Finger Food Read Free Page A

about the past.
    Bella was just about to order an urgent second helping of cake when her phone rang.
    The words ‘Flair 4 TV’ blazed on her phone strip. Fumbling, she wrenched it from her bag.
    â€˜Hello?’ said Bella. Maybe Sharon was bored and wanted to chat to someone lower down the pecking order. But to her great surprise it was Yvonne’s high hysterical voice which replied.
    â€˜Darling, how are you?’
    Bella was in shock but mustered enough sense to lie. ‘Busy Yvonne. Pretty busy,’ and then before she could stop herself she added, ‘Have you had any of the messages I’ve been leaving for the last six months?’
    â€˜Yes, well, that’s why I’m ringing. Well, actually it isn’t. But can you come in to the studio this afternoon?’
    â€˜Why?’
    There was a pause. Bella could hear Yvonne take a big breath. Bella hardly dared breathe herself.
    â€˜To, er … to present Finger Food . We’re doing this pilot called …’
    â€˜I know exactly what the pilot’s called. It was my idea,’ Bella snapped back.
    This was ignored. ‘I’ll have a car pick you up? Where are you?’
    â€˜I’m … I’m at work.’
    â€˜Can I get you another slice of anything?’ shouted Carmel in her ear. ‘Cappuccino? You’ve made good work of that carrot cake, haven’t you, Bella – that’s my girl. You stop wallowing! Nasty boss or no nasty boss!’
    Bella pointed at her phone hoping this would make Carmel back off. It didn’t. She folded her arms, waiting for another order. It was clear she expected a full reply. Especially as they had shared an intimate exchange only seconds before.
    Bella mimed a ‘Yes please to both’, and nodded furiously.
    A silence played out on the phone as Bella wondered how best to respond. If Yvonne was actually offering her the dream job, she couldn’t be seen to jump at it. But Yvonne was so reliably mean she couldn’t afford to play it too cool, either. She might change her mind just to spite her.
    The only thing Bella knew for certain was that she’d never get another chance like this.
    â€˜I’ll get back home soon,’ she said, hoping she was speaking loudly enough to drown out the sound of plates being cleared away.
    She would go to the hairdressers, pick up her trousers from the dry cleaners and get her nails done. She’d have to pass on the upper lip wax.
    Yvonne interrupted. ‘No. Make it half an hour … you can’t be far. I’ll send a car to your house.’ The phone went dead.
    Bella sat stunned for a moment, holding the phone in her hand. No manners. No ‘How are you? Hope you don’t mind me nicking all your ideas’. Just ‘you can’t be far. I’ll send a car’.
    In all her time working for Flair 4 Living TV, dreaming of being a presenter, Bella had never imagined her dream would come true quite so suddenly.
    Even as a lowly chopper-upper she had been in her element. Bella was always bounding about the studio, clearing up after second-rate presenters, inventing recipes or pitching one of her themed ideas for programmes. It was Bella who had suggested the Easter picnic hamper prize for guessing the weight of her special three-tiered crystal and rose wedding cake. This had got the viewing figures high for that week. It was Bella who had started the campaign for carnation petals in a savoury salad. That made its way into the Herald as ‘strangest meal of the week’. Bella was the ‘ideas girl’ and everyone knew it. Even Yvonne.
    So the fact that she was calling her in to present the show could mean only one thing.
    Yvonne must be desperate.

Chapter 4
    Bella took a deep breath as she took in the familiar studio. She had cleaned and decorated this space for years. She’d seen it dressed in all manner of different guises for various programmes.
    But today at the back