The Girl on Paper Read Online Free PDF Page A

selfishness which, in my more lucid hours, inevitably filled me with self-loathing?
    ‘Enjoy!’ announced Milo enthusiastically, pointing to the canapés that had come with our apéritifs.
    I took a small bite of a slice of bread topped with a sliver of tender meat.
    ‘It’s Kobe beef,’ he explained. ‘You know, in Japan they massage them with saké so that the fat is absorbed by their muscles?’
    I frowned slightly.
    He continued, ‘To tame them, their food is mixed with beer, and to relax them they are played classical music. Could be that the meat on your plate has listened to Aurore’s concertos. Maybe he fell in love with her music. See, now you have something in common!’
    I knew he was trying his hardest to try to lighten the mood, but even my sense of humour had abandoned me.
    ‘Come on, Milo, I’m getting tired. What is it that you wanted to tell me?’
    He wolfed down a last canapé without even tasting the meat, then took out a tiny laptop that he opened on the table.
    ‘OK, for now you have to keep in mind that I’m talking to you as your agent, and not your friend.’
    He always said this at the start of our so-called businessmeetings. Milo was the backbone of our little business. Cell phone surgically attached to his ear, he never seemed to stop, permanently on the phone to editors, foreign agents and journalists, always searching for a new way to promote the work of his only client: me. I don’t know how he managed to convince Doubleday to publish my books. In the competitive world of publishing he had learned his trade on the job, with no experience and no qualifications to help him, and had become one of the best, just through believing in me more than I believed in myself.
    He always said that he owed everything to me, but I knew that it was really the other way round: he was the one who had made me into a star by getting my first book onto all the bestseller lists. After this early success, I was offered contracts by some of the best agents in the business, but I had turned them all down.
    Because, above and beyond just being my friend, Milo possessed a rare quality that I prized above all others: loyalty.
    At least, that’s what I had always thought, until I heard what he had to say to me that day. 

4
The inside world
    The outside world is so empty of hope that the inside world has become twice as precious to me
    Emily Brontë
    ‘Well, let’s start with the good news: your first two books are selling as well as ever.’
    Milo turned the computer screen so I could see the red and green lines shooting up to the top of the graph.
    ‘The international market has followed America’s lead, and your book is well on the way to becoming a global phenomenon. It’s only been six months and you’ve already received more than fifty thousand emails from readers! It’s incredible, isn’t it?’
    I turned to look at him. What he had just told me meant nothing to me. Heavy clouds hung in the smog-filled LA air. I missed Aurore. What was the point of being successful if I had no one to share it with?
    ‘Some more good news: shooting starts on the movie next month. Keira Knightley and Adrien Brody have both said yes and the big shots at Columbia are pretty excited. They’ve just managed to get the set designer from Harry Potter , and they think they’re looking at a July release across three thousand screens. I’ve been to a few casting sessions: they were amazing – you should have come.’
    As the waitress served the dishes we had ordered – crabtagliatelle for him and a chanterelle mushroom omelette for me – Milo’s phone started to vibrate.
    He glanced at the number on the screen, frowned a little, hesitating for just a second before deciding to take the call. He got up from the table and withdrew to the glass-covered walkway that led from the restaurant to the patio.
    The phone call was soon over. I had only caught snatches of the conversation because of the chatter from surrounding