His Irresistible Darling - Sarah Randall Page 0,101
and dialed. He answered after a couple of rings.
“It’s me. Guess what?”
“Erm, I’ll go with… you’ve decided to become a nun and you want me to design a totally bodacious habit for you?”
“Alix honey, people don’t say bodacious anymore. You’re showing your age.”
She heard him suck in a breath in disgust. “You take that back or else I’ll make you look like Miss Bloody Piggy, or worse.”
“Amanda just called.” She let the statement just hang in the air teasingly until she heard his sharp intake of breath as he connected the dots.
“You got it didn’t you, you bloody well got it. I knew it, tell me you got it.”
“I got it.” She held the phone away from her ear as he screamed and eventually decided to join in, tapping her feet on the floor in delight.
Eventually they ran out of air.
“Oh pumpkin, I am so proud of you. God I can’t believe my girl is going to be the face of Passion. Wow, just…ha, do you remember when we used to flick through all those fashion magazines at school. You always loved those moody arty black and white Passion adverts and look at you now. Well done babe, I’m so proud.”
She swallowed the lump which had formed in her throat at his praise. He was genuinely proud of her achievement. She could always count on Alix. She could only count on Alix, she quickly amended. “We’ve done all right haven’t we. It’s everything, all my dreams come true, but now I’m scared Alix. What if I mess it all up? Three years is a long time and they’ll have huge expectations. They’ll want their pound of flesh. Skinny flesh,” she emphasised.
“Nonsense, you won’t mess it up, you’ve got me. I won’t let you. New York baby!!” Alix went off screaming again and muttering about all the plans he had for them in New York while she half listened, knowing Alix could entertain himself for quite a while without needing her input or encouragement. Talking with Alix always soothed her. She reclined her chair on the private Gulf Stream jet, closing her eyes. She hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last few nights and spent most of the time tossing and turning waiting to hear from her agent. She’d taken a sleeping pill earlier in the day in the hope that it would help her get some sleep on the plane, then the call had come through.
“So did you manage to pack some clothes for me?” she asked, stifling a yawn.
“Yep, got ‘em. So what exactly happened in Italy? You sound like you’ve been partying too hard babe.”
She decided to ignore his quip about partying. Telling Alix she wasn’t sleeping would only lead to an inquisition and she wasn’t ready for that. “A complete nightmare. Take one over-emotional photographer and an equally stroppy designer having artistic differences into the mix and what do you get? Both of them storming off the shoot in different directions leaving me shivering in the middle of a bloody fountain in a bikini wondering what the hell just happened, and having to wait around ‘till they kissed and made up. Honestly these dramatics are turning into an occupational hazard in Italy. So what time’s your flight?”
She could hear the background commotion and sounds of his fellow disgruntled passengers. “Er, well, it’s saying on the board that it’s delayed at the moment. It’s a good thing you could arrange to fly straight there from Rome rather than trying to come back to London first. I don’t think anything is landing or taking off from Heathrow at the moment.”
“Hmm, well, okay. Will you let me know when you know more?”
“Will do. So, have you spoken to her yet?”
She let out a long breath before responding. “What’s the point? I’ll just get Angela. I speak more to my mother’s assistant than I do her. Anyway she’ll be out at some LA premier and then I’d be sat waiting for her call; which we both know won’t come so…” she shrugged her shoulders.
“Don’t you dare let her spoil this for you.’ She’s not worth it. But I know you’ll call her anyway, won’t you?”
“Probably.” She could see him rolling his eyes at her and shaking his head.
He groaned out loud before continuing sheepishly. “It goes without saying that I’ll owe you big time for doing this for me, I—”
“Alix, you’re my rock. I’ve lost count of the times you’ve been there for me so don’t you dare say thank you