Santa Baby (7 page)

‘Yes,
that
Angel Summer, is there another one?’ Tiffany couldn’t help sounding sarcastic. And suddenly she realised that she didn’t want to go back to Billy’s flat and end up in bed with him, just because it was so easy. She wanted more than that, and every time they slept together it always gave Billy the idea that she wanted to get back with him. But, much as she liked him, he was not for her. She should really let him go. He would soon be snapped up by another woman. He was cute and kind. It wasn’t his fault that she found him a little dull and a bit safe.

Tiffany’s gaze was once more drawn to the
brown-eyed
man and this time he met her gaze and held it just a little bit longer than was polite. Wow! He was gorgeous. Tiffany was the first to look away.

‘Tiff, that is awesome news! If you really are her sister, please can you introduce me to Cal Bailey? I’ll do whatever you want.
Please
.’ Billy reached out for her hand.

He was sweet and for an instant, as his warm hand closed over hers, she was tempted to rethink her decision not to go back to his flat. Then the good-looking stranger walked past and Tiffany found herself withdrawing her hand.

‘
If
I get to meet her, then sure.’

‘D’you know what?’ Billy was studying her face. ‘I think I can see a resemblance now, I know that Bryan’– he named one of his flatmates – ‘is always saying how much like Angel you look, and I could never see it before but I can now. It’s your eyes.’

‘Yeah, yeah, and now you’re going to say, pity I don’t have Angel’s other assets?’

Billy grinned. ‘I would never say that, you’ve got great tits.’

Tiffany stood up. Time to call a halt to this conversation. ‘I’m going to the Ladies. Can you ask for the bill?’

Just as she had turned down the narrow corridor, the brown-eyed man came out of the Gents. Tiffany stood to one side to let him pass, and as he walked by he looked at her again. ‘Thanks,’ he said in a Geordie accent.

Instantly Tiffany remembered where she had seen him before. He was the bouncer who had been working at the club the night she had met Gavin. She cringed inside at the memory of him thinking she was that wanker’s girlfriend. She dashed into the Ladies, head down, determined to leave the restaurant as quickly as
possible.
She had thought he was giving her the eye, but instead, she realised, he must have been looking at her because he remembered her from that night. Take the shame!

By the time she returned to her table, the man had gone and Billy was keying in his pin number.

‘Billy, I was going to pay half!’ Tiffany protested. Usually they split the bill as neither of them had any money.

‘You can treat me to a slap-up meal in some celebrity restaurant, once you’ve hooked up with Big Sis.’

‘Yeah, sure,’ Tiffany muttered. Now she was going to feel even worse about telling Billy that she wasn’t going back to his place.

Outside it had started raining. Billy reached for her hand, all set to walk with her to where his car was parked. It was now or never.

‘Actually, Billy, I’m going to get the bus home. I think it’s best if we don’t see each other like this any more. It’s stopping us from meeting anyone else.’ Tiffany bit her lip and pulled her biker jacket closer together, to try and keep warm. She felt terrible for saying it. A look of hurt flashed into Billy’s eyes.

‘But I was going to suggest we gave it another go. Come on, Tiff – we get on so well together. We know each other so well. Everyone says what a great couple we make.’

Oh, God! What was she supposed to say to that? ‘I just see you as a friend now, Billy, a really good friend.’

‘A friend who’s been having sex with me on and off for the past six months,’ he muttered.

‘Yeah, but I thought we were both taking it casually.’

‘Well, I wasn’t. I kept thinking that you would come back to me. Can’t you see that I still love you, Tiff? What a fucking loser I am!’

Tiffany reached out to touch him. She felt awful that Billy had misread all the times they had met up. She’d honestly had no idea he still loved her.

But Billy backed away. ‘I get it now, Tiff. I won’t bother you any more. Good luck with your half-sister. Perhaps you think you’ll meet some flash celeb through her.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, Billy! You know I don’t want that. I want us to be friends.’ But he was already striding away, head down, shoulders hunched.

‘Please, Billy!’ she called after him.

He turned back briefly. ‘I’m not ready to be friends yet.’ And then he started running. Should she run after him? Tiffany pushed her hair back as the rain became heavier. It was probably best to let him go, but she felt a pang of sadness. That really was it then …

‘SO THIS IS
a picture of Tiffany?’ Angel asked, holding up the photo of a young woman. In it Tiffany was walking along a busy street, her long brown hair lifting slightly in the breeze. She was on her mobile and smiling at something the caller was saying to her. Angel couldn’t see any resemblance between her and this beautiful dark-haired girl with a fringe. Tiffany was wearing a black biker jacket, denim shorts, black tights and red Converse. She looked young and fresh-faced and not at all like a stalker-nutter. But neither had über-glam Simone, until she started changing her appearance to look like Angel.

Sean nodded. Sean Murphy was their head of security, a former soldier who Cal had hired six months ago as he had been worried that their other security guy had become a little complacent. Angel trusted Sean completely – he took his work very seriously, and was a calm, reassuring presence who made her feel safe. He was also a down-to-earth, lovely guy with a great sense of humour. Her daughter Honey already adored him, and he had quickly become an indispensable part of their family.

‘D’you think she looks like me?’ Angel asked Cal. The three of them were sitting in the living room.

‘I do, actually. You’ve got the same eyes, and the same mouth.’

Angel looked at the photograph again, but she still didn’t get it.

She looked over at Sean. ‘So what’s she like?’ He had spent the last two weeks going over every inch of Tiffany Taylor’s life. There was probably very little he didn’t know about her.

Sean shrugged. ‘She appears genuine. From my investigations, it definitely seems as if she knew nothing about being your half-sister until she received the letter from Tanya. Some of this you already know from the letter she sent you. She comes from what seems to be a happy and stable family – her dad’s a carpenter, her step-mum is a teaching assistant, and she’s got a much younger sister. She went to college and studied Fashion and Textiles, and she’s been trying to get work as a stylist.’ Sean paused. ‘I’m not exactly sure what a stylist does, but I expect you know. And for the last year she has been working as a waitress. She got sacked from that job for apparently throwing pizza and wine over a customer. Now she’s the receptionist at a gym.’

‘Not so good at customer relations then,’ Cal said dryly.

‘And what’s she like as a person?’ Angel was curious to know.

‘She’s got close female friends.’ That scored Tiffany points for Angel, who never trusted women who didn’t get on with other women.

‘She seems likeable, down-to-earth and loyal, but clearly has a temper on her, judging by the restaurant incident.’ Sean frowned, as he added, ‘I don’t think too much of her taste in men, and she seems to get through them.’

‘Oh?’

‘Yeah, I realised that I’d seen her before when I
helped
out a friend who needed security for a club in London. She was with a right idiot. The bloke she was with the other night didn’t seem so bad, though.’

Cal grinned at Angel. ‘You could give her some relationship advice – after all, you went out with that tosser boy-band singer, Mickey, before we got together.’

Mickey … now there was someone Angel would rather forget. Pretty, vain, and a cokehead – he had been the worst possible boyfriend choice. His boy band had long since broken up and now he appeared in various reality shows from time to time. Food seemed to have replaced coke as his drug of choice as he was always battling with his weight.

Angel shot Cal a warning look. ‘Let’s not go down that route, sunshine. At least none of my exes has done time in a secure psychiatric unit.’

That wiped the smile off Cal’s face. ‘So while we’re on the subject, what’s the latest on Simone Fraser?’

‘She seems to be behaving herself. She’s been out in Australia for the last eight months.’

‘Let’s hope she stays down under permanently,’ Cal said with feeling. He reached out for Angel’s hand and held it. Even three years on, just the mention of Simone’s name sent shivers down Angel’s spine and she knew Cal felt the same. Cal had wanted them to move from their large Edwardian house after Simone had broken in and tried to attack Angel. But Angel loved the house; loved its location in the heart of the Sussex countryside, surrounded by fields and well away from the prying lenses of the paps. And after an extensive security overhaul of the property, Cal had agreed they could stay.

‘So what shall I do? Shall I get in touch with Tiffany?’ Angel felt a mix of curiosity and apprehension about meeting her half-sister. She had reached a stage in her
life
when she felt happy and secure – she had her family, Cal and Honey, a close circle of friends, she got on well with her parents – and she didn’t know if she wanted to rock the boat. But then again, the thought of having a half-sister was compelling … someone who understood what it was like to be adopted. Maybe Tiffany would be the one good thing to come out of her dysfunctional real family?

‘I think you should. From what Sean says, there’s a strong chance that you are related,’ Cal replied. He smiled reassuringly. ‘You don’t have to stress about it. We can get him to arrange all the details.’ He looked over at Sean. ‘I think they should meet somewhere neutral, don’t you? Maybe a London hotel?’

‘Good idea,’ Sean replied, ‘I want it to be somewhere public. I would suggest somewhere like The Ritz. You could have tea and I would be at one of the other tables.’ He smiled. ‘You don’t have to worry, Angel, I’ll be watching out for you.’

She immediately felt reassured. There was something about Sean that made her feel protected. ‘OK, I’ll do it.’

‘OMG, OMG! That is just like a plot from
Desperate Housewives!
’ Jez declared when Angel told him about Tiffany. She had arranged to meet her half-sister the following day and was now having cocktails with Jez at The May Fair – the bar in the luxury hotel was one of their favourite haunts. She had held off telling him until she knew for certain that she was going to see Tiffany, well aware that he wouldn’t let it drop once he heard about it. And from Jez’s OTT reaction, she knew she had made the right decision. He would have driven her mad if she’d told him sooner.

‘So what are you going to wear when you meet up with her? I think you should have a navy forties-style suit on, red lipstick, hair up in an elegant twist, a hat
with
net covering your face … Old movie-star style.’ Jez paused. ‘Oh, and a large clutch bag, plus a cigarette holder … maybe in mother-of-pearl.’

‘I don’t smoke.’ Really Jez was entirely wasted as a hairdresser, with his over-active imagination.

‘That’s not the point – it’s for the drama!’

Angel sipped her Bellini Twist. She was feeling nervous. She half-wished Jez would come with her for moral support, though knowing him he wouldn’t be able to stop talking and then she would have no chance to see what Tiffany was like.

‘I’m going casual, as myself, and I hope she’ll be doing the same.’

‘Can you imagine how she must be feeling tonight, knowing that she is going to meet you tomorrow and that you’re her sister?’

‘Might be. And her half-sister,’ Angel corrected him.

Jez picked up the cocktail stick from his Martini glass and popped the olive in his mouth. ‘You have to promise to tell me all about it?’

‘Don’t I always?’

And when Jez saw how anxious she was, he said, ‘You’ll be fine, don’t worry about it. And if it doesn’t work out, well, you’ve still got your family and friends and we all love you.’

And that was why she adored Jez – underneath all the theatrical declarations and gossipy bitchiness, he had a good heart and was a truly loyal friend.

TIFFANY WALKED PAST
The Ritz for the second time, debating whether to go in or not. She was fifteen minutes early for her meeting with Angel and, for all her streetwise confidence, felt incredibly nervous about finally coming face to face with the famous woman who was possibly her half-sister. Kara had offered to come with her but Tiffany felt she had to do this on her own. And she still hadn’t told her dad and Marie, figuring that if the meeting was a total disaster then it was best that they didn’t know. She would tell them if it went well. It was a big if. She walked a little further along Piccadilly, past Green Park, dodging all the tourists, then turned round. She couldn’t put it off any longer. It was time to meet Angel.

She walked into the huge hotel lobby and instantly felt self-conscious. She had never been inside such a grand place before. Sure, she had been past The Ritz enough times, usually on the bus, and had often fantasised about staying in the luxury hotel. She cautiously approached one of the hotel staff, and asked where the tearoom was. She wondered if the smartly dressed man realised that she had never stepped foot inside a five-star hotel before, and that the last one she’d stayed at had been a Travelodge. Probably he had
sized
her up in an instant and knew that she didn’t have any money. He directed her to a luxurious and ornate room, with gold statues, whopping glittering chandeliers, tables with crisp white cloths and pretty gold chairs. Tiffany anxiously scanned the room for Angel but couldn’t see her.

‘I’m here to meet someone,’ she said quietly to the head waiter. ‘Angel Summer … I mean, Bailey.’

The head waiter nodded discreetly. ‘Of course, mademoiselle, I will show you to your table.’ He walked purposefully over to a table in the far corner of the room and pulled out a chair for Tiffany. She tried to act as if it was customary for waiters to pull out chairs for her.