Page 94 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“It’s just when I was at his house once I saw all these books on his shelf.”
“Sean’s always been a big reader.”
“Yes, I know, but among them were authors such as Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte; there was even a book calledLoveLettersofGreatMen. Those aren’t the sort of books read by someone who’sunromantic, are they?”
“Oh, that’s where it went,” Ursula said, rolling her eyes. “That book is mine. I bought it because it was in theSexandtheCitymovie—but of course you probably knew that.”
I nodded.
“I must have left it at Sean’s when I was waiting in for a delivery for him once. I wondered where it had gone.” She laughed. “I can’t imagine Sean reading that, can you? It’s not really his scene.”
I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face.
So that explained it. Sean wasn’t romantic at all, and he never would be.
Ursula must have sensed something. “It’s not entirely Sean’s fault he’s the way he is,” she said, turning toward me. She glanced toward the door where Oscar and Cruella had just exited, and she lowered her voice. “A few years ago there were some…problems between Sean and Oscar’s sister, Jennifer.”
“Yes, I know, Sean told me.”
“He did?” Ursula said, sounding surprised.
“Yes, when we were in Glasgow. Oh, and he mentioned it when we were in Paris too.”
“I see.” Ursula looked thoughtful. “Anyway. That experience knocked Sean pretty badly at the time. He’s never been quite the same since.”
I was about to ask how when Oscar and Cruella returned.
I stared at Cruella. She looked different.
What was it about her, had she changed her clothes?
No, she was actually smiling for once.
“All sorted,” Oscar sang as he twirled around in the center of the room. “Just ask Uncle Oscar to wave his magical wand and all shall come good!”
I wondered if Oscar might like to wave that wand over some other areas of my life that were needing a sprinkle of magic right now.
***
When the wedding dress fitting was over Oscar and Ursula suggested we go on somewhere else.
“That’s why we originally dropped by earlier, to invite you out for the evening, isn’t it, Ursula?” Oscar said as he skipped down the street carrying Delilah (did she ever walk? I wondered), admiring his reflection in the shop windows he passed.
Ursula nodded. “We thought we’d take a trip to the cinema tonight—you’d be up for that, Scarlett, wouldn’t you?”
It was a rare occasion I wasn’t, and they knew it. “There is a new Hugh Grant movie out I haven’t seen yet.”
“Oh, I love Hugh,” Ursula cried. “What do you say, Oscar? Do you fancy a bit of Hugh Grant tonight?”
“Darling,” Oscar said with a flourish. “I fancy a bit of Hugheverynight.”
The Coronet in Notting Hill Gate had to be the most wonderful cinema I’d ever been in. The opulent red plush interiors edged with gilt took me back to the height of Hollywood glamour.
“Ah, I do love it here,” Oscar sighed, as we relaxed in our velvet-covered seats. “It’s so glam.”
The Coronet cinema, I discovered once we were inside, was originally a nineteenth-century theater, converted in modern times to a picture house. So, unusually, when we bought our tickets we had the choice of whether to sit in the stalls or the upper circle to watch the film.
We plumped for the upper circle, and now, while we sat there waiting for the adverts and trailers to begin, I felt as if I was going to watch a theater production rather than a movie.
