Baby Be Mine (26 page)

He got these in for our little boy’s benefit? That’s, well, kind of sweet. Didn’t think I’d ever use that word to describe the man.

‘Here, Barney,’ Lena says, getting up and going to a cream-coloured, oversized, golf-ball-type thing. She lifts off the lid and I see that it’s full to the brim of brand-new toys. My mouth drops open as Lena pulls out Buzz Lightyear.

‘To infinity and beyond!’ Buzz shouts. Barney climbs down from the sofa and makes his way towards her with as much enthusiasm as a five-year-old on Christmas morning.

I turn to Johnny. ‘Been shopping?’

He chuckles. ‘Lena.’

She glances my way with a grin.

‘Thank you,’ I say sincerely.

‘It was fun!’ she replies, then her face falls. ‘Hey, I’m sorry we didn’t get the pool done in time.’

‘The pool?’ I look at her with confusion.

‘I mean, the pool gate.’

‘Oh!’

‘We’re getting the best guys in the business to do it, but they’re working on a Tom and Katie installation at the moment. They’ll start with us tomorrow, so we’ll just have to keep the doors locked until then.’

‘Of course! Don’t worry,’ I tell her, feeling bad that the beautiful infinity pool is going to be marred by a ghastly vision of iron bars.

Johnny pulls his phone out of his pocket. It’s vibrating.

‘Hey,’ he says into the receiver, getting to his feet and going to the outside door. He slides it shut behind him. I see him reach back into his pocket for his fags. He lights up while talking to the person on the other end of the line. I have a feeling it’s Dana.

‘Well,’ Lena says, interrupting my thoughts. ‘You don’t need a tour of the house, but do you want to see Barney’s room?’

‘Ooh, yes!’ I gush, jumping up. I try to ease Barney away from Buzz Lightyear, but he’s having none of it, so we bring the Space Ranger with us. I follow Lena up the stairs, giving Johnny a reluctant glance over my shoulder as I go.

  Chapter 28  

‘Now, you’re still in the white room,’ Lena says, turning right at the top of the stairs.

‘Brilliant!’ I reply.

She smiles at my delight and takes me on a detour to my room first. Aah, my lovely room . . . The windows look out at the autumnal trees at the back of the house, but aside from the suitcases that Davey has put just inside the door, burnt orange is the only colour you can see because the rest of the room is white. I go to look in the en suite, just to remind myself of its beauty. Numerous halogens overhead light up the room to display an enormous spa bath at the back alongside a huge shower, and double basins to my right, all of which are formed out of dazzling white stone. Fluffy white towels adorn the towel rails. I sigh happily.

Lena laughs. ‘Barney’s room?’

‘Go on, then,’ I say grudgingly, tearing myself away.

Barney’s room is next door to mine. The walls have been wallpapered in subtle blue and yellow pinstripe. There’s a cot over by the far wall, and a green grass-like rug underfoot, plus a small table and chairs and enough toys to fill Hamleys spilling out of more of those strange golf-ball-type toy boxes on the floor. A white storage system of drawers, cupboards, wardrobes and shelves stocked with children’s books runs along the left-hand wall. There’s also a door which leads to an enormous en suite.

‘I’m sorry it’s a bit bare,’ Lena says and my eyes open wide in disbelief. She continues, oblivious, ‘I wanted to get some more things in, but Johnny said you’d want to do that. Which reminds me . . .’ She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a folded white envelope. She hands it over. ‘Johnny wants you to have this.’

I open it up, curiously. There’s a credit card inside with my name on it.

‘No limit,’ she says with a grin.

I meet her eyes, taken aback. I open my mouth to speak.

‘Don’t argue,’ she interrupts. ‘Johnny said that you would. But he owes you child maintenance, so, please, don’t think twice about using it for whatever you and Barney need.’ I close my mouth again, feeling distinctly like a goldfish. ‘You’ve also got a Porsche Panamera arriving tomorrow. Again, sorry I couldn’t get it here in time.’

‘Please tell me you’re joking.’

‘Can’t fit a car seat in the Bugatti,’ she replies flippantly. ‘Can’t fit them in the McLaren, Gullwing, Ferrari or Carrera, either – although,’ she thinks aloud, ‘it might fit in the front of some of them if it was just you and Barney going out. Maybe I’ll get another car seat just in case. You don’t want to be swapping them over all the time; that would drive you nuts.’

I stare at her, gobsmacked. ‘I’m sorry, but are you actually a real person? You even know the names of his cars.’

She laughs. ‘Katya is into mean machines.’

‘Katya?’

‘My girlfriend.’ She slaps her hand on her forehead. ‘I mean, wife. We got married as soon as it became legal – you know, before it became illegal again.’ She smiles wryly. ‘But I still can’t get my head around the term.’

‘Congratulations,’ I reply with a smile.

‘Thanks.’ She shrugs. ‘Shall we head back downstairs?’

‘Sure.’

I follow her out of Barney’s room and back along the landing towards the stairs. Johnny’s room is at the far end and I remember that it’s massive, spanning from the front to the back of the house so he has trees at one end and a view of the city at the other. His music studio is next to his bedroom, and between that and Barney’s room are three more spare rooms.

‘So where do you stay?’ I ask curiously as we start to walk down the stairs.

‘Not here,’ she replies. ‘Katya would kill me.’

‘I bet she hates it when Johnny goes on tour?’ Where is he, by the way? I can’t see him outside.

‘She comes along.’ Lena flashes me a grin over her shoulder.

‘Really?’ I try to focus on our conversation. ‘What does she do?’

‘She’s a stylist.’

‘She works for Johnny?’

‘On tour, yes. She helps out. Very handy.’

‘I’d like to meet her sometime.’ We reach the living room and I look around distractedly. Where has he gone?

‘Oh, you will,’ Lena replies ominously. ‘She can’t wait to meet Barney. And she’s dying to meet you. The one that got away . . .’

I blush and Lena laughs. ‘Seriously, I’m so glad you’re here,’ she says, and I return those feelings. To think I was worried about her. ‘It’ll be nice to have female company around the joint again. Since Rosa quit . . .’ She sighs.

‘That’s very sad.’

‘You’re telling me. Poor old girl.’

I’d almost forgotten that Johnny overdosed. That night when I found out he was in hospital . . . how I scoured the internet for information about him and Dana . . . It seems like a long time ago.

‘What’s Da—’ I’m about to ask Lena about Dana when Johnny comes out of the office.

‘You wanted to talk to me about the cook?’ Johnny says and I wonder how much of our conversation he heard.

‘Yes,’ Lena replies, unfazed. She walks straight past him into the office. I follow with Barney, for want of anything better to do. Lena goes to what used to be my desk and pulls out a chair. Johnny slumps down in the black Eames chair to her left and edges in closer. It’s what he used to do with me, and suddenly, however much I do like Lena, I feel uncomfortable about being here.

‘These are the ten that I’ve narrowed it down to,’ I hear her say as I quietly step away from the door. I lead Barney back to the toy box in the living room.

‘Meg?’ Johnny calls from the office door a couple of minutes later.

‘Yep?’ I call back.

‘Can you come here?’

Barney seems happy enough playing with the brand-new wooden Brio train set that I’ve just unpacked from its box, so I get up and go to the office, feeling curious.

Johnny is sitting back down in the Eames chair when I arrive at the door. Lena stands up and indicates her – formerly known as my – chair.

‘Would you mind having a look at these?’ Lena asks, putting a pile of what I now see are CVs in front of me. I look up at her in surprise, and then glance at Johnny with confusion.

‘I want your opinion,’ he says, leaning back in his chair.

I check Lena’s expression again, but she doesn’t seem put out. ‘I’ll keep an eye on Barney,’ she says lightly, leaving the room. Still a little taken aback, I lean forward and pick up the first CV.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Johnny’s foot jigging, but he says nothing, waiting patiently. After a while I relax and concentrate on the job at hand.

‘They’ve all got excellent experience, but I would invite these three in for interview,’ I decide at last, patting the small pile of nominated CVs.

‘Done.’ He gets up and takes them from the desk, then goes to the door. ‘Lena?’

‘Er, don’t you want to know why?’ I stutter after him.

‘Nope,’ he replies over his shoulder. Lena re-emerges. ‘These three,’ he says, handing them over.

‘Great stuff,’ she replies, giving me a warm smile.

Does she seriously not mind me stepping on her toes? Maybe she’s worked with Johnny long enough to not give a toss. I know myself that any help with getting him to agree to something is appreciated.

‘Meg can sit in on the interviews,’ he says, going to walk out through the door.

‘Er, hello?’ I interrupt. He turns around, frowning. ‘Since when did I go back on your payroll?’ I ask indignantly.

Johnny regards me for a moment, not saying anything, then: ‘Didn’t you get the credit card?’

‘Ha!’ I reply, outraged. ‘If those are your terms and conditions, I don’t want it!’

Lena regards us with wariness, but then Johnny’s face breaks into a smile. ‘I’m joking, Nutmeg. I didn’t think you’d mind doing me a favour. Do you?’ he asks when I don’t immediately reply.

‘No, I suppose not,’ I tell him.

‘Good.’

I look at Lena and purse my lips. She starts to laugh and I find myself doing the same.

Johnny and Barney are nowhere to be seen when I walk out of the office, but I can hear the distant sound of music playing. I follow the sound up the stairs and into Johnny’s studio. Barney is sitting on Johnny’s lap in front of the mixing console, determinedly pressing all the buttons he can reach. I stand at the door and watch them for a moment, smiling. Johnny senses my presence and turns around.

‘Do you think he’s going to be like you?’ I ask.

‘I hope not.’

I smirk. ‘I mean, into music.’

‘That I could handle,’ Johnny replies looking down at his blond-haired boy. ‘You want to play guitar like your old man?’

Barney babbles and flips a switch. The base suddenly sounds really loud.

Johnny chuckles and flips the switch back again.

‘Are you alright with him for a little while?’ I ask.

‘Of course.’

‘I might go and unpack.’

‘Sandy can do it, if you want? She’ll be here soon.’ Sandy’s the maid.

‘No, no, it’s okay,’ I brush him off. ‘I’d rather do it myself so I know where everything is.’

‘Control freak.’

‘That’s me,’ I say brightly, flashing him a grin and walking out of the studio.

I heave the first suitcase onto the bed and unzip it. I take out my cosmetics bag and go straight to my beloved bathroom with the intention of unpacking it, but when I’m greeted with the sight of the beautiful big spa tub, the urge to relax in it overcomes me. I decide to unpack later. I put in the plug and turn on the taps, then open the cupboards under the sink so I can start to put away my things. I gasp with amazement as tiny light bulbs inside the cupboard reveal the most divine selection of beauty goodies I think I’ve ever seen. Glass bottles of expensive bubble bath in an array of colours sparkle at me like glittering jewels, and top-name brands of moisturisers, facial scrubs, eye creams – you name it – are lined up in neat little rows. Lena, Lena, you have truly outdone yourself. First things first, I reach for a bottle of ruby-red bubble bath and pour some under the tap.

This is bliss, I think to myself a little while later, immersed up to my neck in warm water peaked with fluffy white bubbles. I could get used to this.

Christian
. . .

My mood instantly turns sombre. What would he say if he could see me now? Nothing. I think he’d say nothing. He’d regard me with disgust and walk away. I get out of the bath soon after that.