‘You should do it!’ I said.‘Just think of the extra photos you’ll get to add to your portfolio.And, if I’m honest, I need to spend a couple of hours preparing for our date tonight.’
‘Oooh, I’m dying to know what you’ve got planned.Can’t you give me a little hint?’
‘Nope.It’s a surprise.But I think you’ll like it.At least I hope so.’
‘Aaargh!Such a tease!You won’t tell me anything about all the songs you’ve been writing this week and now you won’t tell me about our date!How will I know what to wear if I don’t know where we’re going?’
‘Doesn’t matter what you wear.You’ll look beautiful.’
‘Such a smooth talker!’ Halle wrapped her arms around my waist, then kissed me softly.I was just about to lift her onto the daybed and ask her if she wanted a little afternoon delight, when the doorbell rang.
‘Dammit,’ I groaned.‘Talk about bad timing.I’ll be right back.’
I strode to the door and when I opened it, my jaw crashed to the ground.
‘Good afternoon, sir, Ms Beaker is here to see you.I tried to call but your phone was off and the villa phone wasn’t working and she said it was an emergency so I decided to escort her?—’
‘I’ll take it from here.’ Wilma jumped in before pushing past the staff member, stepping inside the villa and slamming the door behind her.
‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ I spat, my heart thundering against my ribcage.
‘You’ve been avoiding my calls,’ she poked at my chest with her finger, ‘so I had to come and find you.Is that her?’ Wilma strained her neck to look out onto the patio where Halle was relaxing on the daybed.‘Jake, she’s a fucking babe!Why aren’t you putting photos of her online?’ She reached in her purse, pulled out her cell, then headed towards Halle.
‘Don’t you fucking dare, Wilma!’ I shouted, racing in front of her.‘Baby!’ I called out, in desperation, deliberately not using Halle’s name.I didn’t want Wilma to know anything about her.‘Go to the bedroom.’
‘Jake?’ Halle came rushing in.‘What’s wrong?Who’s this?’
‘This is Wilma.Go!She’s gonna try and take photos of you!’ I held out my arms and stood in front of Halle, trying to shield her.
‘She’d better get used to the photos.When you guys appear on your reality show together, there’ll be a lot more of them.The press are gonna love her!’
‘Reality show?’ Halle moved from behind me, concern etched all over her face.‘What reality show?What’s she talking about, Jake?’
‘You didn’t tell her?’ Wilma laughed.
‘No, I… it was irrelevant,’ I stuttered, the blood draining from my veins.
‘I think it’s pretty relevant to explain that she’s about to be thrust into the limelight.We’ve got two production companies keen to have talks about giving you your own show, but they needed to see how she looked first.And now I’ve seen your mystery lady for myself, there won’t be a problem.She’s pretty and she’s exotic, which will help the show appeal to a wider audience.’
‘Exotic?’ I ground my jaw.‘She’s a person, not a piece of fucking fruit!Don’t be disrespectful.’
‘Reality show?’ Halle repeated.
‘It’s not how it sounds, baby,’ I protested.
‘I don’t want to be in a reality show!’
‘Awww,’ Wilma said in a condescending tone.‘Don’t tell me you thought all of this was for real, honey?Jake didn’t come here to fall in love.He came to relaunch his career.We planned it all together: he pretends to fall in love to get a TV show, you guys get engaged, sell the story to the media, meanwhile he just happens to mention that he’s working on some new music andboom! He gets a record deal.Then once everything’s set up, the endorsements roll in and you’ve made enough cash, then you two put out a statement on social media to say that after a lot of soul searching, you’ve decided to break up.Then you’ll both go your separate ways, significantly richer, of course!’
Halle blinked rapidly, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly like a hungry goldfish as she struggled to speak.
‘Tell me it’s not true, Jake!’ She looked at me and when I saw tears streaming down her cheeks, I felt like I’d been punched in the gut.‘Tell me that’s not why you came here!’
‘It’s not… I mean,yeah, that was the plan in the beginning.But only because I was supposed to be matched with someone high profile who needed to revive their career too.’
‘So you were disappointed to be matched with me?’
‘No!Yes, but only because I didn’t want to lead you on?—’
