Perfect on Paper by Gillian Harvey (top 20 books to read txt) 📕

woken up a generation of would-be entrepreneurial women – but if what Clare had done had influenced even one woman to take a risk then that was pretty good.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

‘I want to talk to you about something in a bit,’ Clare said to Toby as he hacked determinedly into his baked potato later, his face grim.

‘Yes?’ he said, looking up. ‘What about?’

‘Not now,’ she said, nodding at the kids. Alfie, who had devoured his first baked spud and was covering the second with cheese, and Katie, who was diligently scraping all of the soft white contents onto a plate and discarding the skin on the tablecloth in disgust.

‘Go on, Mum,’ Katie said. ‘We all want to hear what you have to say!’

‘Katie! Will you stop with that MehToo thing?’ Alfie said, mouth full of cheese and chewed potato.

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s all “listen to Mum” and “women this, that and the other”,’ he moaned.

‘So, I think it’s important!’ said Katie, primly.

‘Come on you two, leave each other alone,’ Clare said, feeling simultaneously proud of Katie and protective of Alfie. Her boy had cleaned today. He had turned an almost unimaginable corner.

‘But …’ Katie continued.

‘Yeah, well … you know. If she doesn’t want to say it in front of us,’ Alfie said, nodding meaningfully at his parents, ‘it’s like … well, it could be a sex thing.’

‘Alfie!’ Clare said, not knowing whether to be angry or burst into laughter.

‘Well,’ he said reddening. ‘You know. It might.’

Katie continued to scrape potato from its skin, her ears red. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Maybe tell him later, Mum.’

‘Kids!’ Clare continued, ‘it’s not about … Look, I was just going to tell your father that I’m thinking about opening my own firm.’

‘Your own firm?’ Toby said, with a bit more incredulity than she’d prefer. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Well, no, not completely. But I think it could be a good move for me,’ she said.

‘I think you should go for it, Mum,’ Katie said, loyally, finally forking her first appropriately doctored bite of potato into her mouth. ‘You can do anything.’

‘Yeah,’ Toby said, sounding less sure. ‘It’s … it’s certainly an interesting idea.’

‘Mum,’ Alfie said, stopping mid-chew.

‘Yes, love?’

‘Is there any more cheese?’

Later, when Alfie was in his room gaming with a mysterious stranger online, and Katie was taking selfies in front of the mirror – both activities that Clare was a little unsure of but equally wasn’t sure how to tackle – she and Toby sat on the miraculously litter-free sofa and turned on the TV.

‘Shall we avoid the news tonight?’ Toby said. ‘Maybe try something else? A film?’

‘We could do both?’ She always liked to at least watch the headlines, just so she could be sure that she wouldn’t come a cropper conversationally at work or with a client.

‘Yeah, but … you know. The news is so much like work for me these days!’ Toby said, his neck starting to develop blotches in such a tell-tale way that she was almost desperate to put the TV on to see what he was trying to avoid.

‘OK, just the headlines,’ she said, pretending to be oblivious to his panic.

The opening credits were just finishing when she finally clicked on the television. ‘But first, women were out in force today protesting at the appointment of popular TV host Toby Bailey as presenter on Woman’s World,’ the newsreader began.

Clare glanced at Toby, who was staring fixedly at the screen. ‘Scores of women pursued Mr Bailey as he made his way to the studio this morning – brandishing placards that suggested he was undermining women and setting back gender equality by decades,’ she continued.

‘Oh, Toby,’ Clare said. Why had she not heard about this? Why hadn’t Toby said anything?

‘One woman even threw a bra onto the windscreen of his car, almost causing the Mercedes to crash into a wall,’ continued the newsreader, as the screen cut to a shot of a woman running alongside the car and flinging a large pink bra onto the windscreen. It caught on the windscreen wipers where it flapped like a flag.

‘Protesters are angry at the appointment of a man into a role that is seen as one that only a woman can fill, in what has already been criticised as a toxically male environment,’ the report continued. ‘But the director of staff at ITV insists that we live in a society where gender should not and will not influence employment policy. The studio also provided the following statement: “While we sympathise with the protesters, we stand by our view that presenting roles should be issued on merit, rather than based on a person’s gender.”

‘Much of the current protest has been attributed to the deep dissatisfaction ignited by the so-called MehToo movement, inspired by popular rap star Martha B., a You’ve Got Talent contestant whose recent appearance on The One Show captured the hearts of the nation,’ continued the report.

The camera then cut to a view of the crowd, with several placard-waving women standing at the front. ‘We’re here for Martha,’ one of the women said. ‘She’s right – women need to tell it like it is and start making real change.’

‘Martha B.! Martha B.! Martha B.!’ the women chanted.

Back in the studio, the newsreader looked into the camera. ‘While fans look forward to Martha B.’s next performance, those in ITV must face the difficult question – has a mistake been made?

‘Mr Bailey was unavailable for comment.’

Clicking off the TV, Clare looked at her husband, who stared dismally at his reflection in the black screen. ‘Oh Toby,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry – I mean, I knew there was … I knew not everyone was thrilled, but this is … Do you know what you’re going to do?’

He shook his head, sadly. ‘The worst thing is,’ he said, ‘Hatty’s completely avoiding me now – ever since … well, you know. She was my guide in there. That place – it’s toxic. And once you’ve got bad press, people don’t want to be associated with you anymore.’

‘Avoiding