Tessa was hot on her heels. ‘I can have some carbs today,’ she announced to Kate, as she entered the kitchen, waving a copy of her book. She was in a chirpy mood, having found herself featured in a magazine article about stars who were too thin. She presented Kate with the book, showing her what stage of the eating plan she was on and leaving Kate to work out what she could have for dinner. Tessa’s eating plan was a complex colour-coded maze of cycles and zones, but no matter how carefully Kate studied it, poring over the charts and diagrams, she couldn’t make head nor tail of it. She was almost in tears of frustration when Will popped his head in.
‘Everything okay?’ Kate was punching numbers into a calculator. ‘Kate, what on earth are you doing?’
‘I wish I knew,’ she said, miserably.
‘What’s the problem?’
‘This.’ Kate held up the book so he could see the cover.Colour Me Slim!it shouted, in a fluorescent rainbow, while Tessa grinned from the centre of a colour wheel.
Will was still puzzled.
‘It’s Tessa’s book,’ Kate explained. ‘I’m trying to work out what she’s supposed to eat. She’s on day four of the sixth cycle, which means she’s in this purple zone here.’ She jabbed at a chart. ‘Purple means she can have foods from the blue group and the red group – because that’s what makes purple. But you have to work out the right percentages, and then there’s something about complementary colours. I think you’d need a degree in calculus to get this right – and you know how bad I am at maths.’
Will smiled sympathetically. ‘Okay, show me the book.’ He held out his hand and Kate plopped it in his palm. He turned a couple of pages, scanning them.
‘Okay,’ he said decisively.
‘You’ve got it?’ Kate asked, awed. She couldn’t believe he’d worked it out so quickly – he must think she was the most awful dolt! And, really, if Tessa had come up with it, how difficult could it be?
‘Yes. Here’s what you do,’ he said, shutting the book with one hand and eyeballing Kate to make sure she was paying attention. Then he drew back his arm and flung the book out of the open window.
There was a yelp from the garden as the book clocked Owen and he stood up, rubbing his head.
‘Sorry!’ Will called, waving through the window.
Owen picked up the missile from the ground. On seeing what had hit him, he gave Will a grinning thumbs-up, then stomped off to find a cow pat in which to bury it.
‘Okay,’ Will said, rubbing his hands, ‘any other problems?’
‘Er… no. Thanks.’ Kate thought it was probably best not to mention that the blender was on the blink. It was a bit wonky, but still usable, and she didn’t want it chucked out of the window.
‘Kate,’ Will said, putting his hands on her shoulders, ‘you’re here to work for me, not Tessa. You don’t have to take orders from her. She’s only here on sufferance anyway. Tell her she’s welcome to use the kitchen herself if she wants something different.’
‘Okay.’ Kate was thinking maybe she could retrieve the book when Will wasn’t looking and have another bash. She didn’t fancy having to tell Tessa to make her own dinner.
‘Okay,I’lltell her.’ Will had sensed her anxiety at the thought of confronting Tessa. ‘Believe me, it’ll be a pleasure.’
Kate smiled, relieved.
‘I’m beginning to regret letting her come. Still, at least she’ll be safely behind bars for the rest of the summer.’
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Kate warned. ‘She’ll probably be the first to get voted off. The public can’t stand her.’
‘Oh, it won’t be up to them if Owen has anything to do with it,’ Will said mysteriously, as he left the kitchen.
8
The next morning the weekend house guests packed up to leave, amid a great deal of chaos and faffing. Tessa was in a complete panic about what to wear, constantly ripping open her bags to change her outfit and forcing Kim and Bonnie to restyle her hair and retouch her makeup. She was terrified of being caught off guard by paparazzi as she got off the plane and ending up in one of those smug montages of celebs looking like shit.
Fawn, by contrast, was the soul of calm, complacent in the belief that organising her departure was someone else’s job. She lounged by the pool, issuing demands and giving orders, even commandeering Tessa’s assistants to do her nails while she relaxed in the sun.
Summer had been packed and ready to go since early morning and took the opportunity to escape the mayhem for a quiet cup of coffee in the kitchen with Kate.
‘It’ll be good for Georgie to have another girl around,’ she said. ‘She spends too much time surrounded by boys. Sometimes I think they’re a bit over-protective, and it’s not good for her.’
Raised voices drew their attention to the terrace. Outside,Tessa was now engaged in a heated bilingual shouting match with Maria, each woman babbling away in her own language with no idea of what the other was saying. Not that it mattered: their body language said it all. ‘Will!’ Tessa shrieked, calling him in to referee.
‘God, if he’s any sense he’ll hide until she’s gone,’ Kate said. Over the weekend, she had seen how everyone leaned on Will. She was appalled at the way Fawn and Tessa in particular would turn to him with their trivial problems rather than trying to do anything for themselves. She wondered how they tied their own shoelaces when he wasn’t on hand.
