Page 17 of Shout Out To My Ex

‘Well, yes. I mean, vaguely. It might sound strange, but I’m not wholly across that side of things – the who’s who of fashion – but I have heard some buzz. But none of this explains why he disappeared on us, why he broke off all contact with Elle.’

Marie shrugs. ‘For that, you would have to ask Leo.’

‘Right.’ Cassie frowns again and taps the knuckles of both hands on her armrests.

‘There is one more thing,’ says Marie. She advances the slide to reveal a shopfront that looks remarkably ‘London’: two sets of floor-to-ceiling windows with wooden frames either side of a wooden-framed glass door, painted in an eye-catching teal. The sign above the windows says ‘Lorenzo’ in a swirly gold font.

‘Lorenzo’s newest store,’ Marie declares.

‘That looks like it’s in Soho,’ says Cassie, leaning forward in her seat.

‘It definitely looks like London,’ I agree.

‘Is it in Soho?’ Cassie asks.

‘Oui.’

‘Wait, so that means he’shere? Leo’s here in London?’ Cassie asks, her excitement visibly building.

The lights come on and I blink rapidly as my eyes adjust. As is her wont, Marie drags this moment out – literally, with another drag on that (must-be-soggy-by-now) cigarette, and metaphorically by locking her intense gaze on Cassie, her chin lifted.

‘Lorenzo – both the label and the man – recently relocated to London. Your Leo, he is… pfff… fifteen kilometres that way,’ she says, poking one of her bony fingers towards the side wall.

‘Oh my god,’ Cassie’s says. She throws a hand over her mouth as she starts to laugh. ‘I can’t believe it!’ she exclaims. ‘This is brilliant.’

Marie is collecting her things, but she’s omitted one salient detail, perhaps the most significant one. Cassie appears to beone step away from sending out wedding invitations but, as far as she knows, this could all be moot.

‘Marie, I’d just like to confirm that there’s no significant other in the picture,’ I say.

‘Ah,non, c’est ça. I am pleased to report that there is no spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, or any form of significant other,’ she states.

‘Great work, Marie,’ I say, as though she had any influence over Leo’s romantic status. ‘And thank you.’

Cassie leaps up and approaches Marie who, even though she’s also standing, is completely dwarfed. ‘Thank you so much.’

‘But of course.’

‘And that…’ Cassie gestures at the screen. ‘That was brilliant. I mean, how did you get all those photos?’

‘Euh, I know a guy,’ Marie replies – her standard response when anyone asks about the ‘secret sauce’ of her methods. Actually, I suspect she has a sauce guy too.

‘Right,’ I say, wanting to progress to the next phase. ‘Let’s head to one of the meeting rooms and discuss our strategy for the reunion.’ Cassie may have asked us to hold off until after Paris, but given her reaction just now, I suspect she may want to get started right away.

I follow the others out of the screening room and pause at the door to turn off the lights. Nasrin doubles back. ‘Everything okay?’ I ask quietly.

‘Just… how do you think the sis is going to react?’

‘To being reunited with her long-lost love?’ I make a don’t-ask-stupid-questions face.

‘After he ditched her, cut off all ties, then moved back to her hometown a decade later and didn’t tell her?’

Hmm, Nas has a point.

‘Oh… uh.’

‘Exactly.’

6

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