Just My Luck(18)
Final!
Camberwell Manor is pretty grand in an old-fashioned way. There’s a gravelled, tree-lined driveway. Inside there are lots of ancient, scruffy rugs on the wooden floors and lots of panelled walls. Posh people like both things. It’s not how I’d decorate a country house if I had one; I’d go all modern, channel the surprise of the unexpected, but I can see its appeal. We are shown into a high-ceilinged room that has pictures of strangely proportioned horses and insipid country scenes hanging on the walls; there are about twenty chairs set up facing a lectern. We are offered drinks, I ask for a cappuccino, but someone brings both Logan and me Coke (full fat so I don’t touch mine). A few journalists start to arrive. They are polarised; they either strut hastily through the door, sweating because they seem to think they are late and want everyone to know they are busy (and therefore in demand, important), or they saunter, clearly prepared to linger over the elevenses on offer and make the ‘job’ last all morning. Dad says it depends entirely as to whether they are staffers or freelancers. A couple of them are struggling to carry lots of equipment – tripods and real cameras – as though the iPhone hadn’t been invented. None of them are sharp and sassy like I thought they’d be. I guess they are all slightly disappointed that the internet has been invented and Fleet Street is no more. I know that Fleet Street was an exciting journo hub in the ancient past from some novel I read by Evelyn Waugh for English, and also from Dad, who often talks about disappointing careers.
The journos are all local and it’s obvious that they know each other; they happily chat amongst themselves, asking after one another’s kids and partners. It sort of starts to feel like a party. Not my kind of party but a parent party. They smile at us, and we shyly smile back, but Gillian (the woman from the lottery company who seems to be our sort of rich-person babysitter) has made it clear it’s best not to say too much to the press until we make the announcement, then there will be an open-floor question and answer session. Whilst the journos tuck into the cakes that Gillian has arranged, our family largely holds back; only Logan bothers. He eats three éclairs and a doughnut in about five seconds. I think the rest of us are a bit nervous, even Dad. When the journos have taken up most of the seats, Gillian stands behind the lectern.
I listen as she tells the world (OK, the dozen journos that work on local papers, mags and radio stations in just one of England’s counties) that we are lottery winners and, suddenly, hearing her say that makes everything seem really real and brilliant. This last week we’ve been on shopping sprees, Dad has bought his bad-ass car, we’ve booked a holiday to New York, all of this stuff has been absolutely bloody awesome. But somehow, unreal. I think Mum in particular has been worried that someone was suddenly going to take it from us, and her worry has sort of hung around in the background for everyone else. She is a constant worrier. Gran calls her worry bones, Dad calls her worry head, basically her entire anatomy is devoted to worrying. I beam at her and she beams back. Suddenly and simultaneously, we believe it. We are OK. We are winners.
At that exact moment, Carla and Patrick Pearson and Jennifer and Fred Heathcote bustle into the room. Carla’s voice rings out, loud, brash, confident and – to be honest – a bit annoying.
‘We’re close friends, we’ve come to congratulate. Let us in.’
It’s a command, not a request. The guy we met when we arrived at the hotel, who was standing behind a desk that said concierge, is obviously not heavyweight security. He politely steps aside and allows the Heathcotes and Pearsons access. All eyes are on them. Gillian waits patiently for the newcomers to find a seat. But they don’t sit. I glance about for Ridley and Megan. There’s no sign of them. Since our row on Tuesday I haven’t heard from either of them. Not a word! Unbelievable! I haven’t been into school this week; I can’t face it. There’s literally no point to school if I don’t have Ridley and Megan. Mum has gone nuts with me practically every day because she hasn’t really bought the excuse of my having a bad stomach, but Dad has backed me, so in the end she’s given in. Before the win, there is no way on earth she would let me go shopping on a sick day but that happened. I wish Ridley was here. I look pretty hot in my new mid-calf-length pink dress from Boss (probably supposed to be on the knee but since I’m vertically challenged it is a little longer on me).
I glance at Mum and Dad. They are not smiling. They are both stone-still and bone-white. I know Mum didn’t want the Heathcotes and Pearsons to know about the win yet; she’s going to go ape when she finds out I told. Dad cared less. I guess he accepts we have to face their reaction at some point. Will the parents be jealous, like Ridley and Megan? Or will they be more reasonable? They said they were here to congratulate. I hope so, then perhaps Megan, Rids and I can make up.
Jennifer and Fred are Ridley’s parents. Ridley looks like his dad, but he has the same smile as his mum. She’s not smiling now though; her jaw is set with a grim determination. The Heathcotes are dressed as they dress most of the time: smart. Not fashionable but somehow decidedly suitable. Classic. Jennifer has expensive-looking caramel highlights in her hair, and I think she’s probably just had a trim to sharpen things up. She always looks as though she’s just stepped out of a hair salon. Fred has a beard and it makes him look like some old royal duke or something. I can’t quite describe it, but they’ve nailed the look I’m pretty sure Mum and Dad were hoping to discover when we were trailing around New Bond Street, money burning a hole in their pockets. Mum has told me before that Jennifer and Fred are actually very posh in a way that none of our other friends are. They both went to boarding school and she had a pony when she was a kid. I think maybe Carla and Patrick are actually richer now, they certainly live in the biggest house, but despite this Jennifer and Fred are the ones everyone admires the most, I think. Because they are so proper and different. They are very nice. Polite, you know?