Dreaming of Florence by T.A. Williams

Dreaming of Florence by T.A. Williams

Author:T.A. Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781911591924
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2017-10-03T04:00:00+00:00


* * *

The school closed for a two-week break over the holiday period, and Debbie flew home to spend Christmas with her parents in Bristol, followed by New Year with Alice in Cambridge. Everybody commented on her newly-acquired elegance – her auntie actually used that very word – and Debbie was secretly rather pleased. The stylist in Florence had hardly touched her hair, just cut it a bit, but it looked so much better as a result. And, of course, with some of the new clothes she had bought, and the amazing dark blue dress Flora had given her, she felt really rather stylish.

One evening, while her dad had gone down to the pub for a pint, she and her mum were having a chat. The subject of her appearance came up and Debbie sought her mother’s opinion.

‘Mum, do you think I’m pretty?’

‘Of course you are, dear. You’ve always been a good-looking girl.’

‘The thing is, since going to Florence and, in particular, since starting doing the modelling work, people keep telling me I’m beautiful. Of course, in that world, everything’s over the top and they bandy words like beautiful about all the time. You know me – I’ve never really been interested in what I look like before, but I’m beginning to find I really rather like dressing a bit better and looking after myself. Does that make me superficial?’

Her mother smiled at her. ‘If your appearance is the only thing in your head, dear, then yes. But that’s not the case, and you know it. You’ve got a very responsible job – and I know you’re good at it or you wouldn’t have been able to step in when the principal was taken ill. You’re a sensible, intelligent girl and if you happen to look good as well, then that’s just a bonus. Of course you’re not superficial.’

‘I mean, it’s not as if I went looking for a modelling job. They asked me, after all.’

Her mother gave her a reassuring pat on the arm. ‘Of course they did and you don’t need to worry about looking good. Just watch out for the men. When they see a pretty girl, they’re only after one thing, you know.’

After her experience in August, Debbie didn’t need to be reminded of this.

The next day, hesitantly, she told her mum and dad about her blossoming friendship with Flora and her husband, the count. To her surprise, her father didn’t go off on one of his famous rants against the aristocracy. He normally ended up accusing all those who had inherited wealth of being chinless wonders, or having been born with silver spoons in their mouths. Instead, he sounded impressed by the fact that Flora had worked hard to build up her own business and clearly tolerated the fact that her husband had a title as just being one of many strange things done by foreigners. Debbie heaved a sigh of relief.

Her mum was fascinated to hear all about the villa and its furnishings and



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.