Could It Be I'm Falling in Love? by Eleanor Prescott Read Free Book Online Page A

have their marriage ruined!’
    ‘They didn’t split up. They’re still together,’ whispered Sue.
    ‘Hunt was a good man,’ Spinster Aunt Cressida said plainly. ‘He had a lot to give this country – he was passionate …’
    Macaroon Man stifled a laugh.
    ‘He had a great career in politics ahead of him,’ Cressida increased her volume, drowning out Macaroon Man’s dissent.
    ‘And it was all ruined by her!’ She glared at Sue. Sue was visibly shaking.
    ‘Politicians aren’t allowed to make mistakes,’ intervened Woody. ‘If a pop star has a fling, it’s not a problem. But if a politician has one, the papers punish him – and whoever it was he was seeing. It doesn’t matter to the papers that the politician might be in an unhappy marriage, or that the woman he had the affair with may or may not be the love of his life.’
    ‘Loads of MPs have affairs,’ said Smug Cousin kindly.
    ‘Well, don’t they say power’s the greatest aphrodisiac?’ Woody smiled.
    There was an awkward silence as everyone looked at Cressida. Roxy looked too. She was beginning to recognise Spinster Aunt. All the talk about power was stirring her memory.
    Macaroon Man cleared his throat.
    ‘So, you never managed to get your career back on track, Sue?’ he asked.
    Dumpy Mum shook her head sadly.
    ‘I went to castings, but everyone just whispered and stared. They said I was too sleazy for the modelling jobs I went for. I couldn’t even get catalogue work any more.’
    ‘Yes, well, we all have our cross to bear,’ Cressida said sharply. ‘And yours came with a rich husband and a house in Lavender Heath. And it was thirty years ago, for heaven’s sake. Isn’t it time you stopped feeling sorry for yourself?’
    ‘You don’t know what it’s like to know everyone’s seen you naked,’ Sue protested tearfully. ‘People I’ve never met knowthings,
private things
, about me. It’s not like I
sold
the pictures. I didn’t choose to expose myself, like a … a page three girl! For years I couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread without someone leering, or shouting that horrible name the tabloids called me.’
    ‘Hah! I know what
that’s
like.’ Macaroon Man said ruefully. Roxy peered at him in surprise. Now she came to think about it, he did look
very
familiar.
    ‘Bloody tabloids,’ Pervy Uncle Terence added venomously.
    ‘I had dreams.’ Sue’s voice had gone wobbly. ‘I was going to branch out – get into acting. But instead I got labelled as her: as Suzi. Every schoolboy in the land knew me as … well … as,
you know
 …’
    Despite herself, Roxy was fascinated.
    ‘Couldn’t you just work with it? Play it to your advantage with a kiss-and-tell, or a sexy underwear campaign?’ she asked.
    ‘She’s not that kind of lady!’ Pervy Uncle retorted.
    ‘Yes, well, you just need to retrain,’ Cressida said simply. ‘Do something useful with your life. The past is past. We, of all people, should know that.’ She looked around the room meaningfully. Roxy noticed the atmosphere suddenly change. Everyone looked at their laps, or started contemplating Woody’s walls.
    A moment passed. Roxy put down her wine glass.
    ‘What do you mean … “we of all people”?’ she asked.
    She looked at Woody. He smiled at her in the same way her teachers used to when they wanted her to work something out.
    She looked at the others, her eyes travelling from face toface. Now she thought about it, maybe they
all
looked familiar. The more she clocked Pervy Uncle, the more she felt sure she’d seen him before. He definitely wasn’t one of her actual uncles, yet she had a weird feeling he’d been in her house – in her living room. And Macaroon Man was looking more familiar with every glance. Maybe she’d met him, drunk, at a party. Christ – they’d probably snogged!
    Sue didn’t ring any bells, but she’d obviously been famous once – she’d shown them the scrapbook to prove it.
    And Spinster Aunt: she had