SHORT STORY

HELLO! has invited acclaimed writers to entertain readers in these testing times. This week, diamonds aren’t a mum’s best friend in this Mother’s Day tale from Beth Morrey

PHOTO: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Afine silver chain, with a circlet of diamonds. More of a pendant, really. Lydia saw it in one of the glossy magazines left in the reception of the TV channel where they were waiting to pitch. She would never read one of those normally – never had the time. Lydia never had time for anything, dashing from meeting to meeting, phone glued to her ear, gabbling away in taxis, tapping out e-mails with one hand while she ate a sandwich with the other. This job didn’t even give her time to eat – she’d lost a stone in the six months she’d been working there. A stone in scurrying and stress.

But it was more money than she orDaniel had ever made. Money to do upthe house, go on nice holidays, sendAnnabel to that prepschool with the organicfarm and 200-seattheatre. Money forlovely clothes andnice jewellery.

Flicking through thatmagazine was one ofthe few idle minutesshe’d spent in severalweeks, and she kept thinking about thependant as they were swept up to the 20thfloor to tell a key commissioner about anexciting new reality show. Wasn’t that thepoint of all this? Cushioned by theircashflow, she was allowed to indulge in thefiner things in life, see something andsnap her fingers.

So, she snapped her fingers – asked herpersonal assistant to go and get it for herone lunchtime, handed over the platinumbank card and sat back waiting for herreward. Well, didn’t sit back, exactly – shehustled to another meeting, sat in an editfor an hour and watched a casting tape.