Rock Stars Don't Like Ugly Bras (16 page)

Amber was only five weeks away from giving birth, and she was utterly bored with being pregnant.  Not only was she was anxious to meet her baby, but the swollen ankles, aching back and lack of sleep were not helping her mood one bit. 

Christmas had been pretty wretched.  Neither she nor her mum could spend time with the family as they usually would, because they were still in the dark about the baby, and there was no way she’d have been able to pass over her large, but neat, bump as the result of one too many mince pies.  So, Amber and Thelma had shared a chicken and pulled a cracker with each other, both of them feeling miserable.  If that wasn’t bad enough, New Year’s Eve turned out to be just awful.  It hadn’t started well when Amber saw more pictures of Jake and Abbie in the gossip column of the daily paper.  They were shopping in a grocery store and Jake had his hand placed protectively in the small of Abbie’s back, while she gazed up at him lovingly.  Someone had also leaked a photograph of a document that Abbie had signed as Abbie Hughes, thus proving that despite their ‘no comment’ response and lack of wedding bands, that Abbie and Jake were married.  Amber had then spent the evening alone, crying while eating far too much chocolate ice cream and pickles – sometimes in the same mouthful.

“You okay?” Steph nudged Amber gently.  “You were miles away.”

Amber smiled and shrugged.  “Just thinking about the baby,” she replied with a small smile.

“Not long now, eh?”  Steph rubbed Amber’s arm gently “Anyway, don’t forget we’ll pick you up in the taxi at nine tomorrow morning,” she said, turning back to her computer.  Amber looked at her and giggled.  “I’ve overslept once on a working day, but you won’t let me forget it, will you?”

“Hah,” Steph scoffed.  “Once maybe, but by four hours.  Even Marnie banging on your front door and shouting through your letter box didn’t stir you.”

“Yes, but you didn’t have to call the police to break the door down.”  Amber shook her head recalling the large PC with a thick beard who had shaken her awake.  “You were lucky they didn’t charge you with wasting police time.”

“We were worried about you,” Steph cried.  “So, just make sure you don’t sleep in tomorrow.”

Marnie and Steph were taking Amber into London for the day.  They had a special treat arranged as a gift before she went off on maternity leave.  Amber had tried to point out that she wasn’t exactly in the right condition to go traipsing around London sightseeing, but they had assured her that it was nothing energetic and a black cab would be taken whenever required.

“Well, I gave Marnie a spare key so at least you won’t need to call the police this time,” Amber said as she closed down her computer.  “Right, that’s me finished for the day.”

“Okay,” Steph said, pulling her into a hug.  “Get a good night’s sleep and we’ll see you in the morning.”

Amber returned Steph’s hug and then waddled off, glad that she had such good friends, but wishing that she didn’t have to endure a trip to London.

Amber took a deep breath as she settled into the seat of the black cab.  The last time she’d been in London was with Jake, and that had been a weekend she would never forget.  When Marnie and Steph had told her about the trip, Amber’s biggest worry had been her aching back and swollen ankles, so when the memories of her time with Jake came flooding back, they had taken her by complete surprise.  As soon as they’d stepped out of the station onto the busy street, she’d felt the air rush from her lungs and a heart wrenching loneliness engulf her.  It wasn’t as though she and Jake had spent a great deal of time here; she wasn’t catching images of him at every corner.  It was the mere fact that the last time she was here, she had been happy, and starting to fall in love.  Now that was all over.

“You okay, Amber?” Marnie asked.  “You look a bit grey.”

“Oh shit, you’re not having contractions are you?”  Steph paled as she stared at Amber’s stomach.

“No,” Amber laughed.  “I’m fine.  Probably just ready for a drink.  It was hot on the train.”

Steph and Marnie grinned at each other, a secret shining in their eyes.

“Go on tell her,” Steph urged, giving Marnie a nudge with her elbow. .

“Tell me what?” Amber asked.

“What your treat is,” Marnie explained.  “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will,” Amber replied, giving them a warm smile.  “So go on tell me.”

“Ooh I’m so excited.”  Steph started to bounce up and down on the seat.  “Go on Marnie.”

“Okay.”  Marnie took hold of Amber’s hand and squeezed it.  “Well, we’re going to The Ritz for afternoon tea.”

Amber felt as though the bottom of her stomach had dropped to her boots.  A chill swept through her entire body.  “No!” she cried.

Marnie and Steph both shrank back and stared.

Being in London was bad enough but The Ritz, for afternoon tea, where Jake had taken her – she just couldn’t do it.  Amber stared at her friends, her eyes darting from one to the other.  They were motionless, eying each other warily as Amber’s heavy breathing filled the silence.

“Amber, what’s wrong?” Marnie finally asked.

Amber dropped her head, suddenly embarrassed at her outburst.  She’d had one afternoon there with Jake - that was all.  She was being stupid.

“It’s just too much,” she whispered.  “I can’t accept that.”  It was the only excuse that she could think of.

“Oh God, don’t be silly,” Steph replied with a sigh of relief.  “You deserve a lovely treat.”

“But you’ve not known me that long,” Amber said, desperately trying to pull herself together.  “At least let me pay towards it.”

“No way, missy.  This is our treat, isn’t it Steph?”

“Yes, and as for not knowing you long, well it’s quality not quantity.”

“Yeah,” Marnie agreed.  “Now stop being silly and just think about all those lovely cakes you’re going to be eating.”

Amber forced a smile and sat back against the seat, hoping that she could hold herself together for just a couple more hours.

“Oh my God, this is gorgeous,” Steph hissed.  “I feel proper posh.”

“I know,” Marnie replied, sitting back in her chair and gazing around the room.  “It’s all so elegant.”

Amber had to agree.  But, this wasn’t her first time in the Palm Court, with its high walls of gleaming mirrors and intricate gilded ceiling adorned with beautiful birdcage chandeliers.  She had sat at one of these tables before.  That day however, she and Jake only had eyes for each other, and Amber had failed to fully appreciate how spectacular her surroundings were.

“Not exactly where you’d expect to find us three,” said Steph with a smile.  “No offence Amber. I know you’re a lot more refined than us.”

Amber grinned.  “None taken,” she said before taking a bite of her tiny ham sandwich.  “It’s been lovely, thank you.”

After her initial melt down, and the threat of tears when they arrived, Amber had finally managed to calm herself down.  Once at their table, she took a deep breath and concentrated on her visit
now
, and not the last one. The girls had been kind enough to arrange the treat for her, so she was determined to at least try and enjoy it.

“I can’t wait to crack into the cakes,” Steph said, peering at the china cake stand in the middle of the table.  “That strawberry meringue thing has my name all over it.”

“Mine’s the cream slice,” Marnie said, almost having to fold her tongue back into her mouth. “Oh, and the scone…and maybe a macaroon.”  She was practically salivating.

“I guess mine is the chocolate fondant cake then,” Amber said.  “You two will be as fat as me by the time we leave.”

“I’ll be working mine off later,” Marnie replied, winking at Amber.

Steph shook her head and stood up.  “As much as I’d love to hear about Declan’s prowess in the bedroom
again,
I need to visit the little girl’s room.  Won’t be long.”

“Oh thanks,” Amber said, poking Steph’s arm.  “Now I have to listen to the blow by blow account of Marnie’s night of passion all on my own.”

“Literally blow by blow.”  Marnie grinned and pulled her chair closer to Amber.  “Okay, where shall I start?”

As Jake looked around the reception area, he was glad that it was almost empty and that no one had recognised either him or Abbie, apart from perhaps the pretty brunette standing and staring at them.  However, she looked too shocked to even move never mind draw anyone else’s attention to him.  He and Abbie had flown in this morning and stupidly he’d asked Neil, the band’s manager, to book him a suite for an overnight stay.  Unfortunately, when he wasn’t spending his own money, Neil liked to spend big, so here they were; The Ritz.  Jake groaned quietly and rubbed a hand over his face.  Why here, a place that held happy memories of Freckles?  He shuddered with relief that at least it hadn’t been The Savoy, in the suite he’d shared with her on their weekend trip.

“I’m sorry Mr Hughes,” the uniformed male receptionist said.  “Your suite isn’t quite ready.  Can we offer yourself and Miss Sinclair some complimentary afternoon tea, in The Palm Court, while you wait?”

Jake took a sharp intake of breath and was just about to categorically decline, when Abbie’s hand clutched his forearm.

“Oh Jake, could we?” she gushed before turning back to the receptionist.  “That would be amazing.”

Jake looked at her expectant face and knew that he couldn’t deny her.  “Sure.  That would be great, thanks.”

Abbie reached up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.  “Oh thank you.  This is so cool.”

“Excellent,” the man behind reception replied.  “If you’d like to check in now, you can go straight up once your suite is ready.”

“Great,” Jake sighed, trying to banish the images of Amber that were suddenly swimming before his eyes.

“What’s wrong?”  Marnie asked as Steph came back to the table.  “You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

Steph pulled her chair out and flopped down.  She didn’t say anything, but stared towards the marble steps that she’d just climbed.  Her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped open, occasionally closing only to drop wide again.

“Steph?”  Amber leaned over and squeezed her friend’s shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”

Steph gulped and then turned to Amber.  “He’s here.”

“Who is?” Marnie asked.

Steph turned to her and pointed back to the steps.  “Jake Hughes.  He’s in reception, and he’s coming in here because his suite isn’t ready.”

If Steph thought she was shocked, she had nothing on Amber.  As her hand shook uncontrollably, her tea cup dropped from her fingers, smashing onto her plate.  Tea and broken china; a sad metaphor of Amber’s heart.

“Oh God, Amber.  Are you okay?”  Marnie moved across and started to dab at the tea that was splashed all down Amber’s blouse.  “Has it burned you?”

Amber wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head.  “No I’m fine; I just went a little woozy.  I think I just need some fresh air,” she gasped.  She had to get the hell out of there before Jake came in.   

“Do you need to go now, or can you wait for a few minutes?”  Marnie nodded across at a zombified Steph.  “I’m not sure she’s entirely with it at the moment.”

“I need to go now,” Amber said, already on her feet.  “I’ll be fine.  You stay with Steph.”

“No, you can’t go alone.”  Marnie was obviously torn between her two friends as she looked from one to the other.

“Marnie, stay with Steph.  I’ll find somewhere to sit down outside.  Just text me when you’re finished.”

“We’ll come now.”

Amber closed her eyes and sighed quietly.  “Please Marnie,” she insisted.  “Finish your cakes and then come and find me.  Besides, she’ll never forgive you if you drag her away before…before Jake comes in.”  Amber’s heart stuttered as his name crossed her lips.

“If you’re sure?”

Amber nodded.  With shaking hands, she pulled on her coat and her Butcher Boy hat, and dragged the peak down over her eyes before rushing from the room as fast as her condition and jelly like legs would allow. 

With her head down, Amber made her way out of the hotel.  She didn’t see Jake as he passed her with Abbie at his side.  She felt him though.  Her skin prickled and her heart jumped as they moved within inches of each other.  If only she’d looked up, she would have seen Jake react too.  He didn’t know why, but as he passed the woman with her head down, searching through her handbag, his nerve endings lit up and his breathing momentarily stopped.  He turned around to look at her, but she was already gone, and Abbie was tugging at his hand.  Not sure what had just happened, Jake shook his head and carried on, wishing he could be somewhere else.

As Jake pulled up outside Luke’s house, he glanced at Abbie sleeping in the seat next to him.  She looked so beautiful, but better than that, she looked peaceful.  Jake sighed. There hadn’t been much peace in their lives over the last five months.  Unclipping his seatbelt, he reached over and shook her gently.

“Abbie, sweetheart.  We’re here.”

Stretching slowly, Abbie yawned and opened her eyes.  “I was so tired. Guess I’m still jet lagged.  Did I sleep all the way?”

Jake grinned back at her.  “Yeah, pretty much.  So, are you ready to meet everyone?”

“Sure am.”  Abbie yawned again and reached down into the foot well for her bag.  “I just hope that they like me.”

“They will,” Jake replied.  “Martha is awesome and will love you straight away.”

“And what about Luke?” Abbie asked, looking at Jake expectantly.  “He’s gonna be fine too, right?” she said in her Californian drawl.

Jake wasn’t sure that Luke would be fine.  Not specifically because of Abbie, but because Jake had been in L.A. for so long.  There had been a couple of T.V appearances that he’d had to replace Jake on, and he had not been happy about it.  There was also the fact that with Jake out of the country, Luke had somehow found himself responsible for overseeing the work on Jake’s house. A project fraught with problems to say the least.

“Jake,” Abbie asked again. ”Will Luke be okay with me staying here?” 

Jake smiled.  “Oh yeah,” he replied with his fingers crossed.  “He’ll be peachy.”

“Jake!” Martha cried as he walked into the kitchen.  “You’re early.” She rushed over to him and, shifting Rocco onto her hip, hugged Jake to her.

“Hey my little cherub, you missed me?”

“I have, and Rocco has missed his uncle Jake too, haven’t you?”

Jake grinned widely and took Rocco from Martha.  His heart warmed as the little boy, dressed in black jeans and a miniature Dirty Riches t-shirt, chuckled and, despite only seeing Jake via facetime for the last five months, smothered him with wet kisses.

“Hey buddy,” Jake cooed.  "I’m sorry I missed your birthday and Christmas, but I’ve brought you lots of presents back from L.A.”  Jake turned to Martha.  “Did he have a good day?”

“He did,” she replied.  “Of course he was spoiled rotten.  In fact we had to have words with Uncle Tom who decided an extremely expensive motorised car was appropriate for a one year old.”  Martha smiled and shook her head.

“The douche.  Does he know nothing?” Jake responded.

“Yeah well, at least he was here.”  Luke appeared in the doorway.  His arms were firmly crossed and his eyes narrow.

“Oh dear Rocco, looks like daddy is grumpy today.”  Jake grinned and handed the baby back to Martha.  “Hey Luke, good to see you too.” 

Luke walked slowly over and stood inches away from Jake.  “Don’t ever make me do a T.V. music quiz for you again.  I hated every minute of it.  I can’t be funny like you.”  Luke’s frown fell away as he grabbed Jake into a hug.  “Glad you’re back.  How’ve you been?”

“Good.  And you?”

“Okay, apart from the quiz and your fucking house.”

“Luke!”  Martha cried, pointing at Rocco.  “He’s started saying some words,” she said to Jake.  “And it appears he’s his father’s son because b.u.g.g.e.r. and s.h.i.t. are his favourites.”

Jake laughed and ruffled Rocco’s unruly hair, which was also just like his father’s.  “Nice one, Rocco.”

Luke joined in with Jake’s laughter as Martha frowned at the pair of them.

“It is not ‘nice one’,” she growled.

As if on cue, Rocco started waving his arms around, shouting what was just discernible as ‘bugger’.

Luke and Jake’s laughter grew louder, and Martha’s frown deeper.

“Rocco.  Naughty,” she scolded, giving him a stern look, which she then turned on Jake and Luke.  “You two are so childish.”

As Jake and Luke continued giggling like two naughty school boys, a quiet cough behind them alerted Jake’s attention.

“Oh shit, sorry,” he said, stepping backwards to reveal Abbie.

“Yit.” Rocco agreed.

“Oh dear,” Abbie said.  “It appears that uncle Jake is a bad influence.  Hi, I’m Abbie.”  Abbie thrust her hand towards Luke and flashed Martha a gleaming white Californian smile.

Still shaking Abbie’s hand, Luke looked at Jake.  “The rumours were true then?”

“Depends which ones,” Jake muttered.

“Hi Abbie.”  Martha moved towards her and poked Luke in the ribs as she passed him.  “Lovely to meet you,” she said, enveloping Abbie in a one armed hug.

“Why thank you, it’s so great to be here.”  Abbie stooped down to Rocco’s eye level.  “And aren’t you just the cutest little guy.  A real miniature rock star.”

Luke raised his eyebrows and stared at Jake.  Jake smiled and shook his head.  He knew that Luke would find Abbie’s valley girl persona strange.  However, she was a real sweetheart underneath the veneers, hair extensions and false nails.  Okay, she had her demons too, but he loved her.

“Listen,” Martha said.  “I need to put this monster down for a nap, so shall I show you to your room, Abbie.”

Abbie nodded and smiled, almost blinding Martha in the process.  “That would be awesome,” she gushed.

Once Martha and Abbie had disappeared from the kitchen, Luke turned to Jake.

“Gee, she’s like totally awesome,” Luke mocked.  “What the hell?  How did you end up with her?” he asked bewildered.  “You didn’t waste much time after Amber, did you? And you certainly went for the opposite end of the spectrum.”

Jake sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.  “It’s not what you think,” he said.  “She really is a lovely girl and once you get to know her you’ll love her as much as I do.”

Luke walked over to the cupboard and took some mugs out.  “I’m not being funny, Jake, but she is so not your type.  I don’t dispute that she’s a nice girl, but the shit you gave me for seeing Rachel because half of her was manufactured in China.”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh.  “I know, but it really isn’t what you think.”

“Tell me then what is it?”

Before he had chance to explain, Martha came back into the kitchen looking shell shocked.

“Jake, why didn’t you tell us that Abbie was your sister?”

“Sister?” Luke almost dropped the mug he was holding.  “What?”

“Yeah,” Jake replied, leaning nonchalantly back against the table.  “She’s my sister, so totally not what you think.”