seeing anyone at the moment.’
‘ That’s right, and both those boys were much keener than she was. She met Piers in her first year at LSE, he was heartbroken when she went to the States. Then for most of her time at Harvard she lived with Scott and he even followed her back here. But she wasn’t that interested. Just as well, I didn’t rate either of them as good enough. Neither did Tom, he thinks the world of her of course, she’s like a daughter to him.’ Another little smile.
I put my cup carefully down on its saucer. ‘Got plans in that direction, have you?’
She went pink. ‘You mean Emma and Flynn? Not plans exactly, Tom and I just think they’ll hit it off extremely well. They were due to meet at our wedding of course, then Stella wangled Flynn a TV chat show appearance and he had to drop everything and stay in Australia.’
‘ I see.’
And I did; the man I believed Churchill to be would always choose fame over family. He’d never yet been to England to see his father and it wasn’t for lack of funds. When his mother died giving birth to him, her sister Stella, a Sydney-based property tycoon with more money than sense, adopted him and brought him up. Tom was obliged to go along with this arrangement; he had never married Flynn’s mother and his career in the Merchant Navy wasn’t conducive to childrearing. He visited Flynn whenever Stella allowed, which wasn’t often, and kept in contact by phone and email; which meant he’d been able to give detailed and regular updates about his son to everyone in Highbury for the last twenty odd years. I’d always suspected these glowing accounts were wildly exaggerated, but I seemed to be in the minority.
Kate seemed to think I needed convincing. ‘He’s quite a celebrity over there, you know. Has his own TV series, Flynn’s Cook-in.’
‘ I didn’t realise cooking was one of his many talents.’
‘ Neither did I, but apparently he’s amazing at it. And anyway, being a TV chef is as much about personality as skill, isn’t it? Each week he has to turn up unexpectedly at someone’s house, with the TV crew obviously, and make a three-course meal out of whatever they’ve got in their kitchen. Can you imagine what it takes to do that?’ She paused to sip her tea.
‘ Sheer balls or crass stupidity,’ I thought. ‘If not both.’
She went on, ‘And it’s been such a huge success that he’s hoping he can repeat the same formula over here. He was due to have a meeting about it at the BBC last week. He’s talking of re-arranging it for next month, but Tom and I daren’t get our hopes up.’
As I had little interest in Flynn Churchill, and even less patience with his cavalier attitude towards his father, I steered the conversation back to Emma.
‘ But you know Emma and her obsessions. When something – or someone – new comes along, she’ll drop Harriet like a hot brick. Except it’ll be problematic, because the poor girl works for her.’
‘ I think you’re being a bit harsh.’
‘ Really?’ I raised one eyebrow. ‘Remember when she was thirteen, she was going to read all the classics? She made a list, and a work of art it was too, I got it framed for her as a joke. How many did she read?’
‘ She started three, but – ’
‘ – didn’t finish any of them,’ I put in. ‘She just won’t stick at anything that requires discipline. And what about that bloody piano? She pestered Henry for lessons until he gave in, then never practised from one week to the next.’
‘ All right, I give up,’ Kate said, laughing. ‘But, according to Emma, Harriet isn’t very clever, so maybe she won’t notice if she’s dropped.’
‘ Whereas Emma’s too clever for her own good,’ I said, with a frown. ‘She’s been running rings round Henry and Izzy ever since Sophia died. She’s an expert at making everyone do what she wants, usually without them even realising it.’
‘ Except for you, you never used to let her get away
‘ That’s right, and both those boys were much keener than she was. She met Piers in her first year at LSE, he was heartbroken when she went to the States. Then for most of her time at Harvard she lived with Scott and he even followed her back here. But she wasn’t that interested. Just as well, I didn’t rate either of them as good enough. Neither did Tom, he thinks the world of her of course, she’s like a daughter to him.’ Another little smile.
I put my cup carefully down on its saucer. ‘Got plans in that direction, have you?’
She went pink. ‘You mean Emma and Flynn? Not plans exactly, Tom and I just think they’ll hit it off extremely well. They were due to meet at our wedding of course, then Stella wangled Flynn a TV chat show appearance and he had to drop everything and stay in Australia.’
‘ I see.’
And I did; the man I believed Churchill to be would always choose fame over family. He’d never yet been to England to see his father and it wasn’t for lack of funds. When his mother died giving birth to him, her sister Stella, a Sydney-based property tycoon with more money than sense, adopted him and brought him up. Tom was obliged to go along with this arrangement; he had never married Flynn’s mother and his career in the Merchant Navy wasn’t conducive to childrearing. He visited Flynn whenever Stella allowed, which wasn’t often, and kept in contact by phone and email; which meant he’d been able to give detailed and regular updates about his son to everyone in Highbury for the last twenty odd years. I’d always suspected these glowing accounts were wildly exaggerated, but I seemed to be in the minority.
Kate seemed to think I needed convincing. ‘He’s quite a celebrity over there, you know. Has his own TV series, Flynn’s Cook-in.’
‘ I didn’t realise cooking was one of his many talents.’
‘ Neither did I, but apparently he’s amazing at it. And anyway, being a TV chef is as much about personality as skill, isn’t it? Each week he has to turn up unexpectedly at someone’s house, with the TV crew obviously, and make a three-course meal out of whatever they’ve got in their kitchen. Can you imagine what it takes to do that?’ She paused to sip her tea.
‘ Sheer balls or crass stupidity,’ I thought. ‘If not both.’
She went on, ‘And it’s been such a huge success that he’s hoping he can repeat the same formula over here. He was due to have a meeting about it at the BBC last week. He’s talking of re-arranging it for next month, but Tom and I daren’t get our hopes up.’
As I had little interest in Flynn Churchill, and even less patience with his cavalier attitude towards his father, I steered the conversation back to Emma.
‘ But you know Emma and her obsessions. When something – or someone – new comes along, she’ll drop Harriet like a hot brick. Except it’ll be problematic, because the poor girl works for her.’
‘ I think you’re being a bit harsh.’
‘ Really?’ I raised one eyebrow. ‘Remember when she was thirteen, she was going to read all the classics? She made a list, and a work of art it was too, I got it framed for her as a joke. How many did she read?’
‘ She started three, but – ’
‘ – didn’t finish any of them,’ I put in. ‘She just won’t stick at anything that requires discipline. And what about that bloody piano? She pestered Henry for lessons until he gave in, then never practised from one week to the next.’
‘ All right, I give up,’ Kate said, laughing. ‘But, according to Emma, Harriet isn’t very clever, so maybe she won’t notice if she’s dropped.’
‘ Whereas Emma’s too clever for her own good,’ I said, with a frown. ‘She’s been running rings round Henry and Izzy ever since Sophia died. She’s an expert at making everyone do what she wants, usually without them even realising it.’
‘ Except for you, you never used to let her get away
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