Paradise Read Free Page A

Knowing Rufus, he’d be eager to get home by now, as he had to get up at half six to go to the gym to start work as a personal trainer.
    Gemma, her best friend going all the way back to primary school, who was married to Angel’s brother, would either be snuggled up with Tony or out in Brighton with her mates. Tony, had to commute to London every day and often had to work late so he might not be home yet. Gemma worked in her mum’s beauty salon in the heart of Brighton’s Lanes and liked to go out when Tony was late so she didn’t have to sit in the house by herself.
    Any minute now, in her parent’s house, Angel’s mum would turn to her dad, who’d be sitting on the sofa beside her watching telly, and say, ‘Right love, that’s me done. I’m off to bed.’ Her dad would give her a kiss and promise to join her soon. And as for Cal, who would he be with? Angel wondered. No, she wouldn’t think of him . . . She sighed, missing them all. At least in a month’s time she would get to see them as she was going back to the UK for Christmas.
    Ethan ended his call to Benny. ‘So . . . now for your second surprise.’
    ‘Oh, no, Ethan, you don’t have to buy me anything else!’ Angel exclaimed.
    ‘Nope, this one is priceless and I can’t wait to see your face.’ Ethan’s phone rang again. It was one of his team mates. Angel, who had been lost in her thoughts of home, suddenly realised that they were being driven in the opposite direction from Ethan’s house in SantaMonica, and that if she wasn’t mistaken they were on the freeway heading towards LAX – Los Angeles International Airport. Some fifteen minutes later, as they swung into the pick-up area of the vast airport, her suspicions were confirmed.
    ‘So can you guess who we’re meeting?’ Ethan asked her, his blue eyes alight with mischief as he walked with her to International Arrivals.
    ‘No idea,’ Angel replied, scanning the board to give her a clue, but then her attention was drawn to the people streaming through Arrivals – and to one couple in particular: a man in a white trilby and white linen suit, with possibly a little too much fake tan, and a petite woman with jet black hair, dressed in a very fashion fast-forward black dress with studded shoulder pads and insanely high heels.
    ‘Oh my God!’ Angel squealed in delight, waving her arms wildly, not caring that she was attracting curious looks from the people around her. It was Jez and Gemma! Angel pushed her way through the crowds and threw her arms round first Gemma and then Jez. ‘I can’t believe you’re here!’ she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in her excitement at seeing her friends.
    ‘Just two words,’ Jez said when he could finally get a word in edgeways. ‘First class. Ethan paid for us to fly first class! I have never flown in such style before! I had my own bed, my own steward – cute arse, shame about the face. I did think about whether it would count as infidelity if we had a fumble in the loos, but I resisted as I’m a married man. Instead I had as much champagne as I could drink!
And
I got to keep the pyjamas. Gemma was asleep for most of the flight but I was wide awake, loving every single precious minute. It was fabulous!’ Still the same old materialistic, wildly camp Jez.
    Angel rolled her eyes at him. ‘So the highlight is the flight . . . not seeing me?’
    Jez eye-rolled back. ‘Of course it’s seeing you, Babelicious. Looking beautiful as ever.’
    ‘And you’re as shallow as ever,’ Angel shot back. ‘But thank God some things never change. I’d think the world was about to end if you were any different.’
    At this they were joined by Ethan, who had hung back watching the friends’ reunion. The next few minutes were spent with Jez, Gemma and Angel thanking him profusely for the surprise. ‘I figured Angel could do with seeing you guys,’ he said, ‘I know how homesick she gets sometimes.’ Angel thought she had hidden that and was