Page 99 of The Interview
“I’m sorry,” I tell him. “I tried to cry silently so you wouldn’t worry.”
“I was more worried you was gonna knock the fucker out when he kept banging on about why you didn’t get married earlier.”
“Hmm. Yeah, he was definitely pushing my buttons.”
After a few minutes, I’ve composed myself enough to sit back up on the sofa. Marley and Ash have disappeared, but Len and Jim have stayed.
Chastity appears with her box of tricks, and once again, magically fixes my face. By the time she’s worked on Jim and added a bit of something to Len’s puffy eyes, Ash and Marley are back.
He looks terrible.
“You okay?” I ask my brother.
“Not even a little bit,” he replies, and then Cam, ever the saviour, appears at his side.
“Hair of the dog, mate,” he says, handing a whiskey tumbler containing amber liquid to him, and another to Lennon.
“Cheers, mate,” they say in unison, before leaning across Ash and me to knock their glasses together.
“To Mac,” they say, while I draw in another deep breath in preparation for whatever the rest of the day might be about to bring.
Once we’ve regained our composure, Cam has kissed me thoroughly and told me, yet again, that we can shut this shit down any time I like. “Just say the word and I’ll fuck the lot of them off out of here… starting with Danny Boy, over there.”
I’ve assured him I’m okay to carry on, so he eventually leaves me again, and without a word, Daniel presses play.
“Babe” ends, and Dire Straits’, “Romeo and Juliet” starts to play. Finally, everyone else gets up and starts to dance. After that, I dance with my dad while Sean dances with my mum, then I dance with Sean’s dad. Once those dances finish, the party finally begins. My maxi dress is hoisted up to my thigh and tied in a knot in the corner, and I spend the night dancing with my brothers, my husband, my besties, and all of our Carnage family.
We do the “Okie Cokie” and heel toe around the room to “March of the Mods” with the kids, my parents, and all of the band family, followed by Marley and me performing our usual stellar rendition of Elton and Kiki’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. My dad gave us “On A Slow Boat To China”, followed by the lot of us joining him in a loud and emotional version of “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”.
The wait and bar staff all watch on in apparent confusion. They’d obviously never been to a good ol’ East End knees up before.
Then a few paparazzi shots of Sean and me appear on the screen in various countries over the course of 1999, when we spent almost eight months travelling the world, including me standing up on a surfboard at Bondi that I’ve never seen before.
The next image takes me by surprise.
It’s Cam and me.
His arm is around me, his big hand spread over my hip as he pulls me into his side. He’s smiling at the camera while I’m wide-eyed and looking up at him.
“What a pair of hotties,” Harry calls out, followed by a long whistle.
“Worldies,” one of my girls agrees.
“Is that the night…?” My stomach pitches, wondering what Ash is about to say. “You had that little run in with Whorely White?”
“Yeah. We went to the opening night of a new club, and it wasn’t till we got there that we found out it was one of Cam’s,” Jimmie, ever on the ball, jumps in to explain.
“So, you stayed in touch after you got back with Sean?” Daniel aims his question at me.
I’m angry now but keep my voice calm. “No. I think I ran into Cam two, maybe three times in about twelve years, and this was one of them.”
Daniel nods, and I want to say more. Is he waiting for me to say more? I can’t help myself, so I jump in.
“Obviously, the press had an absolute riot with that shot. We were just standing at the bar when the pap appeared,” I start to explain.
“I’d invited a select few in for just an hour,” Cam calls out. “There were a lot of celebrities there that night, so it was good for business to have them photographed at my new establishment. Opening night was by invite only, and there was a disclaimer on the invite saying the press would be allowed in. When that shot was taken, I hadn’t realised Georgia hadn’t seen the photographer. I pulled her in for the pose and startled her. That’s why she’s looking at me that way, wondering what the fuck I was doing. But, come on. I wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity of being papped with the wife of the world’s biggest rock star.”
“Excuse me?” Marley questions.
