He's the One (13 page)

‘Love you,’ she said as she got ready to leave.

‘Love you too,’ he replied. ‘And, Libs, we belong together. Nothing can keep us apart.’

Chapter 15

Walking back home, Liberty turned over her conversation with Cory in her mind. She loved him so much, and making love with him just now had been wonderful, but how could they ever make it work when they seemed to have such different dreams? She wanted to go back to the way they had been when they first started seeing each other at the beginning of the summer, and anything had seemed possible. Cory’s stubborn refusal to go to the States had stunned her. It was so unreasonable, and his plan to go to Thailand was unrealistic. She just couldn’t see any way they could stay together now.

Zac called as she was going to bed, and asked if she would consider flying out the following night.

‘We’ve found you an ideal apartment in Santa Monica, and a nanny. I really want you to be settled and over the jet lag before filming starts. What do you think?’

For a moment she considered saying that she needed more time, but really what would that achieve?

‘Perfect,’ she replied. But even as she said it, she
knew it wasn’t. Nothing could ever be perfect again if it meant that Cory wasn’t in her life. She thought about calling him, but was worried that she wouldn’t be able to say what she needed to say without crying. So she sat down and wrote him a letter, pouring out her feelings, begging him to come to LA so they could be together.

I know we can make it work so long as we’re together. Please come to LA. I have to take this role, for the sake of Brooke and because I know that this is my big chance. I love you so much, Cory, more than I’ve ever loved anyone before. I can’t be without you. You’re everything to me. You always will be. Meeting you has been the most wonderful, incredible thing ever to happen to me.

Love you a million times,

L x

Liberty hesitated as she stood outside Zara’s house the following morning. She could ring the bell and see Cory. Maybe he would be persuaded … No, it had to be the letter. She slipped it through the letterbox, then turned and ran down the steps. She paused when she reached the pavement, and looked back. She thought she saw a figure move behind the opaque glass panels of the front door, but couldn’t be certain it wasn’t a trick of the light.

‘Phone me as soon as you get there,’ Nina said, hugging Liberty tightly.

‘You know I will.’

‘And don’t look so anxious. I’ll be out in a week to help you. Everything’s going to be fine.’

Liberty nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She had just checked in her luggage and she and Brooke were about to go through security. After that they would be on their own. She took one last look around her. In spite of everything, she had thought Cory might come. She’d told him the time of her flight. But it was clear that he wasn’t going to. She held on to Brooke’s hand and hugged Nina close one last time. Then, with her chin held high and her shoulders back, Liberty walked through to Departures.

Part 2

Chapter 16

August 2013

‘Jesus Christ, couldn’t you at least pretend that you’re enjoying yourself?’ Zac demanded. He and Liberty were at a TV industry party honouring his achievements as a director. To date he had directed series that had won over ten Emmys and five Golden Globes. He was very good at his job, Liberty gave him that. It was at being a husband he fell short. Or rather,
her
husband. Maybe some other woman would feel differently.

‘I mean, you’re good enough at faking it, aren’t you? You do it enough in the bedroom,’ Zac continued. He had grabbed hold of her arm and his grip was painfully tight.

She forced herself to stay calm and kept her voice even. ‘I am enjoying myself. I’m very proud of your achievements.’

Fortunately at that moment Tess joined them and claimed Zac’s attention, and Liberty was able to slip away on the pretext of getting another drink. The party was being held in some swish boutique hotel, just off Sunset Boulevard. The only colour in the ultra-minimalist
white bar came from the huge canvases on the walls. She wandered over to one, a painting of a headless torso next to a bunch of bananas. What the fuck did that mean? She suppressed a smile as she thought of Em, whose favourite expression was ‘top banana’. God, she missed her best friend so much. Sure, she had friends in LA, but no one she was as close to as she was to Em. She had seen her as much as she could over the years, but it hadn’t been easy as Em and Zac didn’t really get on. He thought she was an annoying hippy, and she thought he was an uptight control freak. Not exactly the basis for a beautiful friendship.

‘What do you think? Would you like that in your living room?’ Damon, a young English actor, had joined her. He played one of the detectives in Zac’s latest series; Liberty played an attorney. She knew that Damon had a bit of a crush on her and was flattered as he was only twenty-three and, as Em would say, ‘a hottie’.

‘Nope. Not my taste at all. How about you?’

‘To be honest, I prefer old film posters. You know, Hitchcock, that kind of thing. But I like that one.’ He gestured at the painting of a woman sitting on the edge of a double bed in what looked like a hotel room. She had long red hair and was dressed in a green silk dress. Liberty instantly recognised the style – the vibrant colours, the way the picture seemed to suggest a story. It had to be by Cory. Sure enough, when she moved closer she saw his trademark signature in one corner. Oh, God, even after all this time, just the thought of him made her heart race and filled her with longing.

She knew that Cory had become a very successful artist who was in great demand for his portraits. A number of high-profile celebrities had sat for him. He had become the artist she’d always hoped he would be.

She barely had time to gather her thoughts before Zac joined them. He hated her talking to other men, always got jealous, even though there was never anything for him to be jealous about.

Sure enough his opening line was, ‘So what are you guys so busy talking about?’ And typically, without waiting for an answer, he followed it up with more questions. ‘Swapping tales about life in the UK? Bet you’re glad you’re over here, Damon. Jesus, the weather in that place is shit. Who would ever want to live anywhere else but LA?’

He moved closer to Liberty, and put his arm round her waist possessively. My wife. Hands off. Damon actually took a step back. He was in awe of Zac, as were many of the actors.

‘We were just talking about the pictures,’ Liberty replied. She had never told Zac about Cory. Sure, he had known that she’d had a boyfriend in the UK, and that their relationship ended when she came to LA, but she had never told him Cory’s name. She didn’t want to hear him say it, didn’t want him bombarding her with questions about what Cory was like. It was her past, not his to paw over and pick apart as he would one of his plotlines.

‘I like that one,’ Zac commented, pointing at the torso with the bunch of bananas. ‘The other one is sentimental shit.’

And that, thought Liberty, said it all. She discreetly looked at her watch. At least another two hours to go, including the presentation ceremony. With any luck she could make sure that Zac was plied with enough celebratory alcohol for him not to want sex when they got home. She was fast running out of excuses.

Chapter 17

Brooke

Brooke sashayed along 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica enjoying the feeling of the warm sun on her skin and the admiring glances she attracted in her barely-there white shorts and off-the-shoulder t-shirt. She was a shopping ninja, a girl on Mission Find-the-perfect-dress-for-her-boyfriend’s-eighteenth-birthday. She’d been into five designer stores already and had found nothing suitable, though she had managed to spend six hundred dollars on some other clothes that she needed. Well, maybe needed wasn’t exactly the word, but wanted, especially when she had tried them on and saw how good they looked on her.

She tried not to think about the blazing row she’d had with her mom recently, over her credit-card bill. Her mom had insisted that she had to cut down her spending, that she had to learn the value of money, and blah, blah, blah, blah. Brooke had tuned out – she was good at doing that – and muttered something about promising to do better. She hadn’t meant it. Like, why would she? Her mom and stepdad were loaded.
Money had never been an issue before. She didn’t know why her mom was criticising her now. After all, it wasn’t as if she set a good example – Liberty was always buying clothes and had an entire walk-in closet full of unworn garments. She probably had PMT or something.
Whatever
. Brooke was not going to let that row stop her from getting the dress that was going to blow her boyfriend away when he saw her in it.

She went to push open the door to her favourite designer boutique, only to have it opened for her by an attentive assistant, who immediately gave her the VIP treatment, showed her to a comfortable sofa, summoned some other minion to bring her iced tea and a fresh fruit platter and then rushed around gathering a selection of suitable dresses from the rails.

The garments were then held up for Brooke’s inspection. ‘No, that’s not going to work … it’s not me,’ she said despairingly, after each dress was showed to her. ‘I have to have one with the wow factor!’ God! Why couldn’t these people get it into their heads, mediocre was not going to cut it?

Finally, just as she was about to flounce out in despair, one caught her attention – a divine corset-style dress in black lace. ‘OMG!’ she declared, clapping her hands together. ‘That’s totally it!’

Once she had wriggled into the tightly fitted dress, she knew that her first reaction had been spot on. The dress clung to every curve and made her look much older than her seventeen years. It was artfully designed with nude panels underneath the lace, so it appeared that she was naked. She expected her mom would freak, but knowing Liberty she would be out at some event or other and wouldn’t even see her daughter leave for the party.

Naturally she
had
to get some new heels to go with
the dress. The assistant immediately said that she had the perfect pair and proceeded to show Brooke a pair of Swarovski crystal-encrusted Louboutins. They were over three thousand dollars and she really shouldn’t. Really,
really
shouldn’t. But as soon as she’d slipped them on and considered her reflection in the mirror, and strutted around the shop in the five-inch beauties, she knew she had to have them. And, hey, they were designer; they were an investment piece. And her mom had at least twenty pairs. Surely she wouldn’t begrudge her daughter one measly pair? Okay, actually she already had five pairs of Louboutins … but compared to some of her friends, that was
nothing
. Her best friend Kelly had fifteen pairs, and
her
mom didn’t have a problem with that.

The rush of pleasure Brooke derived from her successful shop lasted until she pulled into the palm-tree-lined driveway of the house and wondered how she was going to smuggle the tell-tale designer bags upstairs without her mom seeing them. She decided to leave them in the car, and pretend that she’d been to the gym. But once she let herself into the ultra-modern house with its stunning views of the Pacific Ocean she was met by Rosa, their Mexican housekeeper, who told her that her parents were out at a party and wouldn’t be back until late. On the one hand Brooke was relieved that she could smuggle her purchases in without being busted, but on the other, apart from the row, she hadn’t seen her mum and stepdad all week. Every single night she had eaten supper on her own. She was supposed to be finishing a backlog of overdue papers, and so hadn’t been allowed to go out in the evenings or have her boyfriend Christian over, or her best friend Kelly. And there was no getting around that order from her parents because even if they weren’t there, there were
the CCTV cameras recording who went in and who went out of the building. Her mom was quite capable of playing back the film as Brooke knew to her cost. Only last week she had slipped out to meet Kelly … and then had some explaining to do. Again.

‘I’ve made you a crayfish salad, Brooke, and there’s some of that strawberry frozen yoghurt that you like,’ Rosa told her. Lovely Rosa, who had been with the family since Brooke was four years old, often babysitting for her when it had been the nanny’s night off, or coming to watch her compete in school sporting events and school shows when her mom and stepdad were tied up with filming. She was the one who had picked up Brooke from school if ever she was unwell and sat with her until her mom came home. Brooke saw Rosa as her unofficial gran. She adored her.

‘Will you stay and eat with me?’ Brooke asked. Rosa would sometimes keep her company, and Brooke was pretty sure that she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart and not to get paid overtime.

Rosa frowned. ‘I’m sorry, Brooke, I’m having dinner with my son’s family tonight. It’s my grandson’s first birthday. You know I’d stay otherwise.’

Shit! Brooke felt terrible! She must have made Rosa late for the dinner. She had probably been waiting for Brooke to get home before she left.

‘Sure, give him a birthday kiss from me. I’ll make sure I get him a present tomorrow. And shall I get you a taxi?’

‘No, no, I’ll take the bus. It’s no problem. You have a good evening, Brooke. Do your studies and your mom will be very proud of you, for sure. She left a note for you in the kitchen.’

Brooke managed a smile for Rosa, but she doubted her mom would ever be proud of her.

She waved Rosa goodbye, assuring her that she would be fine, and headed out to the garden to see Ozzy, her beloved, cute as a button Border Terrier. He went wild as soon as he saw Brooke, tail frantically wagging as he jumped up and thrust his nose into her hand. ‘Did you miss me, boy?’

He looked at her with his expressive brown eyes as if to say, Yes! She let him into the kitchen – one of the few rooms he was allowed in. The pale grey units and white marble surfaces made the place seem even emptier. Her stepdad Zac was a complete neat freak and hated any clutter. Everything had to be put away the moment it was used, which had led to countless arguments between them. Her mom had stuck a pink Post-it note on the stainless-steel fridge, the one splash of colour in the otherwise neutral-toned room. Brooke peeled it off.