He's the One (18 page)

Brooke took a deep breath. She just had to know the answer to the next question, even if the truth hurt. ‘So, she didn’t blow you? Because that’s what she said happened. Oh, and apparently you told her that she was the best you’d ever had.’

‘No fucking way! Is that what she’s been telling you? She’s such a skanky slut! I wouldn’t want her anywhere near me. That girl’s bat-shit crazy to come up with that lie.’

Was he protesting too much? Brooke didn’t know.

‘Brooke honey, I swear I haven’t cheated on you.’ He gazed at her and she could feel her resistance weakening. It would be just like Taylor to make something up. She was such a devious bitch and Brooke knew how insanely jealous she was. Okay, maybe she should take Christian’s word for it. She reached towards her bag and pulled out a black jewellery box.

‘Happy birthday. I’m sorry it’s two days late.’ She had agonised over what to buy him and in the end had gone for a silver dog tag necklace with two tags. She had been planning to get her name engraved on one and his on the other, but she didn’t know if she still wanted to. However, as soon as Christian opened the present he said, ‘Wow, babe, that’s awesome.’ He slipped it over his head. ‘I’ll have to get your name engraved on one of these.’

Hah! She’d like to see Taylor’s face when she heard about that …

Christian seemed to sense that he was being let off the hook and went in for a kiss, gently pulling Brooke back on the bed with him. Kissing was good, she reflected as she felt his lips on hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth, and she got caught up in kissing him back for a few minutes, then remembered that kissing was as far as it was going to go. Today, anyway. He hadn’t done quite enough to win her over yet …

‘Love the outfit,’ he murmured, sliding his hands along her thighs and under the flimsy fabric of her skirt.

Instantly she squeezed her legs together. Christian stopped kissing her. ‘I want you, Brooke. You’re so sexy. I’m hot for you.’

Hmm, he didn’t say that he loved her, or that she was beautiful. It was all a bit, well, unromantic. Hardly something that Romeo would have said to his Juliet. Brooke wanted to be wooed, to be made to feel that she was special.

But Christian had other ideas. He grabbed her hand and placed it on his now bulging crotch. ‘How about giving me my other birthday present? I’m hard for you, baby.’

That did it! She pulled his hand away and sat up.
‘
Seriously?
“I’m hard for you, baby!” You sound like the script from a porno movie!’ she exclaimed, furious with how little effort he was putting in to winning her over, and once again not trusting him about Taylor.

‘Well, Jesus Christ, we have been seeing each other nearly three weeks, I do have needs! I don’t know why you’re being so frigid. I know you had sex with Mason, he told me all about it, so it’s not like you’re a virgin or anything! In fact, he led me to believe that you were quite the expert. It was one of the things that attracted me to you.’

At that she leaped off the bed. This was the icing on the fucking cupcake! ‘Where are you going?’ Christian demanded. And when she didn’t answer but headed for the door, he added, ‘Oh, gotta get home to Mommy like a good little girl? Maybe I should get someone else to play with. Someone who isn’t such a major tease.’

She shot him the middle finger as she ran out of the room, bitterly disappointed and hurt that she had ever been involved with him.

Chapter 21

Liberty

Liberty flipped open the jewellery box and looked at the glittering diamond necklace, her twelfth wedding anniversary present from Zac, which he’d given her this morning. He would expect her to wear it tonight for dinner. The dinner that was all about them pretending to be a happily married couple. Knowing Zac, he would have laid on the most expensive champagne, ordered a ’specially made cake from the restaurant with their names on it, circled by a love heart, which the waiter would bring out with a flourish. Zac would want to be the centre of attention with all the other diners gazing at them, admiring them, being jealous of them.

She picked up the necklace and held it to her throat. It was a beautiful piece that showed off her slender neck, but she couldn’t wear it. The necklace was just another lie. ‘I don’t want to be married to you any more,’ she whispered to her reflection in the mirror. The words that she had been rehearsing in her head over and over and over. Tonight, she was finally going to say them. She had to come out with her declaration
in a public place. It wasn’t that she thought that Zac would hurt her or anything like that, he never had before, but he had a vile temper.

On her way out she found Brooke sitting by the pool, hugging her knees, with ever-loyal Ozzy curled up at her feet. Her daughter was staring moodily at the view and barely glanced at Liberty as she approached.

‘I’ve phoned Kelly’s mom and she says you’re welcome to stay over there tonight. I could give you a lift?’

‘No, thanks. I’ll drive myself.’

Again Liberty felt a pang at how distant her daughter was being with her. She had found Brooke sobbing in her bedroom earlier, but she’d refused to say what the matter was. Something to do with Christian, no doubt. Liberty had longed to put her arms round her daughter and comfort her. It had been so easy when she was a little girl, but now Brooke looked as if comfort from her mother was absolutely the last thing she wanted.

‘Anyway, I thought I was supposed to be grounded,’ Brooke muttered.

‘Honey, I know you’re still mad at me about missing Christian’s party, but please, can’t we put it behind us now? Go and see Kelly tonight, and maybe tomorrow you could ask Christian over for supper. I feel that I hardly know him.’

Brooke glared at her. ‘FYI we had a massive row, all because you didn’t let me go to his party. Happy now?’

‘Of course I’m not! I’m sorry. Really I am. I don’t want you to be upset.’

But Brooke had picked up her phone and was busy texting, her way of saying, Don’t talk to me any more.

‘Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.’ Liberty blew her daughter a kiss, knowing that she wouldn’t want a hug.

‘’Bye,’ Brooke muttered. ‘Oh, yeah, happy anniversary.’

The traffic was terrible and Liberty was running late as she pulled up outside the restaurant. Immediately a valet came over to open the door for her and park her car. Once inside the restaurant, Giorgio the owner made a fuss of welcoming her, taking her jacket and telling her how wonderful it was to see her again. She and Zac always received the star treatment here. It was Zac’s favourite restaurant and he’d been coming for years. He liked to think that he was in an Italian Mob film, like
Goodfellas
. Liberty used to think it was sweet. Now, like so many other things about him, she found it intensely annoying.

As she was shown over to Zac’s table she was aware of other diners looking at her – discreetly of course, no one outright stared in such an exclusive restaurant as this. To stare would have been an admission that maybe you weren’t as famous as the person walking by. The attention was something she had never really grown used to, and it was not something that she relished. She loved acting and performing, that was everything to her. But she hated the constant scrutiny of the press, picking over her personal life and constantly analysing her appearance. Had she put on a few pounds, lost a few pounds? Had she had any work done? When she first moved to LA as an inexperienced twenty-two-year-old actress, she had naively read all the stories written about her, and had felt crushed by a negative piece or a bad photograph. And all the good stories never seemed to outweigh the damage done by the negative ones. By the time she turned twenty-five she had stopped reading them. And she absolutely refused to Google herself. She didn’t read reviews any more either.

Zac was sitting at his favourite table. Typically he was working, frantically emailing from his iPad. He glanced up as the waiter pulled the chair out for Liberty and she sat down.

‘I’ll be with you in one minute, I promise.’ He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips, then returned his attention to the screen.

The waiter poured her out a glass of champagne, and she took a long sip. So here she was, at her twelfth wedding anniversary, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to get out of this marriage. She could not imagine carrying on this relationship a second longer, papering over the cracks, pretending, always pretending.

Zac finally sent off his email and looked up at her.

‘Sorry, there’s a problem with one of the scripts. Ten writers and they still can’t get it right.’ He shook his head as if marvelling at their incompetence. ‘Hey, why aren’t you wearing the necklace? Don’t you like it?’

‘Of course, it’s exquisite, I just wanted to wear this.’ She touched the silver dragonfly necklace that she’d had for years. It had been a present from Cory. She hadn’t worn it for ages, but somehow it had felt right to wear it tonight. It gave her a feeling of strength, reminded her that she was still the person she had been all those years ago.

Zac didn’t look impressed by her choice. ‘It’s not exactly a statement piece, is it? It’s a little bit dippy hippy bohemian. The diamond necklace would have looked better.’

Better to show off what a generous husband she had.

‘So shall we order? I’m starving.’ He held up his hand to summon the waiter. Zac always had exactly the same thing here – the Carpaccio and Risotto Nero.
Liberty had no appetite at all and ordered a Caesar salad. She was playing for time.

‘Aren’t you hungry?’ he commented. Even after nearly fourteen years together he always noticed what she did or didn’t eat.

‘Not especially.’

‘You could do with putting on a little more weight; you’re beginning to look a little gaunt in the face. It can be ageing. Or you could go and see someone about getting some fillers. Greta –’ he named another actress – ‘has just had some done. She looks fantastic. Glowing. At least five, maybe even ten years younger.’

He didn’t wait for Liberty’s reply as he continued, ‘So we’re going to start filming in a month’s time. I think it will be your best role yet – it’s perfect for you. It should be, of course, I created it for you.’

Okay, she’d thought her declaration would come later, but it had to be now.

‘Actually, Zac, I’m not sure if I want to do it.’

‘What do you mean? What’s not to like about it?’

‘I should have been clearer. I don’t want to do it. In fact, I’m not going to do it.’

She had his full attention now.

‘You can’t just drop this on me! You’ve had a bad couple of weeks with Brooke, it’s affected you, I can see that now. You probably need a break …’

‘It’s more than that. I know this seems like the worst possible timing, but I don’t want to be married to you any more. I think our marriage ended a long time ago. We both need to face up to that.’ There. She had finally said it. The words were out there.

He looked at her as if she had sucker-punched him. ‘What are you talking about? I know we haven’t been getting on lately, but that’s because of work … because of Brooke being so difficult. We’ll take some time off
together. We could go to Hawaii – Brooke as well. You love it out there, baby, you know you do. And if that’s not enough, we’ll have some counselling. I’ll do whatever you want. Whatever it takes.’

She shook her head. ‘I’m sorry, Zac, I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time and I’ve made up my mind.’

He slammed his hand down on the table. ‘You can’t just call time on a twelve-year marriage because
you
want out! Don’t I have any say in this at all?’

She shook her head.

‘For God’s sake, Liberty, you’re the love of my life! You can’t do this to me! Is there someone else?’

‘No one else.’

The waiter came over, alerted by Zac’s shouting, and asked if everything was all right.

‘Actually we’re leaving. My wife has something important to discuss with me.’ Zac stood up and, reaching for his wallet, thrust a handful of notes at the waiter.

Liberty remained seated. ‘I’ve got nothing else to say. I’m planning to stay with a friend tonight and I’ll be at the house tomorrow morning to pack up my things. We can talk then about the practicalities. I’m not changing my mind, Zac.’

He stood rooted to the spot for a moment, as if in a daze, before Giorgio, realising something was wrong, came over and lightly touched him on the arm. ‘Your car will be ready for you in just a moment, Mr Keller.’

Zac looked as if he had no intention of leaving, but Giorgio said, ‘I think it’s best, Mr Keller.’ And finally Zac seemed to admit defeat and followed him out.

Liberty waited until he was safely out of the restaurant before making her own exit. She was shaking when she got behind the wheel of her car and it took a few
minutes before she felt composed enough to turn on the ignition. She glanced back at the restaurant; somehow she had a feeling she wouldn’t be going there again.

Zac was waiting for her at the house when she returned the following morning, as she’d known he would be. He looked pale and drawn as if he hadn’t slept, but he kept his expression neutral when she walked into the living room. The only sign of tension was the ashtray overflowing with cigarette ends. Now wasn’t the time to point out that she disapproved of smoking inside the house. From now on Liberty didn’t care. It was his house.

‘Have you changed your mind about what you said last night?’ His voice was controlled.

‘I haven’t.’ She paused, then added, ‘I’m sorry. Really sorry. But I can’t make myself feel something that I don’t.’

‘You won’t be entitled to any big settlement, you do know that, don’t you? You signed that pre-nup and it will hold. I spoke to my lawyer.’

Of course he had. Money meant a great deal to Zac. Money, power, it was all part of the same thing to him, as essential as oxygen.

‘I don’t want any of your money, Zac, or any share of the house, or the apartment in New York, or the vineyard, or the boat, or the art collection, or the company. I’ll leave the marriage with what I came with and what I earned myself.’