Two-Faced (18 page)

She jerked her head up at the sound of approaching footsteps and was disappointed to see Gina, the tart.

‘What do you want?’ Gina asked, giving Mia a dirty look as she climbed the steps.

‘Liam,
obviously
,’ Mia retorted icily, standing up and dusting herself down.

‘Really?’ Gina’s eyebrows rose.

Folding her arms, Mia said, ‘Well, I wouldn’t be here for anyone else, would I?’

‘So you were just going to sit and wait till he gets home, were you?’

‘Not that it’s any of your business, but yeah. ’Cos that’s what you do when your boyfriend asks you to come round. He’s just been held up, that’s all.’

‘I see,’ Gina murmured, slotting her key into the lock. ‘Well, you’ll have a bloody long wait. Unless they’ve decided to let him out four years early – which I kind of doubt.’

‘Yeah, whatever,’ Mia snorted disbelievingly. ‘We all know you’re jealous ’cos you want him and I’ve got him, love, but that’s a bit pathetic, don’t you think?’

‘I take it he didn’t bother letting you know he’d been arrested?’ Gina asked, pushing the door open.

Mia’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’re lying,’ she hissed, even though her instincts were beginning to tell her otherwise.

Sighing, Gina stepped aside and waved her through into the hall. ‘Go and see for yourself if you don’t believe me.’

Legs shaking, Mia raced up the stairs. When she reached the small landing she breathed in deeply, absorbing the lingering scents of Liam that she hadn’t smelled in so long.

‘Go in,’ Gina said, coming up behind her. ‘It’s not locked.’

Mia pushed the door open and walked into the bedsit. It was even colder in here than it had been outside, and the undisturbed air smelled stale and damp.

‘The police made a right mess,’ Gina said wistfully, staying back in the doorway. ‘I’m not sure what they thought they were going to find, but they ripped everything to shreds looking for it. I tried to tidy up in case he came back that night, but he didn’t. And then it went to court, and he got four years.’ She sighed, and gave Mia a sad little smile. ‘Davy reckons he’s going to keep the room for him, but I doubt he’ll want to come back here. He’ll probably go back to Ireland and make a fresh start.’

As the reality of the situation overcame her, Mia felt sick again and darted into the tiny bathroom. Watching from the doorway as she threw up, Gina said, ‘Oh, God, you’re not pregnant, are you? What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know,’ Mia admitted, reaching for Liam’s towel which was still hanging on the small nail he’d hammered into the wall beside the sink. Clutching it to her face, she drank in the scent of him as the tears began to fall.

‘Look, I know we never really hit it off,’ Gina said softly. ‘But I know how you’re feeling, ’cos I miss him, too. Why don’t you come down to my room and I’ll make you a brew? It might make you feel better.’

Mia shook her head and said, ‘Thanks, but I think I’d best just go.’

Worried about her, because she looked absolutely terrible, Gina said, ‘Is it definitely his – the baby, I mean?’

Nodding, Mia bit her lip and swiped at the tears.

Gina peered at her thoughtfully for several moments, then reached into her bag and took out a photograph. ‘You’d best take this.’

Mia’s heart lurched when she glanced at it. It was a picture of Liam and a woman. He only looked about twelve, but he’d been every bit as handsome even then, with the same dark hair and twinkly green eyes that Mia had fallen for. And the woman was obviously his mother, because she looked so much like him.

‘I know it’s not very clear,’ Gina said. ‘But if the baby’s not going to see its daddy for a few years, at least it’ll know what he looks like.’

Mia thanked her, took the photograph and rushed out of the room. Galloping down the stairs, tears still streaming from her eyes, she brushed past the old drunk who was just coming in and ran outside.

The dream was shattered. She couldn’t have this baby knowing that she’d be raising it alone for four years. Even if Liam didn’t go back to Ireland as soon as he came out of jail, as Gina seemed to think he might, there was no guarantee that Mia would be able to find him. And even if she did, he might not believe that the child was his – and if it looked like Darren, he definitely wouldn’t.

There was nothing else for it: she would have to get rid of the baby and concentrate on her career. At least that way she could offer Liam something to come back to.

Slotting the precious picture into her pocket, Mia cast one last glance back at the house, then set off for home.

Sammy’s belly rumbled with anxiety as he hovered in the shadows at the back of the studio. Embarrassed, he glanced at Kim who was standing beside him, but she was too busy chewing on her nails to notice.

He didn’t usually accompany his models to their jobs, but he’d taken a bit of a shine to Mia since she and her mum had burst into his life with their outrageously high expectations and he’d dedicated a lot of personal time and energy into sanding off her rough edges. Lately he’d begun to see flashes of the diamond that he believed lay hidden beneath the prickly exterior, but something was wrong today. She hadn’t been her usual confident self when he’d picked them up this morning and she’d barely spoken a word on the drive here. If it had been anyone else he’d have assumed that it was just nerves, but Mia tended to get more fidgety and talkative when she was nervous, not less. It could just be that this was a TV shoot, he supposed, and she’d suddenly realised that her face would soon be seen in thousands of homes around the country. But, whatever it was, she’d best snap out of it, because she looked like a rabbit caught in headlights right now.

On set, Michelle’s heart was racing so fast that she feared it might explode. The make-up women had taken ages to do her face and hair, but when they had told her to strip off so that they could paint the liquid foundation onto her body, she’d nearly died. They’d said that she’d best get used to it; that stripping off was part and parcel of being a model. But she wasn’t a model, and had no intention of trying to become one, so it was just that step too far for her.

Glad that the women had eventually compromised and let her keep her bra and panties on for the foundation application, she’d slipped into the tiny vest top and matching knicker-like shorts and made her way out onto the set. Perched on the edge of a freezing cold bathtub now, in a three-sided mock-up of a bathroom, with what seemed like a warehouse full of people milling about in the shadows on the other side of the blazing lights and whirring cameras, Michelle was shaking from head to toe.

A woman with a set of headphones wrapped around her neck rushed over and thrust the wax into her hand, and then someone called for quiet on set.

Breaking out in goose bumps when a deathly hush fell over the room and what felt like a thousand hidden eyes bored into her, Michelle jumped as if she’d been electrocuted when a man barked ‘Action!’

Desperately trying to copy the way she’d seen Mia rehearsing it, she raised her jelly-like leg and placed her foot on the lip of the bathtub. Then, trying to look as if she was dreaming about her upcoming date, she brought the applicator down onto her shin . . .

9

‘I’m
so
sorry,’ Kim mumbled, barely able to look Sammy in the eye as they made their way to his car. ‘I think she might be coming down with a touch of flu, because she didn’t sleep too well last night. I probably should have told you when you rang to ask how she was this morning, but I honestly thought she’d be okay.’

‘Don’t worry about it,’ Sammy told her, helping Michelle onto the back seat. ‘These things happen. No point beating yourself up about it.’

‘No, but I still should have said something,’ Kim repeated guiltily, climbing into the front seat. ‘What’ll happen now?’ she asked when Sammy got in beside her.

‘They’ll contact their second choice and reschedule.’

‘Can’t they just wait until she’s feeling better and let her try again?’

Sammy shook his head regretfully and glanced at Michelle in the rear-view mirror as he started the engine. He’d had his doubts about sending her for a TV job so early in her career but she’d convinced him that she could handle it and, given her quite staggering levels of self-confidence, he’d believed her. But that confidence had absolutely deserted her today, and right now she looked crushed.

‘I don’t think that’s very fair,’ Kim complained, tugging her seat belt on. ‘It’s not her fault she’s ill. And I’m sure it wouldn’t kill them to wait a week.’

‘It would cost them thousands,’ Sammy told her. ‘They have to book the studio space in advance, and then there’s the crew, and all the equipment . . .’ Looking over his shoulder now as he manoeuvred the car out of the space, he added, ‘Anyway, it’s probably a good thing that we can use the illness as an excuse. TV is a lot more intense than magazine and catalogue shoots, and I really thought she was ready, but she’s obviously not.’

‘She
is
,’ Kim insisted. ‘Honestly, I’ve been watching how hard she’s been working at it, and she’s
more
than ready.’

‘Kim, she’s not,’ Sammy said quietly. ‘You saw her. She was absolutely terrified.’

‘It was just a bad day,’ Kim argued. ‘
Please
don’t say you’re going to set her back; she’ll be devastated if I have to tell her that.’

Sammy thought it was odd that she was talking as if Mia wasn’t in the car and hadn’t already heard. He said, ‘Look, we’ll talk about it when she’s feeling better.’

‘But you’re not going to drop her?’ Kim asked, voicing her biggest fear.

‘Why on earth would I do that?’ Sammy replied without hesitation. ‘I’m not saying she’s no good, I’m just saying she’s probably not ready for TV yet. No one becomes a star without suffering. Fainting, hysteria, tantrums – you name it, they all fall apart at some time or other. But the ones who go on to make it are the ones who learn from those early mistakes.’ Glancing at Michelle now, he added, ‘And Mia’s a fast learner – aren’t you, dear?’

Sammy pulled up outside their house ten minutes later and switched off the engine. Afraid that Mia might be downstairs and unaware that they were back, Kim unclipped her seat belt and jumped out, telling him not to trouble himself seeing them in.

Glancing at his watch, Sammy said, ‘Well, actually, I’m a bit early for a meeting, so I thought I might stick around for a coffee – if that’s okay?’

Muttering that of course it was, Kim rushed in ahead of him. Relieved that Mia wasn’t around, she told Sammy to make himself comfortable and put the kettle on. Then, telling Michelle to lie on the couch, she used the excuse that she was getting her a quilt to go upstairs and warn Mia not to come down.

Mia was curled up in bed. She hadn’t been back from Liam’s place for long and had cried herself to sleep. She groaned when her mum shook her, and said, ‘Leave me alone.’

‘We’re back,’ Kim told her in a whisper. ‘You feeling any better?’

‘A bit,’ Mia lied, peering up at her mother through puffy eyes. ‘What happened? Did she do all right? Did Sammy suss that anything was wrong?’

‘He didn’t suspect anything,’ Kim told her, biting her lip before adding, ‘But no, she didn’t do all right.’

‘What do you mean?’ Mia jerked upright. ‘What did she do?’

‘Fainted,’ Kim told her. ‘But there’s no point flying off the handle about it ’cos Sammy reckons it happens to the best of them. And it was her first time, don’t forget.’

‘I don’t
care
!’ Mia spat, her eyes flashing with fury. ‘I
knew
she’d screw it up! I bet she did it on purpose to get back at me over Liam. I said we shouldn’t let her do it. Why don’t you ever listen to me?’

‘
You
’re the one who should have listened,’ Kim reminded her firmly. ‘I told you to stay away from boys, but you had to go and flaming well sleep with one and get yourself up the duff, so if you want to blame anyone for this, blame yourself.’

‘I’m not the one who sabotaged my job,’ Mia pointed out angrily. ‘And if she’s messed up my career, I’ll
kill
her.’

Kim told her to stop being so melodramatic and dragged the quilt down off Michelle’s bed. ‘And don’t even think about coming down and picking a fight with her,’ she warned, ‘’cos Sammy’s stopping for a coffee. I’ll let you know when the coast is clear.’

Mia glared at the door when she’d gone, flopped back against her pillow and beat the quilt with her fists. She should have known better than to agree to let the bitch take her place, because there was no way she could have got away with it. As she’d just proved, she didn’t have the looks
or
the intelligence to pull it off. She was a stupid, pig-ugly
idiot
!

Downstairs, Kim had given Sammy his coffee and was now playing the concerned mother, fussing over Michelle, asking if she was comfortable, if she needed anything.

Sammy told her to sit down and have a smoke to calm herself, then said, ‘Everything will be all right, I promise you. Mia’s worked really hard over these last few weeks, and if we can just sand a bit more of that sassiness off her I reckon she’ll be doing very well before too long.’

‘
Sassiness?
’ Kim gazed back at him through a cloud of cigarette smoke.

‘Attitude,’ Sammy explained, looking directly at Michelle now as he elaborated. ‘Obviously you’re not well today, but when you’re back on your feet I want you to carry on being as polite as you were today, because that goes a long way with these people. You’re usually huffing and puffing when someone gives you directions but you really behaved yourself today, and I was proud of you. Don’t you agree, Kim?’

‘Absolutely,’ Kim said without hesitation, although, secretly, she couldn’t help but think that Mia’s
sassiness
– as Sammy had called it – was exactly what would eventually propel her into the spotlight. Never mind all this behaving-yourself stuff; controversy was what made you stand out from the crowd – Naomi Campbell was a living, breathing example of that.

Sammy’s phone began to ring. As he pulled it out of his pocket, he rolled his eyes when he saw that it was the producer from the shoot they had just left. Excusing himself, because he was sure that he was about to get an earful for landing them with such an unsuitable model, he went into the kitchen to take the call in private.