Escape for the Summer (55 page)

But Gemma shook her head. “It’s the weirdest thing, Angel, but when Chloe called yesterday I was horrified. It was a real case of ‘be careful what you ask for’. I’ve spent years dreaming of getting a part in a soap and then when I do I find it’s the last thing I want.”

“But you love acting. And you’re so talented. Why quit now?” Angel was confused. How many hours had she and Gemma spent trying to devise a master plan that would launch her friend into stardom? From control pants to bumping into Callum South – they had tried everything.

“Because I’ve only just rediscovered just how much I love it!” Gemma said. “I’m never going to give up acting but I don’t want the crap that goes with doing it professionally. All that bollocks about dieting and having to look a certain way; look at how Chloe treated me – she dropped me like a hot brick when she thought that I looked wrong.”

Cal looked at her with adoring eyes. “She’s a silly cow, so she is. You’re gorgeous and talented.”

“Thanks,” Gemma blushed.

Dee clapped delightedly. “Accepting compliments at last! There’s hope for you yet, Gemma!”

Gemma grinned at her. “I’m a work in progress. Seriously though, doing the play here has been brilliant and I’ve loved every minute of it, which has made me realise how I didn’t love it when I was trying so hard to succeed. I’ll keep on acting, I can’t imagine giving it up, but I’ll do it for fun. I’ve found that I love baking just as much and I can’t wait to try something new.” She smiled at Angel. “Your idea is brilliant. And spending more time with Cal is an added bonus too.”

Cal leaned across and kissed her.

Angel rolled her eyes at Laurence. “This could go on a while!”

He laughed. “In that case, may I propose a final toast? To the team behind
Bread and Butlers
and our new production company, Seaside Rock!
To us!”

“To us!” they chorused. Amid the chinking of glasses and excited chatter their food arrived, and before long everyone was tucking into moules frites and tearing off chunks of oven-warm baguette to dunk in the white-wine and garlic sauce. Their enthusiasm and energy for her idea could have powered Rock for a year.

It was a simple plan, as all the best plans tend to be, but once it was in her head Angel hadn’t been able to ignore it. From the second she’d learned that Kenniston was in such financial dire straits her agile mind had been whirling back and forth to try to find a solution. When the idea finally landed it was so obvious that she had laughed out loud. What had she been dreaming of for so long? Reality TV, that was what! And what did she have at her fingertips? Only a mansion that needed saving, complete with dotty aristocrats, Laurence and his loaded blue-blooded pals, and a disgraced reality TV star whose career had to be rescued – and there it was, the perfect hit formula. Lots of talking with Laurence, Cal and Mike and a huge cash injection from Mr Yuri and Travis later, and the pitch for
Bread and Butlers
was ready to be turned into a treatment. Angel was so excited she could hardly breathe, although this could just be from being close to Laurence. Minted or moneyless, it didn’t make the slightest bit of difference. Just the sight of him turned her into a puddle of longing.

As she watched her friends, both new and old, chat and excitedly discuss their plans, Angel felt a warm buzz of pride that was bigger and better than anything she’d ever felt in her life. Seeing her idea start to take shape was a thousand times more satisfying than buying a new handbag or the latest must-have shoes. Only one thing could have made her happier and that was knowing that Andi’s problems were over.

Angel had been distraught.
Andi was running away?
It hadn’t made any sense until she’d spotted that total and utter tosser Tom swaggering through the town as though he owned the place. It hadn’t taken long to put two and two together after that, and in a blind panic Angel, with the help of Travis’s Aston Martin, had torn through the town like the Tasmanian Devil on tyres until she’d enlisted the help of just about everyone they knew.

Angel sipped her champagne thoughtfully. Interesting that it had been Jonty who’d managed to find her sister and persuade her to come back to Rock. Perhaps she should give Jonty a chance? After
Tomgate Angel had been ready to strangle any man who treated her sister badly and all she’d wanted was somebody to take care of her sister; was that so bad? How could a guy who earned only pennies possibly manage that?  But he if genuinely did care about her sister then perhaps Angel could make an exception?

Maybe there could be a job for Jonty on
Bread and Butlers,
Angel wondered as she stared out into the street. He seemed pretty practical. He was also very easy on the eye, with that taut ripped stomach, smooth golden tan and summer-sea gaze, and he would look great on camera. Not that she was being mercenary or anything! She crinkled her brow in concentration. Maybe he could help with the renovations? Or set-building? Or even the grounds at Kenniston – although he might need more than a Flymo to cope with several hundred thousand acres. And Andi too could be an asset to the team as Seaside Rock’s accountant.

Angel was just drifting into a wonderful dream where, several months down the line, she was attending the BAFTAs (dressed in something slinky and designer, obviously, and posing on the red carpet with Laurence, who was jaw-droppingly handsome in his tux) when a slumped-shouldered figure passing by the café caught her attention.

It was Andi.

Angel leaned forward. Surely not? Andi was with Jonty. She must be. Angel had sent her several texts already and none of them had been answered, which she’d taken as a very good sign indeed – when she was lying in Laurence’s arms her iPhone could chime and beep itself silly, but there was no way she was going to answer – so she hadn’t worried about the silence in the slightest. Now though, a cold hand squeezed Angel’s heart. Something was up. She knew it.

Excusing herself from the party, Angel tore down the steps and out into the street. Sure enough the slender red-headed figure walking out of town was her sister.

“Andi!” Angel cried, kicking off her heels and sprinting through clusters of surprised tourists. “Andi! Wait up! Ouch! Shit!” The gritty tarmac bit into her soles and she winced with every step she took. Angel took her hat off to the Little Mermaid. Personally she’d have said
sod the prince
and reached for her Uggs. “Ow! Andi! Stop, before my feet fall to bits!”

Her last agonised yelp caught the attention of several holidaymakers and her sister. Slowly Andi turned around, as though she’d been plucked from her own world. When she saw her sister’s face, Angel stopped in her tracks. She was shocked beyond words.

Andi, strong and sensible Andi – the sister who’d carried her, who’d helped her through the horrors of school and loss and crappy boyfriends and even crappier finances, the sister who never moaned or made a fuss – wore an expression so bleak that it took Angel’s breath away.

But even worse than this? Her sister, her strong and clever sister, was crying. Angel’s hands balled into tight and angry fists.

If this was Jonty’s doing, then she was going to kill him.

Chapter 49

Andi had been so deep in gloomy thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed Angel until her sister grabbed her arm. Before she could even so much as protest, Angel had frogmarched her up the road and into the Mariners pub. Once the sisters were ensconced in a window seat and nursing halves of scrumpy, Angel began an interrogation that would have made the Spanish Inquisition look like amateurs.

“You can cut out all that ‘I’m fine’ bollocks,” Angel told her. She leaned back in her seat and folded her arms. “I know you, remember? You can’t fob me off. What’s happened? Is it something to do with Jonty?”

Andi stared down at the table. Condensation ran down her glass like the tears she had wept from the moment she’d walked away from him. Every step she’d taken had felt like a knife through her heart, and it had taken all the willpower she possessed not to turn around and fling herself back into his arms.

“He’s a liar,” she said bleakly. Was that really her voice? It sounded really odd. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window and winced. She looked dreadful: her face was ashen and her eyes were red from crying so hard. It was ridiculous; she hadn’t even cried this much when she’d caught Tom cheating. What was the matter with her? She’d only spent one night with Jonty.

Angel’s perfect brows drew together. “Jonty? What on earth can he have to lie about?” Then a thought occurred – Andi could almost see the cogs in her sister’s mind turning – and she gasped, “Oh my God! He’s not married?”

In spite of her despair, Andi laughed. “No, of course not!”

Angel exhaled. “Phew. That’s a relief! So, he’s not married and I presume he’s not murdered anyone, so what’s he lied about?”

Andi smiled sadly. “Just about everything, Angel. I hardly know where to start. Let’s just say he’s not the person I thought he was.”

Her sister shrugged. “I suppose Laurence could say the same about me?”

“That’s different.”

“I don’t see how. Lies are lies, surely? Laurence wasn’t exactly truthful with me either. I like to think we cancelled one another out, a bit like a minus and a minus is a plus!”

Angel’s moral compass was certainly interesting, Andi reflected. But she didn’t see how a few fibs about where her sister got her shoes from or the state of Laurence’s bank balance equated to lying about your entire life and enlisting the help of your family to spin the untruths even further.

“He was beside himself when he thought you were leaving,” Angel told her. “Whatever he’s done, or said, that’s upset you I can promise that his feelings for you aren’t a lie.” She took a sip of her drink. “Look, Andi Pandy, I’m not the greatest fan of Jonty; I think you could do a lot better than an odd-job man with no focus and who’s scabbing off his sister for the summer, but I do know that he’s crazy in love with you.”

Andi rolled her red eyes. “You sound like a Beyoncé song.”

“Don’t take the piss; I’m being serious. He was frantic when he thought you’d run away. He went straight after you. I hardly saw him for dust. Whatever he’s done to upset you, the guy is mad about you and I know you’re pretty keen on him yourself.”

A tear rolled down Andi’s cheek and splashed onto the table. “You don’t understand.”

Angel reached across the table and grasped Andi’s hands. “Then make me understand.”

So Andi did. Word by painful word, she choked out the story. While Angel listened, saucer-eyed, she repeated the whole tale, from her friendship with PMB, to Jax, to Simon and Mel being party to Jonty’s secret. When she got to the part where Jonty was actually the CEO of Safe T Net and one of the richest men in Britain, Angel’s jaw dropped. The only parts that Andi left out where those magical, dreamlike hours they’d spent together at the inn on the riverbank. Whenever she closed her eyes she was right back there with his lips trailing kisses across her skin while the night breeze lifted the curtains. The jolt of loss she felt was unbearable.

“So you see,” Andi finished sadly, “there’s no way I can ever trust Jonty again. He’s completely lied to me in every way a person can. He’s no better than Tom.”

Angel drained first her drink then Andi’s. “Bloody hell.”

Andi gave her a sad smile. “Exactly.”

The sisters sat in thoughtful silence for a moment.

“OK,” Angel said finally. “So that is a pretty big secret to keep but I kind of understand why he did it. I mean, you would have seen him in a totally different light wouldn’t you?” A sheepish expression flitted across her pretty face. “Even I might have started to find him attractive if I’d know what he was worth. And from what you’ve told me, that bitch Jax gave him a good kicking.”

Andi stared at her in disbelief. “Are you seriously sticking up for him?”

Angel shrugged. “I guess I am. Look, of course he should have trusted you and told you the truth, especially after you slept together—”

“I never said that!” Andi’s cheeks flamed. Did she have the word
slapper
tattooed across her head or something?

“You didn’t have to. I can always tell and I’m never wrong,” said Angel smugly. “But look at how you’ve reacted. You’ve basically proved the poor guy right. Now you know the truth you don’t feel the same way about Jonty. He was right to be worried.”

“Yes I do!” Andi shrieked. Several diners looked up from today’s special of organic sausages and sweet-potato mash, and she lowered her voice. “Of course I do, but I don’t know him, do I? He’s not the person I thought he was.”

“Of course he is,” Angel said patiently and as though Andi was thick. “Like duh! Weren’t you always going on about how much you liked that Project Manager B guy? How much you clicked with him and liked chatting to him? He was your online soul mate. It’s Fate, babes: it was meant to be. My God! It’s like a movie.”

“Some movie. He lied about everything.” Andi just couldn’t get past this fact.

“Crap! He just didn’t tell you about the money!” Angel insisted. “Get over it! He’s still got the most ripped body in Rock and a sexy bum – not that I’ve been looking – and I bet he still likes to pootle around in that knackered old boat and eat pasties. He’s still the same person. He just happens to have shedloads more cash than we ever imagined. Lucky you! Laurence was the total opposite.”

“But he lied, like Tom!”

“This is nothing like cheating, wanker-features Tom,” Angel said firmly. “Tom lied to rip you off and cheat you. Jonty lied so that you could get to know the real him. And if you love him, really love him, then all that matters is that he’s the person you’ve spent the whole summer with. The guy who’s put the first real smile on your face for ages, welcomed you into the heart of his family and made you eat more chips than I’d have thought humanly possible.” She reached forward and took her sister’s hands. “He’s the one who came after you when you thought there was nobody else. He’s
exactly
who you thought he is. He’s the man who loves you with all his heart. The rest of it is just nonsense.”