Chanel Sweethearts Read Online Free PDF Page B

wave.
    â€˜Oh, sorry,’ Trixie said, dimpling her cheek. ‘I didn’t see you there.’
    â€˜Is she new?’ Tori asked, stowing her Fendi Zucchino bag safely under the table.
    â€˜Yes, still learning the ropes. Last Wednesday was a nightmare: she left meals going cold in the kitchen while she fiddled with her iPhone. Somehow she’d changed it to Mandarin and then couldn’t read the phone menu to change it back to English.’
    â€˜Well, she seems nice. By the way, the place looks brilliant, Jess,’ Tori said, looking around. ‘And the gallery has so much great stuff to buy. I can’t decide on that duck-egg blue vase or the canvas totes. I think I’ll get both, they’ll work well with my summer theme this year.’
    â€˜Yes, I’ve made it summer-ready,’ Jess said and followed her friend’s eye around the room appraisingly. ‘The holiday hordes are about to hit.’
    In the corner the overstuffed sofa piled high with cushions sat behind a sixties boomerang-shaped coffee table. Magazines from the seventies and eighties spilled from an old brass newspaper rack on the floor. The fireplace, cleaned of winter’s cheery warmth, was decorated in Jess’s signature styling with accessories from the nearby beach: driftwood sticks with shells and urchins dangling from their limbs.
    â€˜I love how you make the cafe look like just one more of your sculptures,’ Tori commented.
    â€˜Thanks.’ Jess squeezed her friend’s hand. ‘That’s what it feels like for me too. Aaaand,’ – she drew the word out for dramatic effect – ‘you’ll never guess what happened to me last week.’
    â€˜Ooh, gossip, you know how I love that, sweetie,’ Tori said. ‘It’s almost as fun as shopping!’ She smiled her thanks as the waitress put a frothy coffee before her.
    â€˜Thanks, Trixie.’ Jess waited till the girl was out of earshot before she continued. ‘I had a very interesting visitor, and an even more interesting offer.’
    Tori squirmed with excitement. ‘Don’t hold back, darling, give me the details.’
    â€˜Well, I don’t know if I’ve ever told you about Jimmy McConnell?’
    â€˜Hunky heart-throb from design school?’
    â€˜Oh, yes, I did, ridiculous really, can’t believe I had such a crush. Although he’s still rather gorgeous. And anyway, he’s offered me a job.’
    â€˜What? Where?’
    â€˜In town!’
    â€˜No way!’
    â€˜Yes way.’
    â€˜Where in town? That’ll be great, you’ll have access to much better retail opportunities. What would you be doing?’
    â€˜I would be a designer, chief designer in fact, at Mimsy Baxter’s Still Life.’
    â€˜Wow, Jess, that’s brilliant. I love that store. I’d never send a bunch of flowers ever again – why would you when you could send a sculpture? I love their stuff. I’m in there all the time snapping up gorgeous bits and pieces.’ Tori’s eyes shone with excitement.
    â€˜I know. Mimsy’s fab, isn’t she?’
    Tori gave a shrug. ‘Well, you have to take the job of course,’ she said.
    â€˜You think?’ Jess twirled one long blonde curl around her finger. ‘You really think I should?’
    â€˜Of course, darling, it’s exactly what you need. It will be a breath of fresh air after the sadness of the past year and you’d be much closer to the boys up in the city.’
    â€˜I thought of that,’ Jess nodded, dropping the tendril of hair. ‘Imagine if Graham changed his mind and let me see them sometimes; how amazing would that be?’ She clapped her hands with excitement at the idea. ‘It really could work, couldn’t it?’
    Suddenly her face clouded over. ‘But then again, this is my home. What about the store, the gallery, Springforth and...’ An image of