by T A Williams
‘Thanks for telling me. The last thing I want at the moment is to run into a bunch of paparazzi.’ She wondered if Tracey and her father had already seen Carrie’s now infamous photos, but there was no mention of this in Tracey’s reply.
‘Great. Look forward to seeing you, Alice. Ciao!’
‘Bye.’
Alice returned to her email, changed Matt’s invitation from tonight to tomorrow, and pressed Send.
She drove down to Siena and spent the day there, fighting her way through the crowds of tourists filling the narrow streets. She had been there before, and she loved this charming and historic little city. On an impulse, she decided to go to a hair salon – for the first time in many months – in readiness for tonight. She had enough experience of Hollywood invitations to know that the instruction to come dressed in any old thing was not to be taken seriously. She had no doubt that a world-famous actress and her retinue wouldn’t turn up in shorts and scruffy T-shirts. It looked as though her Stella McCartney was going to get its second outing in five years tonight.
Conscious that she would have to walk some way up the road and then along a gravel path to get to the villa, she invested in a nice pair of sandals with just a bit of a heel. They were comfortable and would be a lot more stable than the one pair of ‘smart’ shoes with fairly high heels that she had brought. While shopping, she also bought some new underwear and told herself that this was just because she needed some, not because of any possible hook-up with Matt. Her brain told her she wasn’t even fooling herself, but she had bought it by then.
At six o’clock she let herself into the villa grounds through the side gate and walked up through the olive trees to the house. It felt strange to be arriving here as a visitor after having been a resident. She was about to ring the fine old doorbell alongside the front door when it opened and she found the red-haired woman standing there with a smile on her face and a thousand dollar dress on her back. Alice was glad her instincts to dress up had been vindicated.
‘Alice, hi. I’m Tracey.’
‘Good evening, Tracey. Thanks for the invitation.’ Seeing as she was now nominally back in Hollywood-land, she added a bit of froth. ‘And that’s a gorgeous dress. I love it.’
Tracey’s smile broadened as she returned the compliment and then led Alice through the dining room and out onto the terrace.
‘Alice, so good of you to come.’ Conrad’s voice cut across the chatter and all faces turned in her direction. ‘You look just great.’
Thanks to all her years of acting, Alice managed to keep her face from blushing, as she felt herself the object of so many eyes, and she did what she always did in these circumstances. She reminded herself of how she had felt that time on set when she had had to bare all. In comparison, this was just a walk in the park. She went across to shake hands with Conrad and he then made the introductions, starting with Felicity Winter, who was standing at his side with an unexpectedly friendly expression on her face. Alice had never met her before and she was as stunningly beautiful in the flesh as on-screen, even though she wasn’t wearing anything extravagant or outrageous. Her dress did shriek class and expense, though – definitely a long way from shorts and a T-shirt.
‘Felicity needs no introduction, does she? And, Felicity, you know this is…’
‘Polly!’ Felicity surprised Alice by reaching out, catching her by the shoulders and air-kissing her noisily, before grabbing hold of her arm excitedly. ‘My favourite character in my favourite show. I have box sets of all five series, and I regularly watch them over and over again. It’s a real pleasure to meet you in the flesh, Alice.’
Alice was genuinely impressed. It had been five years ago, after all. ‘Well, I’m even more pleased to meet a megastar like you, Felicity. I can’t tell you how many of your films I’ve seen and loved.’
At that moment Paolo materialised at Alice’s elbow with a tray of champagne. Alice took a glass, thanked him and waved the white envelope she was carrying at him.
‘By the way, Paolo, I’ve found out a lot more about that shield in the hallway. It’s all in here.’ She turned towards Conrad Chesterfield and held the envelope out to him. ‘Paolo showed me the shield when I was here before and I’ve been doing a bit of research. I’m delighted to say I think I may have found the identity of the man who used to own your villa, or at least the medieval building on whose foundations this one’s built.’
She saw interest and maybe something more on Conrad’s face. Respect maybe? He took the envelope but made no attempt to open it. ‘That’s amazing, Alice. So, go on, tell us. Who was he?’
‘It’s still not proven, but I’m ever more convinced that it might have belonged to the man who gave his name to America.’ In the general hush that followed this revelation, she added the name. ‘Amerigo Vespucci or, if not him, at least somebody from his family.’ She went on to give them a brief summary of what was laid out in her paper and she saw wonder on the faces of the listeners. Then, as she was looking round the group, her eyes suddenly alighted upon a familiar, if unwelcome, face in the background. It was Zoë, but Alice didn’t have time to consider the implications of the bad-tempered director’s presence at the villa for now.
‘Alice, that’s simply amazing.’ Conrad looked around at his family and then back at her again, his eyes shining. ‘So you think my house might have started life belonging to the man who discovered America? That’s awesome.’
It turned out to be a most enjoyable evening. Even Zoë was on her best behaviour and came over to deliver air-kisses with every appearance of warmth, although Alice knew of old just how good an act her old director could put on. She was introduced to the rest of Conrad’s family, and found them friendly and welcoming. His other daughter, Silvia, and her two little children were very pleasant. Unsurprisingly, her husband was also involved in the TV business.
It soon emerged that they had all seen the results of Carrie’s revenge upon Richie, and Alice was mightily relieved to find that Conrad had taken it on the chin. In fact, he didn’t seem too worried at all.
‘We were going to put out a press release some time soon, but we’ve been hanging on, seeing as so many people are on holiday. The news coming out like this has caused quite a stir, so it’s actually been a better launch than we thought.’ He gave Alice a grin. ‘But I intend to have a few choice words with Richie about his girlfriends and his behaviour towards them.’
Alice smiled back. No irreparable damage, and Richie getting a smack on the wrists seemed like an ideal solution. She was glad for Millie and the others that Conrad was reacting so pragmatically.
As for Felicity – ‘call me Fliss’ – the famous movie star, it turned out that she had been best friends at school with Tracey and had regularly holidayed with her since they had been in their teens. As a result she was clearly accepted as part of the family. She parked herself alongside Alice and monopolised her, clinging to her arm and demonstrating an encyclopaedic knowledge of all the twists and turns of the often complicated storyline of Pals. Alice was feeling quite overwhelmed by the time Paolo came out to announce that dinner was served. She went over to Conrad and his wife to thank them for their hospitality and take her leave, but they wouldn’t hear of it.
‘You must stay. Please don’t go.’
It genuinely sounded as if he meant it. His wife repeated the invitation with equal sincerity, so Alice thanked them most warmly and sat down to another excellent meal served by Paolo and Rosanna. To her surprise, Fliss took up station alongside her and the two of them chatted all the way through. In the course of the meal, Alice couldn’t help noticing that Zoë appeared remarkably relaxed in this company, and the other members of Conrad’s family looked similarly at ease with her. Apparently, she had been in London for some meetings but was now here on holiday. By the look of it she and the family were very close and this wasn’t the first time she had holidayed with them. This close friendship at least went some way towards explaining why Conrad refused to ditch her.
‘I’d be mobbed. That’s the trouble with being such a recognisable figure. And some of the people can be seriously objectionable. I suppose, as you’ve been out of it for a few years now, you manage better, but back at the height of Pals you must have had the same sort of trouble.’
Alice nodded soberly. ‘I certainly did. Most people were nice, but the few that weren’t were really scary. And social media was even worse. I still stay well away from it.’
‘It can be brutal.’
The dinner party broke up around ten and Alice said goodbye to everybody, with warm thanks to the host and hostess. Conrad thanked her again for the research she had done on Amerigo Vespucci and told her he hoped they could meet up again before the end of the month. With Zoë now here, Alice reckoned that would be unlikely, but she didn’t mind. She felt confident that relations between her and Conrad were now restored and she was glad, even though in every likelihood their paths would never cross again. Although stubborn, he was a good man deep down and she liked him.
Fliss took her arm and insisted upon accompanying her to the gate in the fence and kissing her goodbye. ‘I’ve really enjoyed meeting you and talking with you, Alice. Who knows? Maybe we’ll work together some time.’
Alice was about to tell her that her own acting days were over, but it was such an intriguing thought that she couldn’t help a little surge of excitement at the prospect.
‘That would be amazing. Anyway, I’ve rented a little house in the village. If you feel like a chat any time, just come down or give me a call and I’ll come up and meet you here. It would be good to stay in touch. Tracey’s got my number.’
When she got home, she found she had a reply from Matt. Disappointingly, it was to tell her that he would be away for a couple of days, but he hoped they could meet up next week. Suppressing a little sigh, she went up to bed with mixed feelings. On the one hand, there was considerable satisfaction at how well this evening at Conrad’s villa had gone, but this was tempered by the knowledge that she would have to wait before seeing Matt again.
Chapter 20
Next morning, she toyed with the idea of taking a different route for her run, just in case the paparazzi lying in wait for Felicity might recognise her, but natural curiosity and the desire to see Matt and his dog again – if they were still about – took her back up the road. She did, however, deliberately camouflage herself for the run in a baggy T-shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses, and kept her face averted as she passed the two men. She could feel their eyes on her as she went past, but she felt confident that was probably more an instinctive reaction to the sight of a woman’s bottom in running shorts than recognition of her face.
Up at the top of the hill there was no sign of Matt or the dog, even though she ran along as far as his gates, so presumably he had already left and she felt another little twinge of regret. She had learnt by now that there was a path along this side of the fence that circled the villa grounds and led back into the village by another road, so she carried on along this, rather than risk running the gauntlet of the paparazzi again. Her talk to Fliss last night had reawakened memories of the discomfort of being recognised, and now that she had hopefully achieved a certain degree of anonymity, she was determined to keep it that way.
In the afternoon she took the car and followed a winding wine route through the Chianti hills, admiring the old villas and farms among the vineyards and olive groves, and stopping off from time to time to visit fascinating old churches and picturesque villages. Everywhere she went, she searched for signs of the Vespucci coat of arms but without success. She bought a pecorino cheese from a roadside stand, along with some delicious-looking peaches and a couple of bottles of red wine from a producer selling direct to the public outside his cantina. It was a quiet, restful day and all that was missing was a bit of company – but he was away.
She didn’t feel like a run next day so she showered, got dressed and then went across to the cafe for her morning cappuccino and a doughnut. It was another hot day, with no rain forecast for the days to come. While she was sitting outside in the piazza, her phone started ringing. She didn’t recognise the number and wondered if it might be Matt, only to discount the idea straightaway, as he only had her email address. She swiped green and answered.
‘Pronto. Chi parla?’
‘Alice, is that you?’ Alice recognised the voice immediately.
‘Fliss, how great to hear from you.’
‘I was wondering if you were doing anything today? Feel like a swim and a chat?’
Alice was impressed. An invitation to chat with a Hollywood icon wasn’t something that happened every day and, besides, she had genuinely got on well with her. She immediately said yes, and they agreed she would walk up to the villa and come in through the same side gate as before, at eleven o’clock.
When she got there, Paolo met her at the door and told her that Felicity was down at the pool with ‘the others’. As Alice walked through the gardens, she wondered who might be there – maybe Zoë? As it turned out, she was relieved to find only Felicity and Silvia, Conrad’s elder daughter, with her family. Her two little girls were splashing about in the shallow end, while her husband was swimming lengths. After greeting both ladies with kisses, Alice dropped her bag on a sunbed alongside Fliss and slipped out of her clothes into her bikini. Fliss gave her an appraising look.
‘You’ve still got it, Polly. You look great.’
‘Polly, who’s Polly? I think you must be confusing me with somebody else, madam.’ Alice gave her a wink and read comprehension on the big star’s face.
‘Of course, Alice, that chapter of your life’s finished now. Still, I’m impressed to see you’ve been looking after yourself so well.’
Alice headed for the water. She swam up and down a few times before playing beach ball catch with the two little girls for a while and then finally coming back out again. As she dried herself off, she sat down beside Fliss and pointed to the familiar cover of the book the film star had been reading.
‘The Playboy and His Women – I’ve just finished reading it. What do you think of it?’
‘It’s okay – quite interesting, actually. Thankfully, it’s more psychological than Fifty Shades and there’s far less of the kinky stuff.’ She pushed her sunglasses up onto her forehead and gave Alice a wink. ‘Seeing as I’ve just heard I’m starring in the screen version, I’m relieved about that.’
‘Wow, congratulations. The book has been an amazing hit. I’m sure the movie with you in it will break all records. When’s it all happening?’
‘Shooting starts in LA in the late autumn. I thought I’d better read the book first, before I learn my lines, so I picked up a copy at LAX as I was getting on the plane and I’m glad I did. It’s extremely well-written and there are insights into my character’s personality that don’t immediately leap out from the screenplay.’
Alice was impressed at Fliss’s professionalism – but she was one of the greatest living actresses, after all. ‘So is that your homework for the summer?’
‘Pretty much, and then I’ll have to decide what to do next.’ She glanced across at Alice. ‘Do you ever wish you’d tried cinema? You’re a great actress and you’re so photogenic.’
‘There was a time when my agent was pushing me to try movies, but I was so busy with Pals I never took it any further. Anyway, that was years
ago and now I’m pretty much set on a career in art history.’
‘Have you got a job lined up?’
Alice shook her head. ‘Not yet, but it’ll come. I’m in no hurry.’
She saw Fliss hesitate. ‘The thing is, Alice, if you were thinking about making a move into cinema – even temporarily – there’s a script my agent’s been telling me about. It’s a sort of Thelma and Louise road-trip movie with two women, both desperate to get away from their humdrum lives. If you like, I could put your name forward. It would probably start filming next summer or early autumn.’
Alice was truly flabbergasted. ‘Me working alongside you? That would be amazing.’ Apart from anything else, it would no doubt provide the sort of massive financial buffer she needed to take a history of art job and still live in comfort. But, more than that, the idea of appearing alongside Felicity Winter, maybe even co-starring? It sounded like a dream come true, although she had no illusions as to the effect it would inevitably have on her private life. Still, she knew she would say yes if they offered it to her. Maybe this was another second chance to renew her relationship with Hollywood.
Fliss looked pleased. ‘Of course, the decision wouldn’t be mine, but I’d be surprised if they turned you down. I’m sure your comeback would be a major box-office draw.’ She reached across, caught hold of Alice’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘No rush. Just think about it. I’m off to Rome later in the week for a couple of days of meetings and then a few days’ holiday. I won’t be back in LA until early next week. You have my phone number. Think it over and if you want me to put your name forward, just give me a call.’ She leant over and gave Alice a peck on the cheek. ‘I’d really enjoy working with you, Alice.’