Page 51 of Never Too Late
‘Better than I thought…’
He didn’t give her a chance to elaborate as his eyes were still on his watch, his fingers drumming restlessly on his knee. ‘Ben and Johnny were never good at timekeeping. I’m giving them another two minutes and then I’m going in to haul them out.’ He sounded genuinely irked.
Fortunately, a minute later the other two arrived. A uniformed porter closed the door silently and Zach pressed a few dollar bills into his hand before taking a seat up front alongside the driver. The glass screen separating them slid quietly down and Zach swivelled round and explained the plan for the day.
‘Business meeting this morning for everybody, party in the evening. Meet in the lobby at seven thirty. Steph, you have an appointment with Bexley at two. Okay?’
‘Who’s Bexley?’ Steph wasn’t sure what this might herald.
Zach’s answer was puzzling. ‘She’s your style guru.’
‘Style guru? What’s that?’ Although she had a horrible feeling she knew, and it soon turned out that she was right.
‘She’ll take you shopping. You need to look your best tonight for the party, and you need a choice of outfits to take with us on the road.’ In response to the expression on her face he caught her eye and explained. ‘Like it or not, you’re a young woman, and young women in our world are expected to look good.’
‘Oh, God…’ She could have said a whole lot more, and worse, but she bit her tongue, limiting herself to, ‘I have no intention of being turned into some sort of bimbo, Zach.’
‘No, not at all. You’re great as you are. Just a bit of bling for the cameras.’
The ‘bit of bling for the cameras’ turned out to be a major undertaking. Bexley was a very smart woman who was probably in her early forties but could easily have passed for Steph’s age. She greeted Steph warmly and led her out to a waiting car. The first stop was a salon where Steph’s long hair was washed, trimmed and curled up on her head in a striking style that she had to admit did look pretty good. Bexley suggested Steph should consider a more radical ‘new look’, which would involve shaving most of the right side of her head, but Steph dug her heels in and refused the offer. She also said no to false eyelashes the size of scary spiders, false nails the length of eagle talons and resolutely shook her head at the idea of lip filler. Disappointed but undeterred, Bexley then bundled her back into the car and took her to a series of hideously expensive boutiques where they very quickly clocked up thousands of dollars’ worth of clothes that Bexley paid for with a gold card. Among these purchases was the dress for tonight’s party.
As Steph changed in and out of different outfits, ending up with tonight’s blue silk gown, Bexley explained what awaited the band at this evening’s party. ‘The company’s rented the Crystal Ballroom at your hotel and we’re expecting around two hundred guests.’ She gave Steph a little smile. ‘I guarantee you’ll recognise at least half of them, even if you’ve never met them in your life. When Sol throws a party like this, all the stars come out of the woodwork.’ She cast a long, critical glance at Steph’s gown. ‘I would have preferred a bit more skin on show, but this one does look good on you all the same.’
Steph shook her head as she studied herself in the mirror. ‘I’m not a skin-on-show sort of girl, Bexley. As for this dress, although it doesn’t have a plunging neckline, it’s so lightweight and sheer, I feel half naked.’
Bexley nodded sagely. ‘That’s a thought. We need to get you some new underwear. Slip the dress off and give it to the salesperson. She’ll pack it up for you while we head for the lingerie department.’
When Bexley dropped Steph off at the hotel just before six, it needed a porter with a trolley to cart all the bags up to her suite. She realised as she started unpacking everything that she was going to have to buy another suitcase, probably two, just to hold all the new stuff. She took a long, relaxing bath – taking care not to get her hair wet – and then slipped into her new underwear and the gown. When she checked herself in the mirror she had to admit that Bexley had got it dead right. The blue of the silk was almost exactly the same shade as the blue of her eyes. Finally, she fixed on the new earrings and stepped into the new heels that made her about three inches taller. She checked her watch and saw that it was almost time to meet the others in the lobby, so she drained a glass of ice water and headed out to face the music – literally.
The moment she stepped out of the lift in the lobby all hell broke loose as flashlights nearly blinded her. There was a scrum of reporters and photographers waiting for her, but standing in front of them, fortunately, were Zach and Vic who positioned themselves on either side of her and steered her through the crowd to the ballroom. A wave of the hand from Zach to the trio of hefty bouncers allowed her through with her guardians, but left the media scrum outside, still desperately trying to attract her attention. In here the first person she saw was Keith, looking unusually smart in a tuxedo. Beside him was Faye, looking gorgeous in grey silk. Her eyes lit up as she saw Steph.
‘Wow, Steph, you certainly scrub up well. You look amazing.’
‘Not as amazing as you do. I love that dress. As for me, I feel like I’m on display.’
‘That’s exactly what you are.’ Keith gave her a broad smile. ‘Our newest and most attractive band member. I’m afraid everybody’s going to be looking at you.’
‘Oh God…’
‘You’ll get used to it.’ He took her arm. ‘Now come and let me introduce you to some people. Have you met Paul McCartney?’
The next hour was a dizzying series of encounters with household names from the music business, the cinema and even the world of American politics. At last she managed to extract herself from a group including one former president, a baseball legend whose name meant nothing to her, and a Goth girl who was currently number one in the charts. She was hiding in a corner behind a huge flower arrangement, sipping ice water, and wishing she was somewhere else, anywhere else, when she heard a familiar voice.
‘Ah, that’s where you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you.’
Such was her amazement, she almost spilt her water all over her new gown. ‘Rob! What on earth are you doing here?’
‘I had to see you and, boy, do you look good!’
She set down her glass on a nearby table and took a close look at him as her emotions bubbled to the surface. He looked very smart and most appealing in his tuxedo, and she didn’t hesitate to reach out to catch hold of him and pull him close enough so she could kiss him on the lips. Wearing her new heels, she hardly needed to stretch up to do so. She felt his arms wrap themselves around her as he kissed her in return. It was just as well he was holding her tightly as she might have collapsed on the floor. The kiss simply took her breath away and it was with real regret that she finally took a tentative step back, still holding his hands in both of hers.
‘Wow!’ She smiled at him and blinked a few times. ‘Wow… that was worth the wait.’
He was smiling as well. ‘You can say that again. You want to know something? I’ve wanted to do that since the very first moment I laid eyes on you on the beach that time.’
‘That time you barely uttered a couple of syllables or the next time when I only got three words out of you? I was convinced you didn’t like me.’
‘The very opposite. It was as if a hammer had hit me on the back of the head when I saw you, and I suddenly realised what I’d been missing all these years. I’m sorry I was so uncommunicative at first, but I was terrified I’d scare you off.’
