Paradise (18 page)

Gemma’s defence of Cal angered Angel. It seemed to her that everyone was quick to jump to his defence. Saint fucking Cal!

‘And you’d know, would you?’

‘If he was seeing Simone, he’d have told Tony and Tony would have told me.’ Gemma shrugged. Angel could well believe that her brother would find it hard to keep anything from Gemma, who no doubt had ways of making him talk. But quite possibly Cal hadn’t told anyone that he was seeing Simone. He could be intensely private about his life sometimes.

‘And have you seen her?’

‘She comes in here for beauty treatments, but to be honest I get one of the other girls to work with her. I feel sorry for her, but I’ll never forget how bitchy she was to you.’ Gemma smiled, ‘And she’s fucking high-maintenance still, always moans about everything. Only last week she was in complaining that the spray tan hadn’t made her brown enough and that Elaine had left a white patch on her bum. Kicked up a right fuss. Mum had to do a respray for free. The worst thing, is she asked to be my friend on Facebook. I tried ignoring
the request but then gave in and accepted, so now I get all her wanky comments about what she’s been up to.’

‘You can hide them on your wall,’ Angel told her, secretly thinking that would be one way to check up if she was seeing Cal, as Simone wouldn’t be able to resist blabbing about it. Cal wasn’t on Facebook, though his football charity was.

‘Good idea. There’s only so much of the high-maintenance queen that I can take.’ And with that her friend was back to being the Gemma Angel knew. Maybe it was just that she hadn’t seen her for a while.

After Angel’s nails were dry, Gemma took her lunch break and the two girls wandered through the Lanes, enjoying the April sunshine, and then had lunch in Angel’s favourite Italian restaurant – a tiny family-run place she’d been going to for years. As soon as she walked in, the head waiter, Alonzo, made a huge fuss of her. He arranged for her and Gemma to sit at her favourite table in the window so they could people-watch, and brought them both a complimentary glass of champagne. Angel didn’t even have to place her order, she always had the same thing and Alonzo knew it: a tricolore salad and garlic bread, followed by Tortelloni Aurora.

Angel felt herself relax. It was lovely spending time with Gemma, especially now her friend had stopped giving her a hard time about Cal and Ethan.

‘I can’t believe you eat all those carbs!’ Gemma exclaimed, delicately picking out all the potatoes from her Salade Niçoise. ‘I thought you’d be all healthy.’

Angel shook her head. ‘I’ve been dreaming of eating here. I can get whatever I want in LA but nothing tastes as good as this. And Ethan’s always teasing me because I can’t live without Marmite and PG Tips.’

‘No one could ever call you high maintenance,’ Gemma joked. They both laughed and then stopped as
they each noticed Cal walking past the restaurant with Simone. They weren’t holding hands but Angel got the same sickening jolt of jealousy she had when she’d seen the photograph of the couple. Sometimes Brighton could feel like the smallest place in the world.

Simone was gazing adoringly at Cal. She looked a million times better than she had when Angel had seen her at Nobu. Gone were the overly inflated lips; her make up looked natural, emphasising Simone’s beautiful brown eyes, and she was wearing skinny jeans, heels and a tight-fitting black leather jacket. She looked good, very good. Angel suddenly regretted stuffing her face with pasta. She hoped that Simone and Cal would walk by without seeing them but Cal noticed her, waved, and then walked into the restaurant, followed by Simone.

An awkward few minutes followed. Angel never knew how she should greet Cal these days. Did you kiss your soon-to-be-ex-husband or just smile politely? Cal decided for her, by bending down and kissing Gemma and then Angel. He was back to being cool, polite and distant. His gaze momentarily fell on Angel’s glittering engagement ring but he didn’t mention it.

‘I’m just on my way to see Honey at your mum’s.’ They had already agreed that Honey would stay at her grandparents’ for one night before spending the rest of the week with Cal.

‘Hi, Angel. Hi, Gemma,’ Simone put in, flashing a smile that showed off perfectly veneered teeth. ‘I’ve seen the pictures of Honey . . . she’s so beautiful, Angel. You’re so lucky.’ She seemed sincere. Angel looked at her thoughtfully. She’d never had Simone down as the maternal kind, and it was very unusual for her to say
anything
remotely complimentary to Angel who half wondered if she was taking the piss. But apparently not as Simone continued, ‘And you look so well, it must be
that LA sunshine.’ Angel waited for the sting in the tail, the old Simone wouldn’t have been able to resist putting in a dig about Ethan, but none came.

‘And you look good, Simone, it must be the sea air,’ Angel replied, feeling that she had to return the compliment, even if she didn’t feel like it, not one little bit. She hated being fake and putting on an act.

‘Better than when you last saw me, I bet, not that I can really remember.’ She lost the smile as she added, ‘Jez tells me that I was completely shit-faced, which is
so
embarrassing, but that’s all behind me now.’ Not as embarrassing as everyone knowing you were a high-class escort to fund your drug habit, Angel thought. Simone carried on, ‘But we’ve all done things we regret, haven’t we, Angel?’

Ah, so there was the sting in the tail. Angel simply shrugged, refusing to get drawn into a discussion about her own battle with addiction many years earlier. Simone’s comment just proved she hadn’t really changed, she still knew where to stick the knife. She then turned to Cal and the smile returned as she looked at him adoringly. ‘Anyway, it’s all down to Cal that I’m getting my life back on track. I really don’t know where I would have been without him.’

Sucking some old businessman’s cock for money, were the words that Angel did not say, sorely tempted as she was.
If
Simone was a changed woman, then she would
try
and be nice back.

Cal shifted awkwardly, he hated being the centre of attention. ‘We’ll leave you to get on with your lunch,’ he said. ‘Speak to you later, Angel. See you, Gemma.’

Simone treated the girls to another dazzling smile and then followed him out. Angel watched her tiny bum wiggle out of the restaurant then exclaimed, ‘Is she for real? She used to be such an old cow to me!’

‘Apparently so. She’s in AA and doing the Steps,
which means she has to make amends for her behaviour. I expect she’ll be contacting you to say sorry for all the things she said to you.’

‘That will be a
very
long list, and I don’t think I can forgive or forget,’ Angel said darkly. ‘I still think she’s a witch underneath her fucking goody-two-shoes act, whatever Cal and Jez think.’

Gemma sighed, ‘Just don’t let her get to you, babe, I’m sure she’d love that. She can’t have changed that much.’

The following day Angel had a shoot to promote her new lingerie range – the designs for the autumn collection were all grown-up glamour in scarlet, purple and midnight blue, decorated with love hearts and lace. She had always loved her work and got a real buzz from knowing that a campaign had gone well. She would have liked Gemma to do her make-up but as it was her birthday felt she couldn’t really ask, and so she’d booked Danni, a cheery Australian make-up artist she’d known for years. Jez was doing her hair and it was great to be back with him. He was the same bitchy, fun-loving mate, except for one thing: he refused to say anything negative about Simone. As soon as Angel mentioned seeing her the day before she expected some witty dig back. None came. Instead he told her, ‘It’s good you’ve seen her, I know she wants to apologise to you. I hope you didn’t make it hard for her.’

Angel stared at him in stunned amazement. What had happened to all her friends? Had Simone brainwashed them somehow?

‘No, I didn’t make it hard for her!’ she shot back. ‘But, frankly, would you blame me if I had?’

‘I know you find this difficult to believe but she is a changed woman,’ Jez replied. ‘People can change . . . look at me. Before I met Rufus I never imagined that I
would settle down, but I have, and I’m much happier for it.’ He lifted Angel’s long hair. ‘Up or down, sweetie?’

Angel looked at him in the mirror and frowned. ‘I want it curled, but don’t change the subject. It is weird for me finding out that you’re all pally-pally with Simone, can’t you see that?’

‘I guess, but I can’t help feeling sorry for her. And I wouldn’t say she’s a great friend – you’re my A-list friend, Simone is more like a G-slash-F-list friend. She gets my sympathy vote basically. I think she’s quite lonely, I don’t exactly believe she’s got many really good friends. And it’s hardly like we see much of her, just every now and then she phones up for a chat. And I do her hair.’ He muttered the last part as if hoping it would go under the radar, but Angel treated him to a glacial glare. Jez simply shrugged,

‘Credit crunch, sweetie, I can’t afford to turn down business.’ Angel couldn’t really come back on that one, but she still wondered why Simone couldn’t find some friends of her own instead of taking hers. However, she made a big effort not to mention Simone any more. It was bad karma.

‘So tell me how the wedding plans are going,’ Jez asked, also changing the subject as he expertly teased her hair into curls.

‘I’m not really doing anything until the divorce comes through, but I was thinking about maybe having a small wedding, on the beach.’

‘How very Pammy of you. Didn’t she get married to Tommy Lee in her bikini in Cancun? I wonder what I could wear? I suppose I could get a gorgeous pair of designer trunks, or maybe I should go for a white linen shirt, white trousers combo . . . barefoot with a great pedicure,’ Jez mused. Angel didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was thinking of not having
any guests at all. He might do her an injury with the tongs.

He finished curling her hair. ‘There you go . . . perfection.’

The shoot was over and done with quickly. Angel was such a professional that she instantly got what the photographer wanted and it was all very smooth and slick. Then she and Jez grabbed a taxi back to the Mayfair Hotel where she was staying to get ready for Gemma’s birthday meal, which was at the Michelin-starred, über-glamorous Hakkasan, followed by clubbing at Movida.

‘I think I might need a disco nap,’ Jez declared, lying down on the double bed in Angel’s suite. ‘I’m not as young as I was, I just don’t think I can work in the day any more and party at night.’

‘You old man!’ Angel exclaimed, throwing a cushion at him. ‘I expect you to have more stamina!’

‘Like your sexy baseball player?’ Jez rolled over on to his stomach and propped his head up between his hands. ‘Go on then, tell me everything. I might perk up if you give me some salacious details. Like, is he is big as I think he must be?’

Angel threw another cushion at him. ‘I would never kiss and tell! I’m a lady.’

‘Yeah, right!’ Jez exclaimed, rolling off the bed and raiding the mini-bar for champagne. Locating a bottle, he held it up.

‘Go on then,’ Angel replied, thinking it would be good to get in the party mood.

‘So is he?’ Jez persisted, handing her a flute full to the brim with champagne.

‘Massive,’ Angel said cheekily, then took a big sip of champagne, loving the sensation of the bubbles exploding in her mouth.

‘What? Bigger than Cal?’

Angel snorted with laughter. ‘Behave! I haven’t measured them! But please, let’s not talk about Cal. I don’t want to go on a downer, I want to be happy, happy, happy!’ She took another sip of champagne. She’d drunk nearly half a glass.

‘And so you shall be!’ Jez declared, topping it up.

They ended up drinking a bottle of champagne between them, leaving Angel feeling quite tipsy; she wasn’t used to drinking that much any more and had always been a bit of a lightweight with alcohol. Thankfully Jez did her make-up and her hair still looked good from the shoot. Wanting to make the effort for her fashionista friend, Angel wore a white Preen dress, which showed off her beautiful figure and golden-brown skin, with a pair of black Jimmy Choo suede ankle boots. Then it was another taxi ride to the restaurant. Angel walked in smiling as the
maître
d
’ showed her to the table. This was going to be a lovely night.

Gemma and Tony were already there, along with Rufus and Cal. She experienced the familiar rush of nerves and anticipation at seeing him, but as she took her place next to him, was determined not to let his presence unsettle her. This was her friend’s birthday, and anyway the champagne had blurred some of her anxiety about being around him.

‘You don’t mind me being here, do you?’ he asked her quietly as Gemma got down to the serious business of unwrapping presents.

‘I’m fine about it, Cal,’ Angel replied. ‘And anyway, it’s not up to me who Gemma invites.’

‘Thank you, Angel!’ Gemma squealed as she unwrapped the Tiffany charm bracelet. ‘That is just what I wanted.’ She blew her friend a kiss across the table.

‘I know,’ Angel shot back. ‘You dropped enough
hints!’ Then Gemma quickly got on with opening the next gift.

‘So you’re definitely going ahead with it?’ Cal again, clearly not able to bring himself to mention the marriage word though he was looking at her engagement ring.

Angel shook back her hair. ‘Yeah, nothing’s changed, Cal.’ He stared back at her, his brown eyes serious, then glanced away as he said, ‘If that’s what you want.’

How many more times was he going to ask her this! ‘It
is
what I want, Cal.’

Angel took a sip of champagne. ‘So you’re still seeing Simone then?’ If Cal could interrogate her about her marriage then she could play the same game.

‘As friends,’ he replied. ‘I’ve told you, that’s all we are. Why won’t you understand that?’ He seemed frustrated to be repeating himself.

‘That’s what happens when someone lies to you, it makes it almost impossible to trust them again.’ Oops! So much for keeping it light.

And then, thankfully, he stopped talking to her and instead they all became caught up in teasing Gemma about being so obsessed with fashion, and so demanding. Everyone had to buy her exactly what she had asked for: Cal a bright red ToyWatch, Jez and Rufus a dress from Kate Moss’s Topshop collection, and Tony a fuchsia Mulberry clutch bag. She simply couldn’t bear surprises – even designer ones.