by Patricia Mar
“You’re too kind, Mr Gualtieri.”
“For heaven’s sake, call me Dario. You’re very welcome in my house.”
He began to circle her, while Sara gradually went the colour of an aubergine. He touched her skirt with his hand, fearing it was out of place.
“I have a few dresses that would be perfect on you. Daniel dear, take her to my atelier when you have a moment, will you?”
“But I…” Sara began. Dario put his finger to his lips and smiled. “A body like yours deserves to be shown off by a Gualtieri.” Daniel’s expression seemed to confirm the designer’s words. Sara was speechless with embarrassment.
“Now, my dears, I must leave you for a while. I have a lot of guests tonight, half of whom I think are gate crashers. What fun, eh?”
Still speaking, he vanished amid a group of men and women who looked as if they had walked straight out of a fashion magazine.
“You should see yourself.”
“I’m in shock!”
Daniel put his hand around her waist and Sara could feel his warmth through the fabric. Reassuring and exciting at the same time. “Come on, let’s get a drink.”
As soon as they began to move, they were intercepted by a gang of people who, to Sara, all looked exactly the same. None of them had a hair out of place and they were all perfectly made-up and clad in dresses that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the covers of a magazine. Smiles, hugs, chit-chat and more smiles and chit-chat. She tried to take part in the conversation and get used to being part of the wallpaper. Daniel would have to offer up some pretty explosive sex and a few exciting new tricks after the party to earn her forgiveness for the boredom and the feeling of being a fifth wheel!
Although she felt out of place in those glitzy surroundings, she was pleased by the fact that Daniel had insisted on her being at his side. Thoughtfully, he introduced her to everyone and attempted to involve her in conversations – usually about things of which she knew nothing at all – to make her feel comfortable. He was a treasure.
More than once, Sarah had noticed curious eyes staring at her. Disturbing. They were wondering who this girl was who had captured the model’s heart. They wondered how long it would last and if the next girl would have the same curly hair, or if she would look more like Delphina McDougal.
And she nearly choked on the champagne Daniel had given her when she saw the object of her worst nightmares materialise right beside them.
“Daniel…”
Tall and statuesque, like Venus descended to Earth… Sara could imagine that she had an invisible minion following her at all times to lightly toss her long hair as though she were in a photo shoot. She was wearing an ice coloured dress with a plunging neckline that reached her navel. The soft fabric draped her toes, which were wrapped in silver sandals with stiletto heels sharp enough to skewer vampires with. And the split skirt, which showed a good portion of her gazelle-like leg, was the last straw for Ms De Michele.
Delphina’s poisonous, pale pink lips smacked Daniel on the cheek, rather too close to his mouth.
You nasty beep!
When the praying mantis had pulled away, Sara realised that there was no trace of lipstick on Daniel’s face, and she thanked God for the invention of today’s miraculous cosmetics.
“Delphina.” Daniel gave her a relaxed smile and introduced her to Sara immediately – in English. Luckily Sara spoke it well, although speaking another language at the moment was difficult. Her lips were as unco-operative as a couple of old tubes of toothpaste, and she felt completely insignificant next to this goddess, who had been with her boyfriend for months.
She’d better put that image out of her mind if she wanted to reboot her brain, which appeared to have short circuited.
“Nice to meet you,” said Delphina, glancing at her with wary eyes and feigned disinterest. She held out her hand, gracefully. Every gesture seemed studied – was she expecting to be immortalized in that position?
“You too,” replied Sara with cold cordiality. She was a quick learner.
“What a surprise to find you here, Delphina. I thought you were in London for the fashion shows.”
Sara’s brain recorded the information and jealousy began to gnaw at her with annoying punctuality. Why did he think she was in London? Was he still interested in her?
“Yes, I’m leaving tomorrow, but I couldn’t miss Dario’s party. I’ll be modelling for him in London in a couple of weeks. What an amazing collection.”
Sara wanted to make her feel small, god how she wanted to… That nasal voice of hers was so quiet you practically needed a hearing aid to hear her. She was so irritating!
Delphina and Daniel exchanged a few more pleasantries. They were at ease together – you could see it in their body language, their naturalness with one another, their relaxed smiles.
She was beginning to hate them both when it occurred to her that it was stupid to be jealous of someone who had been there before her. The important thing was that now she should get out of the way, forever. Ideally via a one way ticket to the moon, where she could do all the fashion shows she wanted.
Occasionally, she tried to say something, but Delphina was clever enough to always shift the topic to something that Sara knew nothing about in order to exclude her from the conversation. Daniel stood beside her, though, and even held her hand. Although it would have been nicer if he had broken off the damn conversation.
She wanted a mojito – now!
Finally her prayers were answered, Daniel made his excuses and said goodbye to his ex. As they walked away hand in hand, Sara could not help looking behind her, and in fact she found the piggy eyes of Venus glaring at her. Sneaky cow…
Sara – 1, Venus – Nil.
She gave her a ‘piss off’ smile then gazed back at Daniel angelically, despite feeling like a fiend inside.
“Congratulations, your ex is really gorgeous.” Perhaps it was a bit over the top but she could hardly control herself. Comparisons could be damaging to her ego.
“Not as gorgeous as you.”
Sarah laughed honestly. “Oh sure – I did tell you that I won Miss Universe last year, didn’t I?”
Daniel, oblivious to the looks they were getting, embraced her from behind and pulled her into his arms, resting his chin on her head. “Maybe you don’t realize that outer beauty doesn’t mean much. Your beauty is like a flower in bloom – pure and delicate. And you’re so beautiful inside.”
Sarah laughed and punched him on the arm. “So you’re admitting that I’m not so beautiful outside, but I am on the inside.” Daniel chuckled, and turned her round until they were facing each other.
“I never spoke to Delphina about my father. Draw your own conclusions.” Few words, but they touched her. For a moment Sara heard nothing around her – the chatter of the guests, the pianist, the people parading around them. They looked at each other like lovers. She didn’t need to worry about any other woman because Daniel wanted Sara, only Sara, and he had given himself to her.
“Dance with me. Do you want to?”
Sara nodded without saying a word, so Daniel took her by the hand and led her to a corner of the room where some other couples were letting themselves go to the music.
She leaned her head on his shoulder while Daniel’s arms enveloped her, giving her space in which to abandon herself. She could no longer feel the floor beneath her feet, nor the torture inflicted by the high heels. She felt as though she were flying beside him. They went on like that for quite a while, regardless of the presence of the others, but surrounded by curious glances and faint whispering.
“Gant looks completely besotted…”
“Did you see his ex?”
“She’s not as beautiful as Delphina…”
“This Italian girl is charming though…”
“Do you think so?”
Blah blah blah… If Sara had known that they were all talking about her she would have run like hell, but she was too far gone to realise, so fortunat
ely that pesky detail didn’t bother her at all. Or at least, not until she needed to go to the bathroom.
On entering, she couldn’t help but notice that it was half the size of her apartment. Inside there was another door which Sara closed behind her – but when she had finished and went to open it again, the handle wouldn’t turn! Her eyes widened in horror as she realised that she was trapped in there.
No, no, no – not this!
She could already see herself shouting for help and was still stubbornly trying to turn the handle when a voice on the other side of the door made her stop and fall silent.
Delphina and another girl were speaking in English.
“God, he really went down market after you two split up.”
“She’s cute, but not much more,” said Delphina, acerbically. “I wonder where she got that dress. In a flea market, probably. That model’s two years old.”
If she had been able to get out of there, Sara would have punched her on the nose, and it would have taken more than a facelift to sort her out afterwards.
“It won’t last, you’ll see. Daniel will soon get tired of that little scrubber”
“Who are you calling a scrubber, you ugly cow?” Sara muttered softly to herself.
“I hope so. I think of him a lot. I didn’t think I’d miss him so much after he dumped me.”
“He was crazy, darling – absolutely crazy.”
“I think so too,” laughed Delphina, in her little Mickey Mouse voice.
“Have you ever thought of trying to hook up with him again?”
Sara stuck her ear to the door in order to hear better. “Yes, let’s hear what you have to say,” she thought.
“Of course I’ve thought about it and I’ve tried, but Daniel was adamant, you know? And now he seems really taken by this girl. Didn’t you see them dancing earlier? It was as though there were only the two of them in the room.”
“How pathetic.”
Delphina was silent for a moment. “He never looked at me the way he looks at her, Jasmine,” she admitted reluctantly. “I think he really is in love.”
Sara beamed. She was ecstatic, despite being locked inside the toilet with those two bitches from hell. All she wanted to do was run to her Daniel, drag him away from that party and hold him hostage for a night of love. She began fiddling with the handle again with renewed determination, until suddenly it gave way, throwing Sara backwards. As the door swung open she found herself sitting on the toilet, facing an astonished Delphina and Jasmine.
Sara smiled and waved.
“How are you doing?” she said as she stood up and walked past them with a confident smile on her face. All the insecurities she had felt before had evaporated and she felt like a queen – they must all bow down as she regally walked by.
Sara couldn’t help but notice the expressions of the two mortified gossips as she looked in the mirror and pretended to fix her hair. But before leaving, she turned to look at them. “Jasmine, if you want to see a scrubber, just have a look in the mirror – and Delphina, you’ve answered your own question: Daniel adores me, so you keep your hands off. The past is dead, long live the present!”
She blew them a kiss and left them standing there, dumbfounded.
*
With a new boldness, Sara joined Daniel downstairs. “There was something I forgot to tell you.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him in front of everyone.
Daniel, pleasantly surprised, gave her a look as she pulled away. “How about if we get out of here and get on with our plans for the evening?” he asked with a wink.
“I thought you’d never ask, you useless bloody supermodel.”
So with everyone watching, and after thanking Dario for his hospitality and saying their goodbyes, Daniel Gant and Sara De Michele left, hand in hand and ready for a night of passion and fun.
And to hell with everything else.
Chapter 22
Clark Kent
Virginia’s pout almost reached the floor as, legs crossed and wearing black cropped pants and a t-shirt with ‘Twilight Forever’ on it, she leafed through a magazine with the pugnaciousness of a boxer ready for round one.
“We could do a double date.”
Sara came out from the bedroom wearing tight jeans, and pulled on a cream leather jacket over her top.
“Daniel wants to introduce me to his best friend, I think he’d rather it was just us.”
“You mean a private orgy.”
Sara laughed as she grabbed her bag and car keys. “Anyway, you have a boyfriend, so you shouldn’t be wanting to go out with another guy.”
Virginia narrowed her eyes and observed her sister. “Its only just happened – I’ve been single since this morning.”
Sara stopped in the doorway and came back and sat down next to her, frowning. “What happened?”
“Oh, nothing serious, don’t worry.” Virginia’s face softened and she smiled reassuringly. “He was sweet and nice and all that – but the spark wasn’t there. When a girl thinks more about passing an exam than whispering sweet nothings to her boyfriend there has to be something wrong, don’t you think?”
“You could have told me,” Sara said sadly, shocked that she had been so distracted she hadn’t noticed the signals her sister had been sending her.
Virginia took her hand and squeezed it. “You’re having a wonderful time at the moment and for once I wanted you to concentrate on yourself. You’re always worrying about me, I just wanted to return the favour… and believe me, there wasn’t really much going on. It was just a flash in the pan. We never even had sex.”
Sara sighed. “You weren’t sure, huh?”
“I want my first time to be special, like fireworks. Philip was not the right person, he was a just the interval between the first and second half of Man of Steel, you know?”
Sara laughed.
“I might meet him in a lift,” said Virginia, and they giggled together like two children.
“Anything can happen…” admitted Sara. “If I’m Daniel Gant’s girlfriend, you can certainly be Henry Cavill’s.”
“Sara, I want my own Superman – someone who takes me up into the skies with a smile and who melts me completely with just one look. I want my own personal hero and if you invite me tonight to this dinner for three, I’ll have a better chance of meeting him,” she muttered in mock annoyance, folding her arms. “Maybe it’ll be Alessandro.”
“Next time I’ll try and fix it up. But Alessandro might not be your Superman.”
“I’d settle for Clark Kent,” said Virginia, with a wink.
Sara shook her head and stood up.
“You sure you’re all right? I could stay and keep you company? I’ll tell Daniel and…”
“No, sis, you go and have fun. I get the feeling that this Daniel is putting you through lots of tests and you’re passing them all. You make this Alessandro like you and you’ll see that you’ll have your model by the short and curlies,” Virginia said, arching her eyebrows knowingly.
“Oh stop it!”
As Sarah was walking out of the front door, she heard her sister shout, “Just get ready for the fun you’ll have when you introduce him to mother. Never mind a test, that’ll be a survival course for him, poor thing!”
A shiver ran down her spine at the thought.
“See you tomorrow, nutter!” she shouted, without looking back.
*
She was standing in front of the door of the loft apartment. It didn’t really seem appropriate to just walk in using Daniel’s key. She could distinctly hear the laughter of two men coming from inside, and she didn’t want to give the impression that she had been spying on them, so she rang the bell.
The reality was that she had heard so many stories about Alessandro Gualtieri that she felt almost as though she knew him already. She hoped, for Daniel’s sake, that they would get along.
Daniel, in jeans and a casual shirt, opened the door, still laughing. “Hello, darling, come in.” He pulled her
inside and helped her take off her jacket. “We were talking about something that happened to Alessandro today.”
“These things always happen to me!” shouted a cheerful voice and Sara smiled instinctively.
Daniel and Sara entered the room while Alessandro was already walking towards them with his hand extended. “Pleasure to meet you – I’m Daniel’s notorious friend, Alessandro.”
Sara was taken aback for a moment. If she’d been expecting another cover boy, she’d been mistaken, and was pleasantly surprised.
Alessandro wasn’t particularly tall, had very light brown hair, two fine smile lines around his mouth, bright eyes hidden behind metal rimmed glasses, a slightly bulbous nose and a soft, rounded chin. All told, you might say he was cute, though nothing like Daniel and his irrepressible physicality. He was wearing a Kermit the Frog t-shirt and ripped jeans. She liked him already.
“I will admit that he does talk about you quite a lot,” Sara confirmed.
“And about you. My friend here…” he said, giving Daniel a pat on the back,” has gone on and on about you!” He put his hands to his head in feigned agony then turned his back on them and headed back to the dining table.
“I’d better tell you that Alessandro is starving,” said Daniel, as they went over to join him. It was at that moment that Spank arrived, but this time, instead of concerning herself with Sara’s ankles, she sat at Alessandro’s feet. If she’d had been a cat she would have purred.
“I had so many patients to see today that I had to skip lunch,” he explained, blushing slightly.
“You’re a vet, right?” asked Sara.
“Yep, that’s right.”
“Alessandro loves animals, especially dogs. He always says…”
“That I prefer dogs to people,” Alessandro finished his sentence for him. “You know, Sara, I’m afraid he’s right, but there are exceptions.” He winked at her and put his napkin on his lap. “So, chef? There are hungry people waiting!”