Page 70 of Bad Influence
‘May I ask how far along you both are?’ Julie-Ann enquired, while our glasses were being charged by Philippa.
Mandy looked at Jose. ‘Nearly four months.’ She smiled. ‘The baby will be due this summer.’
‘Wow, you kept that secret!’ Coco gushed.
‘We wanted to get a couple of scans done first, to know everything is okay. And thankfully, it is,’ Mandy revealed, beaming.
‘How do you feel?’ Jimi asked. ‘I wish you had told me before I gave you that workout on the Pilates machine last week!’ He said it jokingly, but he must have meant it.And what about the mushrooms? I bet Jimi wished he’d known about the pregnancy before he fed her recreational drugs.
‘We appreciate your good wishes and would like to impress upon you that this is strictly confidential information,’ Jose added. ‘We consider you our work familia now, hence we wanted to let you know the good news first. Rumours are rife, but that’s all they are at the moment, so it needs to stay within this group for now. It’s really important we can rely on you for complete confidentiality. We’ll let the rumours swirl while we’re in the air and hit fans with the official public confirmation on Mandy’s socials when we’re back on home soil in Los Angeles. Mandy’s US fans will appreciate that. And then we can press ahead with the Baby Mom campaign activity, and it will be all the more poignant. The fragrance is going to fly when the world knows about this. We’ll do a full pregnancy shoot when we get back from LA – maybe at the beach location you mentioned, Amber. Blair, Julie-Ann, while we’re away, can you pull together a call sheet for that please?’
‘Of course, boss,’ Julie-Ann said, giving him a salute.
‘On it,’ chirped Blair, springing up from their seat like a foot soldier.
‘I still can’t believe it’s really happening – that I’m going to be an actual Baby Mom. It feels so good to share our news, it’s a dream come true!’ trilled Mandy, her excitement palpable.
‘Well, congratulations! Or cheers! As you say in England,’ Jose said, leading the toast. ‘To Mandy and our baby!’
We all called out, ‘To Mandy and your baby!’
Jose and Mandy gave me instructions to get her wardrobe sorted for the trip and to pack. I went back to my room and onto Instagram, replaying the video from last night. The rumours were escalating across TikTok, Snapchat, and X, and it was now a trending story onE! NewsandMailOnline. I scrutinised the video, wishing I hadn’t been captured doing what looked like a bad rendition of ‘Gangnam Style’ in the foreground.
I pulled my empty suitcase down from the top of the wardrobe and opened it on my bed, then I fidgeted with my phone a bit more. I was struggling with being in possession of some Really Big Celebrity News and having no one to discuss it with. I knew I should be focusing on Mandy’s looks for LA, but this news was big andverydistracting. I knew I had signed an NDA, but with rumours swirling faster than a sugar-high child on a roundabout, there was sometimes only one thing you could do: call a trusted confidante and swear them to secrecy too. Normally I would ring Vicky, but she would definitely be asleep now, and Rob wasn’t picking up, so I called Lucy instead.
‘Hey sis!’ I whispered. ‘You’ll never guess what.’
‘What? Are you okay?’
I didn’t even get through the pleasantries before spewing it out. ‘Mandy’s pregnant!’
‘Oh, that’s so lovely for her. I thought so, after seeing thatvideo. Great dance moves by the way.’ She snorted. ‘How are you – hungover by any chance?’
Lucy seemed frustratingly nonchalant.
‘It’s top secret. I’m actually not meant to be telling anyone, but I can trust you with my life, right?’
‘There’s no need to fear for your life. It’s all over the internet and I don’t know who I’d tell. Anyway, how are you?’
You can always rely on family to bring you back down to earth.
‘Can I ask you something? At four months pregnant did your bump show?’
‘Absolutely. I’m bang on four months now and I look like I’ve swallowed a bowling ball. But it’s not like that for everyone. Some people don’t show until later. Why, how far along is Mandy?’
‘Four months too.’
‘How old is she – must be early forties?’
‘Forty-five. I don’t think it was easy for them to fall pregnant. I’m really happy for her.’
‘Adds a new element to styling her, I guess?’
‘Yup, I’ve got to get my head around designer maternity wear now. I’m not sure if Lanvin does stretchy leggings.’
‘Has Mandy been sick?’
‘Not that I’ve noticed.’
