Shopping with the Enemy
Page 26
‘Do you think this could be Svetlana?’ Lana asked, pointing to a sleek silver limousine nudging its way through the traffic. All eyes fixed on the car. Sure enough, it peeled away from the inside lane and pulled into the waiting area near where Annie and the girls were standing.
A chauffeur jumped out and before he’d even opened the door for her, they could see that Svetlana was beyond the tinted window, flashing a megawatt smile.
As she stepped gracefully from the car, Svetlana, even by her own standards, looked quite extraordinary. She’d chosen a black Perfect Chic tunic, spray-on leather trousers, the highest, pointiest purple sandals ever invented and over this outfit she’d thrown lashings of diamonds: ropes, chunks, hunks of diamond, plus a furry purple waistcoat which was probably made of finest Mongolian baby yak underbelly or something equally rare.
Completing the billionairess look were gigantic Chanel shades and the kind of priceless handbag that took an entire village of Italian master craftsmen several years to complete.
‘You’re late!’ Elena complained, obviously not as dazzled into silence as everyone else.
‘No, no, I am perfectly on time and it is wonderful to see you. Everyone looks so beautiful,’ she countered.
‘It’s nearly five past ten!’ Elena exclaimed.
‘Ah Elena, I know I am a very difficult mother, I know, I know, I know …’ Svetlana held up her hands in protest, ‘I know I often make life difficult for all my three beloved children, but I can promise you that today, I am on time.’
She stalked over in her skyscraper shoes and actually kissed Elena’s troubled brow, something Annie had never seen her do before.
‘This time you can trrrrrust me,’ she purred soothingly at her daughter. ‘Today, I am doing everything I can to help you.’
Meanwhile, the chauffeur had walked around the car and was now opening the door on the other side. Annie, Elena and Lana tried not to let their mouths fall open with astonishment as Arlene Henderson stepped out in an outfit of show-stopping fashion meets elegance and began to walk towards them.
‘What’s going on?’ Elena whispered.
‘I invite Arlene for breakfast at the Carlyle Hotel before the meeting. Everyone love breakfast at the Carlyle. Is a wonderful place to talk a little beeeeeezness away from the power games of the office, no?’
Svetlana gave the breezy, charming smile she had perfected in her Miss Ukraine days; the smile which brought millionaires to their knees and made anger, reprisals or recriminations just about impossible.
‘She loves our dresses, loves them,’ Svetlana added in a whisper, ‘but we have to hold out for a huge order and a big price. Never give in easily, girls. Igor always tell me the number one rule of negotiation is: always be prepared to walk away.’
‘Hello Perfect Dress. How wonderful to meet you all.’ Arlene approached and gave the dazzled team brisk handshakes all round: ‘a mother and daughter business. I love that!’ she enthused, jangling bracelets and ignoring the urgent trill of the phone in her other hand, ‘I love that you’re making dresses which are multi-generational. I might get mother and daughter models for the catalogue. Yes! That could be fantastic. OK, team, shoulder your sample bags and follow me in.’
Lana and Annie picked up the plastic garment bags, Elena gripped the case with the collapsible garment rail. Then they followed on up the huge set of stone steps.
‘Do you think we’re going to land the big order here?’ Lana asked her mother in an excited whisper.
‘This could be immense, my love, and you made it happen.’
‘No Mum, YOU made this happen.’
Annie gave a little laugh and linked arms with her daughter: ‘I can’t help thinking about that afternoon in The Store when I was convinced I was shopping with the enemy. It’s nice to be back on your side again, Lana.’
Up through the marble hall they walked, then into an elevator with a liveried bellboy. On the 78th floor they were shown to a waiting area while Arlene assembled her team in the boardroom.
Annie took a seat in the middle of a long row of white leather chairs. Lana joined her on one side, Svetlana on the other.
‘You could have told us about the power breakfast,’ Elena protested before sitting down beside her mother, ‘we just about died of nerves out there on the forecourt waiting for you to appear in your limousine.’
‘My darling Elena, I am properly sorry for all the trouble I cause you,’ Svetlana replied sincerely. ‘You are a wonderful girl.’
As Elena turned to look at her mother, Svetlana gently took hold of her daughter’s face. ‘Just like your mother,’ she said. ‘Too like your mother. I’m sorry, Elena that I didn’t see you grow up …’
Just a handful of words, but suddenly it felt as if there was a break in the impressive, glacial façade.
‘I did leave you with a good woman,’ Svetlana added.
‘You did …’ Elena’s voice was husky.
‘Everything I am learning about being a good mother, I am learning from my friend, Annah.’
‘Oh sweetheart,’ Annie slipped her arm round Svetlana’s waist in thanks, ‘we’re all just doing the best we possibly can.’
Annie wound her other arm round Lana’s waist and added: ‘the hardest thing is that one day, we have to push them out of the nest and hope with all our hearts that they will fly.’
Quietly into Lana’s hair, she said: ‘We’re so very proud of you. And you know, don’t you, that your real dad, he would love to be watching you take New York by storm.’
‘Mum … we’re about to go into a meeting. Get it together,’ Lana whispered back but with an irrepressible smile on her face.
‘Yes. I will and I am,’ Annie insisted.
‘We wouldn’t be here without our mothers,’ Elena said, giving Svetlana’s arm a grateful squeeze.
‘No, no …’ Svetlana began.
‘We wouldn’t be here without you,’ Annie finished the thought.
At that, the boardroom doors were opened and they saw a vast window with a breathtaking view of the Manhattan skyline – the city was spread out before them.
‘Ladies, come on in. We are ready for you.’
THE END
About the Author
Carmen Reid is the bestselling author of the Personal Shopper series, starring Annie Valentine.
She has worked as a newspaper journalist and columnist, but now writes fiction full-time. Carmen also writes a series for teen readers, Secrets at St Jude’s.
Join Carmen online for all her latest news, competitions and exclusive content, plus Annie Valentine’s fabulous fashion blog!
www.carmenreid.com
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Also by Carmen Reid
THREE IN A BED
DID THE EARTH MOVE?
HOW WAS IT FOR YOU?
UP ALL NIGHT
THE JEWELS OF MANHATTAN
Starring Annie Valentine
THE PERSONAL SHOPPER
LATE NIGHT SHOPPING
HOW NOT TO SHOP
CELEBRITY SHOPPER
NEW YORK VALENTINE
And for teenage readers
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: NEW GIRL
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: JEALOUS GIRL
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: DRAMA GIRL
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: REBEL GIRL
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: SUNSHINE GIRL
SECRETS AT ST JUDE’S: PARTY GIRL
and published by Corgi
TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
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SHOPPING WITH THE ENEMY
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552163194
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781446463642
First publication in Great Britain
Corgi edition published 2012
Copyright © Carmen Reid 2012
Carmen Reid has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1
988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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