The next day, Maria and Franco took Kate to the village and showed her around. She returned to find Georgie and Summer on the terrace surrounded by shopping bags.
‘I’m afraid I’ve been indulging again.’ Summer waved her to a seat beside them. ‘We’ve been to a fabulous market, haven’t we, Georgie? Lots of really funky clothes and jewellery, and it’s cheap too. You two should go some time.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘I got these fabulous shoes,’ Summer was pulling their purchases out of the bags to show Kate, ‘and these earrings – they’re fun, aren’t they? And we got the cutest little dress for Georgie.’
‘Summer’s always trying to get me to wear dresses,’ Georgie told Kate ruefully.
‘Well, you should! You’re such a pretty girl. I hate to see you hiding away in those ugly sports clothes. You’ve got great legs.’
‘And fantastic arms,’ Kate said enviously.
‘It’s the drumming,’ Georgie said.
‘Well, I’d better go and pack,’ Summer said, stuffing her purchases back into their bags and getting up. ‘See you at dinner.’
When she had gone into the house, Georgie and Kate were quiet for a few moments.
‘That thing Tessa said yesterday,’ Georgie began, ‘it’s not exactly true.’
‘It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.’
‘It was sort of an accident. I didn’t mean to—’ she broke off. ‘I didn’t mean to OD,’ she began again. ‘It was in Paris. My dad had got past security and up to my hotel room. So I was… upset. I just sort of started taking those pills and couldn’t stop. You know what I mean?’
‘I’ve done that with biscuits.’ Kate smiled.
‘Well, next thing I knew I was having my stomach pumped,’ Georgie continued. ‘Will managed somehow to keep it out of the papers.’
It couldn’t have been easy keepingthatquiet, Kate thought.
‘Phoenix and I took out a restraining order against Dad. If he comes near us again, he gets thrown into jail. He only has to come within ten feet of us.’ There was a glint in Georgie’s eyes as she said this, as though she wished he would. ‘How long have you known Will?’ she asked suddenly.
‘Oh, ages – he’s my brother’s best friend.’
‘He’s great, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, he’s… lovely.’
‘Do you have a boyfriend, Kate?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Oh!’ Georgie seemed a bit disappointed. ‘Will’s a great guy, though, isn’t he?’ she said finally.
‘Yes,’ Kate said, a bit bemused. ‘He is.’
* * *
That evening, as Kate began preparing dinner, Fawn breezed into the kitchen. ‘Hi, we need to talk,’ she said. ‘It’s Kate, right?’ She smiled charmingly.
‘Yes.’
‘I need to talk to you about the food because the boys are hopeless. I mean, they want us to look like this,’ she spread her arms to indicate her perfect figure, ‘and then they get pissed off if we won’t share pizza and beer with them. I mean,hello! It’s one or the other, right?Right?’
Kate looked at her, saying nothing. ‘What do you want to eat?’ she asked finally.
‘What I’d really love is some plain poached fish and steamed broccoli. Okay?’
