Zoe waved a dismissive hand. ‘That was years ago in response to a very specific circumstance. Things are different now.’
‘They are,’ she agreed, thinking that they were different indeed.
For one thing they’d already been through more stuff than most people had to deal with in a lifetime of marriage, and had come through. For another they were different. This time round they were their own people. They weren’t wrapped up in each other to the exclusion of everyone else, as she’d realised they had been before. They were more mature, more settled, more grounded. Their relationship was now more adult. In more ways than one, she thought, drifting off for a very happy moment to remember some of the new tricks she and Kit had tried in the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen…
‘Dan likes him too,’ said Zoe, snapping Lily out of her delightful little reverie.
‘The feeling’s entirely mutual.’
Her ex-husband and her future brother-in-law had got on like a house on fire when they’d first met. Now they played squash together on a pretty regular basis, which was faintly weir
d, although great.
‘So what have you got lined up for today?’
Lily sat back, her smile deepening. ‘We’re going on a date. Kit’s off to Rome tomorrow to check out a site for a new hotel so he’s taking me to this brand-new restaurant that’s opened just around the corner from home. It’s very cool and very difficult to get a table.’ But he’d done it. For her.
Zoe grinned and rolled her eyes. ‘I meant today today. As in workwise.’
Lily blushed. ‘Of course you did. I knew that.’ Determinedly stamping out the heat whipping through her, she pulled herself together and switched into business mode because, honestly, it was high time she stopped feeling like a giggly teenager in the grip of her first crush. ‘I have a meeting across town. New client. Very big. Very important. Could be huge for us.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘In fact, I’d better get going.’
Filling with the familiar buzz she got whenever she pitched for new business, Lily stood up, grabbed her bag and hitched her handbag over her shoulder.
‘Good luck,’ said Zoe.
‘Thanks.’
‘Let me know how it goes.’
‘I will.’
*
Sitting in a plush office in London’s West End, Lily watched John Burrows, the director of marketing for what was going to be their most high-profile client to date, sign on the dotted line, and mentally punched the air in triumph.
It hadn’t been an easy sale. He’d asked tough questions, demanded a lot of information and had driven an extremely hard bargain. At one point she’d thought her pitch had been about to unravel from the sheer pressure of it, but she’d held her nerve, conceded the points she was willing to concede and stood her ground on the ones she wasn’t, and eventually they’d reached an agreement.
And now, she thought, smiling as he slid the document back for her to sign, she felt as if she were floating along in some kind of a fabulous narcotic-induced haze. Only she was high on adrenalin, success, life and love, not drugs. Her relationship was blooming, business was booming and frankly, she thought, adding her own signature beside his, it was pretty hard to see how things could get any better.
‘We look forward to doing business with you,’ she said, standing and holding out her hand with a smile.
John Burrows gave it a quick, firm shake and then let it go. ‘Likewise.’
‘Just out of interest,’ she asked, putting the precious document away, ‘how did you hear about us?’
‘You were recommended.’
A wave of satisfaction and pride swept through her, tangling with everything else that was rolling around inside her and making it a pretty crowded place. Word of mouth was often the way they got clients, and it was good to know that they were still rated highly. ‘Who by? If you don’t mind saying.’
‘I don’t mind saying at all. It was Kit Buchanan.’
‘Oh?’ said Lily, her eyebrows lifting a little in surprise because Kit hadn’t mentioned it. ‘How do you know him?’
‘I don’t,’ said John. ‘But my wife does.’
‘Really?’ she asked with a smile. ‘How?’
‘Paula works with him. She does some of his PR from time to time. She asked him if he might know of anyone who might be able to help with what I was looking for and he suggested you.’