Chapter 13
The three girls spent a few hours eating a long relaxed lunch on the beach front while Cheryl told them how one of the record executives was an old friend of Simon’s and had basically taken advice from Simon on how to deal with things.
His colleague hadn’t been so convinced. He was genuinely worried that they were attempting to trick him into believing that the British public were supporting Cheryl’s relationship with Kimberley.
Hillary and the lawyer had been worried that Cheryl’s blunt comments about Simon may have been damaging, and having asked her to speak as little as possible inside, they were not amused. But Charles, the older guy, had liked Cheryl’s honesty and decided she was an asset to the label.
The record label had eventually come to the decision that they would leave things as they were, trusting Hillary’s judgement that the press and public in the UK were, in the most part, behind Cheryl and her new relationship, and that there was no reason why her solo career would suddenly suffer when the band’s image and success hadn’t suffered at all.
“You two are a bad influence on me,” declared Nadine, after ordering a jug of still water. “I can’t believe I just had 3 cocktails over lunch – and 2 at your place yesterday!”
Kimberley appeared shocked. “Excuse me? I’m not drinking a drop!”
“Only cos you’ve got the car,” pointed out Nadine.
Cheryl smiled. “Nadine, you’re helping me celebrate – there’s no shame in that!”
Nadine appeared unconvinced as she pushed the empty cocktail glass away from her. “I was supposed to be recording this afternoon”.
Cheryl put her glass down and looked at Nadine, frowning. “Oh babe, did you cancel because of me?”
“Well of course!” exclaimed Nadine loudly. “I wasn’t gonna go “call me – let me know how you get on, was I?”
“Awww, I had totally forgot you had a recording session after lunch,” admitted Cheryl, putting a hand on Nadine’s hand which was resting next to the empty cocktail glass.
“Well, you had other things on your mind…” reasoned Nadine, squeezing her fingers. “It’s fine – I rescheduled. This way I can have a rest this afternoon before dinner tonight and hitting the clubs”.
“Dancing?” asked Cheryl with a hint of hope.
“Well, seeing as we’re celebrating I suppose I could be persuaded… but of course, only a little bit – I’ll have to keep Jason company,” and the relief was evident in her voice.
“Nice excuse,” smiled Kimberley, and she giggled as Nadine rolled her eyes at her.
Cheryl’s phone started to ring and she took her hand off Kimberley’s knee, pulling the phone out of her handbag and spotting Simon’s name on the screen. “Afternoon Superman” she greeted him, with a glint in her eye. Nadine and Kimberley laughed and Cheryl smiled at them.
“I was in a meeting, I’ve just noticed your missed call,” replied Simon. “I trust you’ve had a good day?”
“Thanks to you” Cheryl said simply.
“Well, let’s face it – you needed all the help you could get, they were clearly going to hate you when they met you, I thought the only thing I could do was ring Charles and offer him a substantial sum of money…”
Cheryl interrupted before he’d finished. “Oh you did not!”
Simon’s laugh could be heard by Nadine and Kimberley. “You’re right – I just told him he’d be a fool if he did anything other than keep hold of you”.
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