Friends & Rivals (23 page)

‘Actually, I'm right here in LA.' Kendall had to half shout to make herself heard. ‘I'm just checked into the Chateau. Kind of a last-minute thing.'

There were a few seconds of silence. Then Lex said, ‘Is everything OK?'

No, everything isn't OK. I'm lonely.
To her immense embarrassment, the tears she'd been holding in all evening suddenly burst forth and began pouring down her cheeks. She wiped them frantically on the bedspread, desperate that Lex shouldn't hear how upset she was.

‘Everything's fine. Really great, actually. Why don't you come pick me up in an hour and I'll fill you in over dinner.'

‘I have plans tonight,' said Lex matter-of-factly.

‘Oh.' Back in her day, Lex
never
had dinner plans. Or, at least, he never had plans that he wasn't prepared to cancel at a moment's notice from Kendall.

‘Tomorrow then.'

‘To be honest, Kendall, it's kind of a crazy week for me. I can meet you for lunch tomorrow, how's that? Polo Lounge at one?'

‘Sounds perfect,' said Kendall in a cheery voice, smothering her disappointment like a mother stifling her child's cries. ‘See you there.'

As soon as she hung up, the dark cloud descended. Everyone had forgotten her. No one cared. Even Lex, her Lex, was doing her a favour by squeezing her in for lunch. Utterly deflated, and too tired even to take a shower, Kendall turned off the lights, slipped fully clothed beneath the covers, and fell instantly into a deep, deep sleep.

The next morning she awoke late in much better spirits. After coffee and French toast on her private terrace overlooking the pool, she slipped into a flirty Dolce & Gabbana sundress and sparkly Jimmy Choo flats and called down to valet for her car. As soon as she hung up, her publicist called.

‘Kendall. What the fuck's going on?' As usual, Sasha Dale cut to the chase. The diminutive dynamo was not given to small talk, or indeed to pleasantries of any kind.

‘Nothing. I needed to get away, that's all. I'm on vacation. How did you find me here?'

‘Vacation?' Sasha echoed scornfully, not bothering to answer Kendall's question. ‘You're gonna have to give me something better than that. Are you and Ivan splitting?'

‘No! Absolutely not.'

‘Great. So we'll leak it that you
are
, then set up some more drama around that, something that lends itself to a pictorial. We'll make it look like you're having a fling with someone out there, then you and Ivan can romantically get back together. Who can we set up as a new love interest?'

‘No one!' said Kendall.

‘There must be someone. It doesn't have to be real. Just a friend who we can make look like something more.'

Kendall had started out on a reality show, so she understood the concept of a scripted romance, and how to pull one off. But the whole idea was pretty distasteful.

‘What about Lex Abrahams?' asked Sasha bluntly. ‘You two are close, aren't you?'

‘Yeees,' said Kendall tentatively. ‘Sort of.' How the hell did Sasha Dale know that? ‘I'm about to meet him for lunch actually. But there's no way he'd go for it.'

‘Why not?'

‘Because it's tacky as hell!' said Kendall. ‘And because he has a girlfriend. The kind of story you're talking about could seriously screw things up for them.'

‘Even better,' said Sasha, without a trace of irony. ‘More drama. I love it.'

‘Look, I wouldn't do that to Lex and that's final.' Kendall was getting irritated. ‘I'm still with Ivan, I'm on vacation, and if you can't make a story out of that, then too bad.'

She hung up feeling stressed and anxious, but the short drive along Sunset to the Beverly Hills Hotel was enough to lift anybody's mood. Baking, broiling sunshine, of the kind you just didn't ever seem to get in Northern Europe, flooded the car till Kendall could feel her forearms starting to bronze. A light breeze blew back her hair in classic movie-star style, and every time the traffic slowed she was aware of people staring, trying to figure out whether it really was her or not. By the time she strutted into The Polo Lounge and across the patio to Lex's table, Kendall radiated confidence like a stadium floodlight.

‘Hey! Hello, stranger.'

The Lex who stood up to greet her was unrecognizable as the scruffy, slightly downtrodden photographer Kendall once knew. His face was still the same, with its long aquiline nose and the blue eyes that seemed to have made their way into his swarthy features by accident. But in all other ways he looked totally different: older, mature and brimming with a quiet confidence of his own. His unruly nest of curly dark hair had been cropped close, and his scruffy baggies and T-shirt replaced with a pair of preppy Ralph Lauren shorts and a pale-blue polo shirt that worked wonderfully against his tanned, coffee-brown skin. He wore a simple but expensive vintage Omega watch in rose gold, and a classic pair of Ray-Ban aviators lay casually discarded on the white tablecloth. When he kissed Kendall on the cheek, he smelled of expensive aftershave.

Success suits him
, thought Kendall. ‘You look terrific,' she beamed, genuinely delighted.

‘So do you,' said Lex. ‘But then you always did.'

They sat down and stared at one another for a few moments, neither of them quite knowing what to say. While Lex might look confident, and had even felt it on the way over here, now that he was actually sitting opposite Kendall in the flesh, his stomach had started doing unpleasant back flips and his palms were slick with sweat. He'd forgotten just how beautiful she was. It was surreal, otherworldly, and horribly disconcerting. As if no time had gone by, he found himself fighting the urge to reach out and touch her, and when she spoke his eyes were drawn mesmerically to her full, unbearably sensual lips.

‘So what brings you to LA out of the blue?' he asked, determinedly keeping his voice casual.

‘Nothing really,' Kendall shrugged. ‘I had an unexpected break in my schedule. It's just a vacation.'

‘You're visiting your family, I guess,' said Lex.

‘Sure,' said Kendall tightly, pushing the pain of yesterday's failed reunion out of her mind. ‘Here and there, you know. I have a ton of people to see.'

Lex ordered the linguine vongole and a chopped salad. Kendall, still full from her French toast, plumped for tuna tartare. In an effort to impress Lex, she eschewed the white wine she so desperately wanted and ordered an iced tea instead. Lex did the same.

‘Ivan not with you?' he asked casually.

‘No. He had to work,' said Kendall, defensively. ‘We're not joined at the hip, you know.'

‘But you're still together?'
Pathetic
, thought Lex.
Why the hell did you ask her that?
But the words were out of his mouth before he even knew he'd thought them.

‘Of course,' said Kendall. ‘We're very happy and madly in love. Ivan's completely changed my life.'

‘That's great,' Lex lied. ‘I'm happy for you.'

Another awkward silence was broken by the arrival of the food. Kendall longed to talk to Lex properly, to have a real conversation about her life and feelings, the way they used to do. But this new Lex was so slick, so together, so distant, at least from her, she was too scared to tell him the truth.

‘How about you?' she said eventually, scooping up a succulent forkful of lemony fish and avocado. ‘Are you still with what's-her-name?'

‘Leila,' Lex frowned. ‘Yes, I am. She's great. JSM takes up ninety per cent of my time, but I'm lucky to have a partner who's so tolerant.'

A partner?
Kendall's lip curled involuntarily. ‘I'd love to meet her,' she said, without enthusiasm.

‘Well you're about to,' said Lex. ‘She's gonna swing by for dessert. She was curious to meet you too.'

Kendall could have screamed. It was bad enough Lex only meeting her for lunch. But to invite his bloody dull-as-ditchwater girlfriend along, without even asking her? That was really too much. Grabbing a passing waiter by the elbow she said, ‘You know what? I changed my mind. I'd like a large glass of Cabernet Sauvignon please.'

‘Speak of the devil.' Lex's face lit up as he pushed back his chair. ‘Here she is now. Hey, honey, you're early.' Reaching out both hands, he kissed the tall, brown-haired girl on the lips. Under the tablecloth, Kendall dug her nails painfully into her palms.

‘I know,' laughed Leila. ‘The shoot finished early – never happens, right? And then I actually got good traffic in Beverly Hills. Must be my lucky day.' She stretched out a hand to Kendall. ‘Hi, I'm Leila. I've heard so much about you.'

‘Really?' The chill in Kendall's voice could have frozen molten lava. She waited for Leila to sit down, then pointedly turned her attention straight back to Lex. ‘So how's business? I hear great things about JSM.'

‘It's amazing.' Reaching over, Lex idly massaged the back of Leila's neck. He was glad she was here. Her presence seemed to have broken the spell that Kendall had cast over him, bringing him back to reality and safety. ‘I'm very lucky.'

‘It has nothing to do with luck,' Leila jumped in loyally. ‘You deserve it. You've worked your butt off building that company.'

‘I'll bet you have,' said Kendall, still looking solely at Lex. ‘Jack always was a great one for cracking the whip. How is he?'

‘Fine.' Lex's face closed down, giving nothing away. ‘Fine' could have meant anything from ‘about to marry a supermodel' to ‘dying of cancer'. The message was clear: Kendall no longer had a right to know.

Unfortunately, no one had sent Leila the memo. Either missing the tension between Lex and Kendall, or choosing to ignore it, she started chattering away about what a committed partner Jack was, and how close he and Lex had become since they started JSM together.

‘And he's been absolutely darling to me, so welcoming right from day one, hasn't he, Lex? I thought it was so sweet he named the company after his wife. We just wish he would find someone new to settle down with. All he does is work, but if anyone deserves to be as happy as we are, it's Jack.'

This was too much for Kendall. Turning on Leila waspishly she said, ‘Obviously you don't know Jack very well. He'll never marry again.'

‘Well, maybe not yet.'

‘Not ever. He's never gotten over Sonya's death because he's never wanted to. Jack clings to his grief, it's just the way it is.'

Leila's face darkened. She'd heard that Kendall had a bitchy streak, but this was a really horrid thing to say, especially after the kick in the teeth Kendall had already given Jack by defecting to Ivan. She waited for Lex to say something, but he seemed engrossed by the remnants of his chopped salad, so she spoke up herself.

‘Well I think you're wrong,' she said defiantly. ‘These things take time, but I'm sure Jack will marry again eventually. At least he's starting to get out more. After Ivan stabbed him in the back and stole all Jester's clients, he barely set foot out of the house for a year. Did he, Lex?'

‘It was a tough time,' admitted Lex. ‘For all of us.'

‘More self-pity,' sniffed Kendall. ‘Jack had nobody to blame for Jester's break-up but himself. I should know. I was there.'

This wasn't what she felt, but Lex's girlfriend's pretensions to closeness with Jack were too irritating to be suffered in silence. Maybe she'd been too quick to reject Sasha Dale's idea of a staged Lex fauxmance? It would serve Lady Muck Leila right if she
did
lose her precious boyfriend. Who the hell did she think she was to preach to her, Kendall, about Jack Messenger's feelings?

The waiter arrived before Leila had time to think of a suitably cutting riposte.

‘Can I tempt anybody with dessert?'

Three grim heads shook in unison.

‘Just the cheque, please,' said Lex. He tried to ask Kendall a couple of small-talk-type questions about her new album and Ivan's reality show, but neither of their hearts were in it and it was a relief when the bill arrived.

As they walked back into the lobby together and made their frosty goodbyes, Leila couldn't resist one last dig. ‘I'll give Jack your regards, shall I? Lex and I are having dinner with him tonight at The Brentwood.'

The knife was well aimed and it pierced Kendall clean through the heart, but she was damned if she was going to show it.

‘Do,' she said, slipping on her sunglasses and flicking back her glossy mane of hair, almost hitting Leila in the eye. With a final peck on the cheek for Lex, she hopped into her flashy sports car and roared away.

Leila turned to Lex. ‘How on
earth
were you ever friends with that creature? She's vile.'

But instead of agreeing with her, Lex lost his rarely seen temper. ‘Why the hell did you have to keep banging on about Jack?' he shouted. ‘You were only supposed to stop in and say “hi”.'

He marched off to the valet, leaving Leila gazing after him, open-mouthed.

Jack held the candle up next to the menu and struggled to make out the specials. There was mood lighting and then there was The Brentwood, a West-side favourite so dimly lit it was like trying to feel your way around in a mine shaft. Perhaps the gloom was designed for privacy, so that the industry insiders who dined here could enjoy their Dungeness crab cakes without being gaped at and hassled by the hoi polloi. Or perhaps it was an attempt to make the fat, overdressed divorcees at the bar look less unattractive. Either way, it was giving Jack eyestrain. Why on earth had he agreed to come out tonight?

Lex and Leila had obviously invited him out of pity. They were nice kids, but Jack wished they'd turn their compassionate attentions on someone else and leave him to stay home with a good bottle of claret and his boxset of
24
DVDs. The truth was, even when Sonya had been alive, Jack hadn't been much of a one for dining out. As a manager, he had to socialize constantly for work. On the rare chances he got to switch off, all he wanted to do was bolt the front door, turn on the TV and shut the world out.