Paradise (12 page)

Angel knew that Alisha was right, but it didn’t necessarily make her feel any better. She hated there to be conflict in her life – she’d had enough of that during the last few months before she left Cal. She just wanted things to be happy and light, wanted it to be back to how it was when she first met Ethan.

‘He’s not going to lose me,’ she replied. ‘Even though he really pisses me off with his jealousy.’ She looked around the intimate bar, the lights casting a soft, flattering glow on all the hip, beautiful people sipping their cocktails, and suddenly had a pang of longing for Ethan. Bar Marmont was where they had first met and it had always been their special place after that. It seemed wrong to be sitting here and not to have made up with him.

‘So how do you feel about Ethan? Whenever I see you guys together, you always seem so perfect for each other.’

God, lately Angel seemed to be surrounded by people telling her what they thought she should do!

‘I do love him,
really
love him, but as for the whole marriage thing, Alisha . . . I just don’t know if I ever want to get married again.’

‘So what about Cal? Is Ethan wrong to be worried
about him?’ Alisha paused. ‘Are you still in love with him?’

Damn, that wasn’t a question Angel wanted to answer! Alisha was being a bit
too
emotionally intelligent for Angel’s liking. ‘I guess I’ll always have feelings for him but it’s over, and Ethan just has to accept that. So,’ she paused, wanting to change the subject, ‘how do I get him to cheer the fuck up?’

Alisha gave her trademark dirty laugh which attracted stares from the other drinkers, no doubt stunned that such an elegant woman could produce such a sound. ‘Girlfriend, you’ve just got to fuck his brains out! Works every time with Logan. Hell, sometimes the sex is even better when you’re angry with them. And then it’s over, the air is cleared, your man’s happy, and hopefully you’ll have a smile on your face too. Men are simple.’

Several cocktails later Angel was feeling more mellow herself; maybe it was time to clear the air; she could head back home and act on Alisha’s advice. She didn’t want further conflict between her and Ethan. She made her way to the bathroom, determined that when she got back to her table she’d suggest to Alisha that they should get a cab home. She quickly got out her phone and texted Ethan, asking if he was at home. She was just reapplying her berry lip gloss when he replied,
Sorry
,
babe
,
am
out
and
sorry
about
everything
,
love
you
x
. The ‘sorry’ was sweet but Angel was disappointed that he wasn’t home; she had planned to take him straight to bed. Ah, well, she thought, flicking back her hair and heading back to the bar, the make-up sex would just have to wait. But when she got back to the table, to her great surprise Ethan and Logan were there, laughing and talking with Alisha.

‘Hey,’ she said, kissing Logan in greeting and then sitting down next to Ethan.

He smiled but looked unsure of how she was going to react. ‘You don’t mind us crashing your night, do you? I really wanted to say sorry, and I wanted to do it in person.’

‘He made me come with him in case you gave him a hard time. He’s such a baby,’ Logan put in, smiling broadly. He was a strikingly handsome African American, well over six foot, with the cheekiest smile.

Alisha swiped a punch at her husband’s arm. ‘Just let the man say his piece.’

Ethan looked at Angel. ‘Well, that was basically it. I’m sorry, I was completely in the wrong. Can we just forget about it?’ He ran a hand through his blond hair, looking awkward. ‘God, I can’t believe I’m doing this in front of an audience!’

Angel took pity on him. There weren’t many men she could imagine who would be prepared to apologise in front of their friends. She reached out for his hand. ‘I’m sorry as well. And, yes, let’s forget it.’

At this Logan clapped his hands together. ‘Does that mean we can eat now? I didn’t like to say anything with all that emotional stuff going down but, man, I am hungry.’ That comment earned him another swipe from Alisha but Ethan and Angel just laughed, and Angel added, ‘Let’s eat.’

While Logan helped Alisha on with her jacket, Ethan put his arms round Angel and lightly kissed her neck, murmuring, ‘I’ve missed you. Don’t let’s fight any more.’

It ended up being one of the best nights out Angel had had in LA. The four of them had dinner at the Chateau and Angel felt as if she had some real friends in Alisha and Logan. As for Ethan, well, she really admired him for being the first to say sorry. She had a stubborn streak herself which meant she was usually the last person to admit that she was in the wrong, and
Cal had been stubborn too, which had made for some fierce rows where neither of them would back down.

Ethan wasn’t like that, and she liked the change. When they went back home, the make-up sex was just as good as she’d known it would be . . .

FILMING FOR THE
reality show dominated Angel’s and Ethan’s lives for the next month. Mimi came up with the concept of teaching Angel all about American life – for a part of the show she hilariously called
My
Fair
American
. So they set it up for Angel to learn how to play baseball (though it was still rounders to her); take cheerleading lessons – which just seemed to Angel an excuse for Benny to perve after her in her outfit of a short white pleated skirt and tight vest; be a waitress in a fifties-style diner and do the whole what-can-I-get-you-and-have-a-nice-day shit.

Practically every night the couple were filmed going out to some event or other – film premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, a celebrity launching their fashion line or perfume, an opening of the latest new hip bar or club. It was getting exhausting. Angel had to guard the time she had with her daughter – Mimi was constantly wanting to film her with the toddler. Cal had expressly said that they could only film a few inserts, but that didn’t stop Mimi from trying.

To make life even more full on, Susie had just moved over to LA for six months, saying that she wanted to be near her famous client, and so Angel had to deal with her instructions to get out there and be seen. Weirdly, Benny and Susie hit it off. Angel had been convinced
that Susie would be terrified that he would try and poach her. Instead she had simpered and flirted with him as he flirted back, and Ethan was pretty certain that they had become lovers – Angel
so
did not want to know about that! And, on top of all this, Cal was flying over to spend the next week with Honey, something that was obsessing Ethan, in spite of his promise not to fight with Angel about it any more.

‘So will you take Honey to his hotel?’ Ethan asked as they hung out in the games room watching
Goodfellas
, one of his favourite movies, on a huge plasma-screen TV. The games room was his special den, large enough to accommodate a full-size pool table, several arcade games, including a motorbike racing game with a real motorbike that looked like a small toy in the vastness of the room, and an entire wall given over to a huge photograph of the Dodgers in action. You almost felt as if you were in the game yourself.

‘Well, I suppose I’ll drop her off and collect her, but that will be all. Cal and I don’t exactly have a lot to say to each other,’ Angel replied, her heart sinking that they were talking about this
again
.

‘Couldn’t Lucy take her over and pick up? Isn’t that her job as a nanny?’ There he went again, making difficulties where there weren’t any. Ethan picked away at the hard skin round his thumb, a sure sign that he was feeling stressed. Angel sighed, reached for the remote and paused the film.

‘If I’m going to be away from Honey for a few days, then I’d rather I was the one who dropped her off. I thought we weren’t going to do this thing again?’ And even though she felt Ethan was putting unfair pressure on her, she snuggled up closer to him and kissed him. ‘Come on. There are advantages to Cal having Honey for a few days . . . like we’ve got the whole house to ourselves.’

Ethan put his arm round her. ‘Yeah.’ But he didn’t sound convinced.

‘So you don’t want a lot of stuff like this going on?’ Angel slid to her knees and unbuttoned his jeans, flashing him her best sultry, temptress look.

‘I guess I can live with it,’ he replied, anticipating what was coming next.

Until he found a house to rent, Cal was staying in a suite at the luxurious Shutters on the Beach hotel on Santa Monica beach. Angel and Honey pulled up outside the hotel, with its pretty white wooden balconies and yellow-and-white-striped awnings, in her midnight blue BMW. Instantly they received the five-star treatment, with a valet opening the driver’s door and helping her get Honey and her bags out of the car. This would be the first time Angel had seen Cal in nearly a month. Would there be any thawing in his attitude? she wondered, or would he still be Ice Man?

She held Honey’s hand and the two of them walked into the elegant lobby, which had a stylish but intimate feel, with old-fashioned lamps giving off a warm glow, and comfortable arm chairs and sofas arranged for private conversations. She was just about to ask the receptionist to phone up to Cal’s room but he was waiting in the lobby for them, sitting in one of the arm chairs having coffee. Angel was determined to be cool but her body had other ideas. Her heart treacherously raced that little bit faster. Why, oh why, did he still have that effect on her!

As soon as he saw them he leapt up and came rushing over, obviously thrilled to see Honey as he swept her up in his arms and kissed her.

‘Hi,’ Angel said when Cal finally looked at her, and suddenly felt self-conscious.

‘Hi,’ he replied. He was wearing a plain white
tee-shirt and jeans, and looked gorgeous – so much for her resolve not to notice such things.

‘Well, I’d better go then,’ Angel said, kissing her daughter where she was still snuggled in Cal’s arms. ‘I’ll call you later to speak to Honey.’

But the child didn’t want her mummy to leave and burst into noisy tears, stretching out her arms, appealing to Angel.

‘Look, why don’t you stay with us for a while?’ Cal said quickly. ‘Honey needs to get used to me again. If that’s okay with you?’

Angel was due back at the house to do some filming for the show, but reckoned they could wait just this once. She texted Mimi to say she couldn’t start for a couple of hours then turned her phone off, knowing that otherwise Mimi or Benny or both would bombard her with calls.

‘So how about we go swimming?’ Cal asked his daughter, who instantly cheered up then said, ‘Mummy swim too?’

Angel didn’t have her bikini with her. ‘No, Honey, but I’ll watch.’ That wasn’t good enough for Honey who looked as if she was threatening an epic tantrum. ‘It’s the terrible twos, I think,’ Angel told Cal.

‘Why don’t you buy a bikini from the boutique and charge it to my room?’

‘I can buy it myself, I don’t need to charge it,’ Angel replied. She never liked feeling beholden to anyone.

Cal rolled his eyes. ‘Still like this about money? It’s only a bikini! Go on, charge it. Break the habit of a lifetime.’

While Cal took Honey up to his suite to get her ready for swimming, Angel bought herself a white bikini with gold ties in what was probably the quickest purchase ever. She didn’t charge it to Cal’s room and didn’t care if he thought she was being predictable, it just didn’t
seem like the right thing to do. Honey was already in her Hello Kitty costume with matching armbands and bouncing energetically on the double bed when Angel walked in. Cal had changed into a pair of black Calvin Klein trunks. Angel nearly did a double take, he looked so sexy. Although he wasn’t playing football any more, she couldn’t help registering that his body was as fit as ever, in both senses of the word.

‘The bathroom’s through there if you want to get changed,’ Cal said casually, putting his clothes back on over his trunks. Angel hurriedly went in and changed into the bikini, fumbling to do up the gold ties, feeling she could hardly ask Cal to assist her. What the hell had happened to being cool? Yet again, she was behaving like an inexperienced teenager around him and it was ridiculous! She took a critical look at herself in the mirror and instantly all kinds of inappropriate thoughts began colliding in her mind. Was the bikini sexy? Would Cal still find her attractive? And why the fuck was she thinking such things! She quickly slipped her skirt and tee-shirt back on.

Outside the pool was empty and there were just a couple of other guests relaxing on the loungers on the deck, looking out over the beach and ocean. Honey instantly demanded that both her parents get in the water with her so Angel stripped down to her bikini and lowered herself into the warm water. In spite of her best intentions, her gaze kept being drawn to Cal – in particular to the pair of angel wings he had tattooed on his right shoulder. He’d had the tattoo just after news of his affair had come out, as if he wanted to prove to Angel that in spite of what he’d done he belonged to her. A sudden image of lying in bed with him, tracing her fingers over the tattoo, flashed into her mind. Cal had always been the most sensuous, erotic lover. Just
because she had left him, didn’t mean she didn’t still remember that.

At one point her eyes locked with his. ‘It’s good spending time together, isn’t it?’ he said. And he was right. But it was also bittersweet. Cal had always been a very hands on dad, and they’d had great family times. Angel missed that in her life with Ethan – he was good with Honey, but he was never going to fill the gap left by Cal. Fortunately Honey then demanded her parents chase her round the pool, stopping Angel from brooding on the past.

After a good thirty minutes Honey finally agreed to come out of the water. Angel was about to say her goodbyes, she was late for filming as it was but Cal asked if she wanted to stay for lunch. Angel hesitated. She really should get back, but she was having such a good time with Cal and Honey. Cal seemed more relaxed around her than he’d been for a while, he wasn’t doing his distant thing, and frankly Angel just wanted to enjoy that and not have to put on an act for the cameras.