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Authors: Louise Bagshawe
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her exhaustion.
It was a Valentine’s Day card, stiff, heavy, gold-embossed edges. Inside there was a barely legible scrawl in blue fountain pen.
‘The calendar says September, but it feels like February to me. P,..’
She hugged it to her chest and didn’t fall asleep until the sun crept up over grimy lower Manhattan. ‘
38
Chapter 6
The campaign was a huge success.
The sight of Lita sashaying across the screen, her dark eyes flashing defiantly, her firm butt encased in a gaudy swath of bright green, fruit wound into her hair like a Victorian stripper, moved jars of instant coffee off the shelves all across America. Costa 1Kica followed it with another Lita campaign, this time featuring her in a suede dress with tassels, sitting in an opulent hotel lobby, sipping the nasty brew out of a bone china cup. ‘Authentic Costa - Authentic Class,’ screamed the slogan, and their market share went up four per cent.
Lita had money. She bought her parents a house of their own and gave them the two-family as an income property. They retired without further fuss. As far as Pappy was concerned, only a fool worked unless he had to. Chico sidled up to her for money, too. Lita offered to take him to Barney’s, to get him some suits, get him a position of some kind at Benson Bailey. But he refused.
‘Jus’ give me the money, sis. I got me some investments,’ Chico insisted.
‘What kind?’ she said suspicibusly.
His face darkened. ‘I don’t want to say. I could blow it. You know how it is.’
Not really, she thought.
‘Are you going to give me the money or not? I’ll pay you back. It’s a good opportunity for you. Of course, you don’ have to. I’m only your brother,’ Chico said with heavy sarcasm.
Lira gave him the money. Four thousand in cash. She wouldn’t dream of handing Chico a cheque. What did he know from banking? It wasn’t their way. She still had the money she’d saved up in that sock. She didn’t ask for a receipt, because she knew she’d never see a dime of it ever again.
But it was worth it to paci Chico. He wasn’t exactly hrllled about her success. Whatever she could do to ease his simmering anger, she wanted to do. Lita racked her brains for something Chico could do to get him off the track of becoming her ‘manager’. She thought about
39
buying houses with two or three apartments… ‘three families’, the real estate people called them. Then Chico could be a handyman, run them for her. If only she could be sure he wouldn’t shake down her tenants for money …
But it was hard to think too much about her brother. Lita was being
swept along in a cloud of money, fame and aching hipness. Not to mention love.
Rupert had asked her out the day after she got home. Lita had sat
there, staring at the phone, willing it to ring. When it had, she jumped on it before it could even complete its first trill. It was him, and a shudder of pleasure rippled through her to hear his voice.
‘I suppose you must have thought that card was incredibly corny.’ ‘No, no, it was just perfect,’ Lita sighed, thinking he was, too. ‘I’d have sent flowers, but you wouldn’t have been there to receive
them.’
‘That’s OK,’ Lita murmured.
‘I take it that it wouldn’t be too presumptuous to hope you’d go out
with me?’ Rupert said.
‘Oh, no.’
‘No, you wouldn’t? Well, I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t either.’
‘Of course I would. I meant …’ Lita flushed.
‘I know what you meant, sweetheart. I’m just teasing you. Tell you
what. You get yourself ready, and I’ll pick you up around ten.’
‘Isn’t that a bit late?’ Lita said, then winced. She could have kicked
herself. The first date was not the time to sta}t criticizing. What did she .
know? He was the sophisticated one.
lq, upert laughed. She loved the crisp, limey accent that he had. Like a
prince or something. He was a nobleman, of course. It was a whole different world, and Lita
It was a Valentine’s Day card, stiff, heavy, gold-embossed edges. Inside there was a barely legible scrawl in blue fountain pen.
‘The calendar says September, but it feels like February to me. P,..’
She hugged it to her chest and didn’t fall asleep until the sun crept up over grimy lower Manhattan. ‘
38
Chapter 6
The campaign was a huge success.
The sight of Lita sashaying across the screen, her dark eyes flashing defiantly, her firm butt encased in a gaudy swath of bright green, fruit wound into her hair like a Victorian stripper, moved jars of instant coffee off the shelves all across America. Costa 1Kica followed it with another Lita campaign, this time featuring her in a suede dress with tassels, sitting in an opulent hotel lobby, sipping the nasty brew out of a bone china cup. ‘Authentic Costa - Authentic Class,’ screamed the slogan, and their market share went up four per cent.
Lita had money. She bought her parents a house of their own and gave them the two-family as an income property. They retired without further fuss. As far as Pappy was concerned, only a fool worked unless he had to. Chico sidled up to her for money, too. Lita offered to take him to Barney’s, to get him some suits, get him a position of some kind at Benson Bailey. But he refused.
‘Jus’ give me the money, sis. I got me some investments,’ Chico insisted.
‘What kind?’ she said suspicibusly.
His face darkened. ‘I don’t want to say. I could blow it. You know how it is.’
Not really, she thought.
‘Are you going to give me the money or not? I’ll pay you back. It’s a good opportunity for you. Of course, you don’ have to. I’m only your brother,’ Chico said with heavy sarcasm.
Lira gave him the money. Four thousand in cash. She wouldn’t dream of handing Chico a cheque. What did he know from banking? It wasn’t their way. She still had the money she’d saved up in that sock. She didn’t ask for a receipt, because she knew she’d never see a dime of it ever again.
But it was worth it to paci Chico. He wasn’t exactly hrllled about her success. Whatever she could do to ease his simmering anger, she wanted to do. Lita racked her brains for something Chico could do to get him off the track of becoming her ‘manager’. She thought about
39
buying houses with two or three apartments… ‘three families’, the real estate people called them. Then Chico could be a handyman, run them for her. If only she could be sure he wouldn’t shake down her tenants for money …
But it was hard to think too much about her brother. Lita was being
swept along in a cloud of money, fame and aching hipness. Not to mention love.
Rupert had asked her out the day after she got home. Lita had sat
there, staring at the phone, willing it to ring. When it had, she jumped on it before it could even complete its first trill. It was him, and a shudder of pleasure rippled through her to hear his voice.
‘I suppose you must have thought that card was incredibly corny.’ ‘No, no, it was just perfect,’ Lita sighed, thinking he was, too. ‘I’d have sent flowers, but you wouldn’t have been there to receive
them.’
‘That’s OK,’ Lita murmured.
‘I take it that it wouldn’t be too presumptuous to hope you’d go out
with me?’ Rupert said.
‘Oh, no.’
‘No, you wouldn’t? Well, I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t either.’
‘Of course I would. I meant …’ Lita flushed.
‘I know what you meant, sweetheart. I’m just teasing you. Tell you
what. You get yourself ready, and I’ll pick you up around ten.’
‘Isn’t that a bit late?’ Lita said, then winced. She could have kicked
herself. The first date was not the time to sta}t criticizing. What did she .
know? He was the sophisticated one.
lq, upert laughed. She loved the crisp, limey accent that he had. Like a
prince or something. He was a nobleman, of course. It was a whole different world, and Lita
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