“Can I call you later to confirm?” She knew she’d need to check how Dan, Pippa and Lizzie would feel about that, but also how Jim would react to the suggestion.
They arrived at the hotel and Tasha was greeted warmly by Suzie, Lucy’s boss, Lucy herself and then Jake.
“God, Tash you look bloody marvellous,” trilled Jake as he hugged and squeezed her tightly before turning to Lizzie. “And you must be Lizzie. I’m very pleased to meet you. Tasha has told me all about you,” said Jake, although Tasha didn’t recall telling him anything about Lizzie, never mind all.
Lizzie grinned at him broadly.
After being called into make-up and hair where Lizzie had hung onto every word the girls in there uttered, they returned to the studio. Tasha had been shot in a number of day wear outfits; jeans and sweaters, long woollen tunics over leggings with boots and several coats and jackets.
As Jake continuously snapped away Lizzie watched over his shoulder and was thrilled when he asked if she wanted to take some shots.
Lizzie nodded. “I’d love that.” She listened intently as Jake gave her instructions about using the rather complicated looking camera as he handed it to her.
Lizzie took shot after shot after shot and appeared to be in her element as the day’s shoot came to an end. Tasha changed into her own clothes and returned to find Jake downloading Lizzie’s photos onto his computer ready to email to Tasha.
“Do you want to go to dinner this week, Tash?” he asked.
“Yeah, but I’m not sure when I’m free.” She was unsure if she could leave Lizzie with her grandparents or Lucy while she had dinner with Jake. More precisely if Jim would let her get away with that.
“Think about it and let me know,” started Jake then realised the reason for Tasha’s uncertainty. “Bring Lizzie along, and Luce if they fancy it,” he clarified making her feel a little more comfortable as she recalled the fallout last time she’d dined with Jake alone.
“I’ll let you know tomorrow.” She smiled.
****
Lizzie sat on the sofa with a can of pop in one hand, although, just like her father insisted on correcting Tasha’s English phrases to their American alternative, in this case, soda. She had her phone in the other hand while Tasha began to make a list in her diary of things to do:
•Speak to Jim about Friday with Gerry and dinner with Jake.
•Tell Jim about the wedding invitations she’d discussed with Kayla.
•Check whether he thought she may need to lose weight to maintain a career in Hollywood, although she may wait until she was face to face to do that one.
•Check if Katy Myers’ people had contacted Angie yet and see whether she was aware of anyone snooping around for information about her past.
•Tell Jim about the snooping.
•Discuss her name after marriage.
•Meet with the attorney/lawyer about the pre-nup.
The phone rang making her lose focus on her list causing her to frown until she saw it was Jim calling.
“Hello.” She answered with a smile, genuinely excited to hear his voice.
“Hi, baby, how’s your day been?”
“Good thanks, how are you?”
“Good, but I really do miss you. I can’t believe it’s only been five days since I went to New York. How are we going to do six weeks when you’re filming over there?” he asked seriously.
“We need to make sure you can come over to visit because I miss you too.”
She almost forgot Lizzie was sitting there until she saw her making a gesture to suggest she was vomiting like Philip did in these situations.
“Let me put Lizzie on before our gushing proves too much for her stomach,” said Tasha, laughing as she handed Lizzie the phone.
“Hi, Daddy. I have had the most amazing day ever,” Tasha heard Lizzie saying as she headed into the kitchen to prepare some dinner.
