All That Glitters (25 page)

‘Like a therapist?’ Ella asked.

‘Aren’t they really expensive? No, just someone who knows us – someone who could say what our strengths are and bounce ideas around with us.’

Ella thought about how little they’d achieved since they’d started ‘working’, and how her bank account was starting to look a bit scary considering just how lavishly they’d furnished the flat. Chastity was right. But who could they trust to help them? Who did Ella trust over everyone else? A slow smile spread across her face as an image of a man popped into her head.

‘I think I know just the person.’

‘Wow,’ Nash said, as he took his coat off and walked around the girls’ apartment. His eyes ran over the boutique-style furniture, and then trailed across to the huge windows with panoramic views of the city in the distance. ‘This is incredible. Obviously I was offended when you told me you were buying a place together – I really thought walking around my flat in just my boxers would tempt you to stay – but this flat is something else. It’s even sexier than me.’

‘Not quite a mansion though, is it?’ Chastity sniffed dramatically, before breaking into a smile to show she was joking. ‘But at least it’s all ours.’

‘And we decorated it all by ourselves,’ Ella said proudly, trying to get the image of Nash in just his boxers out of her mind. Under his flannel shirts and jeans he was as buff as Danny, and seeing him wander around his flat half-naked had been pretty disturbing. It was like finding your brother attractive or something.

‘Maybe you should think about a career in interior design?’ Nash suggested, as he sat on the fuchsia sofa. In comparison to the pink velvet behind him, Nash looked even more rugged, and Ella caught Chastity giving him a quick once over. Her heart raced with jealousy – Chastity wouldn’t try and seduce Nash, would she? She told herself to stop being so silly. Of course she wouldn’t. And so what if she did? It wouldn’t affect her friendship with him.

‘We thought about it,’ Ella said, trying to concentrate, ‘but it wouldn’t work. In the public’s mind we’re two failed WAGs. I had an affair, and people think Chastity’s a vacuous shopaholic. We’re not exactly going to get people begging to work with us.’

‘Perhaps the first thing you should do is start reinventing yourself – at least in the eyes of the press. You both look so different from how you did when you were still in your marriages. If the papers ran some decent pieces about you with some gorgeous photos it could change public opinion quite quickly.’

‘That
could
work,’ Chastity commented, but Ella picked up something in her voice that made her think she was sceptical of the idea.

‘It’s tried and tested,’ Nash continued. ‘Ansku and I have been setting up our model agency, and we took on a girl who had the worst reputation in fashion; she used to turn up late, drank and took drugs on shoots, slapped a photographer, stole clothes. The works. But she’s turned her life around, and we were willing to give her a chance. The first part of getting her work was convincing the industry that she’d cleaned up her act. After enough PR it worked, and jobs are flying in.’

‘How’s it going with Ansku?’ Ella asked lightly. She wasn’t sure why she felt so jealous. It was probably because Ansku was stunning in a way she’d never be.

‘It’s going well.’ Nash grinned. ‘People think models are dumb, but when she’s not playing up to that image in public she’s totally smart and very business-orientated.’

‘It sounds like you’ve got it all sorted,’ Chastity said. ‘But I’m not sure I want to go down the route of winning the press over before we can start a business.’

Ella looked at her in surprise. ‘Really? It seems like such a good idea.’

‘Really,’ she replied. ‘I’m sick of being in the papers and being talked about, and the last couple of weeks have been a breath of fresh air: no paps, no column inches, nothing. I don’t want to have my whole life dependent on whether editors decide to like me or not.’

Once again, Ella was surprised at Chastity’s perceptive remark. It was like her makeover had liberated her, and the intelligent side of her personality – the side that she’d repressed for Freddie because he liked his wife to be dim – was blooming.

‘If you’re not going to try to get the press’s approval your business will have to be as low-key as possible,’ Nash said, and Ella agreed.

‘We’re cool with that, but it’s working out what to do that’s tricky.’

‘How about helping people improve their lives?’ Nash suggested. ‘It’s almost like you’re both completely different people since I last saw you. It’s like you’ve done a home makeover show . . . but on yourselves.’

Ella’s heart began to race, only this time it wasn’t because she’d caught Chastity checking out Nash’s broad shoulders and muscular arms under his checked shirt – it was because of what he’d said.

‘I like it,’ Chastity said slowly. ‘But how could we do it anonymously if we’re doing the job? We could employ someone and tell them what to do, but it wouldn’t really be honest. Or fun.’

‘We could do a website,’ Ella said almost dreamily. Nash’s idea had thrown her into a weird daze, and she felt a bit like she was sleepwalking. Her brain was running on autopilot, putting everything into place, and all she could think about was formulating this idea. ‘We could use your magazine experience and do a website.’

‘What, so people could contact us through it?’ Chastity looked unconvinced.

‘No, we could do a website with tips on how to have the best life possible, how to be the best you can be without needing a man to help you, and if we could make money from it—’

‘We could sell advertising space. And maybe syndicate content,’ Chastity said quickly. She saw where Ella was going with this and she liked it. She liked it a lot.

‘And we could run it anonymously,’ Ella continued, ‘or say a footballer’s wife is behind it to get a bit of PR, and we could do a weekly email with the best bits . . .’

‘And sell sponsorship on the huge database numbers we’d build,’ Chastity finished.

The girls stared at each other excitedly. This was it. This was what they could do. It would be hard – they’d need help building and designing the site, and they’d have to work out where they’d get content from – but this was definitely, one hundred per cent it.

‘It sounds incredible.’ Nash grinned, and he caught Ella’s eye. ‘It would basically be a site that shows women they don’t need a handsome prince to whisk them off their feet to a happy ending. That they can do it all by themselves.’

‘That’s it!’ Ella exclaimed, with a beam. ‘We can call it “Your Happy Ever After – How to Get the Fairytale Life Without a Prince”.’

Nash sat back in the sofa and stretched his legs. ‘See? I knew you didn’t need me to help and you were just using it as an excuse to see me again,’ he said with a smirk, and as he held Ella’s gaze she felt a rush of hot, sexual happiness wash over her. Scalded and embarrassed by her thoughts she pulled her eyes away from him and beamed at Chastity instead.

They were going to make
YourHappyEverAfter.com
a success, and they couldn’t wait to get started.

‘What do you think about pink for the background of the site?’ Ella asked Chastity, as she trawled through the internet, taking in different colour schemes. ‘Would it be cool to reclaim pink as a powerful, can-do colour, or would it just look patronising?’

‘I think you’re over-thinking this,’ Chastity said. ‘Light pink is cool. And it means we don’t have to tell people the site’s for women. It will be obvious.’

‘That’s true,’ Ella said, and she made a note of it. There was so much to do, and so many things to think about that if she didn’t write everything down she was convinced she’d forget something important. ‘And what do you think about the strap line? Is “How to Get the Fairytale Life Without a Prince” anti-men?’ She looked worried.

‘It’s
fine
,’ Chastity stressed. ‘Maybe you should take a break.’ They’d been working fourteen-hour days for a couple of weeks, and it seemed like they were nowhere near to getting the site up and running. Who knew launching a website would be so much work?

Ella sighed. ‘You’re right. I’m driving myself mad . . . but this is so much fun.’

‘It is. Look, why don’t we just crash in front of the TV tonight and try not to think about anything at all – and especially
not
think about
YourHappyEverAfter.com
?’

‘Deal,’ Ella said. ‘And we can order something in. A pizza.’ She couldn’t stop grinning. The structure of the website was starting to take shape, and Chastity had spent days on the business plan, researching all the different areas that could bring in revenue. According to some statistic she’d dug up, a third of people were unhappy with themselves and their lives, and this spurred Ella on even more. Why not create something that could help people be happier? It seemed like the obvious thing to do – and if they could make a career of it, even better.

‘I’m loving life right now,’ Ella said, as both girls flopped on the sofa. Chastity picked up the remote and fiddled with it.

‘Me too,’ she said with a smile. ‘It’s a good distraction from Freddie, and all that pain. It’s still there – it really doesn’t feel like I’m ever going to get over him – but it’s definitely helping me not think about it.’

She pointed the remote to the plasma TV they’d had mounted in the wall, and suddenly the screen was filled with the face of a gorgeous man. His dirty blonde hair was artfully messy, his ice-blue eyes penetrated through the screen, and his perfect, sexy, cruel little smile gave both girls such a jolt that Chastity dropped the remote. It fell onto the parquet floor with a crash.

It was Johnny Cooper.

Ella couldn’t drag her eyes away from the screen, and as she drank in his image she let out a little moan of anguish. Seeing Johnny’s face again was like a stab wound to the heart, and she doubled over in emotional pain. She couldn’t bear to see his face again, but she couldn’t pull herself away from his image. God, she loved him. She loved him so much.

‘Shit,’ Chastity exclaimed, breaking into Ella’s trance, and she rushed to pick up the remote, to change the channel. To do anything that would help.

‘Leave it on,’ Ella said firmly, although her voice was wobbling. Johnny Cooper was her addiction, and even though she barely spoke about him – and pretended she didn’t even think of him – she did. She thought about him all the time. Ached for him.

‘I can change the channel,’ Chastity said softly, but Ella shook her head. She knew the best thing to do was flip over, put on something like
Come Dine With Me
and forget that Johnny Cooper’s beautiful face had just beamed into their living room, but she didn’t want to seem weak. Johnny Cooper was her past, wasn’t he? He shouldn’t impact on her present.

‘It’s fine,’ she said, but both she and Chastity knew it wasn’t. How could it be?

‘He’s looking well,’ Chastity remarked conversationally to fill the silence. Ella glanced over at her and saw her friend looked a bit awkward.

‘He is,’ she agreed, and it was true. She didn’t think she’d ever seen Johnny look so exquisite. His hair was slightly longer, and his face was lightly tanned and relaxed, as if he’d just been on tropical holiday. She’d read that
A Week in Wonderland
was getting record ratings every week, and she’d also seen something about how Johnny was planning on breaking America. There was absolutely no reason why he wouldn’t be as successful over there as he was here. He was hot, charming, and a natural presenter. He was perfect.

God, she missed him. She missed the smell of him, missed wrapping her arms around his body, and missed resting her head on his shoulders as she breathed in his intoxicating scent. An image of how he’d made love to her in Paris – how his huge thighs had gripped her body, and how he’d pushed her deep into the bed as he’d kissed her – flashed through her mind.

Fuck. Why had he dumped her? They’d been perfect together.

Luckily Chastity broke into her thoughts before they consumed her totally.

‘I’ve been thinking about Johnny Cooper recently,’ she said, as Ella swallowed hard and tried not to cry. Seeing his face on the screen had done something to her. It was like she’d been put on rewind and was back in her bedroom in Castle House, desperately waiting for Johnny to phone her. No words could describe that urgency she felt when it came to Johnny, or the passion they’d created between each other.

‘Oh?’ Ella just about managed to say.

‘Yes. I didn’t want to bring it up, but the more I think about what Johnny did to you, the more it bugs me.’

‘It bugs me too,’ Ella joked weakly.

‘I just can’t understand why . . .’ Chastity trailed off when she caught sight of Ella’s stricken face. ‘Oh. It doesn’t matter.’

‘It does matter. What were you going to say?’ As much as it hurt to talk about Johnny, it almost seemed more unbearable not to.

Chastity stared at Ella for a moment, and then took a deep breath. ‘I’ve just been wondering why he dropped you. You told me that he loved you, and that he wanted you to leave Danny – but when you
did
he wanted nothing more to do with you. I just don’t get it.’

Ella shrugged. ‘The only reason I can think of is that all the negative press about me put him off. That he didn’t want to tarnish his reputation by being with me properly.’

‘But that’s the point. His reputation was already stained because he was exposed as your lover. Wouldn’t the best thing for him have been to make your relationship official? So he didn’t look so heartless? So it looked like your affair meant something?’

‘It
did
mean something,’ Ella said defensively.

‘And you got dropped from
Wonderland
, but he didn’t. His career has rocketed, and it’s probably because he had an affair with you, not in spite of it.’

‘That’s just how it is, I suppose,’ Ella said finally. ‘It’s never the men’s fault when it comes to affairs, is it? People always blame the woman.’

Ella watched Chastity staring at Johnny on the screen for a while, and wondered what her friend was getting at.

‘Would you mind if I did a bit of digging on Johnny? Maybe try to find out exactly why he never phoned you when you left Danny?’