Page 45 of The In-Laws

‘Thank you. I’ll call you in the morning.’

Nancy leant over. ‘What did he say?’

‘He wants me to represent him.’ Melanie beamed.

‘If you bag him, you’re getting a fat bonus from me,’ Nancy told her.

‘Wow, Petrus van der Beek!’ Jamie was very impressed.

‘Is he good?’ Frank asked.

Melanie tried not to mind that her husband was so clueless about authors outside the music world. ‘He won the Booker six years ago.’

Frank nodded. ‘Okay, wow. That’s incredible, darling, you’re on fire. But you’re already flat out. Do you think you have room for another author right now?’

‘It’s called hard work, Frank. You could take a leaf out of your wife’s book,’ Nancy said.

‘Melanie works twelve-, sometimes fourteen-hour days, Mum.’

‘And it’s paying off,’ Nancy replied. ‘She is now wanted by the top authors in the world.’

‘She has a life outside work, Mum. She needs more balance.’

‘What she needs, Frank, is to take advantage of her success. This level of attention and respect does not come along twice.’

Ross hovered behind his mother. ‘Right. We need to get contracts ready to go in the morning and nail this down. I’ll set up a Zoom call with Petrus and discuss details.’

Over my dead body!

Melanie glared at Ross. ‘You will do no such thing. I will talk to Petrus tomorrow. I will see what he’s looking for and I will decide whether to sign him as my author or not.’

Ross’s eyes narrowed. ‘There were a lot of “I”s in that statement. We are a family agency, Melanie. Any success is shared by all of us.’

Nancy tutted. ‘Leave Melanie to deal with Petrus. She has a magic touch with authors. She’s this agency’s golden goose.’

‘Thank you, Nancy.’ Melanie knocked back her champagne and shot Ross a look of pure disdain.

Later that night, after Melanie and Frank had walked Sloane to her hotel room and Frank had called it a night, Melanie went back down to have another glass of champagne. She could properly relax now, without having to mind Sloane or talk to Frank. She wanted another celebratory drink and to relish the moment she had waited for so long and worked so hard to achieve. This was her life’s dream, and hopefully the beginning of more literary prizes to come. This was who she was, Melanie Miller, super-agent! She wanted to chat to her peers and enjoy their congratulations and, in many cases, envy. The utter joy of sitting with a glass of champagne, no Frank, no one calling ‘Mum’ and tugging at her, no Ross or Nancy trying to steal her thunder, just the blissful freedom ofbeing alone and the incredibly sweet taste of victory to go along with it. This was her moment.

She was coming out of the lift when she saw Ross in the corner of the lobby, talking to a woman in a raincoat. Melanie recognized the woman’s face but couldn’t place her. They appeared to be arguing. Melanie moved closer, edging along the wall and staying out of sight. She couldn’t hear the woman’s voice, but Ross’s travelled even when he tried to whisper.

His face was red and animated and she caught certain words: ‘… won’t pay any more … I’m maxed out … tricked me … ruined my life …’

The woman stared at him for a moment, then slapped him hard across the face. She stormed off and Ross stood there, watching her leave, his face a mask of pure anger. Melanie flattened herself against the wall, praying he wouldn’t look around. To her relief, he walked straight through the lobby and into the bar.

Melanie stared at the spot where the two of them had stood. What had she just witnessed? What the hell was going on?

16. Amanda

Amanda scrolled through houses to rent, sighing as all the nice ones were out of their financial reach. She was furious that Ross hadn’t jumped on the one she’d found before, and of course it had been snapped up by someone else. She looked out of the window at the falling leaves and grey sky. It was November already. Would they be out of here soon? Nancy’s cast had been taken off and she was managing to shuffle around on crutches with the boot protecting her leg. But Ross said they needed to stay with her for another few weeks, just to make sure she was properly mobile, and also to allow him to work on persuading her of his suitability to lead the agency.

Amanda was bored. She could join a Pilates class and try to meet people, or maybe go up to the local tennis club for some lessons and find company there … but she didn’t have the energy. She felt flat all the time, lifeless. Everything was like a mountain she had to climb. She’d googled it and it seemed she had the symptoms of depression. Hardly surprising, with everything that was going on, but Amanda didn’t want to admit it. She didn’t want to go to a doctor and tell them her woes. She’d always been someone who knew what they wanted and how to get it. But now … well, now she didn’t know what she wanted. That was the problem.

She hated Ross, but also still loved him, and that was what made the whole betrayal so crushing. She was scared for Theo, too. She worried that if he found out about the baby, he’d take drugs again or act out and get into trouble.He needed stability and calm to get through this year and do well in his exams. She wanted her one and only child, her pride and joy, to succeed in life and find happiness.

Amanda had always known that you had to be clever in life, crafty and streetwise. You had to make things happen. That was what she had always done. But now she hadn’t the energy to make friends with school mums, to figure out who were the ones to target and worth putting effort into. It was all so pointless. She had spent so much of her life trying to get in with the ‘right’ crowd and where had that got her? Those people didn’t give a damn about her, out of sight and out of mind. Who was she kidding? She’d never really fitted in anyway. She had always been an outsider. She thought about her two friends in college, Orla and Hazel. They had liked her for who she was – she hadn’t had to pretend with them. But when she’d met Ross, she’d dumped her friends and devoted herself to him. Ross liked having her around all the time. He didn’t have many friends either. They were in love and only wanted to be with each other. Amanda didn’t need girlfriends because she had Ross. What an idiot.

She had thought about going out and trying to get a job to earn some money and have some independence, but it’d been so long since she’d worked, who would hire her? Who wanted a housewife who hadn’t worked in eighteen years? What could she offer? All Amanda really wanted to do these days was sleep. When she was asleep she didn’t have to worry.

---