safely,’ Charlie told me.
I followed him out of the boathouse in time to see Jack’s wife climb into a car and get driven away. The driver took her north out of the park on a kind of decoy route and, so far as Charlie and I could see, there were no paparazzi on her tail.
‘It’s good to get some air.’ He took a deep breath and looked up at a clear, starlit sky. ‘We made it through to the end of the week,’ he murmured, as if he’d reached the final stage of a tough journey.
‘As in, Jack is still in one piece and Larry got the footage he needed?’
‘We got through the New York section. I won’t say it was easy.’
‘I hope they pay you plenty.’ Under the stars I realized how close I felt to Charlie. It had been this way ever since he rescued me in the park. Besides, he single-handedly shouldered the burden of keeping the Jack Kane–Natalia Linton show on the road. ‘I mean, they see you as more than just a body double.’
He gave me the trademark, knockout grin. ‘You’re sweet, Tania. I really hope you’ve got something out of all this.’ He jerked his head back towards the boathouse and the sounds of partying. Then he gazed up again at the stars. ‘Don’t you just love the night sky? I look at the stars and I get a new perspective. Whatever we’re dealing with here on planet earth, it’s good to remember we’re all just micro-dots, tiny specks of dust.’
I felt sad as I took in the crescent moon, a million stars. I thought of Vincent and his whirling, crazy vision. I thought of Orlando and me.
‘You’re going to be in Mayfield,’ Charlie mentioned quietly. He waited with me in comfortable silence, in the quiet heart of the world’s greatest city. ‘So this isn’t goodbye,’ he added.
An hour later, Jack fell down and broke his crown. That is, he dropped to the floor dead drunk and they carried him out to his helicopter.
The party went on without him. For a while I talked art-house films with Larry King’s assistant director, the woman named Lucy Young, then I danced with Charlie before handing him over to Macy, who, now that Jack had left a big vacuum in her life, seemed to target Charlie like a scud missile.
‘I love this track!’ she cried. ‘It’s my favourite. Dance with me, Charlie. Tania doesn’t want to party any more. Come on, dance!’
My gaze followed them for a bit – him listening as she bawled above the sound of the music, smiling, keeping a steady hand round her waist. Macy was having the best time, laughing and dancing, coming on to Charlie as if he was the great man himself. I recognized from the way she moved in close and used her body that she didn’t have to work hard – seduction came naturally to her.
And all this time you’re wondering, what about Orlando and Gwen? No surprise – I hadn’t actually had the willpower not to look. In fact I’d hardly been able to tear my eyes away all night. And every time I glanced, they’d be locked in conversation – no dancing, no physical contact, nothing that I could legitimately charge him with, except that Orlando had stayed away, had not said a word to me all evening and I felt that he was deliberately giving me a hard time. Yes, he was totally punishing me.
The party finished for me at one thirty with a single picture imprinted on my brain – Gwen with her soft, fair curls, dressed in tight jeans and a close-fitting silver sequin top, using her hands to demonstrate what she was talking about, with Orlando pushed too near to her by dancers spilling over from the dance area, catching her hand to stop her from knocking another guy’s glass, listening and nodding, not letting go of her hand.
I left the boathouse straight away. Either that or make a big scene, storm across to confront Orlando and kill any chance that he and I would emerge from New York unscathed.
I was in the park alone, running without any clear idea of what I was doing or where I was going, just running.
I’d come to the area
I followed him out of the boathouse in time to see Jack’s wife climb into a car and get driven away. The driver took her north out of the park on a kind of decoy route and, so far as Charlie and I could see, there were no paparazzi on her tail.
‘It’s good to get some air.’ He took a deep breath and looked up at a clear, starlit sky. ‘We made it through to the end of the week,’ he murmured, as if he’d reached the final stage of a tough journey.
‘As in, Jack is still in one piece and Larry got the footage he needed?’
‘We got through the New York section. I won’t say it was easy.’
‘I hope they pay you plenty.’ Under the stars I realized how close I felt to Charlie. It had been this way ever since he rescued me in the park. Besides, he single-handedly shouldered the burden of keeping the Jack Kane–Natalia Linton show on the road. ‘I mean, they see you as more than just a body double.’
He gave me the trademark, knockout grin. ‘You’re sweet, Tania. I really hope you’ve got something out of all this.’ He jerked his head back towards the boathouse and the sounds of partying. Then he gazed up again at the stars. ‘Don’t you just love the night sky? I look at the stars and I get a new perspective. Whatever we’re dealing with here on planet earth, it’s good to remember we’re all just micro-dots, tiny specks of dust.’
I felt sad as I took in the crescent moon, a million stars. I thought of Vincent and his whirling, crazy vision. I thought of Orlando and me.
‘You’re going to be in Mayfield,’ Charlie mentioned quietly. He waited with me in comfortable silence, in the quiet heart of the world’s greatest city. ‘So this isn’t goodbye,’ he added.
An hour later, Jack fell down and broke his crown. That is, he dropped to the floor dead drunk and they carried him out to his helicopter.
The party went on without him. For a while I talked art-house films with Larry King’s assistant director, the woman named Lucy Young, then I danced with Charlie before handing him over to Macy, who, now that Jack had left a big vacuum in her life, seemed to target Charlie like a scud missile.
‘I love this track!’ she cried. ‘It’s my favourite. Dance with me, Charlie. Tania doesn’t want to party any more. Come on, dance!’
My gaze followed them for a bit – him listening as she bawled above the sound of the music, smiling, keeping a steady hand round her waist. Macy was having the best time, laughing and dancing, coming on to Charlie as if he was the great man himself. I recognized from the way she moved in close and used her body that she didn’t have to work hard – seduction came naturally to her.
And all this time you’re wondering, what about Orlando and Gwen? No surprise – I hadn’t actually had the willpower not to look. In fact I’d hardly been able to tear my eyes away all night. And every time I glanced, they’d be locked in conversation – no dancing, no physical contact, nothing that I could legitimately charge him with, except that Orlando had stayed away, had not said a word to me all evening and I felt that he was deliberately giving me a hard time. Yes, he was totally punishing me.
The party finished for me at one thirty with a single picture imprinted on my brain – Gwen with her soft, fair curls, dressed in tight jeans and a close-fitting silver sequin top, using her hands to demonstrate what she was talking about, with Orlando pushed too near to her by dancers spilling over from the dance area, catching her hand to stop her from knocking another guy’s glass, listening and nodding, not letting go of her hand.
I left the boathouse straight away. Either that or make a big scene, storm across to confront Orlando and kill any chance that he and I would emerge from New York unscathed.
I was in the park alone, running without any clear idea of what I was doing or where I was going, just running.
I’d come to the area
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