Camilla sit on the loo
seat and hear her gossip, and it had made her own inhibitions seem ludicrous.
‘I think I’ve lost weight,’ she called out uncertainly,
wishing she had her glasses and peering fuzzily down at the scales.
‘You daft, drunk, half-cut cow,’ said Loulou
affectionately, appearing beside her and
scrutinizing the scales with the eye of a connoisseur. ‘Last week you
told me you weighed nearly eleven stone. You’re
down to ten stone and half a pound. Between
your lousy husband and my even lousier cooking you’ve managed to lose almost a stone. Didn’t you even realize?’ she exclaimed and Camilla shook her
head, scarcely able to believe it
herself. Loulou had given her a week in which to get over Jack and since
she was used to obeying his orders, she had
accepted it without question. Jack was almost all she had thought about – there had been no time to consider the fact that her bulk was disappearing almost of
its own accord.
‘You’ll be a respectable size fourteen,’ said Loulou with satisfaction. ‘Now get some clothes on, you brazen
hussy, and we’ll go and stun Knightsbridge with it.’
It wasn’t until four o’clock that
afternoon that Camilla realized
exactly how well planned Loulou’s campaign had been, and she was
deeply touched by the enormous effort her friend had made. Incredibly she was being transformed
before her very eyes – and it was her
eyes which had been the first to be transformed. When the optician had fitted
her with tinted soft contact lenses her
grey-blue eyes had instantly become a thing of the past. Now they were of a sapphire blue shade so deep they
bordered on violet, and the effect of the colour was almost magical.
Still blinking, she had next been
whisked into ‘Faces First’, run by Suki, a friend of Loulou’s, for the first professional make-up of her life. By shading and highlighting her face
with squashy, feather-soft brushes Suki had
given her a bone structure she had never known existed.
Stunned, Camilla watched her reflection in the stage lit
mirror as Suki deftly altered her appearance. She wasn’t just a changed person; she was a completely different one. Now
she looked like one of those women
whom she had always envied. She looked
elegant, immaculate . . . and far, far more self-assured than she felt. But at the same time Camilla
realized that she was also beginning
to feel more self-assured than she had for many years. It was as
if a small, new leaf was slowly unfurling within her, preparing to grow and
take root, and suddenly Jack began to seem less important. Guiltily catching
herself wondering for a moment what he would think if he could see her now, she firmly thrust the thought out of her mind. A
far more worthwhile exercise was wondering what an unattached,
non-philandering, thoroughly decent man would think if he saw her now, for although the question was purely academic
at this stage – it was still nice to think that other people might find
her attractive.
‘ I’ve finished, love,’ said Suki, standing back
at last and surveying her work with
approval. ‘And if I say so myself, you
look smashing. Special occasion is it, tonight? Got a hot date?’
‘ It’s a very special
occasion,’ interjected Loulou firmly before
Camilla could reply. ‘And yes, she’s got a hot date. With me.’
‘ Explosion’, with its
aggressively trendy black and gold decor
and loud, finger-snapping stylists, was the kind of hairdressing salon
Camilla would have run a mile from but with Loulou
gripping her arm and dragging her up the front steps, she didn’t have a
lot of choice in the matter.
‘ Don’t go green on me
now,’ she said briskly. ‘Rocco’s the best scissor-merchant in town and
heaven knows, he’s what you need with your
hair.’ Which was more or less what Rocco, a blond Italian Cockney with
flashing green eyes and a bewitching smile,
had to say when he ran disparaging fingers through Camilla’s lank, dark
blonde
seat and hear her gossip, and it had made her own inhibitions seem ludicrous.
‘I think I’ve lost weight,’ she called out uncertainly,
wishing she had her glasses and peering fuzzily down at the scales.
‘You daft, drunk, half-cut cow,’ said Loulou
affectionately, appearing beside her and
scrutinizing the scales with the eye of a connoisseur. ‘Last week you
told me you weighed nearly eleven stone. You’re
down to ten stone and half a pound. Between
your lousy husband and my even lousier cooking you’ve managed to lose almost a stone. Didn’t you even realize?’ she exclaimed and Camilla shook her
head, scarcely able to believe it
herself. Loulou had given her a week in which to get over Jack and since
she was used to obeying his orders, she had
accepted it without question. Jack was almost all she had thought about – there had been no time to consider the fact that her bulk was disappearing almost of
its own accord.
‘You’ll be a respectable size fourteen,’ said Loulou with satisfaction. ‘Now get some clothes on, you brazen
hussy, and we’ll go and stun Knightsbridge with it.’
It wasn’t until four o’clock that
afternoon that Camilla realized
exactly how well planned Loulou’s campaign had been, and she was
deeply touched by the enormous effort her friend had made. Incredibly she was being transformed
before her very eyes – and it was her
eyes which had been the first to be transformed. When the optician had fitted
her with tinted soft contact lenses her
grey-blue eyes had instantly become a thing of the past. Now they were of a sapphire blue shade so deep they
bordered on violet, and the effect of the colour was almost magical.
Still blinking, she had next been
whisked into ‘Faces First’, run by Suki, a friend of Loulou’s, for the first professional make-up of her life. By shading and highlighting her face
with squashy, feather-soft brushes Suki had
given her a bone structure she had never known existed.
Stunned, Camilla watched her reflection in the stage lit
mirror as Suki deftly altered her appearance. She wasn’t just a changed person; she was a completely different one. Now
she looked like one of those women
whom she had always envied. She looked
elegant, immaculate . . . and far, far more self-assured than she felt. But at the same time Camilla
realized that she was also beginning
to feel more self-assured than she had for many years. It was as
if a small, new leaf was slowly unfurling within her, preparing to grow and
take root, and suddenly Jack began to seem less important. Guiltily catching
herself wondering for a moment what he would think if he could see her now, she firmly thrust the thought out of her mind. A
far more worthwhile exercise was wondering what an unattached,
non-philandering, thoroughly decent man would think if he saw her now, for although the question was purely academic
at this stage – it was still nice to think that other people might find
her attractive.
‘ I’ve finished, love,’ said Suki, standing back
at last and surveying her work with
approval. ‘And if I say so myself, you
look smashing. Special occasion is it, tonight? Got a hot date?’
‘ It’s a very special
occasion,’ interjected Loulou firmly before
Camilla could reply. ‘And yes, she’s got a hot date. With me.’
‘ Explosion’, with its
aggressively trendy black and gold decor
and loud, finger-snapping stylists, was the kind of hairdressing salon
Camilla would have run a mile from but with Loulou
gripping her arm and dragging her up the front steps, she didn’t have a
lot of choice in the matter.
‘ Don’t go green on me
now,’ she said briskly. ‘Rocco’s the best scissor-merchant in town and
heaven knows, he’s what you need with your
hair.’ Which was more or less what Rocco, a blond Italian Cockney with
flashing green eyes and a bewitching smile,
had to say when he ran disparaging fingers through Camilla’s lank, dark
blonde
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