the cosmos. She’d been dirt poor at the time, but somehow she felt that her life had been richer.
The doorbell finally announced Ellie’s presence. ‘Greetings, gorgeous girls,’ she sang, gliding in on a cloud of Allure. She bestowed noisy air-kisses all round before seating herself regally like the rightful Queen Bee of their group and carelessly spread her designer accessories around her.
Mim couldn’t help but smile. Ellie really was a parody of herself. She took the whole society thing to the nth degree and was probably laughing on the inside the entire time. You couldn’t help but love her, no matter how pretentious she seemed.
‘Hello, Ellie, sweetie,’ said Mim. ‘Latte?’
‘Mim, darling, you life-saver, I am DYING for some caffeine stimulation! Make it a double. Liz, looking resplendent. Monique, stylish as ever. And Tiffany, what a sweet little pure white thing you’ve got going on there, love the tan.’ Ellie immediately assumed centre stage and spread her charismatic glow among them.
If anyone was to ask Mim to define the elusive X factor, Mim knew exactly what she’d say: Ellie – whatever it was she had, it was what all the minor celebs in Hollywood needed. Stylish, beautiful and with perfect white teeth, Ellie lived the golden life – and to top it all off she was actually a nice person too.
‘So what have you been up to, Ellie?’ Mim asked.
‘Oh sweetie, it’s been such a bore with Bryce away again, my bed is just too big without him.’
‘You guys are such a love story,’ Monique laughed. ‘After fifteen years, how do you do it?’
‘Just lucky, I guess,’ Ellie smiled.
‘You met him when you were modelling, didn’t you?’ Mim asked.
The Mothers’ Group had intermittently badgered Ellie to show them her modelling portfolio, but she insisted it was in storage and too difficult to find. They had to be content with the few snippets of her hey-day and the deliciously romantic details of her wonderful years spent overseas with Bryce. Although she was extremely vivacious and chatty, and could quite frankly talk the leg off an Eames chair, she remained evasive about the details of her life pre-Bryce. The other girls, self-involved with their own busy lives, didn’t seem to notice, but it always struck Mim as curious how she’d remain tight-lipped when the others would reminisce about their private schoolgirl days of hats and gloves, trams and boys.
The conversation swelled around Mim as she cradled her latte and watched Ellie carefully. She seemed her usually glowing and chatty self, but Mim had detected a slight edge to her voice in the past few weeks, a subtle shadow in her best friend’s eyes, and twice when she had questioned Ellie about it she’d been fobbed off.
‘So Mim, how’s life as a single mum?’ asked Liz.
Mim sighed. ‘Oh, the same as always really. Even when James is home it’s not like he’s ever home before bedtime or anything. I had to send him an email with a photo of Charley’s lost tooth last week.’
‘That’s crappy, Mim. Have you told him how you feel?’
‘Well, I haven’t as such. We just don’t seem to be connecting lately. Our only communication seems to be brief phone calls and emails about domestic stuff – it’s not exactly how I thought marriage would turn out.’
‘Work must be intense for him if he’s so busy. He must be under a lot of pressure – not that we care really, because we’re on your side,’ Tiffany laughed.
‘Well, absolutely. Anyway, we’ll cope,’ Mim said, rubbing absently at an invisible mark on her pants. ‘With all theretrenchments in his company he’s keeping his head down and his bum up. He leaves by 7.30 a.m. every day and never gets home before eight in the evenings.’
Liz frowned, leaning forward to pat Mim on the knee.
‘I know exactly how you feel. Remember when Sebastian got that huge job last year? I can’t believe we actually celebrated it! Sure, the money was great, but he
The doorbell finally announced Ellie’s presence. ‘Greetings, gorgeous girls,’ she sang, gliding in on a cloud of Allure. She bestowed noisy air-kisses all round before seating herself regally like the rightful Queen Bee of their group and carelessly spread her designer accessories around her.
Mim couldn’t help but smile. Ellie really was a parody of herself. She took the whole society thing to the nth degree and was probably laughing on the inside the entire time. You couldn’t help but love her, no matter how pretentious she seemed.
‘Hello, Ellie, sweetie,’ said Mim. ‘Latte?’
‘Mim, darling, you life-saver, I am DYING for some caffeine stimulation! Make it a double. Liz, looking resplendent. Monique, stylish as ever. And Tiffany, what a sweet little pure white thing you’ve got going on there, love the tan.’ Ellie immediately assumed centre stage and spread her charismatic glow among them.
If anyone was to ask Mim to define the elusive X factor, Mim knew exactly what she’d say: Ellie – whatever it was she had, it was what all the minor celebs in Hollywood needed. Stylish, beautiful and with perfect white teeth, Ellie lived the golden life – and to top it all off she was actually a nice person too.
‘So what have you been up to, Ellie?’ Mim asked.
‘Oh sweetie, it’s been such a bore with Bryce away again, my bed is just too big without him.’
‘You guys are such a love story,’ Monique laughed. ‘After fifteen years, how do you do it?’
‘Just lucky, I guess,’ Ellie smiled.
‘You met him when you were modelling, didn’t you?’ Mim asked.
The Mothers’ Group had intermittently badgered Ellie to show them her modelling portfolio, but she insisted it was in storage and too difficult to find. They had to be content with the few snippets of her hey-day and the deliciously romantic details of her wonderful years spent overseas with Bryce. Although she was extremely vivacious and chatty, and could quite frankly talk the leg off an Eames chair, she remained evasive about the details of her life pre-Bryce. The other girls, self-involved with their own busy lives, didn’t seem to notice, but it always struck Mim as curious how she’d remain tight-lipped when the others would reminisce about their private schoolgirl days of hats and gloves, trams and boys.
The conversation swelled around Mim as she cradled her latte and watched Ellie carefully. She seemed her usually glowing and chatty self, but Mim had detected a slight edge to her voice in the past few weeks, a subtle shadow in her best friend’s eyes, and twice when she had questioned Ellie about it she’d been fobbed off.
‘So Mim, how’s life as a single mum?’ asked Liz.
Mim sighed. ‘Oh, the same as always really. Even when James is home it’s not like he’s ever home before bedtime or anything. I had to send him an email with a photo of Charley’s lost tooth last week.’
‘That’s crappy, Mim. Have you told him how you feel?’
‘Well, I haven’t as such. We just don’t seem to be connecting lately. Our only communication seems to be brief phone calls and emails about domestic stuff – it’s not exactly how I thought marriage would turn out.’
‘Work must be intense for him if he’s so busy. He must be under a lot of pressure – not that we care really, because we’re on your side,’ Tiffany laughed.
‘Well, absolutely. Anyway, we’ll cope,’ Mim said, rubbing absently at an invisible mark on her pants. ‘With all theretrenchments in his company he’s keeping his head down and his bum up. He leaves by 7.30 a.m. every day and never gets home before eight in the evenings.’
Liz frowned, leaning forward to pat Mim on the knee.
‘I know exactly how you feel. Remember when Sebastian got that huge job last year? I can’t believe we actually celebrated it! Sure, the money was great, but he
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