‘It’s not that bad,’ Kate said tentatively.
‘Wait, there’s more at the end,’ Freddie said, his eye scanning down the page.
‘“Meanwhile, Tina is remaining tight-lipped about the alleged split, but her exit from the villa came just hours after the hasty departure of one Kate O’Neill?—”’
‘Oh no!’ Kate groaned in anguish. ‘She actually mentioned my name?’
‘“—one Kate O’Neill,”’ Freddie nodded, resuming, ‘“sparking rumours that a third party was involved. Kate, the youngest daughter of the actress Grace O’Neill, had been working as a cook at the house. Personally, I feel that this is just a temporary blip, and that this gorgeous couple will soon be as loved-up as they ever were. I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing them well – the Irish social scene would be a far drearier place without them. The phrase “made for each other” is over-used, but in this case, it just happens to be true.”’
‘Well, she would say that, the stupid cow,’ Freddie went on.
‘She’s just miffed at being done out of a party,’ Ken added.
‘Still…’ Kate said despondently. She knew that May had been instrumental in promoting Will and Tina as Ireland’s premier celebrity couple, largely at Tina’s instigation. Naturally she would talk up the fairytale she had helped to create. Besides, she was Tina’s friend. But she couldn’t shake off a niggling doubt that maybe May knew what she was talking about – after all, she must have spent plenty of time with them as a couple.
‘It’s not that bad,’ Freddie said consolingly, ‘apart from the naming and shaming bit. I mean, it could have been a lot worse, couldn’t it?’
‘It’s not that badin itself,’ Ken said. ‘I mean, as far as it goes…’ He left the thought hanging in the air.
Kate knew what he was getting at. ‘It’s the fact that it’s out there,’ she said.
It had put the whole thing in the public domain, fuelling speculation and spiking interest, and Kate had an awful feeling that this was only the beginning.
* * *
Waking early the following morning, after a fitful night’s sleep, Kate found Ken and Freddie already up, sitting side by side at the breakfast bar eating toast and marmalade. Freddie was wearing boxers and an old Walking Wounded tour T-shirt that he often used as a sort of dressing gown, but Ken was dressed for work in a sharp suit, crisp white shirt and red tie. The bar was covered with newspapers and, when Kate came in, Ken hastily shuffled one to the bottom of the pile.
‘Morning, Kate!’ he said cheerily – too cheerily, Kate thought.
She eyed the pile of newspapers. ‘You got them all?’
Freddie looked up from the tabloid he was reading. ‘Ken went out first thing.’
‘And?’ she asked warily.
‘You want the good news or the bad news?’ Ken asked.
‘There’s good news?’
‘Well, there’s nothing inThe Irish Times,’ he joked feebly.
‘Ha, ha.’ She looked at Freddie, who was once more engrossed. ‘How bad is it?’ she asked him.
‘It’s bad…’ he said slowly. His eyes widened as he read on. ‘It’sverybad.’
‘Definevery bad.’
‘They’ve got details.’
‘Details!’ Kate shrieked. ‘You don’t mean?—’
‘Yep – the whole story. Blow job and all.’
‘I thought Tina was remaining tight-lipped,’ Kate said shakily.
‘According to this, it comes from “sources close to the couple” or “close friends of Tina’s”.’
Gwen and Julie,Kate thought. No doubt Tina had given them the okay to blab so that she could feed her side of the story to the papers while appearing to maintain a dignified silence.
