Paradise (27 page)

‘Bloody hell, Gem, you’re sounding very serene and chilled.’ Angel had expected more from her friend.

‘Actually I have been getting into yoga and meditation. I want to feel relaxed about trying for a baby.’

‘Oh, yeah, how’s it going?’ Angel had been keeping her fingers crossed for her friend.

‘Good, apart from your brother being back home late because of work every night for the last week, which was supposed to be our prime time for conceiving.’ Gemma yawned. ‘So I’m knackered, but feeling okay.’

‘You really don’t think Simone is out to get me then?’ Angel asked. ‘Sorry to go on about myself.’

‘Why break the habit of a lifetime?’ Gemma teased back, then added, ‘I think she’s wildly jealous of you, but that’s as far as it goes. And you hardly have to see her, do you?’

‘I’ll have to see her at Dodgers games and Ethan’s asked her for dinner . . . he’s even asked her to the wedding! And I don’t know what to tell him. I don’t want to seem like a total bitch, trashing her, in case this is all a coincidence. And I don’t want to drag all that old history between us into my life with him.’

‘Don’t say anything then. Be cool with her and Ethan will get the message that she’s not a good friend, just an
acquaintance. Jez and I were only friends with Simone because we felt sorry for her. Since she’s been over in LA, she’s only texted us once. Seems like we’re not useful to her any more, and that’s no great loss. Forget about her. Now tell me about what really matters – have you had the final dress fitting?’

Angel filled Gemma in on where they were at with the wedding plans – Ethan had gone to see Kaz for a suit which would complement Angel’s dress; and they had decided to give the wedding a fairy-tale theme with two marquees in the garden, one for the kids decorated like a Disney castle, along with entertainers dressed up as Minnie Mouse
et
al
., the other as a circus tent with performers ranging from jugglers to trapeze artists. There were going to be chocolate fountains, candy-floss machines and ice sculptures. Angel had thought about going more sophisticated, then realised how much Honey would love the fairy-tale day and decided to go all out for it. As for Ethan, he was happy to go along with whatever she wanted.

After the phone call Angel tried to take Gemma’s advice on board, but Simone had got under her skin and it was impossible not to think about her and wonder what she was up to. Every time Ethan went off to training, Angel wondered if Simone was going to be there watching. She really hoped that Ethan would have forgotten about asking Simone and Matthew round, so it was a nasty surprise a week later when he announced that he had invited the couple for dinner the following evening, together with Alisha and Logan. He announced this as if it should be great news for Angel.

‘Oh, babe, do we have to? Can’t we go out and meet them?’ The thought of seeing Simone was bad enough, never mind having her in the house!

‘If we go out we’ll have to do all the security shit, have the paps after us. I’d much rather chill round the pool while Maria cooks up her seafood paella. And I’ve got Megan and don’t want to leave her with a nanny on one of my few days with her.’

There was no way Angel could argue with that; still, the announcement didn’t exactly put her in the best of moods. But at least she would have Alisha and Logan as allies for the night. They were such good company that hopefully Angel would be able to focus on them and block out Simone. And she was busy – she had two full days’ shooting her calendar, would only be back in time for dinner, leaving her less time to brood on Simone. Ever since Angel had become a successful glamour model she had shot a calendar every year, and as she was out here she had decided to give the pictures the full LA treatment. So far she’d been photographed in a gold bikini lying in the sand on Santa Monica beach, eating candy floss on the pier in a tiny pink bikini, and walking down the legendary Sunset Boulevard in a pair of hot pants and a crop top. The next two days were to be used take some studio shots, including Angel draped over a pink Cadillac wearing a white bikini, and dressed as a sexy waitress on roller-blades.

The two-day shoot was as full on as Angel had anticipated; the first night she didn’t get back until 9 p.m. While she was sorely tempted to make a late entrance for dinner the next night, she knew that wouldn’t be fair on Ethan and they ended up finishing at 7. To ensure she wasn’t late, Carlos drove Angel back while she was still in the silver sequined hot pants and bikini top she’d worn for the final series of pictures. She just threw a tee-shirt on, and still had the silver false lashes. With any luck she’d have time to change when she got back. But the traffic was bumper to bumper. Angel phoned Ethan to let him know she was running late
and received the most unwelcome news that Alisha and Logan’s youngest son was running a fever and they didn’t want to leave him. It was just going to be Simone and Matthew.

‘Shouldn’t we rearrange?’ Angel asked, her spirits plummeting at the prospect of an evening with Simone and no Alisha.

But no hope there – Maria had made the dinner already, Simone and Matthew were on their way. Angel was just going to have to deal with it. Fifteen minutes later she opened the front door, intending to sneak in and go straight upstairs. She wanted to be in a killer outfit if she had to deal with Simone, but Ethan heard her and called her into the living room where he was pouring out cocktails. Angel winced and headed in, steeling herself for the encounter.

Simone was wearing a cobalt blue Matthew Williamson silk mini dress, which showed off her lovely figure. Angel only knew it was Matthew Williamson because Gemma had sent her a link to Net-A-Porter illustrating that exact same dress, saying it was totally her. Well, it was totally Simone now. She’d teamed it with a massive diamond necklace. She looked even slimmer than usual and her skin had a gorgeous sun-kissed glow. She might be a total bitch but she certainly looked stunning. She was in a pair of gold Louboutins which meant she towered over Angel, who had kicked off her heels in the car and was barefoot.

‘Hey, Angel, how’d it go?’ Ethan asked, coming over and giving her a hug.

‘Really good.’

‘I’m loving those hot pants!’ he exclaimed, playfully slapping her on the bum.

‘Angel does look great in hot pants,’ Simone agreed, coming over and bestowing the inevitable air kiss on Angel. She waited for Simone to come out with a quip
about her being white trash or chavtastic, but none came.

Simone had obviously been working on Matthew’s ‘look’ – usually he was to be found in baggy sweatshirts and cut-off jeans; tonight he was in a navy linen suit which looked every bit as designer as Simone’s dress. But actually, Angel reflected, Matthew looked better casual. He was so muscular that he looked as if at any minute he was going to burst out of the suit, like the Incredible Hulk. If it had been any other couple Angel would have been perfectly happy to have dinner in the hot pants, but the thought of Simone looking over her body, checking her for any imperfections, had her excusing herself and whizzing upstairs to change.

First she checked on Honey and Megan who were both fast asleep – Megan in her cot next to Honey’s bed. Then she walked into her dressing room. It had been completely re-painted and refurbished since the break in, even down to replacing the thick white carpet and the sofa where Angel used to chill out and the desk from where she’d email her friends and family. Gone too was her pretty glass dressing table with the Venetian mirror where ‘Bitch’ had been scrawled, and in its place was an ultra-modern sleek white dressing table with a huge mirror with lights on the side, in the style of a theatre dressing room. But even with the changes, Angel always thought about the intruder when she went in there. She thought about them now as she went to click open the wardrobe, remembering how chilling it had been to see the ruined red dress laid out for her like some kind of sick message.

She hesitated as her hand touched the cool, polished wood of the door, almost tempted not to open it but to go back down in her silk pyjamas – well, they were Chanel, Gemma would be proud – but she forced herself to go ahead. The lights flicked on in the walk-in
wardrobe as she opened the door, revealing the white carpet thankfully bare. Angel picked out a long white maxi dress with the bodice embellished in silver beads.

‘This is such a lovely house, Angel,’ Simone said as she unexpectedly walked into the room, almost causing Angel to cry out in fright.

Simone registered her expression. ‘Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you. Matthew told me about the break-in . . . I should have realised that you’d be jumpy.’

No one apart from a very tight circle of friends and family was supposed to know about the break-in and Angel was furious with Ethan for telling Matthew. ‘It’s really not something I like to talk about, Simone,’ she replied, wishing the other woman would clear out of her room. She’d already had to redecorate once. At this rate she’d be doing it again to banish Simone’s bad karma.

‘Sorry, Angel. I don’t want us to get off on the wrong foot, especially since we’re going to be seeing so much more of each other.’

Don’t count on it, Angel thought grimly while Simone considered her own reflection in the mirror.

‘So how do you feel about Cal and Madeleine? I told you he wouldn’t be single for long.’ Simone turned round to look at her, obviously keen to gauge her reaction.

Angel tried to keep her face as expressionless as possible as she replied, ‘Cal’s free to do what he wants. I’m marrying Ethan.’ There she went again with her mantra.

Simone flicked back her hair. ‘Cal’s pretty serious about her apparently. But then, it’s not surprising – she is beautiful and really intelligent. She speaks four languages, started a charity for Rwandan orphans and is a UNICEF ambassador.’

‘Does she split the atom in her spare time? Who are
you . . . her fucking PR?’ Angel resorted to sarcasm to hide how shaken up she was by this revelation.

Simone shrugged. ‘I’m just someone who is over Cal.’ She looked at Angel with a knowing expression and didn’t need to add that she thought Angel wasn’t. Then she sashayed out of the room, leaving a waft of Agent Provocateur Maitresse in her wake, which Angel had always liked before but definitely wasn’t keen on any more.

Angel sat down at her dressing table and tried to pull herself together, telling herself it didn’t matter that Cal was with Madeleine. In fact, it was good because he was happy. ‘And I’m happy,’ she said out loud to her reflection. Then she grimaced, quickly brushed out her hair and peeled off the silver lashes, changed into the white dress and headed back downstairs. She intended to have several glasses of champagne to counteract Simone’s presence. With any luck, as she’d hardly eaten all day, they would go straight to her head.

By now everyone was sitting round the dining table outside on the decking and Maria was serving up her legendary seafood paella. ‘We couldn’t wait any longer!’ Ethan exclaimed when he saw Angel. ‘Matthew and me have been doing real men’s work. We need food!’

Any other time Angel would have bantered something back but now she felt slightly offended that Ethan was dismissing her work, even though rationally she knew he wasn’t. It was just having Simone there, sitting at
her
table, delicately nibbling the paella and behaving as if there was every reason in the world for her to be there when the truth was it was fucked up.

But somehow Angel pulled herself together, kissed Ethan on the neck as she sat down, and murmured, ‘And you’ll need your energy for later,’ a kind of signal to Simone that, while she would be shagging Shrek
later on, Angel would be having sexy Ethan. If Simone picked up the vibe she didn’t show it but in turn held up her hand to caress Matthew’s arm. A gesture which was no doubt calculated to show off the frankly enormous blingtastic heart-shaped diamond on her engagement finger. A diamond so enormous that Angel was amazed neither she nor Ethan had seen it before.

‘Wow!’ Ethan exclaimed. ‘Have you guys got something you want to tell us?’

‘Fast worker’ didn’t even begin to describe Simone.

Matthew looked rather awkward and turned to Simone. ‘Honey, I thought we agreed not tell anyone yet until we’d broken the news to our folks?’

She looked at him and bit her lip, looking adorably guilty. ‘I know, and I’m so sorry, Matthew, but I couldn’t bear to take my ring off! It seemed so wrong. It belongs there now, where you put it.’ She looked at Ethan and Angel. ‘And I know we can trust our friends not to say anything.’

Angel almost looked over her shoulder as if in search of Simone’s real friends. Instead she nodded while Ethan exclaimed, ‘Way to go! That is awesome news. But please tell me, Matthew, that you’re not getting hitched before I am?’

‘We could have a double wedding!’ Simone said, a comment which thankfully found favour with neither Ethan nor Matthew.

‘So . . . congratulations!’ Ethan was the perfect recipient of the news, insisting they raise their glasses immediately in a toast to the happy couple, wanting to hear all about the proposal. Apparently Matthew had taken Simone out for the most wonderful dinner at Ago, the Italian trattoria backed by Hollywood heavyweights such as Robert De Niro and Ridley Scott. Back home he’d led her upstairs where she saw that he’d filled the entire bedroom with flowers and scattered
white rose petals all over the bed. Then he got down on one knee to propose. Simone apparently didn’t know if he was serious at first, but then he’d snapped open the ring box and shown her the diamond and she knew it was for real! They just had to break the news to Matthew’s parents, who were quite a religious couple. Simone’s parents would be no trouble, they were bound to be thrilled, and then they would set the date for as soon as possible.

‘Well, that is incredible news,’ Angel finally commented once Simone had finished gushing. She wondered if Cal’s relationship with Madeleine had spurred on Simone to get her claws into Matthew. She remembered now how Simone had overheard Cal saying he would never get involved with her – which must have hurt.

‘I know what you’re thinking, it’s too soon, but we love each other.’ Simone said. Then threw open her arms and shouted up to the sky, ‘I love this man!’ As she did so, Angel caught sight of a new tattoo on her wrist: Matthew’s name surrounded by love hearts with a baseball bat and ball underneath it. Simone
definitely
didn’t hang about. Matthew and Ethan laughed at her over-the-top-gesture. Ethan then suggested another toast and Angel thought that maybe Simone was overdoing the declarations.