‘Oh, so you’re back!’ They looked up to see Owen storming across the terrace towards them. Georgie followed him, darting anxious looks between him and Will.
‘You can get right off your high horse,’ Will snapped, his anger rising.
‘Oh, I can, can I? Would you like to take this outside?’ Owen’s eyes blazed.
‘What? Oh, for fuck’s sake! We’re already outside, Owen.’
‘Okay, then, bring it on.’ Owen beckoned Will towards him.
‘I’m not going to hit you, Owen, tempting though it is.’
‘Come on – you know you want to.’ Owen raised his fists threateningly.
‘I don’t have time for this,’ Will said, scraping his chair back and getting up. ‘I’ve got a plane to catch.’ He turned and went to the French windows.
‘Where are you going?’ Owen asked.
Will turned in the doorway. ‘Not that it’s any of your business,’ he said coldly, ‘but I’m going to Ireland – to get Kate.’
‘Oh!’ Owen dropped his fists. ‘That’s all right, then.’
* * *
Will read the headline from one of yesterday’s tabloids:
Love Rat Will Returns to Italy!
Louise had given him a bundle of cuttings to read on the flight to Dublin to bring him up to speed with what the press were saying about him and Kate. As he thumbed through them with mounting dread, he was glad he hadn’t opened them until he’d got on the plane. If he’d known how bad it was he might not have had the nerve to show his face in Dublin.
Bloody Tina! He’d always known that when they broke up she’d turn it into a career move, but he was outraged by the blatant lies she was telling. What appalled him most was the treatment meted out to Kate. The amount of sheer vitriol aimed at her was astonishing. The ones who championed her were almost worse, he thought, disgusted – celebrating her as some kind of saucy sex kitten, salivating over her lush body and inviting her to ‘get her kit off’ for their readers’ delectation. He wanted to punch their lights out, every last one of them.
One picture of her was particularly heartbreaking. Eyesdown, jacket pulled closed, she was shielding her face from the camera with one hand, but you could tell she was close to tears. Will lingered over the picture, absently tracing the outline of her beautiful full lips, and felt a lump come to his throat. He wished he had been there to protect her.
By the end of the week, Tina had cut her losses and let it trickle out that she couldn’t forgive Will his infidelity and had decided to end their relationship. She called off her long-planned lavish birthday party and set about lobbying for martyred sainthood. In the current issue ofWow!she was pictured cavorting on a Cambodian beach with a horde of smiling orphans. Somehow she had got a gig as ambassador for a children’s charity, and eight pages of the magazine were devoted to a gushing interview, amply illustrated with pictures of her looking stunningly beautiful and caring as she carried out her new role, cuddling and playing games with the children, chatting with local charity workers, all in her:
trademark grace and style.
You had to hand it to Dev Tennant, Will thought, he was good. He certainly worked fast. It was amazing. In a week, Tina had transformed herself into a shining angel of mercy, smiling valiantly through her tears, her eyes attractively dewy and luminous as she held a sick baby in her arms.
‘She’s lovely, that Tina Roche, isn’t she?’ the woman beside him said, peering over his shoulder. ‘So caring.’
‘Mmm.’
‘Some of those big so-called stars could learn a lot from her. All they ever think about is their fancy haircuts and designer clothes. And she’s gorgeous, too, isn’t she?’
‘Beautiful.’
‘That fella of hers wants his head examined, if you ask me, doing the dirt on a beautiful woman like that. Must be mad.’
‘Tonto!’ Will agreed.
He went back to the interview with Tina.
‘Seeing the plight of these children puts your own problems into perspective,’ says Roche, looking impossibly glamorous in Cambodian traditional dress, surrounded by children. ‘I’ve been hurt in the past,’ she adds obliquely. ‘I’ve been betrayed by those I love. But when I see the bright, happy smiles on the faces of these children, it just puts my troubles in the shade. These children have been hurt – they’ve been betrayed by the people closest to them in many cases. But they’re still smiling, they’re still trusting, they still have hope for the future. If they can do it, so can I.’
‘Excuse me,’ he said to the woman beside him, ‘will you be using your sick bag, do you think?’
‘Er – no.’ She eyed the one in front of his own seat.
