During the next two hours, eighty-three plastic bags were upended nearly one for every day Elena had been in New York and the contents sorted out. Everything still within date and with receipts was sorted into one collection. Another pile of items to sell was created and then there was the much smaller collection of things which Elena actually wanted to keep.

Now that the clothes, shoes, bags and other accessories were lying in front of her on the sofa bed, not hanging tantalizingly from rails in a shop, Elena found there was surprisingly little that she really wanted.

'Maybe you should shop online, Elena,' Annie suggested, 'just stay away from the shops for a good long time if they make you feel like this. I hope you realize you've spent $24,000 on things that you've not even looked at again. Do you know what you could have bought with that money?'

It didn't take Annie long to do the fashion maths: 'Sixty pairs of Christian Louboutin shoes or fourteen Yves Saint Laurent tuxedos yes fourteen! Or two handmade Hermes bags ...'

She could have gone on, but Elena looked guilty enough.

'I remember going shopping with you when you first arrived in London,' Annie added. 'You were so excited and you bought soooo many things. I didn't realize how much trouble I was going to cause you in the future.'

'I know!' Elena said, but at least with a smile.

The bags of stuff to go were all piled right at the door of the apartment. Annie would help Elena to get rid of them as soon as she possibly could. Nothing worse than dead wardrobe wood hanging about once it had been efficiently pruned away.

Expert Annie soon had Elena's remaining clothes up on hangers, ordered into sections and neat piles. Clinically perfect stacks of tops were created and the drawers were neatly regimented.

Elena sat quietly on her bed and watched.

'OK, I'm going to put all your hangers backwards on the rail like this,' Annie explained, 'and every time you wear something you put it back on the rail facing the other way. Then in a few months' time, you'll be able to see everything that's never been worn at all and you can consider whether or not you want to keep it.'

'Clever,' Elena admitted.

'Less is more,' Annie promised. 'A few lovely pieces are always much better than piles of rubbish.'

When the wardrobe was as beautiful and organized as it could possibly be, Annie stepped back and admired her handiwork with pride.

'Life is going to be simple from now on. Just wear the lovely things you already have ... and in the bathroom, use all the things you've already bought. Tidy up every day and enjoy your s.p.a.ce. Save your money, pay back your bills and you will, I absolutely promise, reach a place, not so long from now, when you'll be back on track. When you go into a shop to buy something you need that you've got the money for, you'll feel so much better.'

'Is this what you do?' Elena asked. 'Only go shopping for things you need with money you already have?'

Annie tried to keep a straight face: 'Well ... no,' she admitted. 'Not exactly ... but sometimes. Sometimes I manage it and it feels fantastic! In fact, sometimes I can't even bear to part with my hard-earned cash and I go away and buy something much cheaper instead.'

She sat on the bed next to Elena. 'It turns out, babes, it's much easier spending other people's money like Mr Visa's than spending your own.' Glancing at her watch, Annie suddenly leapt up. 'I have to call home!' But it was probably too late and she wondered now why Ed hadn't phoned her to say good-night.

They'd spoken on every evening of her New York trip so far and she'd a.s.sumed that was how it would go on. She needed to have the little chats, to hear how the day had gone at home. It helped her to feel less guilty about being away from everyone.

'I'm going out for a NY takeout and ur in bed,' she texted. 'I missed u. Speak ASAP. Let me know how everyone doing. Loads of love A x.x.x'

Now ... one of those unbelievably good Chinese takeouts? Or was she going to be wholesome and saintly and go to Whole Foods Market for their dinner?

Chapter Sixteen.

The Manhattan Yummy Mummy: Pink gingham shirt (J. Crew)

White skinny jeans (J Brand)

Teeny silver belt (Banana Republic)

Oversized sungla.s.ses (Chanel)

Pink gingham sneakers (Keds)

White and tan drawstring bag (Dooney & Bourke)

Total est. cost: $640

Not smiling, just frowning It wasn't exactly easy to get into Central Park unnoticed. From the moment a tourist emerged from the subway closest to the park, there was a full-on hustlers alley to negotiate.

'Ice cream, ice cream.'

'No thanks.'

'Water, bottle of water?'

'No.'

'But you get thirsty in park.'

'No, thank you.'

'Umbrella, lady? It might rain?'

'No. Really.'

Even inside the gates of the park, there was a man in a low b.u.t.toned checked shirt insisting: 'Map, you must have map of Central Park. Only $2. Just $2.'

'No, thank you. I'm fine.'

Annie kept on walking just as quickly as she could, desperate for peace, quiet, greenery and calm some of the things she'd been sent here by Lana to find.

After a whole morning of phoning factories and trying to phone Ed, she felt totally frazzled. Everything was bound to be fine. It was a Friday. He was in school. Yes, she'd tried to time her calls for his breaks, but maybe he was doing some extra tutoring.

She'd tried to speak to Dinah, who would be with the twins today, but the home phone just rang out and Dinah's mobile was infuriatingly off.

But she was sure they were fine. Everyone was fine, she kept telling herself. Otherwise someone would have told her. She would know by now if something was wrong.

She kept walking at a brisk pace until, fifteen minutes later, she found herself at the boating pond. This was where Lana had told her to go.

'Go and watch the water, admire the gorgeous apartment blocks all around and just relax, Mum. You need to relax ... hire a boat,' she'd suggested.

Annie found a bench that wasn't occupied and took a seat.

She watched the water a little bit, she gawped at the apartment blocks overlooking the park, and she also became very absorbed watching the colourful people of NYC strolling past. It was a sunny day, though not as fiercely hot as it had been, and the park was busy. Nannies and mommies were pushing babies about in very top of the range buggies.

It was easy to tell the nannies from the mommies: the nannies were typically black or Hispanic, sometimes in uniform, and their charges were as white as white. The mommies wore high fashion or athletic gear, carried little hipster water bottles and jogged as they pushed their prams.

Sooooo New York.

Annie leaned her head back to get a better view of the swaggeringly grand apartment blocks around the edge of the park. These were surely the sw.a.n.kiest, priciest blocks in the entire city. She watched a helicopter land on the roof of one of the buildings.

Soooo New York.

It was the kind of city where she could be in the park, totally jealous of the people who were living in the blocks, but the people in the blocks were probably totally jealous of the guy in the penthouse who had the helicopter.

And maybe the guy with the helicopter was jealous of the guy with the jet and the mansion out of town. That's how it was in this city, she was coming to understand. Everyone, everywhere was hustling, on the make, trying to get another rung up the ladder.

'What's Perfect Dress going to do for us?' she'd been asked so many times on her round of factory calls. 'Is it getting good promotion. Is it high end? Will it bring us more clients? How many orders are you going to place in the future?'

Annie's phone began to ring. She s.n.a.t.c.hed it up and saw Ed's name flashing across the screen.

'FINALLY!' she shouted down the line as soon as she'd answered.

'Annie, how are you doing?'

'Much, much better for hearing you, babes, how's it going?'

'It's going great ...' he sounded as if he was trying not to laugh.

'What's so funny?'

'Nothing. Everything is fine. I promise. Where are you?'

'In Central Park and it's gorgeous. So there!'

'Fantastic ... where in Central Park? Paint me a picture.'

This time, she could paint him the full picture; this time she had nothing to hide.

'I'm sitting on a bench at the foot of the boating pond. I'm looking across the water at the gorgeous little boating hut and there's a restaurant on the water's edge too. I remember it from s.e.x and the City. I think this is where Carrie fell into the pond and ruined her shoes.'

'Oh dear ...' There was still a throaty giggle to his voice.

'C'mon, what's so funny?'

'Nothing, honest, go on.'

'It's lovely. It's so peaceful, but it's impressive too. It's not the countryside, it's nothing like the countryside, it's the big, show-off garden right in the heart of this city, which is the most fabulous city I've ever been to, by the way ...'

She wondered if it was too early to tell him how much she'd love to move them all over here ... eventually. Somehow. Even if it was just for a year or two.

But then the line went dead.

'Ed? Ed?' she asked her phone, but there was no response.

She was about to dial his number and try again when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Startled, she turned round and was astonished to see who was standing behind her.

'ED!!' she shrieked, causing several nannies and mommies to turn in concern.

For several moments, she could only stare, making strange 'whhhh ... whhhh ... whhhh ...' noises.

But finally, she broke out with a great rush of questions: 'What are you doing here?! How did you get here? Where are the babies? Is everyone OK?'

Despite the delighted grin on Ed's face, she couldn't help feeling a little panicky. Surely he could only be here if something was wrong?

'Annie, it's fine. Everything's fine. This is a surprise. Surprise!' he repeated and bent down to kiss her on the mouth.

It felt very nice to be kissed. Now that she was kissing Ed again, it felt like it had been a very long time.

But she still had so many questions for him, she had to break the kiss off early and ask again, 'But how are they going to manage without you?'

'Everyone is fine,' he replied. 'Dinah's going to take the babies for the three nights I'm here and Owen is staying at Milo's when school ends today. The dog's with Mrs B next door.'