Unlucky Break by Kate Forster Page A

to justify weakly, as Andie stood in shock in the doorway to the bedroom.
    The last thing Andie had ever said to them as she left his room had been cruel, but it was true and she wanted them both to know it. ‘Marissa eats veal.’
    The look on Cameron’s face was almost worth the pain of seeing them together. Andie would never forgive her friend, ever. Marissa had emailed her since, dozens of emails, but Andie had deleted them without reading them.
    ‘Sorry,’ said James, and Andie realised she’d been silent for a while. ‘You probably don’t want to talk about it.’ James smiled a smile of sad recognition. A spark flew up Andie’s arm and set off fireworks in her stomach.
    ‘So you’re heartbroken and I’m leg-broken. Maybe we can mend each other then, hey?’ he laughed and Andie smiled a wobbly smile, taking a deep breath to calm herself.
    ‘Sounds like a plan,’ she said, wishing for the thousandth time in the last twenty-four hours that everything had turned out differently.
    After giving her a general tour of the house, James showed her to her room, or rooms, actually. She had a separate lounge area and a walk-in wardrobe off the bedroom, as well as an ensuite. Her bedroom had a view across to the Hollywood sign.
    James’s room was on the other side of the house, but there was an intercom system he could use to call her on if he needed her while they were home.
    Then James handed her a mobile phone. ‘My manager and agent will call you on this to schedule things for me. Nikki doesn’t have this number but she’ll get it somehow. She’s like a phone-number-seeking missile,’ he said, and Andie saw tension in his jaw.
    ‘Okay,’ said Andie, thinking of the heel mark left on her stomach after Nikki had kicked her into the pool. There was no way Andie was letting her get to James. Andie may have broken his foot and not owned it but she was here now, making things right.
    James left her to settle in to her bedroom. ‘I have a list of things that I’ll need done but I’ll give them to you in the morning,’ he said.
    Andie rang Marta and asked her to pack up her things and send them over to James’s place. A bag arrived an hour later and she unpacked in her new bedroom. It was evening by then, and she left her room in search of James. She found him on the leather sofa again, ordering Japanese for them both.
    ‘You a vegetarian or anything?’ he asked.
    She shook her head.
    ‘Good,’ he said and put through an order for things she had never heard of.
    ‘Shouldn’t I be doing that for you?’ she asked, when he’d hung up.
    ‘What? Ordering Japanese?’ he said. ‘I don’t know – do you know the head chef at Nobu?’
    ‘No-bu. Do you?’ she said. He looked at her blankly and she blushed. ‘Sorry, lame joke.’
    ‘Are you making fun of the lame?’ he asked, his face serious. ‘’Cause I’m currently in that corner.’
    ‘God, sorry, no,’ stammered Andie, horrified. Why was she so tongue-tied and nervous? She cursed herself.
    James laughed. ‘I’m messing with you! Although you’re right – the No-bu joke was terrible.’
    Andie laughed with relief. ‘Yeah, not my best material,’ she said, shaking her head.
    ‘So, I’ve ordered the dinner – you can get the door when it arrives,’ he said. ‘Deal?’
    Andie nodded. ‘Can I get you a drink or something?’ she asked, desperate for a task so she could stop being so nervous.
    ‘Sure, a clear soda? They’re in the cooler in the butler’s pantry,’ he said. ‘Grab something for yourself too.’
    Andie nodded. What kind of flavour was clear? And what the hell was a butler’s pantry? She walked towards the kitchen, hoping it would become apparent. It turned out that a butler’s pantry was a small, but fully equipped kitchen between the actual, open plan kitchen and the dining room. This must be where they hide the mess when he has a dinner party, Andie thought. She grabbed two cans from the fridge – there was only