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.But he could be more – at least, she’d love him to be more.If only she knew how he felt.Devlin had so many women on the go; he might have kissed her purely because she was there.And if that was the case, Leila would die if he had any clue about how she felt.The premiere was set for seven, so at six, Leila was in Dara’s suite in one of her favourite premiere outfits: a sparkly black on-the-knee dress with spaghetti straps and a tiny fitted jacket.Marc and Ilona were in the cinema with the security people, organising last-minute details, phoning and texting through with requests and information.‘Hundreds here already,’ Ilona had told Leila.‘It’s a good crowd, though: no trouble and lots of press.’Marc kept her up to date on the usual issues over ID verification and people who insisted they were journalists, bloggers and photographers but who weren’t on any of the lists.Leila’s team were well trained and could cope with it.Next, a gang of beautiful people had turned up, entirely out of it on lunchtime champagne and far too drunk to be allowed in.They were creating a scene, Ilona said, marching up and down saying Don’t you know who we are? Marc was somewhere else, what should she do?‘OK, let me sort it out.I’ll talk to Devlin,’ Leila said, wishing she was there to defuse things.There was such a thing as bad publicity.She phoned Devlin, who was having a drink in the bar with Poppa, and explained the situation.‘We need more security on tonight, ASAP,’ she said.‘Of course,’ said Devlin, ‘I’ll get right on it.Everything OK with Dara?’‘Fine, fine,’ said Leila brusquely.‘And you?’ Devlin asked, his voice softening.‘Are you OK?’Leila hesitated.‘I’m fine,’ she said calmly.‘Fine.’‘Right,’ he said.‘I’m looking forward to dinner, it’ll be nice.I think it’s just going to be the three of us.’‘Good,’ said Leila, smiling as she hung up.For a minute he’d sounded like the old Devlin.That was good.Maybe it wasn’t all ruined.Maybe her instincts were right.Finally Dara emerged from her suite, looking startlingly beautiful in a long cream dress which hung off her slender body like a Grecian gown on a piece of sculpture.‘Wow, that dress is amazing,’ said Leila.‘I know, I’m sort of afraid to sit down in it because I think when I get up it’ll be covered in creases,’ said Dara.‘It’s this material, I don’t know what it is.’‘We could limit the photocall to on the way into the cinema, and then try to ensure the photographers only get you in groups?’ Leila suggested.‘I’m thinking no posed shots on your own, keep you with other people so there’s less chance they’ll use the shots in the fashion mags and comment on the creases …? I know, impossible to be so specific with photographers, but we can manage it to a certain extent.’‘We’ll try it,’ said Dara.‘Darned designers.The way they create dresses nowadays, you can only stand up in them and be photographed.You can’t actually, y’know, sit or eat or anything normal.Right, let’s rock’n’roll.’In the limo, they chatted.‘How many times have you seen it already?’‘Once,’ said Dara.‘This’ll be number two.Then, two days’ time in Paris will be number three.Some people sneak out of their own premieres, but I’ve always felt that was sort of rude, ’cos the fans are going to see you leaving early and they’ll think it’s because the movie’s so dreadful you can’t stand to watch it.’‘It’s not a dreadful movie, it’s an amazing movie,’ said Leila, who’d seen it the previous month.‘You’re very kind,’ said Dara.She reached out and touched the younger woman.‘Very, very kind.Don’t lose that.This business can turn people tough, you know.’‘I won’t,’ said Leila.‘I have my mother’s dog to keep me grounded.She rolled in fox doo-dah the other weekend and I had to wash her in my mother’s bath.That pretty much keeps your feet on the ground.’Dara roared with laughter and then had to try and stop.‘This dress is killing me.It’s not made for laughing either.No sitting, no laughing.That’s good, I like the sound of that dog.Fourteen-year-old sons keep you grounded too.If my son could see me now, he’d say: Mom, yeah, s’pose you look OK, for your age and everything …They both laughed.‘You need something to remind you that this business is a business and all the dressing up is just fantasy.Grounded is good.’‘It is,’ agreed Leila.Somehow, all the events of the past few months – her mother’s accident, Katy’s pregnancy, even the problems with Susie – had left her feeling grounded in a way she never had before.Life wasn’t to be thought about – it was to be grabbed.SixteenMarriage is our last, best chance to grow up.JOSEPH BARTHRuby sat at the back of year five’s classroom and listened to Miss Redmond droning on about some ancient battle.There were times when she was sorry she’d ever decided to study history for Leaving Cert, and this was definitely one of those times.The course was huge and Miss Redmond was not one of those teachers with the charisma to make you want to listen
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