Chapter 56
FIFTY-SIX
Gracie felt like she was on the set of Pretty Woman as she entered the five-star central London hotel. The concierge took her up in the lift to the penthouse suite at the top of the building and let her in.
‘Mr Grant will be with you in thirty minutes. He said to help yourself to anything you require while you’re waiting for him.’ He smiled as Gracie’s jaw dropped at the room in front of her before heading back down the corridor.
Left alone, Gracie walked around the penthouse apartment. This really was how the other half lived. It was four times bigger than the flat she had shared with Lewis, full of sumptuous antiques and beautiful fresh flowers. The whole place oozed opulence. She went into the bathroom and gasped at the sunken marble bath. It was surrounded by speakers and two of the softest, whitest bath robes she had ever seen hung up to the side of the mirrored walls.
She checked herself out. She had thought plain was the best way forward, so she had chosen a black shift dress with a white collar and black, high strappy sandals. Her eyes were smoky and her lipstick bright red. Her St Lucia tan accentuated her green eyes and Noms had blow dried her hair so that it was sleek and straight to her shoulders.
She tried not to think about the text Lewis had just sent her, explaining that he hadn’t seen or heard from Annalize since the night they’d had sex. Gracie was trying very hard to put the whole thing out of her mind. She hoped that seeing Leo would be a sufficient distraction – much better than waiting at home, worrying and seething until she could face talking to Lewis properly.
Looking at herself now, she realised that she wasn’t even nervous. This wasn’t ‘a date’. She was by no means Leo Grant girlfriend material. Even the thought of having a casual sexual encounter – whether with a film star or anyone else – wasn’t something she could cope with on top of everything else.
She hadn’t given Ed much thought since the Cornish fiasco. She cared for him, but not enough to care that he hadn’t followed her home. She wasn’t angry; she hadn’t even cried. She obviously didn’t love him. She liked him, but it would be easy to say goodbye and she was sure that would be the outcome when they next met. A meeting yet to be arranged. And today, the shock of the Annalize ‘babygate’ situation had driven out most thoughts of anything else on the planet. Noms had been right, she needed to take her mind away from all that and throw herself into the fantasy world of a Hollywood actor.
She walked through to the bedroom and smiled at the size of the round bed in the centre. It was adorned in cream silk sheets and covered in sumptuous cushions to match the decor. There was a double bath at the end of the bed and French windows that opened to a magnificent view of the whole of the city.
Catapulting herself backwards on the bed she lifted her legs in the air and waggled them. Her laughter was matched by Leo’s as he appeared in the doorway.
‘Gee, my natural woman, that is quite a welcome.’
Gracie jumped up blushing. ‘Shit! I’m sorry.’
Leo mimicked her English accent. ‘Shit! I’m not.’
Gracie flattened down her dress. ‘I thought you’d be longer.’
‘Can I get you a glass of champagne?’
‘That would be lovely, thank you.’
Gracie took in the actor’s appearance. He was wearing dark denim designer jeans, hand-stitched dark brown shoes and a crisp white shirt. His hair was cut neatly and his skin looked like an ironed peach. He looked much younger than his forty years. He looked edible.
‘As it’s such a nice evening I thought we could sit out on the terrace, have a few canapés, have a chat and then Kingston can set the table for dinner. Sound like a plan to you?’ Leo raised his eyebrows.
‘That sounds like an amazing plan to me.’ Gracie smiled, suddenly feeling shy.
‘It’s easier to eat in sometimes, what with the paps and everything.’
‘And the fact you have a girlfriend,’ Gracie added.
‘You look great, Grace. A tan suits you. And as for the girlfriend, she’s traded me in for two twenty-year-olds. But that’s life, eh.’
Gracie’s lips downturned. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Are you really?’ Leo smirked.
Gracie nodded. ‘As mad as it may seem to a man of your calibre, I can assure you the last thing I want is another one to complicate my life.’
The sun shone as they downed their champagne. After two glasses Gracie felt quite heady.
She fanned her face with her hand. ‘That’s hit the spot.’
‘Good.’ He rang a bell and Kingston appeared with a delicious plate of canapés.
Gracie ate a couple, tipped her head back and shut her eyes. ‘These are amazing!’
‘So how are you, Grace? Not so good from your previous comment, I assume. But I have to say I’ve thought a lot about you since St Lucia.’
Gracie blushed. ‘And me, you actually.’
‘Really?’ Leo smiled. Gracie bit her lip and nodded. ‘And you were so kind to let me see Jack. I will never forget that. It made me realise that actions speak louder than words or money. I can be a shallow bastard sometimes.’
‘I think we probably all can.’ Gracie reached for a canapé.
‘Being so privileged, it’s bloody hard to keep your feet on the ground. But forget all the women, fame and this—’ He panned his arm behind him. ‘The most important thing to me now is meeting Jack and trying to be a good father to him, not just financially but emotionally. Do you think your sister will ever let me in?’
‘I think she’s just worried what it will mean for Jack if word gets out that you’re his father. With the kids at school and all that sort of thing.’
Leo grinned. ‘If I was a five-year-old kid I’d think it was really cool.’
‘Maybe, but I understand Noms’s way of thinking, too.’
‘I see where she’s coming from. But maybe she could introduce me as a friend and I could get to know him? I could call myself something else. I guess he hasn’t seen any of my films?’
‘No, but your face is all over the place at the moment, now that Working it Out has hit Netflix, so I’m sure he’d pick up on it.’
‘Will you talk to her for me, Grace, please? My intentions are only good, you know that.’
He poured her another glass of champagne and pressed the bell again.
‘You ready for dinner?’
She took a sip of champagne. ‘Yes, I’d better soak this up with something substantial.’
‘I took the liberty of choosing a tasting menu, so hopefully there’s something on there you will like.’
‘That’s just perfect, I eat everything but aubergine and my words.’
‘You’re cute, Grace. Real cute.’
There was a different wine with each course and by the third one Gracie was feeling really quite drunk.
‘I must drink more water.’ She guzzled down a glass of sparkling in one go. ‘And I should slow down. I’ll be talking nonsense – well, less sense than usual anyway.’
‘You should really stop doing that.’ Leo was serious.
‘What?’ Gracie hiccupped.
‘Putting yourself down.’ Leo took her hand. ‘I’d rather spend a whole evening with you than ten minutes with some of the shallow fame-hungry women who throw themselves at my feet. You’re great, Grace. Never forget that.’
She could feel herself blushing. ‘That’s so sweet.’
‘I mean it. And please don’t think I wanted to see you just to chew your ear about seeing Jack. I wanted your company. Naomi said you’d had some more bad news. Do you want to talk about it?’
Gracie shook her head. ‘I don’t want to ruin the night.’
‘There she blows again. I want you to talk to me. It’s not all about champagne and roses, Grace. Real life quite often stinks. I’m a big boy; I can take it.’
Leo reached for this phone and Aretha Franklin’s beautiful tones began piping out of the speakers as a complement to Gracie’s tale of woe.
Gracie bit her lip. ‘I’m going to say it quickly for fear of crying.’
‘Cry me a river if you like, honey child.’ Leo squeezed her hand and Gracie laughed.
‘There you go again, Mr Original.’ She sipped the dessert wine that Kingston the butler had just put in front of her. ‘I told you about the twins and the hysterectomy. And my boyfriend Lewis cheating on me after saying that he didn’t find me attractive anymore.’
Leo exhaled and nodded. ‘Harsh, but yes.’
‘This week, I thought maybe I would meet Lewis again, because part of me does miss him.’
Leo raised his eyebrows and turned his head to the side, not quite understanding why she would want to see her ex. He nodded again.
‘While I was with him in a coffee shop the girl he had sex with that night walked in. And she was pregnant. About four months pregnant. Which would be perfect timing to make it Lewis’s baby.’
‘Whoa, that’s big shit, man.’
‘I know. Even if it’s not Lewis’s, I still feel bitter and twisted. What gives her the right to have children and not me? It’s just not fair.’
‘You can’t be mad at everyone in the world who gets pregnant, Grace. You’d be mad forever.’
‘I know that. I love it if people I care about are pregnant – it means more lovely babies to squeeze and smell. It’s because it’s her .’
‘What does Lewis say?’
‘We’ve only texted. I can’t speak to him. I always run when I have to face confrontation. He assures me he hasn’t seen or heard from her since. I’m going to meet him tomorrow.’
‘Do you want to know if it is his or not?’
‘I have to know or I would wonder forever.’ Gracie sighed.
Leo looked thoughtful. ‘Like Jack would about his dad.’
‘Oh, Leo, when you put it like that… I will talk to Noms tomorrow, I promise.’
Aretha Franklin’s beautiful voice sang out ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. Leo guided Gracie out of her chair, held her close and began to dance with her, cheek to cheek.
‘Sing it to me, Grace.’
Gracie, fuelled with champagne and wine, started to recite the lyrics, then pulled away, dancing animatedly from room to room.
Leo followed her to the bathroom where she missed a step, nearly falling headlong into the sunken bath. He caught her and swept her up in his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder.
‘You, my little lady, are a little bit drunk.’ He carried her through to the bedroom, laid her gently on the bed and within minutes she was asleep. He kissed her gently on the cheek, got Kingston to bring some extra bedding, put a pillow under her head and looked down at her tenderly.
‘And you, my little lady, I could watch dance like nobody’s watching, forever.’