down to the car Guy had sent for her, taking extra care
for it had been months since she had gone out in such high heels as she was
wearing that night. The driver was friendly and once he heard her accent, which
he professed to love, began to ask question after question about where she came
from and how she was getting on in her new home.
“It’s
an eye opener, I’ll say that,” she admitted. Whether it was due to this
informal chat or that with Ben gone nothing seemed worthwhile or important but as
they pulled up outside the mansion sized house that was their destination,
Catlin noticed she was not in the slightest bit nervous. A few months back she
got tongue tied if she had to have a conversation with Guy but her butterflies
were strikingly absent that evening. She made her way up the steps to the door
feeling no better or worse than those who had arrived at the same time, bid
them good evening and entered the house without one flutter of insecurity. She
did need to take a deep breath to steel herself as she surveyed the array of
rich and impossibly beautiful people she had to mingle with, but her courage
did not waver and it did not take long for someone to notice her.
Guy,
more than three quarters convinced that she find a sneaky way to worm her way
out of coming (which was why he sent a car to collect her), was close to
punching the air with rapture as he saw her enter the room and too make doubly
sure she could not bolt back out the door, he hastened over to greet her.
“Catie!
Hi. Glad to see you made it. Come on in. Let me introduce you to some friends
of mine. You’ll love them.” He then steered her in and out of the crowd and
over to the people he had been in conversation with at the time of her arrival.
“Catie, this is Trent and Savannah Wentmann and here we have William and Maria
Goldburgh. Folks, this is Catie Manners, an up and coming writer under my
guidance and who has a fantastic future ahead of her.”
“Ignore
Guy, “Catlin said to the two couples. “He gets a commission each time he says
that.” It was a remark made simply so Catlin could ease her own self-consciousness
at being the centre of attention but the others found her joke funny.
While
they spoke a bit about themselves and passed comments on topics on which she
had no knowledge or interest, Catlin took the chance to study her fellow guests
in a more detail. It was difficult to put an age on Trent and Savannah. They
were using any avenue available to them to defy the aging process and looked to
be winning for the present in most areas, but based on a few clues they dropped
while talking she put them to be in their late forties. Trent owned several
large trading companied with huge international interests and Savannah did
whatever it was that best suited her mood. They were nice enough, but a bit too
superficial for Catlin’s tastes and she could tell Savannah was making a note
of the less than designer dress the newcomer was wearing, not to mention its
size. William and Maria were older by twenty odd years and though they had not
gone down the cosmetic surgery route they looked far better than their younger
counterparts for it. William was a producer and Maria had been a fairly
successful actress in her day, but only took on theatre roles which really
appealed to her now. Catlin liked them. They were easy going, genuine and as
Guy began to prattle on about her work appeared to be interested in it. They
were people she could come to be friends with.
“To
tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure whether this little star would come tonight
or not,” he added in when, by some discreet manoeuvring Maria, who could see
Catlin was getting uncomfortable with the praise Guy was heaping on her work,
valiantly fought to change the subject. “It’s been next to impossible to get
her away from that apartment of hers out in the back of beyond. I’ve told her
it’s about time she moved closer to the hub of things.”
“I’m
quite content
for it had been months since she had gone out in such high heels as she was
wearing that night. The driver was friendly and once he heard her accent, which
he professed to love, began to ask question after question about where she came
from and how she was getting on in her new home.
“It’s
an eye opener, I’ll say that,” she admitted. Whether it was due to this
informal chat or that with Ben gone nothing seemed worthwhile or important but as
they pulled up outside the mansion sized house that was their destination,
Catlin noticed she was not in the slightest bit nervous. A few months back she
got tongue tied if she had to have a conversation with Guy but her butterflies
were strikingly absent that evening. She made her way up the steps to the door
feeling no better or worse than those who had arrived at the same time, bid
them good evening and entered the house without one flutter of insecurity. She
did need to take a deep breath to steel herself as she surveyed the array of
rich and impossibly beautiful people she had to mingle with, but her courage
did not waver and it did not take long for someone to notice her.
Guy,
more than three quarters convinced that she find a sneaky way to worm her way
out of coming (which was why he sent a car to collect her), was close to
punching the air with rapture as he saw her enter the room and too make doubly
sure she could not bolt back out the door, he hastened over to greet her.
“Catie!
Hi. Glad to see you made it. Come on in. Let me introduce you to some friends
of mine. You’ll love them.” He then steered her in and out of the crowd and
over to the people he had been in conversation with at the time of her arrival.
“Catie, this is Trent and Savannah Wentmann and here we have William and Maria
Goldburgh. Folks, this is Catie Manners, an up and coming writer under my
guidance and who has a fantastic future ahead of her.”
“Ignore
Guy, “Catlin said to the two couples. “He gets a commission each time he says
that.” It was a remark made simply so Catlin could ease her own self-consciousness
at being the centre of attention but the others found her joke funny.
While
they spoke a bit about themselves and passed comments on topics on which she
had no knowledge or interest, Catlin took the chance to study her fellow guests
in a more detail. It was difficult to put an age on Trent and Savannah. They
were using any avenue available to them to defy the aging process and looked to
be winning for the present in most areas, but based on a few clues they dropped
while talking she put them to be in their late forties. Trent owned several
large trading companied with huge international interests and Savannah did
whatever it was that best suited her mood. They were nice enough, but a bit too
superficial for Catlin’s tastes and she could tell Savannah was making a note
of the less than designer dress the newcomer was wearing, not to mention its
size. William and Maria were older by twenty odd years and though they had not
gone down the cosmetic surgery route they looked far better than their younger
counterparts for it. William was a producer and Maria had been a fairly
successful actress in her day, but only took on theatre roles which really
appealed to her now. Catlin liked them. They were easy going, genuine and as
Guy began to prattle on about her work appeared to be interested in it. They
were people she could come to be friends with.
“To
tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure whether this little star would come tonight
or not,” he added in when, by some discreet manoeuvring Maria, who could see
Catlin was getting uncomfortable with the praise Guy was heaping on her work,
valiantly fought to change the subject. “It’s been next to impossible to get
her away from that apartment of hers out in the back of beyond. I’ve told her
it’s about time she moved closer to the hub of things.”
“I’m
quite content
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