Paradise (5 page)

Angel resisted flicking him the finger and went upstairs to her dressing room with her friends. Jez had offered to do her hair and Gemma her make-up. Angel now felt even worse. Her friends were supposed to be on holiday but were having to work. She sat in front of her dressing-table mirror as Jez arranged her hair into a chic updo for the first sequence of shots.

‘I’m so sorry that we didn’t get to go out much – next time you come we’ll do some really good things, I promise.’ It was about her tenth apology.

‘Angel – you don’t have to apologise – we’ve had a great time. We wanted to see you and it doesn’t matter
about going to exclusive clubs,’ Gemma replied, kicking Jez when it looked like he wasn’t going to back her up. ‘And in a few weeks it’ll be Christmas. We can go clubbing in Brighton.’

‘Oceania’s not exactly the same as Skybar, is it?’ Angel said ruefully, naming a club on Brighton seafront, next to the Odeon, which could hardly compare to the über-glamorous Skybar at the top of the five-star Mondrian Hotel, with its breathtaking views of LA.

‘True, but would we be able to go for a kebab afterwards here? Got to have a kebab after clubbing,’ Gemma put in diplomatically, while Jez pulled an expression of exaggerated disgust. In the past, after they’d gone out clubbing, he had always waited in the car while the girls grabbed their fast-food fix – and then afterwards made a big deal about spraying the car with his Hugo Boss aftershave.

At that there was a hammering on the door. ‘Can you guys hurry up in there. The photographer’s here and we need to get started.’ It was Benny. God, he was unbearable!

‘We’ll just be fifteen more minutes,’ Angel shouted back, even though Jez was almost finished. Let Benny wait. She would take her time.

Ethan was by the pool when Angel finally made her appearance. He was wearing a black tuxedo, the black tie unfastened. He looked stunning, something Angel registered in spite of being angry with him. ‘You look beautiful,’ he told her, kissing her lightly to avoid smudging her lipstick. Angel was in her red Valentino evening dress, which clung to every curve of her body. She’d gone for old school glamour with her hair in an elegant French pleat, red lipstick, and black eyeliner sweeping across her eyelids.

‘The scarlet woman . . . I like it!’ Benny cut across
them, ruining the moment. ‘So, Ethan, stand behind Angel with your arm round her waist. Angel, look back at Ethan. I want to see the love in your eyes.’

Angel just hated being directed like this, but she wanted to get the shoot over and done with as quickly as possible so she zipped it. But she had to giggle when she noticed Gemma and Jez pretending to be sick at Benny’s cheesy over-the-top direction.

‘I wanna see that love!’ Benny shouted out.

‘Sorry,’ Ethan murmured in Angel’s ear. ‘It’ll be over soon, I promise, and we can go back to how we were.’

Angel wasn’t so sure.

‘Show me the love!’ Benny shrieked.

‘I’ll show him something in a minute,’ she muttered. ‘But it won’t be love.’

But Angel was nothing if not a pro and so she plastered a smile on her face and got through the shoot. That night Ethan took her and her friends out to Spago, one of Angel’s favourite restaurants in Beverly Hills, which she knew Jez had been dying to go to. Thankfully minus Benny.

‘I know what you must think of me,’ he said to Jez and Gemma, after they had ordered and the waiter was safely out earshot. ‘But I love this girl and I would never do anything to hurt her, believe me.’ It was said in all sincerity and didn’t sound in any way corny or fake, but Angel knew that Gemma would find it hard to believe. The whole Ella Richards affair would just confirm her suspicions that he was a player.

‘So when were you going to tell Angel about your daughter?’ Gemma asked, giving Ethan a sweet smile to compensate for the direct question.

‘I was about to when the press broke the story,’ he replied, trying to stay cool though Angel could see that he was rattled. He wasn’t used to being put on the spot. He had clearly thought that his declaration of love
would smooth things over between Angel’s friends and himself.

Gemma looked at him with her deep blue, almost violet eyes. ‘Yeah, Angel’s had a lot of that in her life. I really hope, for her sake, there won’t be any more surprises, it’s been hard on her.’ Gemma was not a woman to be won over by an expensive restaurant and emotional speeches.

‘There won’t be, I promise, only nice ones,’ Ethan replied. He turned to Angel. ‘She’s a tough one, but I like the way she sticks up for you. Can I take it the interrogation’s over now and we can order champagne?’

He gave Gemma his best you-can-trust-me smile and she seemed to decide to play nice and stop the questions. The rest of the meal passed happily enough, but Angel was still aware of Gemma weighing up everything Ethan said. And later, back at the house, while Ethan and Jez played on Ethan’s Xbox, the two women chatted in Gemma’s room.

‘You will be careful, won’t you, and not rush into anything with Ethan?’ Gemma asked, sitting cross-legged on her bed in a pair of pearl-grey silk pyjamas. Gemma had to be stylish even when she slept.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Don’t marry him yet, or have another baby,’ Gemma said bluntly. ‘I just think you need more time to get over Cal.’ She was definitely in the speaking-her-mind zone. Angel was used to it and wasn’t offended.

‘I don’t think I ever want to get married again,’ she replied. She knew she wanted another baby, very much in fact, but Ethan’s bombshell revelation about Megan had made her cautious about admitting this, especially to Gemma. ‘And I suppose I would like another baby, but not for a while. And I don’t know why you’re dragging Cal into it . . . I am over him.’ But even as she said it, she wondered if she ever would be.

Later, in bed, Angel and Ethan lay talking. ‘I hope this stuff with Ella didn’t ruin your friends’ visit?’ he said.

She turned towards him and saw how anxious he looked. She didn’t have the heart to admit that it had cast a shadow over their stay . . . how could it not have? ‘It was great to see them, and thanks for inviting them over.’ She put her hand on his broad chest as if to reassure him. ‘But if they come again, no more surprises.’

Ethan gave a wry smile. ‘That’s if they
want
to come again. I like them both very much, by the way, even though I’m not exactly sure Gemma returns the compliment.’ He frowned. ‘Promise me you won’t let what’s happened come between us? It really does belong to my past. And there are no more surprises.’ He put his arm round her. ‘I love you so much, Angel. No other woman has made me feel the way you do.’

‘I love you too, Ethan.’

But in her head Angel thought, let’s just see how it goes. She knew that the shock revelation about his daughter had made her take a step back from him.

ANGEL AND HONEY
flew back to the UK the day before Christmas Eve. The original plan had been that Ethan would come as well, but his grandmother, Loretta, was recovering from breast cancer and Ethan had decided to spend the holidays with her. While Angel was sorry about Loretta, with whom she got on extremely well, she was relieved to be spared the ordeal of Ethan meeting Cal, which would otherwise have happened on Christmas Day. She wasn’t quite ready to play happy exes/families with the two men; wasn’t sure if she would ever be ready for that particular scenario.

Over the last few weeks things hadn’t been that great between Angel and Ethan. He was paranoid about her seeing Cal without him being around, convinced that her husband would try to win her back – an obsession which ground Angel down. However many times she tried to reassure him that it was over between her and Cal, she sensed that Ethan wasn’t entirely convinced. And on top of dealing with that, she also had her own concerns about spending time with Cal. She knew she wasn’t immune to him. She had spent much of the flight back worrying about what it was going to be like seeing him again. And Honey’s frequent and excited ‘See Daddy?’ questions only added to the tension. It had been nearly a month since Angel had last seen Cal,
and then he had barely said a word to her as he’d picked up Honey from the house and dropped her off again, seeming to want to get away from Angel as quickly as possible.

As soon as she and Honey walked through Arrivals they were surrounded by paps, clicking away frenziedly. Bloody hell! It was nearly Christmas, didn’t they ever let up? Angel instantly picked up her daughter to shield her from the cameras and tried to push her luggage trolley with one hand, no easy feat, especially as the paps had no intention of getting out of her way. She was on the point of losing it with them when a huge mountain of a man pushed his way through. It was Ray, a security guy she had employed in the past.

‘Come on, Angel, let’s get you out of here. Your mum and dad are waiting in the car.’ He took over the trolley, forcing the paps to move out of the way.

‘Thanks, Ray,’ Angel said gratefully. ‘Did Dad call you?’

‘No, it was Cal. He thought it would be a good idea.’

Just the mention of his name caused an unexpected rush of butterflies inside Angel. She was about to ask if Cal was in the car when a ripple of excitement went through the paps. They’d seen Cal approaching.

‘I thought I told him to stay in the car!’ Ray said in disbelief. ‘They’re going to go mental now.’

‘Daddy!’ Honey shouted, catching sight of Cal, and stretching out her arms. And there he was, scooping Honey away from Angel and hugging his daughter. Angel would usually keep her expression as neutral as possible when the paps were around, but she was smiling with delight at seeing her daughter and Cal reunited. They both looked so happy. And she couldn’t help being struck by how very handsome Cal looked. Oh, God! Maybe Ethan was right to be wound up about her seeing her husband again.

Cal was so taken up with Honey that for a moment he seemed oblivious to the cameras and to Angel. But then he looked over at her. ‘I couldn’t wait in the car . . . I had to see her.’ His brown eyes were full of warmth and happiness at seeing his daughter.

Angel felt a sudden pang of longing for the time when Cal had been as happy upon seeing her as well. If she was like this after a few minutes in his company, what would she be like at the end of two weeks? This visit was getting off to a very bad start.

But if Cal had any internal conflict over seeing Angel again, he kept it well hidden on the journey back to Brighton. All his attention was taken up with Honey; he barely said a word to Angel. They both sat at the back of Frank’s Peugeot Estate, with Honey strapped in her car seat between them, while Frank and her mum, Michelle, updated Angel on what was happening with various friends and relatives and on the state of Frank’s beloved youth team.

Every now and then Angel found herself sneaking a glance at Cal. He was as gorgeous as ever but looked tired, with dark circles etched under his eyes. He didn’t seem to return her interest. He never once looked directly at her. She might just as well not have been there at all. She shouldn’t have cared what he thought of her, but she did. Very much. Angel had been feeling exhausted, but seeing Cal again was like a shot of adrenaline. She felt totally wired.

Back at her parents’ small terraced house, Cal seemed in no hurry to leave. Though Honey was tired out from the long flight, she too was energised by her father’s presence, climbing all over him, insisting that he read her favourite Peppa Pig story.

‘He’s missed Honey so much,’ Michelle told Angel when she went into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. ‘That’s why he looks so exhausted. He’s been driving
himself into the ground so as not to have any free time.’ Michelle paused from loading the dishwasher, and pushed her ash-blonde hair behind her ear as she looked over at her daughter. Angel had a feeling she wouldn’t like what was coming next.

‘He’s missed you as well, Angel. He would never say it, but I know he has. Do you think you’ll be staying in LA much longer? We’d all love you to come home.’

Angel noticed that her mum had so far avoided talking about Ethan – both she and Frank had been shocked by the recent revelation, Frank especially. He’d had a few choice things to say about Ethan not seeing the little girl. Even before that they were convinced that Angel was rushing into things by moving in with him.

Trust her mum to make her feel bad! Happy Christmas guilt trip! ‘LA’s my home now, Mum. I’m with Ethan. And it’s all very well for you to say that Cal misses me, but he’s only got himself to blame for that. I wasn’t the one who cheated, if you remember?’ She was so agitated she spilt tea all over the kitchen table.

At that moment Cal walked into the room. He must have heard Angel’s comment, but he didn’t let on. ‘I was just going to warm some milk up for Honey,’ he said calmly. ‘She seems to be getting tired, Angel, so maybe I should give her a bath?’

‘Sure,’ Angel said, as she wiped up the tea, ‘I’ll get her things ready for you.’ Two could play the polite game. Somehow she would rather Cal was angry with her than act the polite stranger. It made her want to shake him up, ask him how he really felt about her. As well as being the most devastatingly handsome man and passionate lover, he was also the most infuriating person she had ever known. No one could wind her up like Cal.

She grabbed her mug of tea and stomped upstairs to her old room, where her mum had set up a camp bed for Honey next to Angel’s bed. In place of the posters of pop stars Angel used to have on her wall, her mum had put up an array of family photographs – Angel and Cal’s wedding day, Angel pregnant with Honey, Cal with his arm round her. It was like a shrine to her old life with not a single picture of her and Ethan, even though she had sent her mum plenty of them. Angel wasn’t at all happy to be sharing a room with so many images from her past.

She was just looking at a photograph of her and Cal fooling around in the sea on Playa d’en Bossa beach in Ibiza, before their daughter was born, when he walked into the bedroom carrying Honey. The room suddenly seemed tiny and Angel felt flustered. She redirected her gaze and busied herself getting Honey’s PJs out of the huge suitcase, which was crammed with clothes and bags of presents.