Baby Be Mine (35 page)

‘You won’t be meeting Johnny anytime soon.’

Both their faces fall, but they do well to cover up their disappointment. ‘In that case,’ Eddie says with a small smile, ‘I’d better get on with lunch.’

Bess looks knackered so I suggest she has a bath and chills out for a bit because there’s no point in hanging around waiting for Johnny.

‘Come and get me if anything interesting happens,’ she says meaningfully.

‘I promise,’ I tell her.

I put Barney down for his nap and go into the office to research babysitting agencies. I speak to a couple and arrange to meet this afternoon with the one I like the sound of most. I feel much more relaxed with the idea of leaving Barney so I can have the odd night out with Bess during the two weeks that she’s here.

Lena puts a stack of press releases in front of me.

‘Events for the next couple of weeks,’ she says with a smile. ‘Take your pick.’

‘Aah, brilliant,’ I say, riffling through them. A fortieth-birthday party for some Hollywood scriptwriter – nope, feels a bit weird going to a birthday celebration for someone I don’t know. A premiere for an indie flick – not likely to be that star-packed. A showcase for an upcoming female pop star at the Mondrian’s Skybar. Okay, so the music is undoubtedly likely to be more my cup of tea than Bess’s, but the venue is fun – I’ve been there a few times for various things. I come to another invite – one that’s black and sparkly and shaped like a bat. I read the silvery, spider-web-style writing. A Halloween party being held by Sylvester Middleman, one of America’s top music producers. A quick search on Google reveals that he and his wife have four children aged between one and seven, so this should be good. I put it to one side, along with the showcase invite, and carry on looking.

When Bess comes searching for me an hour and a half later, I’ve RSVP-ed to five events for the next couple of weeks, including a film premiere for a romcom, a gig with backstage passes and an after-show party for a band Bess absolutely loves. She’s beside herself.

But that’s nothing compared to the look on her face when Johnny comes into the office a few minutes later.

‘Alright?’ he says to Bess, bending down and kissing her on the cheek. ‘Don’t get up.’

She stays where she is, but her face turns bright red and I can see her hands are shaking.

‘How was your flight?’ he asks. He’s wearing a tight black T-shirt and black pants with his trademark metal-studded belt. He looks like he could have stepped off the front cover of a magazine.

‘Fine, fine, it was fine,’ she replies nervously.

‘Eddie’s here,’ Lena tells him.

‘Aah, cool. In the kitchen?’ He points in that direction.

‘As you’d expect,’ Lena replies with a wry smile. ‘Come on.’

‘He’s so good-looking in real life!’ Bess whispers through clenched teeth as soon as they’ve gone.

‘He’s not bad,’ I reply indifferently.

‘You’ve shagged him!’ she screeches quietly.

‘Shh!’ I say with alarm, but then I can’t help but giggle at the look on her face. ‘Let’s go, too,’ I decide suddenly, so Bess and I head out of the office and into the kitchen. Johnny is leaning against a countertop with his arms folded, while Eddie stands in front of him. He seems on edge as he runs through the menu options for the next week.

‘All sounds great,’ Johnny replies. He’s not really big into food. Booze, on the other hand . . .

‘Johnny, you’ve got to try one of these,’ Lena says enthusiastically, taking a muffin from the tray and putting it on a plate for him.

‘Have you got one for Dana, too?’ he asks.

‘Of course,’ Eddie replies. ‘Actually, would you both like lunch? I’m just finishing up some pizza bases to put in the outside oven.’ It’s a wood-fired oven on the terrace.

‘Sounds good,’ Johnny says, putting the muffin back on the countertop. ‘Let’s all go. Is Barney asleep?’ he asks me.

‘Yes, but he needs to wake up soon.’

‘Shall I get him?’

‘You can, if you like,’ I reply.

‘Cool.’ He turns around and exits the room, leaving a buzz in the air. I forgot that Johnny has the ability to do this. A room always lights up in his presence. It’s just as obvious when there are four people as when there are four hundred.

Eddie picks up a couple of trays of pizza bases. ‘To the terrace?’ he asks.

Lena, Bess and I lift up the remaining trays and follow him. I go to the outdoor bar and start to sort out drinks. Bess joins me.

‘You’ve shagged him,’ she quietly exclaims again through clenched teeth.

‘Stop it,’ I hiss.

She grins at me and then she freezes as her eyes fall on something behind me. I turn around to see Johnny sliding shut the outside door. He’s carrying Barney in his arms and my little boy is still half-asleep as he presses his face into his father’s neck.

‘Oh my God,’ Bess whispers slowly as Johnny walks towards us. ‘That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.’

Barney lifts his head and looks at me, then opens up his arms, so Johnny hands him over. We lock eyes for the duration of this exchange and a flutter goes through me. It’s not healthy for me to witness Johnny’s attractiveness through someone else’s eyes.

Dana slides the door open and steps over the threshold. She immediately lights up a fag, not bothering to close the door behind her.

‘Johnny,’ she calls abruptly. He turns around and goes to her, taking the lit cigarette from her fingers as she lights another one for herself. They go to a sunlounger away from us and sit facing each other. Dana suddenly leans forward and kisses Johnny passionately on his lips. Bess and I look away, awkwardly.

‘Christ,’ she whispers.

‘Yep. She’s a corker.’

‘Mmm.’

‘Grub’s up!’ Eddie calls.

Bess laughs as we wander over. ‘That’s a very English saying.’

‘Thought I’d better practise some, considering my boss is from “across the pond”!’ He says the last bit in a posh accent.

‘No, you’ve got it all wrong,’ Bess tells him. ‘He’s from Newcastle originally, so you’ve got to learn things like, “Eh up, lass.”’

‘What’s this?’ Johnny asks, stubbing his cigarette out on his way over.

‘Bess is just teaching Eddie some Geordie sayings,’ I explain.

‘“Eh up, lass” is from Yorkshire, ye divvy,’ Johnny says in a thick Geordie accent. ‘Whey aye, man,’ he adds. We all crack up laughing. In the background, Dana reluctantly gets to her feet.

‘Divvint ye knaa owt?’ Johnny adds to much hilarity. Dana joins us and he turns to her: ‘A’reet, pet?’

‘What the hell are you saying?’ she asks, unimpressed.

‘Talk from the toon,’ he replies.

‘Talk from the where? Oh, whatever,’ she brushes him off. ‘I’m fucking starving.’

I glare at her before leading Barney to the table. I don’t want to make a scene in front of everyone. I fix Barney’s highchair to the edge of the stone table. Bess comes to help.

‘Just as well he can’t talk yet,’ she murmurs.

‘It’s only a matter of time before “duck” becomes part of his vocabulary,’ I reply. She grins at me. ‘It’s good to have you here,’ I say quietly, grinning back at her.

The others join us and we tuck in to Eddie’s truly incredible pizzas. After a while, my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. I pull it out and look at the screen: Joseph.

‘Hi!’ I say warmly.

‘Hey,’ he replies. ‘How’s it going?’

‘Good. Great, in fact. My best friend from the UK arrived this morning.’

‘Really? I didn’t know you had a pal coming to stay.’

‘Neither did I until Saturday. Bit of a last-minute plan. Have you just come from your audition?’ I notice Johnny’s conversation halts briefly as his eyes flick towards mine.

‘You remembered,’ he replies, and once again I’m sure he’s smiling.

‘Of course. How did it go?’

‘Aah, you know, it’s hard to tell with these things. So I was going to see if you wanted to catch up for dinner, but I guess you’re busy with your friend . . .’

‘Kind of,’ I say, ‘but we’re going to a gig tomorrow night. Saldo Sorvie. Maybe we could get an extra ticket?’ I glance at Bess to check she doesn’t mind him gate-crashing, but she nods happily.

‘That’d be great,’ Joseph replies.

Johnny puts his fork down noisily and pointedly, and glares at me across the table.

‘What?’ I mouth with annoyance.

‘You’re using my name to get him a ticket?’

I cover the receiver with my forefinger. ‘You wouldn’t normally care.’

He doesn’t reply. Everyone else around the table eats their food and tries to act invisible. Everyone except for Dana, who’s watching this exchange intently.

I remove my finger. ‘Sorry, Joseph,’ I say. ‘Just having a discussion with my . . . housemate.’

Johnny angrily gets to his feet and storms off.

Dana stares after him, slightly taken aback. Lena gives me a look, but I’m not sure what it means, while Dana puts down her cutlery and gets up from the table. ‘That was spectacular, dude,’ she says to Eddie, although it sounds far from genuine to me, and probably to the rest of us around the table – with the exception of Barney, who hasn’t learned about false sincerity yet. She follows Johnny inside.

‘Hello?’ I hear Joseph say in a tinny voice. I realise I’ve dropped the receiver from my ear.

‘Sorry!’ I say again.

‘Is this a bad time?’ he asks.

‘We’re just in the middle of lunch. Can I call you back?’

‘Sure.’

We end the call. Eddie is already tidying away after Johnny and Lena.

‘Well, that was short and sweet,’ I say of our getting-to-know-each-other meal. ‘That was Joseph,’ I say, indicating my phone.

‘I gathered,’ Lena replies knowingly.

‘Who’s Joseph?’ Eddie chips in. ‘If you don’t mind me asking,’ he adds.

‘No, no, of course not,’ I brush him off. There’s no point in keeping secrets from a staff of this size. ‘A guy I met last week.’

‘Doesn’t Johnny like him?’

Lena laughs sharply and I furrow my brow at her as I reply, ‘He hasn’t met him.’

‘He doesn’t want to,’ Bess replies, ‘from the way he acted there.’

‘Why’s that?’ Eddie pries.

‘Jealous,’ Lena interjects.

‘Jealous of what?’ I feel slightly put out. Why does she keep coming out with comments like that? Because he’s not still interested in me. I can tell her that, right now. He wouldn’t rub his feelings for Dana in my face if he were.

She shrugs, but doesn’t expand.

‘I think we can safely assume Johnny doesn’t want to get Joseph another ticket to the gig tomorrow night.’

‘He might be able to get one through his agent,’ Lena suggests.

‘Maybe,’ I reply, but I’m thinking it’s better to leave it on this occasion.

  Chapter 37  

‘Is he going with you?’ Johnny asks me the next day, with a fair amount of attitude.

‘Might be,’ I reply. ‘You know he’s perfectly capable of getting his own ticket, don’t you?’ I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I want to wind him up for some reason. As it turns out, I told Joseph the gig thing might be a bit too complicated and that I’d call him tomorrow – Wednesday – so that we could make a plan then.

‘Who’s looking after Barney?’ Johnny demands to know.

‘A lovely girl called Esther from an agency.’

‘You’re getting an agency in?’ he spits.

‘On your suggestion!’ I point out. ‘Why, do
you
want to look after him? You know, seeing as you’re his father and all that?’ I say sarcastically.

He stares at me angrily for a long moment. ‘Yeah, I do, actually.’

Really? Damn.

‘Dana and I don’t have any other plans,’ he continues.

Oh, shit. Not her. Him, I can handle, but I don’t – I
really
don’t – want her looking after Barney. Hopefully he’s not serious. I call his bluff.

‘Fine.’ I shrug and walk out of the office. Dana is sitting on the sofa reading a magazine.

‘You’re fine with it?’ Johnny asks, hot on my heels.

‘Yep. Better check with Dana, though,’ I say, looking across at her.

‘What’s up?’ she drawls.

‘Johnny wants you to babysit tonight.’

‘Fuck that,’ she snorts, throwing the magazine down.

‘Dana!’ Johnny erupts.

‘I told you, baby, I ain’t got no interest in being a mummy.’