Page 23 of Three's a Crowd
‘Oh.’
‘Listen, Adam, why don’t I make a call and get us into The Acer tonight,’ Zach suggested.
‘Don’t you have to book months in advance to get in there?’ Adam pointed out.
‘I don’t,’ Zach said, seemingly without ego.
Adam frowned. ‘It’s a bit expensive for my tastes.’
‘Don’t be so tight,’ Zach said, punching him on the arm. ‘It’ll be great. I’ve heard the food’s amazing. Seven o’clock okay with everyone? My body clock’s still out of kilter and I get hungry early.’
When everyone nodded their agreement, he left the room for a minute to make the call and they all sipped their tea until he came back in, giving a sage nod. ‘Sorted. They’re blocking us a table.’
‘Good,’ said Lola, seeming to relax for the first time since they’d arrived.
Daisy guessed this was because she was finally getting back to doing the type of things she considered acceptable in the course of her amazing celebrity life.
‘Hey, did Adam tell you, I managed to snag an interview with Katrina Cross for my radio station?’ Daisy asked Zach, suddenly feeling an urge to prove to everyone that she was a success at her job too.
‘We know Katrina, don’t we, babe?’ Lola said. ‘Don’t you share an agent with her?’
Adam cleared his throat. ‘What a coincidence. I told you there must be greater powers at work, Daisy.’
And with a sinking feeling, Daisy realised what had happened here. Adam had asked Zach for help and he’d agreed.
‘Did you—?’ she started to ask Zach, but found she couldn’t quite get the words out. How humiliating. Especially when she’d been boasting to everyone that she’d managed to make it happen all by herself.
‘Adam mentioned you were trying to book her for an interview,’ Zach said, looking shifty now. ‘I was just trying to help a friend.’
She swallowed hard, desperately trying not to let her humiliation show on her face. ‘Right. Well, thanks… That was… good of you.’
Zach smiled, accepting her thanks, but she could tell from the expression on his face that he realised she wasn’t entirely happy about him butting into her career.
‘Let’s go for a wander around the local area,’ Adam suggested, clapping his hands on his knees and getting up off the sofa. ‘We can show you the sights.’
Lola wrinkled her nose at this too, but she was outvoted when both Zach and Daisy got up and went to put their shoes on,breaking the tense atmosphere that hung like a bad smell in the room.
They spent the rest of the afternoon showing Lola and Zach around their little corner of London, people turning to stare at the beautiful and highly recognisable couple wherever they went.
As predicted, Islington didn’t impress Lola one bit and she kept talking about how much better everything was in California and complaining about how cold it was in England.
‘You’d better get used to it, sweetheart,’ Zach said. ‘Now we’re here.’
Lola pulled a face, but didn’t contradict him.
She supposed this must be what Zach had always wanted: a beautiful, submissive girlfriend to hang on his arm and make him feel good about himself.
No wonder she and him had never got on well together.
They were all looking round a large, independent furniture shop that Daisy loved because of its ever-changing, eclectic collection of stock, when Adam excused himself to take a work call.
‘At the weekend?’ Daisy muttered under her breath to him, annoyed that he was leaving her on her own with Zach and Lola.
‘I’ll only be a little while, but I can’t ignore this. It’s my boss,’ he said. ‘If I’m not back in half an hour, I’ll see you at the restaurant.’
Daisy sighed and nodded in resigned agreement.
Heading off to find where Zach and Lola had got to, she heard low voices coming from behind a large bookcase at the far end of the shop.
