LITMIR.BIZ

       ONE

      ‘I just don’t see how we can do it, Hayley,’ Fiona said. ‘We have the Met Costume Gala that Saturday, Cancer the following week, and the Whitney wedding two days later.’

      ‘For Luke Thompson, we’ll find a way. And could you say Cancer Benefit, please.’ Hayley wrinkled her nose. ‘Cancer next week doesn’t sound that festive. Just the opposite.’

      Fiona laughed. ‘Point well taken.’

      ‘Listen, I’d set my hair on fire if Luke asked me to. He wants us to do this party, so we do it. And that’s that.’

      Still shy as a fawn in public, Hayley was a different person when she and Fiona were alone. Smart, accomplished and irreverent. The two girls had become inseparable at Miss Porter’s School, and beyond. They were roommates in college, had backpacked around Europe after graduation, and eventually landed in a tiny apartment in St Mark’s Place on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

      It was an ancient railroad flat, which meant that in 1910 three rooms were lined up in a row, like train carriages, and the bathtub was in the kitchen. It was a quirky little place but the girls loved it. The combination of Fiona’s creative ideas, and Hayley’s uncanny ability to transform dreams into reality, had changed an eyesore into a charming little gem. That rare blend of skills was to prove invaluable, when later they launched their joint venture from the fifth-floor walkup. They started an event planning company which they called Celebration.

      Outsiders wondered what kind of glue made these two disparate personalities into such a cohesive team. It was simple really. Fiona admired Hayley’s grit and determination to overcome a background Dickensian in its bleakness. She took hard work and perseverance to a new level.

      Hayley, on the other hand, was in awe of Fiona’s seemingly effortless ability to accomplish whatever she set out to do. And instead of being full of herself because of it, Fiona had a huge heart. She was capable of acts of profound compassion, such as taking a lonely young girl under her wing and changing her life.

      This morning, twenty years after that event, the two women were sitting at the cluttered round table that served as an operations centre for Celebration. It was the spring of 2013, and they had a burgeoning business.

      ‘Could you not set your hair on fire, no matter who requests it,’ Fiona begged. ‘That blue tint you thought was so cool has almost grown out.’

      ‘If we do this for Luke, I promise I’ll only dye it colours found in nature,’ Hayley answered. ‘He’s family, Fiona. We taught each other how to kiss, underneath the stairs at that shelter on 86th Street.’

      ‘You never told me you were romantically involved with the hunkiest newsman on the air!’

      Hayley laughed dismissively. ‘Hardly. I was eight, he was nine. And it wasn’t romance, it was a science experiment. When I was sent to Miss Porter’s, we swore to be friends for life, and we have been. Plus he looked after Mikey the best he could, after I’d gone.’

      Fiona stiffened at the mention of Hayley’s younger brother. Mikey was trouble. But Hayley, who usually had an infallible radar about people, could not see it. She had practically raised the boy, in the absence of their will-o’-the-wisp mother, and in Hayley’s eyes he could do no wrong.

      Fiona had an urge to say that Luke Thompson would have done better to watch out for the people Mikey conned, but she thought better of it. It would only upset Hayley. Instead, she said, ‘When am I going to get to meet this wonder?’

      The investigative reporter was a household name, and Fiona admired him for the work he did. And he was a champion of the underdog, which made him extra special to her.

      ‘He’s hard to pin down. He’s always flying around the globe, covering disasters. Or exposing corruption,’ Hayley replied. ‘But when we plan this party for him, which we absolutely, positively must, you’ll finally meet him.’ Although she was usually indifferent about such things, she was growing agitated. ‘His television team is getting the Edward R. Murrow Award for their reporting on human trafficking.’

      ‘Talk about festive,’ Fiona murmured, raising a brow.

      ‘Figure it out, Fiona. Please.’

      Fiona studied her friend. ‘You’re practically shaking, Hayley. Are you sure you don’t have strong feelings for Luke?’

      ‘Of course I have feelings for him. But not the kind you’re thinking. He’s like a brother. Romance would be like incest! Ick.’ She made a face, grimacing.

      ‘Okay, okay. Got it,’ Fiona said, examining the huge calendar that was displayed on the wall opposite. It was covered with neat printing which denoted events scheduled well into the next year. It hadn’t always been that way.

      For the first few years, Celebration’s calendar was practically blank. A small wedding, a party on election night. They had even agreed to do a child’s birthday party. Anything to get them noticed by the people who gave the glittering events for which New York was famous.

      The girls had supported themselves, and the fledgling business, by taking on any job they could get, sometimes two jobs at a time. They did telemarketing, dog walking, were even cocktail waitresses in a club that catered to ‘gentlemen in the sanitation removal business’. More precisely, wise guys connected to the mob.

      No one had told them this, but it took Hayley, with her street background, only a few seconds to make that call. But even though the guys were connected to the Mafia, they were good tippers, and treated the girls with their version of respect. So they stayed and worked at the club.

      There was one job Fiona had taken which was never, ever discussed, even by the two friends who shared everything. At one moment in time, Hayley stumbled on the truth of what Fiona had been doing on weekends, and it staggered her. ‘Why, Fiona? Why would you, of all people, do something like that?’ She had sounded horrified.

      Fiona’s response had been dramatic. She had walked out of the apartment and disappeared for two days. The subject was never broached again. Some things, Hayley knew from experience, were best not spoken about.

      There was no need for second jobs to pay the rent these days. When someone was planning a grand event in New York City, Celebration more often than not received the first call. They had even been able to move their company uptown, to a building with an elevator in the more socially acceptable East Sixties.

      Oddly enough, it was the birthday party for a ten-year-old that had put them on the map. The child’s grandmother was a well-known socialite. She had a wonderful time playing the old-fashioned

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