No Matter What (68 page)

She let go of his hand and continued playing with her wedding ring, twisting it round and round her finger.
 
“It’s different now.
 
Things are different.”

“In what way?”

She looked up at him.
 
“They just are.
 
Me and Michael ...
we’re
different.”

She wasn’t making a lot of sense and Reece didn’t feel great about leaving her like this.

“
India
, sweetheart, you know, maybe this time away from Michael will do you good ...”

“Do me good?
 
We’ve been apart for over three months, he’s been back with me five minutes and you think him going away again is going to do me
good
?”

“
India
, I didn’t mean ... look, things have been pretty intense with the two of you these past few days, all I’m saying is ...”

She picked up her sunglasses, standing up to go.
 
“All you’re saying is nothing.
 
You don’t know what you’re talking about, none of you do.
 
He’s packing to go back to our home, without me, and I feel sick at the thought, ok?
 
I feel sick.”

Reece stood up and ran after her.
 
“You two are in love, I get that, but this ... I’ve never seen you like this over him leaving before.”

She looked at Reece, a headache starting to throb behind her eyes.
 
“Do you think it’s ever been easy for me to say goodbye to him?”

“No, of course not.”
 
He took her hand.
 
“Of course you miss him sweetheart. Nobody’s saying that’s wrong.”

She pulled her hand away from his and sat down again, looking at him.
 
“It just feels different this time, dad.
 
I can’t really explain it.
 
All these years when he’s been away filming, or I’ve been out of the country without him, it never felt like this.
 
It was never easy, but it never felt like this.”

He looked at his daughter.
 
She seemed confused, nervous, like there was something she wanted to say but couldn’t.

“Is it because of Kenny?”

Her expression changed in that second and he knew he’d hit a nerve.
 
He’d seen it for himself.
 
She may be a brilliant actress but she hadn’t been good enough to hide that split second expression.

“No.
 
It isn’t because of Kenny.
 
Why would it be because of Kenny?”

“Because of what happened before?”

“Before?
 
No!
 
No, it’s got nothing to do with that, Kenny has got nothing to do with any of this.”

She stood up to leave again but Reece knew he was right.
 
He’d seen it in her face.

“
India
, wait!
 
Please ... where are you going?”

She swung round to look at him again.
 
“I’m going to see Michael, ok?
 
I’m going to see him before he has to leave.
 
If that’s alright with you?”

Reece let her go.
 
It was no use talking to her when she obviously had no interest in listening to anything he had to say.
 
But he was worried about her.
 
He’d seen her change, over the past few weeks especially.
 
The hold Michael had over her didn’t always seem healthy, but what could he do?
 
She was a grown woman, she wasn’t a kid, he couldn’t tell her what to do, he didn’t have that right.
 
But it didn’t stop him worrying – Michael in
L.A.
,
India
in
Las Vegas
in close proximity every day to Kenny Ross, a man who, if Vince was right, was still very much in love with her.

Reece had seen it in her eyes.
 
She didn’t trust herself.
 
Michael didn’t trust Kenny.
 
It didn’t take a genius to work out that that was a situation that nobody could predict the outcome of.
 
But it had a very high possibility of turning into another very unhappy mess.

***

“You ok?” Kenny asked, as
India
walked past without even acknowledging him.

She stopped and looked at him.
 
“Jesus, is that the only question people are going to ask me this morning?”

“Yes, probably, when you’ve got a face like that.”

“Shut up, Kenny.”

He held his hands up.
 
“Hey, pardon me for caring.”

“I don’t need you to care, Kenny.
 
I need you to get out of my way.”

“He’s not left yet then?”

She gave him a long look that made Kenny realise he’d almost definitely said the wrong thing.

“I’m sorry,
India
, ok?
 
Really, I’m sorry.”

She just pushed past him, ignoring his apology and practically running to the villa, desperate not to waste anymore time.
 
She found Michael in the living room sorting through some papers.

“I should hate you, Michael Walsh.”

He looked up at her.
 
“Oh yeah?
 
And why’s that?”

“Because I can’t think straight.
 
You’ve got me acting like some kind of crazy bitch.”

He got up and walked over to her, putting a hand to her face as he kissed her slowly.

“And that doesn’t help.”
 
She looked at him.
 
“You look tired.”

“Yeah, well, neither of us got much sleep last night, did we?”

“No. We didn’t.”
 
She couldn’t help smiling.
 
“It was good though.”

He smiled too, sliding an arm around her waist.
 
“It was very, very good.
 
You were incredible Mrs Walsh.”

“You weren’t so bad yourself, mister.”

He began running the tips of his fingers slowly along her cheek, down her neck and over her cleavage, every touch sending shivers right through her.

“You know, baby, we’ve got time for one more quick repeat performance.
 
I guarantee it’ll make you feel better, and, if you still hate me after that ...” He shrugged, giving her that movie star smile of his.
 
“… well, let’s just say I don’t think you will.
 
What do you say, beautiful?”

She looked into his eyes, thinking how quickly he could turn her emotions around.
 
Was that a good thing?
 
She wasn’t sure.
 
She only knew that she loved this man like crazy and if she could have just five more minutes with him then she was going to grab them with both hands.
 
“I’d say, what are we waiting for?”

***

Kenny watched from inside the hotel lobby as
India
said her goodbyes to Michael outside, watching as he held her tight, kissed her slowly and every movement, every touch made Kenny want to turn away but he couldn’t.

“Isn’t that just beautiful,” Bobby sighed, clutching his ever present black book against his chest.
 

Kenny turned to look at him but said nothing, until Bobby took out a handkerchief and started dabbing his eyes.
 
“What the fuck is wrong with
you
?”

“It’s like something out of a movie, isn’t it?” Bobby said, blowing his nose.

Kenny looked back outside, folding his arms.
 
“No.
 
Not really.”

“You’re so unromantic, do you know that?”

“Yeah, I know that.
 
Come on, Bobby, it’s bullshit!
 
He’s only going back to fucking
L.A.
 
What’s the big deal?”

“They’re in love.”

“And don’t we know it.
 
I’ve had enough.
 
I’m due on set in ten minutes.
 
I guess I’ll see her later.”

Bobby watched him leave then ran over to
India
as she walked back inside the hotel, her head down and her arms folded.

“Come on, angel, give me your hand, come on.”

India
looked up at him and smiled.
 
“I’m fine, Bobby.
 
Really.”

“You don’t look fine.
 
Listen, how about I organise a little private dinner for us at the villa tonight?
  
All your favourite stuff, and lots and lots of fabulous cocktails. Then we can sit down and watch movies all night, even one of Mr Walsh’s, if you want to.
 
That one he did a couple of years ago where he had his shirt off a lot is a particular favourite of mine.”

India
couldn’t help laughing as Bobby squeezed her hand, smiling too.

“I love you, Bobby Castle.
 
I have no idea what I’d do without you.”

“Oh, you’d survive, angel.
 
You just wouldn’t have half as much fun.
 
Come on, let’s get you to make-up.
 
Thanks to that emotional goodbye out there you’ve left them with quite a bit to do this morning.”

“Thanks.”

“I tell it how it is, sweetheart.
 
‘Brief Encounter’ had nothing on that farewell, I was almost in tears.”

India
laughed again.
 
Bobby to the rescue as usual.
 
No wonder everyone wanted him.

“And while we’re in make-up we can go over a few things you’ve got to do this afternoon, because there’s quite a bit going on in your life at the minute, India Walsh.”

Reality was back with a vengeance, and there was nothing she could do to change that.
 
Infact, it was probably for the best.
 
Even if that reality did include Kenny Ross.

***

Charley was falling for Vince.
 
Despite everything she’d promised herself, despite all the times she’d told herself that getting involved with anyone else ever again was a mistake, despite all of that, she was falling in love with Vince Maine and she couldn’t fight it any longer.
 
Everything about him was something she loved.
 
He’d never rushed her, he’d never pushed her into anything, all he’d done was take her to dinner, show her his world and make her feel incredibly special.
 
And wasn’t it about time she was allowed to feel like that?
 
Didn’t she deserve to feel that too?
 

Surely it had to be fate that had made her fall in love with the best friend of Michael Walsh,
India
’s husband.
 
Her once-best friend.
 
Charley believed in fate or, at least, she was starting to.
 
This relationship was more than just about her finding this perfect new man, it was about her life coming back together, about putting the past to rights.
 
It was about fixing things that should never have been broken.

Vince was the man she was falling in love with but he was also her route to
India
, although he seemed incredibly reluctant to help her with any of that at the minute.
 
Which she could understand, of course she could.
 
Vince and
India
were close, he cared about her, he cared about her feelings just as much as he cared about Charley’s and she knew that none of this was easy for him.
 
It was putting him in an impossible position, but all she wanted to do was talk to
India
.

“Have you seen Kenny Ross today?” Casey asked, sitting herself down next to Charley in the theatre as they got ready to run through the changes to that evening’s show.
 
“He is looking hot!
 
I can’t believe you used to know him.”

“Yeah, well, don’t go spreading that about, ok?
 
You know the history; you know I can’t go introducing him to every girl here who wants to meet him.
 
You know it isn’t that easy.”

Casey looked at her friend.
 
“Are you ok?
 
You look a little tired.
 
And where were you last night by the way?
 
You didn’t get in ‘til way past
4am
.
 
Have you got a secret man on the go that I don’t know about?”

Charley looked at Casey.
 
She was like a sister to her, she’d helped her through so much and she hated lying to her, especially about Vince.
 
She was tired of this relationship being kept under wraps; tired of having no-one to talk to about how she was feeling.