‘Yes, someone to help you get your message out there, book you onto talk shows, that sort of thing. You can bet Louise Hay has an agent.’
‘Well, I’m sure she has, but?—’
‘And Deepak Chopra.’
‘Probably,’ Brian said sourly. ‘Wherever there’s talent, you’ll usually find a whole rake of people leeching off it, usually ripping people off. The music industry is rife with it, isn’t it?’ he said conversationally to Will. ‘Every other week some musician’s suing their manager for embezzlement.’
Will looked at him with a mixture of hostility and amusement.
‘I hope you’re not suggesting that Will—’ Grace was outraged.
‘Oh no, I was just speaking generally,’ Brian said innocently. ‘No offence,’ he said to Will.
‘None taken.’ Will smiled pleasantly.No offence my arse, you little shit.
Grace continued to glower at him. ‘Will takes extremely good care of those boys. God knows where they’d be without him.’
‘In jail, probably, in Owen’s case,’ Conor said.
‘Or up the Lady Mayoress of Cork,’ Kate muttered, and Will laughed.
‘You need to focus on something that’ll capture the public imagination,’ Conor continued. ‘Doesn’t matter what it is – yogic flying, finding yourself through pole-dancing, whatever. The madder the better. If you could get a few big stars interested, you’d be laughing. Will might be able to help you with that – he knows lots of people.’
‘I really don’t think?—’
‘Is there any way you could tie in a diet?’ Conor asked.
‘Well, not really. I follow a wholefood vegetarian regime but?—’
‘Have you lost any weight since you started?’ Conor pounced on this enthusiastically. ‘Have you got any “before” pictures of yourself as a fatso?’
‘Er… no, I’ve always been pretty much the same weight.’
‘Ah, pity! The number-one way to sell anything, these days, is to connect it to weight loss. Look at Tessa Bond – lost a few pounds and now she’s reinvented herself as a diet and fitness guru.’
‘Is Tessa as much of a pain in the hole in real life as she always seems?’ Josie asked Will, in her thick Galway accent.
‘Oh God, no, not at all,’ Will said.
‘Really?’
‘She’s twice as awful in real life,’ Will drawled.
Josie giggled. Sam and Jake were giggling, too, thrilled that Josie had said ‘pain in the hole’. She was always using forbidden expressions.
‘You’ve got to admit, she does look amazing now,’ Rachel conceded. She had just been reading a magazine interview in which Tessa had talked up her new book.
‘Do you think so?’ Will asked. ‘I think she’s too thin.’
‘Oh, we all know how you feel about curvy girls, don’t we, Will?’ Grace winked at him.
‘You’d hardly call Tina curvy,’ Rachel scoffed.
‘Not without risking a black eye,’ Will said.
‘Don’t you think Kate’s looking wonderful?’ Grace asked him.
‘Yes, I think she looks great,’ Will said.
