Epilogue
Kat:Nearly at yours – satnav says ten minutes.
I took one final look in the mirror and reapplied my lipstick. Shoes, earrings, bag and phone and I was good to go. Cats was back on in the West End and we’d managed to wangle tickets for opening night. The make-up team were recruiting and I wanted to familiarise myself with the production before I went in to meet them. We were sitting in the third row of the stalls, so I could study all the cats up close. Skimbleshanks, Macavity, Grizabella – and the rest – and I couldn’t wait. Since I’d got back from Tuscany, the jobs had been few and far between. A week here, a couple of days there. Phoebe was feeding me opportunities, but they always seemed to be short term, and this fly-by-night way of working didn’t work for me. I needed a stable home. A team I could settle into and really get to know.
The oven timer bleeped and I raced into the kitchen, popping my fairy cakes on a cooling rack to chill while I was out. I’d top them with buttercream and sprinkles in the morning and take them over to Mum and Dad’s for Sunday lunch. Chris was joining us too this week; family meetups were now a regular thing and tomorrow he was bringing his new girlfriend. Phoebe. Unbeknownst to me, they’d taken a shine to each other when she’d swung by my flat enroute to Venice and had been casually dating ever since. They were totally into each other and if there was ever a woman to snap Chris out of his quarter-life crisis, it was Phoebe.
FaceTime started bleeping and ‘TONY’ flashed up on the screen. My stomach flipped, like it always did at the thought of seeing his face, and I put my best smile on..
‘Morning, beautiful!’ he said, his Californian pep zinging off the screen. Smiling from ear to ear, his face luminous with just-shaved freshness. Already up and on the move, in a shirt and tie, on his way to make things happen.
‘Hey, handsome. It’s nearly evening here,’ I replied, looking out at the grey March sky as it started to drizzle. The streetlights were already on and I was wearing three layers to make sure I stayed warm once I left the central heating. ‘Are you in a cab? Where are you off to? Another day of LA glamour?’
‘Not quite, but it’s somewhere exciting,’ Tony replied. ‘But first things first – did you watch it?’
‘I certainly did,’ I said, with a chuckle. ‘Blake Thomas falling off his final horse.’
‘An excellent metaphor for his career, I’d say. Finally, I can start watching Outlaws again,’ Tony said. ‘I’ve been swerving it for the past few months. I couldn’t stand his smug face on my screen, howdy-ing around.’
‘The death scene was fun to watch though and as Blake said himself, Karma’s a bitch.’
‘That was certainly one way to find out,’ Tony said, with a laugh. ‘Anyway, enough about him. I’ve got a surprise for you.’
‘Have you indeed? Well, better make it quick – Kat is on her way to pick me up for dinner, and we’re meeting Sara at the theatre.’ I stepped into my stripy heels and scanned the bedroom for my gold hoops, walking and talking as I spotted them on the side. ‘I’ll just put you down a second,’ I said, throwing my phone on the bed while I put my earrings in and grabbed my handbag.
‘I met Gem and her girlfriend for dinner on Saturday, as you know,’ Tony shouted up at the ceiling.
‘Mm-hmm.’ I flicked a couple of lamps on to put off any would-be burglars, as the front door buzzer went downstairs.
‘I couldn’t say anything before, as she needed to double-check a few details, but she’s just called with the good news.’
‘Yesss…? Spit it out, Kat’s downstairs,’ I said, picking the phone back up and peering into the screen.
‘Are you ready?’
‘You’ve got me for ten more seconds before I jump in a cab.’ I scanned the flat as the front door buzzed again. ‘Hang on a sec,’ I said, picking up the intercom. ‘I’m coming!’ I shouted and immediately hung up.
‘This isn’t really the sort of announcement I should rush,’ Tony said, as I slammed my flat door shut and ran downstairs. I could hear the buzzer going again – what was the matter with her? She wasn’t usually this stressy. The cabbie must be complaining about waiting. I passed Ned on the stairs, holding a Chinese takeaway.
‘Evening,’ I said, as I flew by.
‘Evening. Off somewhere nice, are you?’ he asked, looking my yellow jumpsuit up and down. I nodded mysteriously and pointed to my phone.
‘Gem has a job opening on her team for the new James Bond film and wondered if you might be interested?’
I stopped on the first-floor landing and stared at Tony’s face. Ned’s sweet and sour pork wafting in the air. I started to reply, then stopped. I couldn’t take the words in. Had I heard him right?
‘What?!’ I had no other words.
‘I know. Pretty cool, huh?’
‘That would be unbelievably amazingly cool! Does she really need someone?’
‘She really does.’
‘And she really wants that person to be me?’ This was a dream come true.
‘Correct again.’
My mind went into overdrive. A job working with Gem on something as incredible as a James Bond film. Although I’d have to explain to the lady at Cats and get Phoebe to negotiate the contract, and fly to wherever Gem needed me to be and… I needed a list. ‘Where is it being filmed?’
‘Well, that’s the thing. She wouldn’t tell me. It’s all top secret. On a need-to-know basis until the last minute.’
‘Do I not count as “need-to-know” to accept the job?’ I asked, confused. They could be filming in the middle of the Sahara Desert for all I knew, or on the International Space Station. I wasn’t sure I fancied that – no matter how fantastic an experience it might be.
‘She has different teams working in different countries to cover the time zones and the filming schedule, so she suggested you join the LA team to start with and do the make-up for the studio scenes. She just wanted to float the idea by me in principle first.’
This was the most excited I’d been in months. I carried on walking down the stairs. Kat would be spitting feathers in the cab. I couldn’t keep her waiting much longer.
‘Meaning I’d need to move to LA?’ I said, suddenly shy.
‘I’m afraid so.’
‘And how would you feel about that?’ I asked, holding my breath for the answer, as he paused. How did I feel about that? I felt very bloody excited. I felt like turning around, running back upstairs, and packing my bags. I was ready to start following my heart again. No more sitting tight, surrounded by a safety net. I pulled the enormous front door open to my building and waited for his answer, scared to death he might not want me living on his doorstep, only to find him standing there on mine. My lovely Tony, stood tall and handsome on the porch, sheltering from the drizzle in the doorway and holding out a red rose.
‘I’d love it,’ he said, into his phone and to my face at the same time.
I screamed and jumped into his arms, kissing him all over his face, then pulled back to check it really was him and I wasn’t having some kind of hallucination. It really was. I screamed again and kissed him again, and he laughed. ‘Was that you buzzin’ on my buzzer?’
‘Guilty as charged, ma’am,’ he said, bashfully.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘I wanted to deliver the good news in person, and it’s been WEEKS since we saw each other.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘It’s been eight days and you know it,’ I said, smiling happily.
‘Eight days is nearly two weeks.’
‘You couldn’t wait for Italy, huh?’ Holly was due any day now, with Mia not far behind, and we’d planned to meet in San Gimignano as soon as we got the call, to visit the babies together.
‘It’s been too long. I missed you. And Nero misses you. So I’m here to represent the two of us in asking if you’d consider moving in with us in LA for a little while, to check out the Californian lifestyle and see if you like it.’
‘Really?’ I asked, softly, overwhelmed with joy.
‘Really,’ he said, handing me the rose. ‘It was mainly Nero’s idea.’ He pulled an envelope out of his pocket with my name scrawled on the front.
‘What’s this?’
Tony shrugged. ‘I’ve no idea. I’m just the messenger.’
I put the rose between my teeth and ripped it open, to find a photo of me and Nero running along the beach, both grinning happily into the camera. As much as a dog can grin.
‘Date two in LA,’ I said, turning it over. The back was covered in paw prints, apart from a few almost illegible words:
Woof, Abi, woof,
It’s me, Nero, woof, woof.
Come and live with us in LA, lick.
We love you, snuffle.
Nero xxx
I’d been out to visit Tony and Nero three times in the past six months, and it had been like stepping into a completely different world. Tony’s place was a mansion in comparison to mine, with a beautiful infinity pool and remote-controlled blinds. His shiny red Chevrolet would make Paolo’s Uno weep if they were ever to meet, and it was film-star-tastic cruising along Rodeo Drive with the roof down and Nero on my lap. Living the full-on American dream. My heart gave a little dance at the thought of the three of us living together.
‘Now why would I want to move to LA, when I’ve got all this?’ I said, waving my arms around at the drizzle, which was morphing into full-on rain.
‘Is that one of your British jokes?’ Tony asked, cuddling into me to try and stay dry as a black cab careered around the corner and flashed its lights. Kat.
‘Do you want to come to dinner?’ I asked. I couldn’t leave him in the flat on his own.
Tony grinned. ‘Sara has already added me to the table.’
‘Has she?! So much underhandedness going on behind my back.’
‘I wanted it to be a surprise!’ he said, looking at me with his dreamy blue eyes. ‘So, what do you think? Just, you know, so I can pass on the message…’
It had been one surprise after another since I’d met Tony. Living life as an adventure again, instead of a to-do list. Margot’s voice ran fleetingly through my mind. If it doesn’t work out, ‘then you simply… fly back.’ The idea of moving to LA, exploring whatever this was with Tony, working with Gem and seeing Nero again was everything I could possibly have dreamt of and more. My life had transformed so dramatically in the last twelve months, I almost didn’t recognise myself. I leant in and kissed Tony again, content and safe in his arms. He and Nero were exactly the kind of team I could settle into. He looked at me expectantly, waiting for my answer.
‘What do I think?’ I smiled and tapped my necklace, feeling happy in my heart. ‘I think it’s a very easy decision.’ And it was. Tony was the home I’d been looking for.
‘Meaning it’s a yes?’ he asked, searching my face, for a clue.
‘It’s all the yeses.’ I said, throwing my arms around him. ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES!’