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.” He remarks knowingly.“It was snapped up by a private investor who coughed up the rest of the production funds.Where have you been, Tina? This thing is going to be massive!” He glares at me as I stand there, gaping.“What planet are you on?”I have no idea how I got back to the hotel.I must have floated or had the aid of an out-of-body experience because I’m definitely here sitting on the hotel bed, only I can’t recall the journey.“It’s in the contract.Did you even read it?” The contempt in his voice was bitter, his tone bore all the arrogance of a man with the leading role, a principal with a prima-donna personality to match it.“We’re signed up for three series!”I’ve a business to run.A new shop to open.A staff member to console and a relationship to resurrect, plus I’m still in the process of carrying out remedial work on my sister after nearly ruining her wedding day.This really can’t be happening.I delve deep to find an answer that will help me unscramble what’s going on in my head, a logical solution to put an end to this illogical episode.I need to phone somebody even if it is midnight, I need to hear a friendly voice.Someone who I know and who knows me.I’ve been alienated from everyone and everything I love for the past seven days and I’m lonely, exhausted and confused.And tied into two more series!I grab the phone but don’t switch it on.Think, Tina.Don’t be hasty.You need a strategy.Fail to prepare, prepare to fail!Kate! I’ll ring Kate.She has no idea I’ve taken the holiday I was too busy to go on, she thinks I’ve been working hard at the office.I switch on the phone, ignoring the abundance of missed calls and dial Kate’s number, desperate to hear her cheery tones.“Who the hell have you been talking to?” she snarls.“Kate, is that you?” I must have misdialled.“Of course it’s me!” she spits.“Now explain to me why the hell I’m on the front page of three tabloid newspapers labelled an anorexic lesbian!”What?“What?” I rack my brains but come back with nothing.Someone tell me this isn’t happening.“Who have you been talking to, Tina?”“No-one, Kate! You’re my best friend! I’d never betray you.” A feeling of paranoia sweeps over me.Who have I been talking to?“Well, isn’t it funny how the papers have quoted you, Tina.”“Me?”“Yes, you! It reads ‘My Perfect Pin-up’!”“Uuh?”“Don’t play stupid, Tina.It quotes you saying ‘We’re way past all that now’! Who the hell were you talking to?” Her voice breaks and she stops mid-sentence.She is upset, painfully upset.And then the penny drops.“Oh God, Kate.” I shudder.“I know who it was.”I tell Kate about Raymond, omitting how we came to meet, explaining the innocence behind the misinterpreted remarks, describing how we agreed unanimously about her beauty.“That bastard!” she yells.“I turned him down for a date last year and he’s trying to get back at me! He is a conceited sly little prick who was looking for an opportunity like this!”Kate blows her nose loudly and a single tear runs down my face.I’ve humiliated her.Embarrassed her in front of her family and work colleagues and all because of a sly little man whose path should never have crossed with mine.“And you set it up nicely for him, Tina.”“Kate, it was all so innocent! I swear on my life!”I start to cry as the weight of everything lands on my shoulders with an almighty thud.“Of all the people to have bumped into, it just had to be him.I didn’t know who he was or what he would do.it was innocent, Kate.”Kate clears her throat.“Where did you meet him?”“What?”“Where did you meet him?” she repeats coldly.“He usually hangs out at strip joints and seedy places and I can’t see you at one of those.”Think, Tina.“I was at a seminar in Manchester, with, erm, work,” I lie.“I went into the hotel bar for a drink afterwards and he was there.”This seems to satisfy Kate but her distance tells me that she is totally overwhelmed by the exposure and not quite with us.This happens to other celebrities but Kate keeps herself squeaky-clean to avoid any negative headlines – she says it upsets her parents too much [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]