Paradise (26 page)

‘Hey, you guys!’ Ethan exclaimed. ‘Alisha, you look even younger than you did when you married Logan, and I’ll never know how he managed to attract such a
beauty as you.’ She smiled while Logan playfully punched Ethan on the arm.

‘Careful! That’s his playing arm,’ Angel put in, adding cheekily, ‘and I couldn’t marry him if he wasn’t a successful baseball player.’

‘And to think I would marry you if you had nothing!’ Ethan teased back, pulling her close to him.

‘I am looking forward to your wedding,’ Logan told them. ‘I’ve thought of
so
many things I can say in my speech.’ He grinned cheekily, no doubt relishing the thought of putting together some embarrassing stories about Ethan who had recently asked him to be his best man. Ethan checked that none of the kids could see and defiantly flashed Logan a middle finger.

‘It’s okay, Angel,’ Alisha put in, ‘I’m going through the speech before he gets to deliver it. There won’t be anything that will embarrass Loretta or your folks, I guarantee.’

Angel smiled at her. ‘It doesn’t matter to me about Ethan’s past . . . we’ve both got pasts. It’s what happens now that matters.’ She didn’t care that she sounded corny; it was what she kept telling herself.

Ethan stayed chatting to Alisha and Logan while Angel made her way to the pool. She trusted Alisha’s sons to look after Honey and knew there would be several nannies supervising as well, but wanted to check for herself that her daughter was okay. She spent the next half an hour hanging out round the pool, chatting to the other mums. Honey was in seventh heaven, having three boys playing with her, and Angel thought how much she would love her daughter to have a brother or sister. Sure, Honey had Megan, but her contact with the little girl was always going to be on a part-time basis.

Finally Honey had had enough of the water and wanted something to eat. The two of them made their way back to the marquee. Angel felt happier than she
had all week, surrounded by people who liked her and whom she liked, and the events of the past seven days seemed to belong to a bad dream. She found Ethan deep in conversation with a young Dodgers player called Matthew, who had recently joined the team and been taken under Ethan’s wing. Matthew was just twenty-two, and looked more like a teenager with his round boyish face. He was also incredibly shy with women. As soon as he saw Angel he blushed.

‘Matthew’s got some news,’ Ethan told Angel. ‘Can you guess what it is?’

She looked at him blankly. ‘No idea.’

‘He’s got a girlfriend.’ At this Matthew’s cheeks became even redder.

‘And I’ve just met her so I know she’s not a figment of his imagination,’ Ethan teased. ‘And the weird coincidence is that you know her.’ Another blank stare from Angel. Who the hell could he be talking about? She was distracted by Honey pulling at her hand and wanting to go for a drink. When she looked up again she was confronted by Matthew’s new girlfriend who had just joined them. Angel’s mouth fell open in total astonishment. It was none other than Simone bitch-face Fraser.

Simone had snaked her arm possessively round Matthew and was smiling at Angel.

‘Hiya, Angel, bet you didn’t expect to see me here.’ She leant forward to do the air-kiss thing.

‘Wow, you two could be sisters!’ Matthew exclaimed, causing Angel’s hackles to rise. What the fuck was Simone doing? How had she met Matthew?

‘I guess you’re wondering how I met Matthew?’ she asked disconcertingly, flicking back her long blonde hair. Angel didn’t know whether it was her imagination but Simone’s hair colour now looked pretty much exactly the same shade as hers.

‘I still can’t believe Matthew is going out with someone as good-looking as you,’ Ethan put in. He flashed Simone his gorgeous smile, obviously thinking that Angel would want him to be nice to one of her friends. She had never told him about Simone, figuring there was no need, but now was wishing she had as Simone gave him a coy smile back which just about made Angel want to throw up.

‘Oh, isn’t he lovely, Angel!’ she exclaimed. ‘Every bit as lovely as you described.’

Angel feared her teeth were in danger of cracking, she was gritting them so hard, but she managed to get out, ‘So where did you meet Matthew? I had no idea you were interested in baseball.’

Cue annoying tinkly laugh from Simone, followed by, ‘I’m probably as interested in it as you are! I met Matthew at SkyBar; I’d gone there with some friends after an audition.’

Were these real or imaginary friends? Angel was tempted to ask as Simone continued, ‘And it was the classic eyes meeting across a crowded room. A bit like you and Ethan in Bar Marmont. Ethan just told me.’ She paused to caress Matthew’s beefy forearm. ‘So now Skybar will be our special place, just like Bar Marmont is yours. And I am having to really brush up on my knowledge of baseball, but Matthew’s been taking me through it. It’s a fantastic sport, isn’t it? So exciting!’

Well, Simone had been through most of the English footballers, it was probably time for her to start on a new sport. And with God knows how many baseball teams in the USA, there was plenty of fodder for her here, Angel thought bitchily.

‘You guys will have to come round for dinner soon,’ Ethan put in. ‘It’ll be great for Angel to have one of her English friends so close by, I know how homesick she gets. And, of course, there’s a certain event in
June to which you’ll both be invited, I’m sure.’

The wedding? No fucking way was Simone bitch-face Fraser coming to her wedding!

Another annoying tinkly laugh. ‘Oh, I would love that.’ Simone beamed at Ethan.

‘So where are you staying out here, Simone?’ he asked.

Angel wondered how Simone was going to wriggle out of that one. It would surely do her no favours in Ethan’s eyes if she revealed that she was staying with Angel’s ex-husband. ‘I was in a rented house just along the coast from you but . . .’ Here she broke off to smile at Matthew. God, all this smiling must be making her face ache! ‘But Matthew suggested I move in with him. I mean, I know it probably seems quick to you, but when you meet someone you just know is right for you, why wait?’

Angel could hardly believe what she was hearing! ‘So how long ago did you and Matthew meet?’ She tried to keep her tone neutral but hadn’t quite succeeded; there was an edge to her voice.

‘Two weeks, three days, seven hours and thirty-five minutes,’ Matthew said proudly. ‘Okay, I was just kidding about the thirty-five minutes. I’m not counting the minutes, honest.’

While Angel tried not to give him a look which said how deluded she thought he was, Ethan slapped him heartily on the back. ‘Yep, don’t mention the hours and definitely not the minutes, it does make you sound kinda weird. But the days stuff? Chicks love that kinda thing.’ He paused to smile at Angel. ‘It does remind me of when we first met. If I’d had my way, Angel would have moved in straight away. I knew she was the one.’ If this had been said in front of any other couple Angel would have found the comment adorable, but Simone was a fucking mentalist!

And right now she wanted Ethan to zip it. Oh, to be telepathetic and able to tell him so silently! But Angel’s super powers were definitely not working today.

‘Except, of course, Angel was married, wasn’t she?’ Simone said it sweetly enough but Angel was sure she’d intended it to hurt. Even Matthew, who was clearly not blessed with the quickest brain in the world, said quietly, ‘Honey, that’s probably something they don’t want to be reminded of.’

‘Of course. I’m sorry,’ Simone replied, and batted her eyelashes.

Angel was just wondering how to get away from the couple when Ethan noticed a former coach and took Angel and Honey off to meet him. The two men then talked baseball for what seemed like ages, but frankly Angel would have happily sat through a discussion on the state of the International Monetary Fund if it meant she was free from Simone.

However, that wasn’t the last she was to see of Simone that afternoon. When she nipped to one of the many bathrooms in the house, leaving Honey with Ethan, she came face to face with Simone as she click-clacked her way down the stairs in her nude Louboutins, which made her long bronzed legs seem even longer.

‘Such a gorgeous house,’ she remarked conversationally as Angel drew level with her, as if her presence at this party was the most natural thing in the world.

‘What are you playing at?’ Angel said quietly.

‘What d’you mean?’ Simone was all innocence and butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth.

‘What are you doing with Matthew?’

A wide-eyed look from Simone. ‘I’m head over heels in love with him, isn’t it obvious? Just like you are with Ethan.’

Pull the other one, Angel was tempted to say, ‘And
what about Cal?’ At the mention of his name a shadow passed across Simone’s face and she dropped the Little-Miss-Perfect act as she hissed, ‘Don’t ever fucking mention his name to me! He’s with that French woman and I’m with Matthew.’

And before Angel could say anything else another guest came down the stairs, forcing the women to move.

‘Looking forward to that wedding invitation,’ Simone called out when she reached the bottom of the stairs.

‘Don’t hold your breath,’ Angel muttered quietly.

Thankfully she was spared any further run-ins with Simone. She, Ethan and Honey left soon after that. As they drove home, Angel wondered how to bring up the topic of Simone and tip Ethan off to what she was really like; he obviously didn’t recognise her as the woman with Cal in the tabloid picture that Benny had taunted her with all those weeks ago. The danger was that she herself would sound like a number one bitch, raining on Simone’s parade, if she revealed how the other woman had gone out with Cal, been a bit of a bunny boiler, got into drugs and become an escort before getting back on track. Maybe she really was a reformed character and was indeed head over heels with Matthew . . . but Angel somehow doubted it. The old Simone would certainly have been in love with his bank balance, though. Angel decided she needed to speak to Jez and Gemma before she tackled Ethan.

‘So did you know your friend was over here?’ Ethan asked, forcing her to change her mind and talk about Simone now.

‘I did, but I had no idea she was seeing Matthew. To be honest, Ethan, we were never that close.’

‘Well, Matthew’s fallen for her big time, though I guess it’s probably because he’s never had so much sex in his life – well, at least not with another person!’

‘She’s had plenty of practice,’ Angel muttered, looking out of the window.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Nothing, babe.’

As soon as Angel had put Honey to bed and Ethan was safely installed in his games room, playing on his Xbox, she shot into her bedroom to make her calls. Jez and Gemma had both been gobsmacked when she had told them about Simone coming over to LA and staying with Cal, and she reckoned this latest piece of news would stun them as much as it had her.

Jez’s reaction did not disappoint. ‘What the fuck? I think you’ve just blown my tiny mind! What the hell is she playing at?’

‘So you don’t think it’s a coincidence, either that she’s hooked up with Matthew?’

‘It seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Of all the men in LA, she goes for a Dodgers player? I’m not buying that eyes locking crap. In fact, I’m not having a great feeling about this, cupcake. I’m seeing
Single
White
Female
–you the Bridget Fonda character, beautiful and successful, and Simone the Jennifer Jason Leigh character, the saddo who moves in and tries to copy Fonda’s life.’

‘Oh my God! I’ve seen that film – is that where the Leigh character throws the Labrador puppy over the balcony and pretends he jumped? I hated it when the puppy died!’

‘Never mind the dog!’ Jez was now getting carried away with the scenario. ‘Don’t you remember the scene where the Leigh character creeps into the Fonda character’s bedroom and pretends to be her, I think she’s wearing a blonde wig or something, and the boyfriend is there and she gives him a blow job? And then there’s the moment when he realises it’s not his girlfriend giving him the old oral, but . . . typical man . . . just lies back and lets her get on with it thinking, Any
blow job in a storm. He gets his comeuppance, though, when the Leigh character stabs him in the head with a stiletto. Brutal. Mind you, he had shot his load first so maybe it wasn’t such a bad way to go.’

Angel was feeling too disturbed to laugh. ‘Simone’s got blonde hair now,’ she replied in a small voice.

‘She never has! She’s so much better as a brunette.’ Jez, ever the professional hairdresser, was appalled when women chose the wrong hair colour. ‘Blonde is totally the wrong colour for her skin tone.’

‘Jez! I don’t fucking care whether it looks
better
, the fact is her hair now looks like
mine
. Has she turned into a Single White Female? Is she stalking me? Do you think she could have broken into the house?’

Angel was feeling vaguely hysterical; part of her wanted to laugh, it seemed such a mad idea, but then again, Simone turning up in LA and dating one of Ethan’s team mates seemed off-the-scale crazy.

Finally Jez seemed to get a grip. ‘Of course she didn’t break into the house! She’s a bit of mad, jealous bitch, but not a criminal mastermind!’

‘Maybe she had help to do it. Paid someone.’

‘She hasn’t got the money to do something like that. That’s exactly why she’s with Matthew Money Bags. Maybe we’ve got this all wrong, maybe it is all just an incredible coincidence.’ Jez conceded.

‘Last time I saw her in London, she was wearing a dress that I’d been photographed wearing and she had the same clutch bag.’ Angel had suddenly remembered Simone’s outfit at Gemma’s birthday party.

‘It must be a coincidence,’ Jez said again. ‘She can’t be that much of a weirdo.’

And coincidence was exactly how Gemma saw it, too, when Angel spoke to her. She thought the whole Single White Female stalking scenario madly far-fetched. ‘You should have phoned me before Jez, you know how
over-active his imagination is. Single White Female, my arse!’

‘But what about the blonde hair?’

‘What about it? Women change the colour of their hair all the time, and you don’t own the colour blonde. Seriously, Angel, don’t get hung up on this. You should be concentrating on the wedding. You probably feel jumpy because of the intruder, but don’t make Simone a big thing in your life. She’d probably love that. If anything, you should feel sorry for her. She’s obviously still in love with Cal but he’s not interested, especially now he’s with Madeleine.’