To the Moon and Back - By Jill Mansell Page 0,127

her generous hips. ‘I’m telling you, my Nathan isn’t going to know what’s hit him when I get home tonight.’

In five minutes they were due on. Tomorrow they were booked, along with Yasmin, to do a series of newspaper and magazine interviews. So much for the idea that everyone involved would remain anonymous; that had lasted all of four days. But that length of time had been enough to serve its purpose, piquing the interest of millions and instigating a torrent of speculation. By the time they’d been unmasked—OK, debagged—their work had been done. ‘The Light In My Life’ had shot to the top of the download chart. The YouTube clip had been viewed seven million times and the song itself was being ranked up there alongside some of the all-time greats. When it became apparent that it hadn’t been written and performed by superstars, the general public decided they loved it all the more. This week it was at number one, outselling all other singles many times over.

Already Roo and Ceecee were under pressure to fly to the US to appear over there on the major chat shows. The last few days had been a complete whirlwind. Roo had no idea what would happen next; all she knew was that when the news of her involvement had broken, nobody had been able to get in or out of the charity shop on account of the vast number of paparazzi milling around outside. Nor had the situation improved when the staff discovered she was raising money for a rival charity and not their own. Then people started cramming into the shop, taking photos on their mobiles, and asking Roo for her autograph, and the manageress had lost her temper. This level of disruption simply couldn’t be tolerated.

And that was it, she was ordered to collect her things and leave. Sacked on the spot.

From a charity shop. That was the thanks you got for trying to be a good person.

As always, despite her best efforts, Roo found her thoughts drawn back to Todd. What was he doing? Who was he with? Were he and Lisa curled up together on a sofa right now, watching the TV? When she appeared on the screen, would Todd mentally compare her with the perky, pretty little math genius in his arms and thank his lucky stars he’d made the right choice?

Would perky Lisa smile up at him and say, ‘So that’s her, is it?’ Whilst thinking: Yay, I’m cuter than she is.

OK, block that, don’t think about it now. On the TV screens, the first interview was in the process of being wrapped up and an assistant with a headset was making her way across the green room towards her. Time to go.

***

Ellie had been shopping in Oxford Street searching for something she could wear to Zack’s sister’s wedding. In a hurry to get back to watch the show, she’d ended up buying three outfits without trying them on. The plan had been to buy something peacock blue, to go with her newest shoes, so of course she’d come home with a crimson wrap dress, a pale gray top and skirt with silver lace overlay, and a bottle-green dress and matching swirly jacket with a shot-silk fuchsia-pink lining.

Because choosing what to wear to a wedding was never straightforward, was it?

Having drawn the living room curtains and switched on the TV, she stripped down to her bra and knickers and tried the wrap dress first. As expected, it was OK but a bit safe. And leaning forward caused the crossover bit to gape, which wasn’t safe but wasn’t really what you wanted at a wedding either.

No. Back in the bag.

Silver lacy outfit next. Oh crikey, how was it that you could see something in a shop and think it would look great on, when in reality it made you look like Dr Ruth?

Ellie peeled off the top and skirt and put them back in the second carrier. Sometimes she made really bad decisions when it came to choosing clothes. Right. She picked up the third and final outfit and prayed it would do. Bugger, the dress had the kind of zip at the back that you needed to be double-jointed to do up.

And there, just when you didn’t want him, was Jamie, stretched out across the sofa with an arm behind his head.

‘Taking a lot of trouble over this,’ he observed.

‘It’s a wedding. I want to look nice.’ Having stepped into the dress, she got the

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