Kim was pure glamour. Colette was pure … twee.
‘Where in America are you from?’ Colette asked.
‘Manhattan.’
‘New York? Wow.’
Annie started to become self-conscious as she listened to Colette and Kim chat easily about their backgrounds and education. Annie couldn’t help it, she felt uneasy at being unable to join in the conversation. Grand when it had just been Colette, but Kim was so much more worldly and confident.
Then she thought of something and looked at her watch, having come up with an idea to help find common ground.
‘Well, Valentina won’t be around for another while yet, and since we’re going to be sharing this place, I suppose we might as well get the party started. Drinks, anyone?’ She slapped an exuberant hand against her thigh. ‘There’s a bottle of grappa in the press.’ She winked.
She couldn’t help it; it was her failsafe way of easing her anxiety. A few drinks to help get to know people had always been Annie’s social crutch.
And Colette certainly looked like she could do with some loosening up.
‘Hey, sounds good to me,’ Kim chimed in, and Annie automatically warmed to her a little more.
They moved back outside to the terrace and soon she and Kim were drinking up a storm, the alcohol loosening their inhibitions, just as Annie had anticipated.
Colette wouldn’t at first. She looked at the glasses of Italian liqueur as if it was some kind of poison.
‘It won’t bite,’ Annie urged. She’d promised herself to cut back on the drinking and she had, but she was on holiday after all. And it wasn’t as if she was in a position to get sloshed and into trouble. Not here, anyway.
‘Yes, go on,’ Kim urged. ‘Have some fun. We’re in Italy, one of the most beautiful places on earth. And I think a toast is in order.’
‘Great idea,’ Annie enthused, thinking that maybe the American was OK after all.
The notion seemed to find home with Colette too, as she tentatively took a glass and had a measured sip.
‘Here’s to la dolce vita!’ Annie sang, raising her glass to the others.
‘La dolce vita,’ Kim and Colette chimed in return.
Chapter 16
Now
‘Morning, Amanda,’ Annie sang out a greeting as she walked into the salon, her four-inch heels making a satisfying click against the black-and-white marble tiles as she walked.
Amanda was her new receptionist – the last, a girl by the name of Tori, had failed to live up to her customer service standards and had been let go only two weeks after she started.
The new girl was only a week in but doing pretty well.
#GlamSquad was now one of Crumlin’s most popular hair salons. Annie had done exactly what she’d promised Felicity all those years before. A little while after her jaunt to Italy, she’d taken the money the older woman had gifted her and set up a small one-person enterprise in a dingy unit not far from her flat.
Eventually she did well enough at that to afford not only a better place to live but much bigger premises, and was now in a current state-of-the-art salon in a busy shopping centre filled with all the best equipment and modern furnishings.
Since then, she’d flourished even more.
She’d taken on staff so she no longer had to style everyone who came through the doors herself, with a complement of four stylists and a (brand new) receptionist. The place had a string of regulars and plenty of passing trade from the centre. In truth,every time she set foot in this snazzy spot, Annie still couldn’t quite believe her luck that this trendy salon was really hers.
Her dark hair was twisted into a messy bun atop her head, and her make-up was flawless. Her bag was Kate Spade, her leopard-print dress was from Whistles and her shoes Kurt Geiger. It was a far cry from her TopShop sale rail younger days.
Now Annie had a glamorous reputation and image to uphold.
She stalked across the salon floor to her office, a small room down the back, close to the wash-basins.
