Page 76 of Never Too Late
‘Oh dear! I’m not so sure I’d pass that particular audition.’ I might be getting my style back but the confidence still had a way to go.
‘Nonsense. What other possible reason could have brought you back to Paris? It is fate!’
‘I thought you said that we make our own fate.’ I looked at her in the same way I used to look at Sash when she was telling a fib. ‘You can’t have it both ways, Reine.’
Her sky-blue eyes danced with joy and amusement.
‘Oh, but when one gets to my age, I can have it any way I want and people are too scared to challenge it in case they upset me.’
I thought of some of the older people I knew from the street we’d lived in and how some had changed over the years, losing the confidence they had once had, and becoming as invisible as I myself had felt. I compared them with this vivacious woman who refused to be ignored or judged or condescended to. How I wish she could give lessons to some of the lovely neighbours who were now a paler version of the characters they’d once been when we’d first moved to the road.
We’d been new parents without a clue and several of them had been so kind and helpful, without making us feel like we were failing, or reassuring us that we weren’t and that every parent had the same thoughts and insecurities.
Gabby turned to her clutch bag and slid out her phone, glancing at the screen.
‘Do you mind if I take this? It’s a possible commission for Tomas he’s interested in.’
‘Go, go!’ we both said together, and Gabby placed her phone to her ear as she strode confidently across the restaurant to somewhere more private to continue the call. From our position, we watched the admiring glances cast her way from both men and women as she did so.
‘She’s a wonderful woman. I hope that things with Ashok work out.’
‘She is. I missed her so much. I hadn’t realised quite how much until now, now that she’s back in my life again. As for Ashok, he’s absolutely smitten so…’ I held up my crossed fingers.
‘And he’s worthy of her?’
‘The most worthy man I know.’
‘Bon. Now, where were we?’
‘You telling me to be the star of my own show.’
‘Ah, yes.’
‘So how doyoudo it?’
‘Do what?’
‘Stay like this.’ I waved up and down and saw that she comprehended.
‘Without wanting to be crass, I’m afraid money helps. People are less inclined to ignore the power that can wield, as unfair as that is.’
‘Yes, the same as it ever was. Although it’s hard to tell who has money and who doesn’t these days. Jeans with more holes than denim cost four figures, yet when I was growing up, they wouldn’t even have been seen as good enough for gardening in!’
‘I quite agree. I see some of the magazines andooh la la. I think perhaps I am a little too old-fashioned.’ There was a flash of that wicked grin again. ‘But then I realise that no. I am not. I just have impeccable taste!’ She chinked her glass against mine. ‘As do you. So now, what are you going to do about using it?’
‘I think it might take a little while. As much as I love it, this new look is still taking some getting used to.’ I held back the urge to fiddle with my neckline again. ‘My style got a bit lost over the years and I felt rather a frump when I got here. In the rut I lived in back in England, I hadn’t noticed.’
Reine remained silent.
‘The thing I love about Paris,’ I continued, ‘is that everyone makes an effort. That seems to have been lost in many places and I think I got lost along with it. Pull on the sweatshirt and leggings and call it done was the easy option and it soon just became the norm. Even though I’m not really a fan of either! I always loved choosing my clothes, doing my make-up and hair, even if that meantnotdoing my make-up and hair. It was all a conscious choice. Until it wasn’t and what with a new baby?—’
‘And a new marriage.’
‘And a new marriage to contend with, I lost the interest and the will. Or perhaps it was the other way around. And then I came back to Paris and met Gabby and you and I… I felt worse than invisible. I felt visible here but for all the wrong reasons.’
‘You are most certainly not invisible, my dear, and for all the right reasons. Clothes may maketh the woman but there has to be a good framework there to start with.’
‘A framework? You mean figure?’
