Page 46 of Never Too Late
She shook her head ruefully. ‘I really wanted to spend some quality time with you, but it seemsHello!magazine has decreed that it’s not to be.’
‘Well, at least we can sit next to each other tonight…’ He looked as disappointed as she felt, but he rallied. ‘Now, you’d better go. Solomon’s not the sort of guy who likes to be kept waiting.’
They both stood up and there was an awkward moment while she considered kissing him properly for one last time, but he made no move so she chickened out and just gave him a helpless wave. ‘I’m really sorry, Rob. See you later. Wish me luck.’
‘You don’t need it. You’ll do fine. Now hop it, or your new boss will tell you off.’
She left him standing there with his dog and hurried back along the path and down onto the beach. If she hadn’t been so preoccupied with her thoughts, she might have realised sooner who the two strangers on the beach with Zach and Vic were and what they intended to do. As she neared them she saw the man with the ponytail train an expensive-looking camera on her and she heard the whirr of repeat photos being taken. Too late she realised that she was still only wearing her bikini and by the time she had started to unroll her towel and wrap it around her body he had fired off multiple shots. The woman alongside the photographer gave her a big smile.
‘Hi, Stephanie, I’m Gayle and this is Mikey. We’re fromHello!magazine. It’s great to meet you.’
Steph shook them both by the hand and answered a volley of questions before waving weakly at her dishevelled state. ‘I’d better go up to my room and get changed. Can you give me a few minutes?’ Before they could object, she sprinted off up the path and locked herself in her room, muttering, ‘Bugger, bugger, bugger,’ under her breath.
Luckily she had managed to keep her hair pretty dry while in the sea, but she barely had time to run a brush through it when she came out of the shower before she heard knocking at the door. It was Sol’s son, Zach, urging her to get a move on. Still muttering an increasingly colourful string of expletives, she dressed as quickly as possible, deciding to wear the new blue and white striped dress she had bought in Lerici. She took a last despairing look in the mirror, threw the door open, and followed Zach down to the studio where the rest of the band had assembled.
‘Ah, good, here you are, Steph.’ Keith looked relieved. ‘Come in. These guys want to talk to us and to take a few photos.’
Steph took a seat on a stool between Johnny and Ben and then more photos followed, of them all together, as well as separately, and almost an hour of questions about the band, the new songs, what had made them consider getting back together and, of course, Steph. Keith fielded most of the general questions. He appeared to be loving the media attention after so many years in the wilderness, and Steph intercepted winks from Ben from time to time as he and Johnny hardly got a word in edgewise. But then the attention turned to her, and she had to endure a barrage of questions about everything from her family – especially her father – to her music studies to how she had met Keith and the others. In among these questions were a host of more trivial queries like her favourite food, her favourite colour, where she bought her clothes – underwear from Marks and Spencer raised a few eyebrows – and even the name of Snowball, the family cat. By the time the interview was over she was a wreck.
They all made their way up to the terrace as the light faded, and she willingly accepted a glass of champagne. Resisting the impulse to gulp it down in one, she took a small sip and looked across at Ethan who was being equally sparing, deep in conversation with Sol’s ‘boys’. She gave him a smile, but he was too engrossed to notice. A moment later she felt a hand on her shoulder.
‘Faye told us the news. We couldn’t be happier for you; about you joining the band, but the good news about your health is the most important thing.’ It was Lottie and alongside her was Tara. They both hugged Steph warmly, but then Lottie said something that raised Steph’s eyebrows.
‘Ben and I are so pleased to see you with Rob. He’s a lovely man and we think you’re made for each other.’
‘Made for each other?’ Steph had never felt so bewildered. ‘We’re just friends…’
‘Of course, dear, if you say so.’ Lottie gave Tara a knowing wink and both women erupted into fits of giggling as they headed off.
Steph’s embarrassment only increased as another hand touched her arm. ‘“Made for each other”, eh?’ It was Rob.
Steph jumped as if she had been stung and turned towards him. He had changed into a beautiful faded pink linen shirt, and he looked even more desirable than normal. Feeling her cheeks turn a distinctly brighter shade of pink than his shirt, she was quick to try to explain.
‘You don’t want to listen to them. They’re just having fun. I promise I wasn’t talking about you. Really…’
He reached out and took hold of one of her hands in his. ‘How disappointing.’
‘Okay everybody, our transport’s arrived. Time to go.’ Keith came striding across the terrace and caught hold of Steph by the arm. ‘Steph, we’re riding in the limo with Sol and Zach. All right?’
‘Yes, of course.’ This time Steph upended her glass of champagne and drained the lot before giving Rob a despairing look and allowing herself to be led away.
Chapter 21
The restaurant was just on the other side of Lerici, on the ground floor of a beautiful villa set in its own parkland overlooking the gulf. As the limo delivered them to the door, Steph surveyed the line-up of luxury cars parked outside. The total value of the cars on display was likely to be in the millions. She had another premonition – this time unrelated to her health – that this was likely to be her life from now on and she wasn’t sure how much she was going to like it. Suddenly her simple cotton dress and M&S knickers began to feel distinctly out of place, as did she. She caught hold of Johnny’s arm and shot him a pleading look.
‘This is way out of my comfort zone. Promise me you’ll keep an eye on me in case I do something stupid. I feel like a fish out of water.’
He grinned at her and gave her a reassuring pat on the hand. ‘Tell me about it! I used to feel the exact same way. If it helps, I haven’t been to a place like this for years. Of course we’ll look after you, but I know you’ll do just fine. Besides, I get the impression Keith’s happy to do the talking for all of us.’ His grin broadened and he gave her a wink just like his wife had done. ‘And his son should be able to keep an eye on you.’
Immaculate waiters in pristine white jackets trimmed with gold braid led them through a marble-tiled hallway and into a huge dining room. The ceiling was covered by a vast mural of nymphs and shepherds and Steph’s first impression was of walking into one of the historic palazzi her father had shown her in Venice. At the thought of her father, she wondered what he would have made of her sudden change in lifestyle. She knew he would have been happy at her success, but she also knew, deep down, that he had always wanted her to make it big in the world of classical, rather than modern, music. As she looked around at all the glitz and glitter, she had a feeling he was probably right. But she had made her bed, and now she had to lie in it. They were guided to a large table with twelve chairs close by French windows that opened onto the garden and the view. A light breeze came wafting through and Steph was grateful for it as she struggled to calm her nerves. A tap on her arm helped a lot. She turned to see Rob standing at her side and she immediately grabbed his hand.
‘Am I glad to see you! Please promise me you’ll stay by my side. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.’
‘I’ll stick by you like glue, that’s a promise.’ He gave her hand a squeeze and looked around the room. ‘A senator, a couple of B-movie actors, a selection of the good, the bad, and the ugly, and a couple of high-class call girls. Pretty average for a place like this.’ He grinned at her. ‘But now, of course, they’ve got Royalty. Prepare for a lot of bowing and scraping.’
Seconds later the proprietor himself arrived, accompanied by the maître d’ and a pair of waiters carrying trays of champagne. In excellent English the owner welcomed them and indicated that the champagne was with the compliments of the house, although Steph had a feeling he would recoup the cost of the wine many times over when Sol’s people paid the bill at the end. Places like this were the ones that appeared on TripAdvisor with multiple pound signs alongside them – definitely not budget eating but, of course, it sounded as though her days of budget eating were over.
They started with a selection of antipasti that varied from the excessive to the indescribable. Along with langoustines, oysters, lobster tails and mussels in cream sauce, there was squid cooked in its own ink with liquorice and a lurid green concoction not dissimilar in appearance to mushy peas that looked as if it contained little worms or grubs. Steph missed the name of this alleged delicacy and only accepted a tiny portion from the waitress, which she then assiduously buried beneath empty mussel and crustacean shells. On her last night with Rob the last thing she wanted was to start throwing up at the dinner table.
