In the Name of Love (2 page)

The two women made their way over to the Business bag drop, which was deserted. Charlie glanced over sympathetically at the long queue of people waiting to check in their bags to Economy. That’s where she usually was when she went away. But Business or Economy, they still had to go through security and there it was the usual scramble of ensuring phones and laptops were out of hand luggage, that coats and boots were taken off and liquids were stashed in plastic bags. Zoe very nearly threw a hissy fit when she realised she’d forgotten to put her favourite perfume and her hairspray in her suitcase and as a result had to hand over both bottles and watch as the security officer chucked them unceremoniously into the bin.

‘We’ll get some in Duty Free,’ Charlie soothed her. ‘It’s no big deal.’

‘You can’t get my perfume anywhere but Harrods!’ Zoe wailed. ‘It’s an exclusive Chanel!’

Charlie had a sudden vision of Zoe tackling the security guard and getting them both banned from the flight. So she linked arms with her friend and quickly marched her away. ‘Let’s go to the lounge.’ Champagne would make everything better.

Zoe insisted on buying three new perfumes (Miss Dior Chérie, Agent Provocateur Maitresse and Gucci’s Guilty) as she couldn’t decide which one she liked best and claimed she needed different scents for different
times
of day. High-maintenance? You bet. Plus she bought two giant cans of Elnett hairspray, in case she ran out. Charlie resisted the temptation to point out that they were going on a beach holiday. Zoe had a thing about her hair – it had to be perfect at all times. Let nothing come between her and her glossy auburn locks …

And then the two women were kicking back in the exclusive lounge. Ah, the bliss of sipping champagne, nibbling strawberries and succulent slices of cantaloupe melon, sampling delicate canapés and delicious sushi, and flicking through the piles of glossy magazines. This was a world away from the heaving departure lounges beyond, where people queued for McDonald’s and the loo, and tried in vain to find somewhere to sit. Here, in the lounge, Charlie and Zoe sank into soft-as-butter leather armchairs. There was the aroma of expensive perfumes mingling with the smell of money and success. Charlie breathed it all in. She had to resist the temptation to swipe some of the food into her handbag for later; the sushi would probably end up stinking and she’d be thrown out of Business Class for lowering the tone. She now had a well-paid job but simply wasn’t used to this level of luxury. Everyone else appeared to be taking it in their stride, though, the businessmen and women glued to their phones or their laptops, the men in their bespoke Savile Row suits, the women in their designer clothes, handbags costing thousands of pounds cast casually at their feet. After all, they had plenty more at home …

‘I can’t believe you’ve never travelled Business Class
before.
Didn’t you go anywhere with TFB?’ Zoe commented, stretching out her long legs and admiring her brand new fur-trimmed ankle boots.

‘No, because, if you remember, any time I wasn’t seeing him, and he wasn’t training or playing in a match, he was shagging someone else!’ Three months on the humiliation was still searing. Charlie had really fallen for Aaron and had been completely unaware that he had cheated on her with a lap dancer. Unaware that is until Karly, the lap dancer, chose to tell all to the
Sun
. And even though it seemed the biggest, tackiest cliché in the world for a footballer to be caught out with a lap dancer, it still hurt like hell. Charlie had ended the relationship there and then. Even though Aaron had begged her to forgive him, told her it had been a mistake and he’d never cheat on her again … all the usual clichéed excuses, she had refused to see him.

The betrayal had felt even worse because she had met Aaron just after her accident, a time when she was feeling incredibly vulnerable and low. He had felt like the one good thing that had happened to her since, and being with him had helped her to block out the horrific event of a year and a half ago, when her life had changed for ever … But she wouldn’t think about that now.

‘Anyway, I’m glad he never took me anywhere expensive or I’d feel like he had something on me.’ Charlie sounded so certain but Zoe knew how badly Aaron had knocked her confidence.

Charlie glanced at her friend’s boots. ‘Won’t your feet get really hot on the flight?’

‘I’m changing into my ballet pumps. These were just to walk from the car to the plane.’

Charlie shook her head, marvelling again at Zoe’s dedication to fashion. She herself quite liked clothes, appreciating that they could make her look and feel good, but she wasn’t a slave to fashion. At work she had to be ultra-feminine yet businesslike – wearing the smartly tailored suits and silk shirts that were bought for her by the wardrobe department – but out of work she nearly always wore jeans. And so this afternoon she was in black skinny jeans, a slouchy blue-and-white-striped jumper, and black biker boots.

Zoe caught the look, ‘We can’t all be like you and get away with anything! Some of us have to make the effort on a daily, no, hourly basis!’

Another shake of the head from Charlie, and Zoe had to smile. It never ceased to amaze her that Charlie didn’t realise just how beautiful she was. She was drop-dead gorgeous, in a league all of her own. She was mixed-race and had inherited from her mother striking green eyes that looked clear as crystal against Charlie’s caramel skin, and were fringed with sweeping lashes. As if the eyes weren’t mesmerising enough, she also possessed full sensuous lips to rival Angelina Jolie’s and razor-sharp cheekbones like the model Helena Christensen’s. Plus she had a knock-out figure, enviably slim yet with curves in all the right places. Zoe had already noticed all the men surreptitiously checking out Charlie, but her friend was oblivious. Zoe never felt a smidgen of jealousy. Charlie was such a one-off, you could only admire her.

The two girls had first met aged eleven at secondary school in Manchester, and it was a friendship that had lasted all through the years of Charlie going to university there and Zoe moving down to London with her mum when her parents divorced. Now Charlie lived in London too, they saw each other every week.

Two glasses of champagne later the girls were well on the way to feeling pleasantly tipsy, and it was time to board the plane. Charlie took one look at the comfortable seat that could fully recline, the ample space around it, the complimentary bag of toiletries and her own private entertainment console, and grinned at Zoe. ‘This is the bollocks! Thank you so much, Zoe. And thank you, Nathan. Please can you forget Zoe’s birthday every year!’ She blew a kiss out of the window at the miserable lead-grey skies over Heathrow. ‘Barbados here we come!’

She settled down in her seat, wrapping herself up in the blanket provided, which was of very superior quality to the thin scratchy ones you got in Economy, and watched in amusement as Zoe carefully removed her make-up, which must have taken ages to apply, and slathered Crème de la Mer all over her face and neck.

‘What?’ she demanded, catching Charlie’s amused expression. ‘Long-haul is so drying on the skin, I have to be fully hydrated.’ She held out the pot. ‘D’you want some?’

‘No, but I’d love some more champagne.’ And at that moment, as if he had heard her, a beautifully groomed steward with eyebrows to die for walked up to them carrying a silver drinks tray.

‘Good morning, Miss Porter. My name’s William and I’ll be looking after you on the flight. May I offer you something to drink? Orange juice, apple juice or champagne?’

There was no contest. ‘I’d love a glass of champagne, thanks,’ Charlie replied.

‘Love the eyebrows,’ Zoe couldn’t stop herself from commenting, She did appreciate a well-shaped brow.

‘Threading, got to love it,’ William said discreetly, offering Charlie the drinks tray.

She thanked him again, then glass in hand spent a very contented few minutes checking out the menu, which was full of delicious-sounding dishes, and the extensive list of films on offer. She was loving it! This was going to be like a very expensive girls’ night in, three thousand feet up in the air.

She would have to remember every single detail to tell her mum, Lori, who had never travelled Business Class before either and would love to hear all about it. But thinking of her mum inevitably made her think of her brother Kris. Charlie sighed as she wondered what he was doing right now. Then she couldn’t help feeling guilty because here she was surrounded by all this luxury, with people – specifically William of the perfect eyebrows – to cater to her every whim.

She tried to shake off the feeling of sadness that lately accompanied any thoughts of her brother. Even though they were twins she had always seen Kris as her baby brother, whom she looked out for, which had made it all the more painful when she hadn’t been there for him. Four months ago he’d been jailed for receiving
stolen
goods after the riots in Manchester. He’d done it as a favour for one of his best mates, a lad who already had a criminal record. It had been a stupid thing to do, a one-off, and boy, was he paying for it now. Kris had never been in trouble before. He’d been trying to make it as an actor and showing great promise. Charlie and her parents had been devastated when he was arrested. They were all terrified that this one mistake was going to ruin his life …

‘Are you okay?’ Zoe asked, her face shiny with expensive moisturiser.

‘Yeah, I was just thinking about Kris.’

‘He’ll be fine, Charlie. Your brother is strong. It will be over soon and then he can get on with his life.’

She sighed, ‘I know.’ She didn’t add that every time she went to visit him in prison, he seemed more diminished as a person and more deeply depressed.

The captain announced that they were preparing for take-off and William and his eyebrows made a last-minute seat-belt check and whisked away the glasses of champagne. Zoe looked across at Charlie and grinned. ‘Maybe you’ll have a holiday romance. It’s about time you moved on from TFB. Your vergina must have cobwebs from lack of use.’

‘Cheers for that lovely image!’

‘And did you get a Brazilian? No problem if you didn’t, they’re bound to do them at the hotel spa. I had a Hollywood, so I’m good to go.’

Charlie rolled her eyes. ‘No, Zoe, I’m going to hit the beach with a full bush and terrify all the other guests.’

Zoe giggled. ‘It’ll be Revenge of the Neglected Bush.’

‘The Bush strikes Back,’ Charlie retorted, to be countered by Zoe’s, ‘Night of the Living Bush!’

‘Evil Bush Two,’ Charlie shot back.

‘Return of the Living Bush.’ Zoe was giggling so much she could hardly get the words out.

‘Okay, enough already,’ Charlie managed to say. ‘Or we’ll be sent back to Economy. And FYI, I had a Brazilian.’

‘Thank God for that! Let’s hope your landing strip gets some action.’

Charlie pulled the blanket up, as if shielding herself from the comment. ‘I’m not bothered at the moment. I’ve got my career and my friends, what more does a girl need?’

Zoe’s arched eyebrows said that there was plenty, plenty more.

After eight hours of the most blissful journey … really Business was the only way to fly … Charlie and Zoe stepped out of the plane and into blazing sunshine. It was like walking into a wall of heat. Charlie shook back her hair and tilted her face up to the sun. To feel its warmth on her body after the freezing English winter was like a blessing. She couldn’t wait to get into her bikini and hit the beach.

‘Hiya!’ Zoe exclaimed, waving at a chauffeur in a smart white uniform and white peaked cap, who was holding up their names on a placard as they sauntered through arrivals.

‘Good afternoon, Miss Martin and Miss Porter.’ The
chauffeur
bowed slightly as he greeted them, which made Charlie feel slightly uncomfortable. Sure, she was used to good service by now but she didn’t expect people to bow before her!

‘I am Kofi and I will be driving you to the resort. Please follow me. Your luggage will be taken care of.’

Charlie had been expecting a flash car, but what awaited her and Zoe outside on the tarmac made her open her green eyes wide in astonishment as she took in the silver Rolls-Royce Ghost.

‘Oh, baby!’ she exclaimed, walking towards the sleek motor. ‘Come to Mama!’

Charlie absolutely loved cars. Even as a little girl she had known more about cars than her brother, and she would be the one watching
Top Gear
with her dad, while Kris and Mum grumbled about wanting to watch
Holby City
or something else.

‘Happy?’ Zoe asked as they sank back into the plush leather seats and the Roller pulled smoothly away from the kerb.

‘You bet! I can’t imagine it will get any better than this.’

Zoe, who had been to Sandy Lane twice before, smiled knowingly. ‘Just you wait and see.’

The half-hour drive took them along roads lined with vivid green sugar-cane fields, and every now and then they would drive past shacks which seemed to be local stores with groups of men sitting outside playing checkers. Charlie hadn’t realised how poor much of Barbados still was. The contrast with the five-star resort
could
not have been greater as they swept through the imposing iron gates, along a tree-lined drive, past an immaculately maintained golf course and gardens and up to the elegant white-pillared hotel. Staff were immediately on hand to greet them. They were offered an ice-cold flannel from a tray to freshen up with, and after that a delicious fruit cocktail. It certainly beat checking into a Travel Lodge.

Once they were checked in, Charlie stood on the balcony of her luxurious suite and gazed out at the glittering expanse of the Caribbean Sea, the crescent of white sand beach fringed with palm trees. She turned to Zoe who was standing next to her, and threw her arms around her, exclaiming, ‘Thank you so much, Zoe! I hate to say this but it was so worth Nathan forgetting your birthday!’

Zoe gave a wicked grin. ‘Yeah, I know! I’d pretty much forgiven him the moment he apologised as he looked so cute.’

‘The diamond necklace must have helped,’ Charlie deadpanned.