‘Don’t you find me attractive?’ Vanessa pouted.
‘Oh, yes,’ Tessa stammered. ‘It’s just – it’s just that I don’t want to be unfaithful to my boyfriend,’ she said desperately. Having come up with a plausible excuse for avoiding Vanessa’s advances, she was her old self again, playing to the camera for all she was worth. ‘You’re gorgeous and, believe me, there’s nothing I’d like more,’ she purred flirtatiously, ‘but I couldn’t do that to Rory.’
‘I bet he’d love to watch.’ Vanessa stroked Tessa’s hair again. ‘We could have a really nice time in here if we let ourselves.’
‘Still,’ Tessa said, backing away, ‘I want to be faithful.’
‘Suit yourself.’ Vanessa stood up. ‘If you change your mind, you know where I am. Believe me, one night with me and you’ll forget all about Rory Cassidy – you’ll forget about men, full stop.’
With that parting shot, she got into her bed, pulled up the blankets and fell asleep almost instantly. Tessa crawled into bed too but lay there snivelling, obviously expecting Vanessa to jump her the moment she let her guard slip.
* * *
Over the next few weeks, life at the villa fell into a quiet, steady rhythm. Free from distractions, the band threw themselves into working on songs for the new album, spending long days in the studio, often without a break. Between intense bouts of work, they took occasional days off, chilling out by the pool, sleeping late, relaxing and generally recharging their batteries. After a few weeks of good food, sunshine and rest, they were all lookingconsiderably less like the living dead. Even Georgie had put on a bit of weight and had some colour in her cheeks.
Kate loved every minute of her new job, from her walk to the shops in the early morning, where she had theatrical conversations with the local women, to the quiet, balmy evenings in the garden when they ate together under the pergola, with the cicadas singing. Although she didn’t know any Italian apart from words for food, she had become a favourite with the locals, who would help her find what she was looking for, share recipes and cooking tips, and volunteer advice on her love life – all through the medium of mime. All the mothers were keen to introduce her to their sons, waving away her objection that she had a boyfriend at home and talking up their offspring like door-steppers at election time. Resolutely unimpressed by the skinny models who had been frequenting the villa, they approved of Kate’s domesticity and fuller figure, deciding that she was a good, traditional girl.
As she became friends with Phoenix, Georgie, Rory and Owen, she no longer felt intimidated by their rockstar status. It was impossible to feel star-struck with people you saw across the breakfast table every morning and ate dinner with every night. But when they played together as a band, they became something else, transforming into the gorgeous glittering creatures she was used to seeing on stage. Behind her drum kit, Georgie’s gaucheness fell away and she was a strong, confident girl, cool, sexy and completely in control. Armed with their guitars, Owen and Rory were no longer clownish party animals but assumed an air of authority and gravitas. And Phoenix was pure rock god, charged with a superhuman charisma, his wiry frame pumping with an electric energy as his distinctive voice soared. It was as if some fairy godmother had waved her wand and, with electric guitars, drums and amplifiers in place of glass slippers, ballgowns and golden coaches, turned them into one graceful, harmonious organism.
Most of all, she loved spending so much time with Will. She loved knowing he would be there every morning at breakfast and that they would have dinner together every night. He usually worked in the morning, shutting himself up in the room he had designated his office to make phone calls and go through the huge bundles of post that regularly arrived by courier. But in the afternoon he was often at her disposal, driving her to the village or into Florence to pick up supplies, hanging out with her by the pool or taking her to visit medieval villages in the hills. Sometimes they took a CD of the new songs with them and drove around playing them full blast on the car stereo. The sound seemed incongruous in this rural idyll, but Kate loved it. She felt as if she was living in a movie and the music was its soundtrack.
Will joined her regularly in the kitchen when he wasn’t working, chatting companionably to her while she prepared meals, and even helping her sometimes. She treasured the domestic intimacy between them as they worked together and occasionally allowed herself to indulge in a fantasy that they were married and this was their home. Though she spoke to Brian on the phone, she wasn’t disappointed when he told her he would be too busy over the summer to visit her in Tuscany. She wasn’t missing him as much as she should – or at all, she sometimes thought. But she was enjoying herself too much to worry about what that meant.
* * *
As Will sat at his desk, going through the latest parcel of post that Louise had sent out, his eye fell on a small square envelope marked:
Personal
which hadn’t been opened at the office. Cutting it open, he pulled out a thick cream invitation card. ‘Shit!’ The furrow between his brows deepened. There was a note with it and he unfolded it with a sense of dread, glancing over the words hurriedly, as if afraid they would hurt him. Then he put the card and note back in the envelope, pulled open the desk drawer and buried it in there. He would think about it later, he told himself, slamming the drawer closed.
Hearing water splashing, he got up and walked to the window, which looked out over the pool terrace. Kate and Georgie were sitting on the bench at the far end of the pool where the water spilled over the edge, chatting together. It was good to see Georgie happy. It was nice for her to have another girl around, and she and Kate had become friends. In fact, everyone got on well with Kate. He was glad now that he had allowed Grace to bamboozle him into bringing her out here. He himself was glad of her company when the band were holed up in the studio for days on end. He thought that maybe tomorrow he’d take her to San Gimignano – he knew she’d never been there. He knew a restaurant just outside the town, that he was sure Kate would love. Maybe they could stop there for lunch.
Suddenly there was an enormous splash as Owen jumped into the pool with a whoop. He swam up to Georgie and Kate and insinuated himself between them on the bench, his arm resting casually at Kate’s back. As Will watched, he turned to Kate, his body curled in towards hers, and Kate burst out laughing at something he said. Then he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the water.
‘Maybe one of the boys in your band will fall for her.’Grace’s words echoed in Will’s mind as he watched Kate and Owencircling each other in the pool, splashing and laughing.Was that what was happening? And was Kate falling for Owen? Shecertainly didn’t seem to be missing Brian.
Sighing, he returned to his desk and the post. But his concentration was gone and he couldn’t focus. He realised he had been staring into space for several minutes, absently tapping a pen on the desk.Oh, bugger it!he thought, giving up. There was nothing here that wouldn’t keep until tomorrow. Maybe he’d take Kate to San Gimignano today, he thought, and headed for the terrace.
* * *
In the evenings, everyone gathered in the living room to watchCelebrity Cell Block. By now they were hooked on it. Vanessa continued to pursue Tessa, who clearly wasn’t as up for it as she had wanted everyone to think she was.
Tessa soon managed to piss everyone off and it was no surprise to anyone when her fellow inmates nominated her for ‘release’ at the first opportunity. The public vote was between her and a clapped-out game-show host, who had made himself hugely unpopular in the prison, by his refusal to take part in the chores, and with the public through his sheer lack of personality.
The day after the nominations, Owen came into the kitchen when Kate was making lunch. ‘Kate, have you got your mobile with you?’ he asked, looking shiftily to the door.
‘Yes.’
‘Do me a favour?’ he asked, pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket and handing it to her. ‘Text “Len” to this number as often as you can – just keep sending it all day.’
Len was the hapless game-show host onCelebrity Cell Block, Tessa’s rival for release. This was evidently Owen’s way of keeping Tessa locked up for the summer.
‘Okay, but?—’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of your phone bill.’ He winked and stalked off, punching numbers into his own mobile as he went.
Later on, sending her umpteenth text of the day, Kate was hoping that Owen would remember his promise and make sure her bill was paid because it was going to be astronomical. She had kept her mobile beside her on the kitchen counter as she worked, stopping every so often to resend the message.
