‘So now your publicist is whipping up trouble about our marriage in the tabloids?’
‘He released one on-set photo taken months ago.’
‘Of you having sex, which by the way I thought was supposed to be a closed set. Just you, Justin and the director.’
‘What is your problem?’ she said fiercely. ‘I’m getting sick of this jealousy, Alex. I’m an actress; sometimes I have to play parts that involve intimacy, and when I do, I do it well. And I’m not going to apologise for the way the studio does its publicity – that’s just ridiculous.’
Emotion welled up in his throat. Everything had gone so well over the past few years: his music career, his marriage to one of the world’s most beautiful women. He knew it was more than he deserved and in his darker moments, usually alone on tour, awake in the middle of night, he expected it all to come crashing down.
‘I just want us to be happy,’ he said sadly.
Her expression softened. She swung her legs around his body to straddle him, pressing her bare breasts against his back as she kissed the nape of his neck.
‘It’s just publicity, honey. I love you, Alex. I love you so much.’
He relaxed into her, feeling reassurance in her words and her warm skin brushing against his.
‘I want to try for a baby,’ she whispered.
He turned round to face her. ‘You do?’
The only time children had been mentioned before was on their honeymoon in Ireland. Sailing across Lough Neagh, a gorgeous blood-red sunset had settled over the water and, overcome with its beauty, Alex had turned round to his new wife and told her he wanted to have at least six children. Melissa had just giggled and said,‘We’ll see’. Alex had never pushed it because he knew her career came first. Always came first. But he had always wanted children, desperately wanted them. Perhaps it was some desire to make up for the failings of his own family, or a need to create something whose love would be unconditional, whose love he would never have to question.
‘Are you sure this is what you want?’ he asked.‘You start shooting another movie in a month, and I’ve got the European tour.’
He knew he was pushing her, testing her. A baby was exactly what he wanted – but he wanted her to want it just as much.
‘After this film and after the tour, then we’ll start trying,’ she said, nibbling at his ear lobe. ‘But in the meantime, why don’t we start practising?’
She squealed with laughter as Alex scooped her up and rolled on to the floury-white sand. Lying half naked on the shore, a wave of surf washed over them.
‘From here to eternity.’ She giggled.
God, I hope so, thought Alex, pulling at her bikini briefs. I really do.
54
March 2008
Sitting outside a café on the Left Bank, Alex had an old Frank Sinatra tune in his head. What was it? Something about loving Paris in the springtime? And it was true: Paris seemed idyllic whether it was covered in blossom or frost, but Alex particularly loved it for the simple reason that he couldn’t do this in any other city in the world. In London, New York or Berlin, he would have been mobbed by fans and star-struck tourists, but the French were too cool to bother you over lunch. A leisurely moules frites was sacrosanct in Paris. Alex offered a chip to his manager, who politely declined. Ted Sullivan was a straight-talking Brit – something of an anomaly in an industry which seemed to produce foul-mouthed ball-breakers on a production line – but he had been with Alex ever since he had become Al Doyle and Alex trusted him implicitly.
‘So how’s Melissa?’ asked Ted.
‘Great.’ Alex shrugged. ‘Well, as far as I know, anyway.’
Alex was coming to the end of his European tour and Melissa was currently shooting her latest movie on location in Vancouver, so it was hard to find time when they could talk on the phone, let alone see each other. Melissa had managed to fly out to see him in Rome a few weeks earlier, but they had been living separate lives for months. Ted looked at him awkwardly.
‘Look, I didn’t want to bring this up, and part of me thinks it’s none of my business, but as your manager and your friend, I think you should know.’
‘Know what?’
‘The rumours about Melissa and Justin Coe having an affair.’
Alex smiled and took a sip of his beer. ‘I appreciate your concern,
Ted, but Melissa and Justin are not having an affair.’
‘How do you know? Those red-carpet pictures of them together on the Next Door promo tour looked pretty cosy.’