Chapter 7 #5
‘It sounds it,’ Will said, managing to keep a straight face, though his eyes glinted. He found the idea of Kate wearing nothing but an apron or a few strawberries extremely disturbing.
‘It’d certainly get men back into the kitchen,’ Simon said, with a suggestive leer.
‘Yes, but I don’t think what they’d be doing there would comply with food-safety standards,’ Will drawled, laughing at Kate’s discomfiture. She looked so adorable when she went all shy, blushing and squirming like a teenager.
Kate was actually relieved when Tessa started babbling on about her healthy-eating plan, diverting attention from her cleavage.
‘You should try it,’ she said to Georgie. ‘It works for people who need to put on weight too.’
‘Really!’ Fawn was shocked. ‘Why would anyone want to do that?’
‘It’s about finding the right balance,’ Tessa explained. ‘I could write you up a diet sheet, if you like,’ she said to Georgie.
‘No, thanks,’ Georgie said, looking uncomfortable.
‘Really, it would be no problem. You shouldn’t be afraid of food, you know – it’s not your enemy.’
‘I’m not afraid of food,’ Georgie said sullenly.
‘Tessa, drop it,’ Rory said threateningly.
‘I’m just trying to help. If she’d eat properly—’
‘Leave her alone. She’s all right.’
‘But she’s not all right, is she? She tried to top herself last year, for Christ’s sake! I don’t call that all right.’
There was an appalled silence as all eyes flew to Georgie, who was staring down at her plate.
‘So, Tessa,’ Kate said wildly, ‘tell me – tell me more about this reality show of yours. It sounds fantastic!’
Phoenix sent her a grateful smile from the other end of the table.
‘Yeah, will you be getting your kit off?’ Owen asked aggressively.
‘Well, we do get a bonus if we snog anyone – more for an actual shag. And since I’ll be on the women’s wing…’ she giggled, delighted that the conversation had returned to her TV show. It’s impossible to insult her, Kate thought.
‘You wouldn’t bang a girl, would you?’ Fawn asked.
‘I’d be doing it for my charity,’ Tessa said nobly.
As Fawn and Tessa prattled on, Kate glanced to the other end of the table. Georgie caught her eye and they shared a conspiratorial smile.
* * *
The next day, Maria and Franco took Kate to the village and showed her around. She returned to find Georgie and Summer on the terrace surrounded by shopping bags.
‘I’m afraid I’ve been indulging again.’ Summer waved her to a seat beside them. ‘We’ve been to a fabulous market, haven’t we, Georgie? Lots of really funky clothes and jewellery, and it’s cheap too. You two should go some time.’
‘I’d like that.’
‘I got these fabulous shoes,’ Summer was pulling their purchases out of the bags to show Kate, ‘and these earrings – they’re fun, aren’t they? And we got the cutest little dress for Georgie.’
‘Summer’s always trying to get me to wear dresses,’ Georgie told Kate ruefully.
‘Well, you should! You’re such a pretty girl. I hate to see you hiding away in those ugly sports clothes. You’ve got great legs.’
‘And fantastic arms,’ Kate said enviously.
‘It’s the drumming,’ Georgie said.
‘Well, I’d better go and pack,’ Summer said, stuffing her purchases back into their bags and getting up. ‘See you at dinner.’
When she had gone into the house, Georgie and Kate were quiet for a few moments.
‘That thing Tessa said yesterday,’ Georgie began, ‘it’s not exactly true.’
‘It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.’
‘It was sort of an accident. I didn’t mean to—’ she broke off. ‘I didn’t mean to OD,’ she began again. ‘It was in Paris. My dad had got past security and up to my hotel room. So I was… upset. I just sort of started taking those pills and couldn’t stop. You know what I mean?’
‘I’ve done that with biscuits.’ Kate smiled.
‘Well, next thing I knew I was having my stomach pumped,’ Georgie continued. ‘Will managed somehow to keep it out of the papers.’
It couldn’t have been easy keeping that quiet, Kate thought.
‘Phoenix and I took out a restraining order against Dad. If he comes near us again, he gets thrown into jail. He only has to come within ten feet of us.’ There was a glint in Georgie’s eyes as she said this, as though she wished he would. ‘How long have you known Will?’ she asked suddenly.
‘Oh, ages – he’s my brother’s best friend.’
‘He’s great, isn’t he?’
‘Yes, he’s… lovely.’
‘Do you have a boyfriend, Kate?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Oh!’ Georgie seemed a bit disappointed. ‘Will’s a great guy, though, isn’t he?’ she said finally.
‘Yes,’ Kate said, a bit bemused. ‘He is.’
* * *
That evening, as Kate began preparing dinner, Fawn breezed into the kitchen. ‘Hi, we need to talk,’ she said. ‘It’s Kate, right?’ She smiled charmingly.
‘Yes.’
‘I need to talk to you about the food because the boys are hopeless. I mean, they want us to look like this,’ she spread her arms to indicate her perfect figure, ‘and then they get pissed off if we won’t share pizza and beer with them. I mean, hello! It’s one or the other, right? Right?’
Kate looked at her, saying nothing. ‘What do you want to eat?’ she asked finally.
‘What I’d really love is some plain poached fish and steamed broccoli. Okay?’
Tessa was hot on her heels. ‘I can have some carbs today,’ she announced to Kate, as she entered the kitchen, waving a copy of her book.
She was in a chirpy mood, having found herself featured in a magazine article about stars who were too thin.
She presented Kate with the book, showing her what stage of the eating plan she was on and leaving Kate to work out what she could have for dinner.
Tessa’s eating plan was a complex colour-coded maze of cycles and zones, but no matter how carefully Kate studied it, poring over the charts and diagrams, she couldn’t make head nor tail of it.
She was almost in tears of frustration when Will popped his head in.
‘Everything okay?’ Kate was punching numbers into a calculator. ‘Kate, what on earth are you doing?’
‘I wish I knew,’ she said, miserably.
‘What’s the problem?’
‘This.’ Kate held up the book so he could see the cover. Colour Me Slim! it shouted, in a fluorescent rainbow, while Tessa grinned from the centre of a colour wheel.
Will was still puzzled.
‘It’s Tessa’s book,’ Kate explained. ‘I’m trying to work out what she’s supposed to eat.
She’s on day four of the sixth cycle, which means she’s in this purple zone here.
’ She jabbed at a chart. ‘Purple means she can have foods from the blue group and the red group – because that’s what makes purple.
But you have to work out the right percentages, and then there’s something about complementary colours.
I think you’d need a degree in calculus to get this right – and you know how bad I am at maths. ’
Will smiled sympathetically. ‘Okay, show me the book.’ He held out his hand and Kate plopped it in his palm. He turned a couple of pages, scanning them.
‘Okay,’ he said decisively.
‘You’ve got it?’ Kate asked, awed. She couldn’t believe he’d worked it out so quickly – he must think she was the most awful dolt! And, really, if Tessa had come up with it, how difficult could it be?
‘Yes. Here’s what you do,’ he said, shutting the book with one hand and eyeballing Kate to make sure she was paying attention. Then he drew back his arm and flung the book out of the open window.
There was a yelp from the garden as the book clocked Owen and he stood up, rubbing his head.
‘Sorry!’ Will called, waving through the window.
Owen picked up the missile from the ground. On seeing what had hit him, he gave Will a grinning thumbs-up, then stomped off to find a cow pat in which to bury it.
‘Okay,’ Will said, rubbing his hands, ‘any other problems?’
‘Er… no. Thanks.’ Kate thought it was probably best not to mention that the blender was on the blink. It was a bit wonky, but still usable, and she didn’t want it chucked out of the window.
‘Kate,’ Will said, putting his hands on her shoulders, ‘you’re here to work for me, not Tessa. You don’t have to take orders from her. She’s only here on sufferance anyway. Tell her she’s welcome to use the kitchen herself if she wants something different.’
‘Okay.’ Kate was thinking maybe she could retrieve the book when Will wasn’t looking and have another bash. She didn’t fancy having to tell Tessa to make her own dinner.
‘Okay, I’ll tell her.’ Will had sensed her anxiety at the thought of confronting Tessa. ‘Believe me, it’ll be a pleasure.’
Kate smiled, relieved.
‘I’m beginning to regret letting her come. Still, at least she’ll be safely behind bars for the rest of the summer.’
‘I wouldn’t count on it,’ Kate warned. ‘She’ll probably be the first to get voted off. The public can’t stand her.’
‘Oh, it won’t be up to them if Owen has anything to do with it,’ Will said mysteriously, as he left the kitchen.