a box where no one can see you.’

  She looks up at me. ‘Scarlett, this brooch doesn’t belong to me; I gave it to your father many, many years ago. Really, it still belongs to him. And if I’m not mistaken, he recently gave it to you to do as you
wanted with it.’ She turns to Dad. ‘Am I correct, Tom?’

  My father nods. ‘You are indeed, Elle.’ As he beams up at Eleanor, I see a look on Dad’s face when she returns his smile that I’ve never noticed before, and I feel a lump in my throat as I realise the dragonfly may have reunited more than just a family.

  ‘And so,’ Eleanor continues, ‘I think the best thing my dragonfly friend here can do is to continue living with you, Scarlett, for the time being.’ She walks over to me and pins the brooch on my top. ‘You don’t need it right now – you’ve already got so many investors wanting to help you out with the Dragonfly Trust – but if you ever should, this little chap will bring you plenty of dollars to help you continue your good work.’

  ‘Are you absolutely sure, Eleanor?’ I ask, looking down at the brooch.

  ‘Scarlett, I couldn’t ask for a better home for it to go to. I know you’ll take good care of it. Just like your father has, all these years.’

  As Eleanor and I hug, the dragonfly, so good at reuniting others, is pressed firmly between the two of us.

  The rest of the lunch is a lovely, light-hearted affair with much laughter and jokes. I notice when we’re finishing dessert that Sean has been missing for a while.

  ‘Have you seen Sean?’ I ask Oscar, as he scrapes the last remnants of ice-cream sundae from his bowl.

  ‘Er … he said he had to pop out a while ago. Something about some business, I think,’ Oscar replies, licking his spoon. ‘Oh my days, that was the best sundae ever!’ he says, checking his bowl to make sure it’s all gone.

  ‘Do you want to put that bowl down on the table and lick it out with your tongue like a dog?’ I ask. ‘You look like you’re going to anyway.’

  ‘Do you think anyone would mind?’ Oscar says, actually looking around him.

  ‘Yes, I do! And when did Sean say he had to pop out? I don’t remember seeing him go.’

  ‘I think you were talking to Jamie and your dad at the time,’ Oscar says, pushing his bowl away from him. ‘He said he didn’t want to disturb you.’