The Perfect Location. Kate Forster

Sapphira, as she seemed a little glazed. Probably just jet-lag, thought Rose.

      ‘How’s your villa?’ Rose asked. ‘Mine’s lovely.’

      ‘It’s okay. I haven’t really looked around much,’ Sapphira said vacantly.

      ‘Oh,’ said Rose surprised. Once she had awoken from her sleep, exploring the house and the garden was the first thing she did. ‘Well, plenty of time for that, I’m sure.’

      ‘How about you, Calypso? How’s your villa? The views from mine are amazing.’

      ‘Um, I’m staying in a hotel,’ she said, instantly regretting her reply. Now I look like the child in the hotel and not grown-up enough to have a house, she thought. ‘I was offered a villa,’ she added quickly. ‘But I wanted to be in the city.’

      ‘Yeah, I get it,’ said Rose. ‘That’s where Kelly and I were when we were young. Any good shops I should visit?’

      ‘Did you know Kelly before LA?’ asked Calypso.

      ‘Yeah, we went to school together, best friends since we were fourteen,’ laughed Rose.

      ‘How great, and now you are here together,’ marvelled Calypso. She would have done anything for a best friend from school.

      ‘I know, amazing, really,’ said Rose, looking fondly at her best friend telling TG off for something.

      TG came over and pulled up a chair opposite the women. ‘Hello, ladies,’ he said, in his smoothest professional lounge voice. ‘We’re all getting to know each other?’

      Calypso and Sapphira were silent, so Rose spoke. ‘Yes, it’s lovely, we’re all becoming fast friends now, I think?’ She looked to the other women; Sapphira and Calypso smiled.

      ‘Thank you for this, TG. I’m really excited to explore my character with you,’ said Sapphira.

      There was an open invitation in her voice and Calypso was startled. Jesus, the eagle on her dress wasn’t just for show! She was a hunter and TG was her prey.

      TG smiled. ‘Sure, I think we’ll all do great work on this. Please speak to me about any ideas you may have on the character or the scenes and we can work through it all together.’

      Calypso noticed that he didn’t seem to take Sapphira up on her offer; instead he kept his professional mask on. Probably didn’t want to mix business and pleasure, she thought, although Sapphira was incredible in her beauty and presence.

      TG was called by Giulia and Calypso watched him walk away. ‘Is he gay?’ Sapphira asked.

      ‘No, no, he just broke up with someone in LA, I think,’ Rose answered vaguely.

      Sapphira watched him walk away. A shame, she thought. Might have been some fun while in Italy. Oh well, there’s always my co-star.

      Sapphira’s ego was large enough not to take TG’s snub as insulting. She factored it down to him being broken-hearted – something she could have fixed, but she wasn’t going to chase after him. She stood up, smoothed her dress, drained her wine glass and set it on the table.

      ‘Rose, Calypso, I look forward to working with you both. Goodnight.’ Then she turned and walked out to her driver and car.

      Rose and Calypso sat staring after her. ‘Well, that’s lovely,’ said Rose unconvincingly.

      ‘She’s weird,’ Calypso replied and Rose couldn’t disagree with Calypso’s assessment.

      Sapphira was certainly more than unusual, thought Rose, but it was more than being eccentric. Rose understood eccentric, she was friends with Kelly after all. No, Sapphira was troubled, Rose was sure of it. Behind the façade of fabulous was fear.

      Rose wondered what on earth Sapphira had to fear. The girl had everything.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      ‘What do you mean they can’t find the time?’ Rose barked down the phone to Lauren as Lucia placed a bowl of apples in front of the apricots on the table.

      ‘Well, I tried to tee it up but they’re really busy, and it’s the wrong time of the year for some of them with school and work,’ said Lauren.

      ‘Bloody hell. Now I have this fucking giant villa filled with stuff and no one to use it. No wonder the housekeeper thinks I’m mad. She keeps mumbling “ghost children” at me in Italian and now it makes sense,’ said Rose, biting into the crisp fruit.

      Lauren laughed, ‘That’s too funny!’

      ‘Really? You think?’ rebutted Rose.

      ‘I know you’re sad but your family have lives also, Rose. I know you may think I’m out of line but you can’t expect them to drop everything just because you have a villa and a box of Snakes and Ladders.’

      ‘I know that. It’s just I never see them. My niece and nephew never see me anymore except in Hello! magazine,’ said Rose sadly.

      ‘Well, maybe you can head over there before you start shooting the next film and spend some time with your family. I can move a few things and make some more room in your schedule.’

      Rose could hear Lauren tapping at the keyboard. ‘Maybe, we’ll see,’ said Rose.

      It was irritating that her family never met her halfway when she asked them. They had no understanding of her fame or if they did, they were unaffected by it. In fact, Rose was certain her parents had not even seen her last two films. Rose had offered them premiere tickets but they declined, saying they had promised to babysit for Rose’s brother and look after the grandchildren.

      Rose had yelled at her mother down the phone from her hotel suite, claiming she didn’t care, which her mother gently pushed back onto Rose. ‘Rosie,’ she had said, ‘I had promised Martin I would help him and Fiona months ago. I cannot drop everything just because your face is on the trams. First in, best dressed,’ her mother had explained in her usual unemotional way.

      Rose had begrudgingly apologized to her mother and later, with her therapist, had acknowledged that her parents’ refusal to be spellbound by her job and instead retain equal relationships with their children was to be commended. Sometimes though, Rose felt a little left out, being so far away from England and with no grandchildren for her mother to babysit.

      Rose’s temper was legendary in her family. If anyone threw a tantrum, they called it ‘doing a Rose’. It was something she was able to keep a lid on when she worked, but privately she could rage and rage. It never had any effect on Paul; in fact, it became worse when she was married to him. She would yell and throw things just to be heard but he just ignored her. His cruelty was astounding, something she did not realize he had in him till it was too late. His favourite way to punish her was to ignore her; he would literally cast her out of his life till he decided to forgive her. She never knew when this would be. He would eat at the same table, sleep in the spare room but he would not answer her, not even flinch when at times she slapped him. If he had a message for her, he would leave it with their bewildered Mexican housekeeper. Once, her parents came to visit in the middle of one of these episodes. Whenever they were around he would act as if they didn’t have a care in the world. The minute they were out of the room, he started ignoring her again.

      Her ex-husband, Paul Ross, had been a teen heartthrob and had become a household name, loved by critics and the public alike. After seeing Rose in a small independent film that she had made when she was first in LA, Paul had pursued Rose relentlessly.

      Rose, at twenty-two and fresh out of acting school had been entranced by his fame, good looks and energy. But the more Rose learned about Paul after the ring was on her finger, the more she realized he was unhinged. Taking huge doses of vitamins and prescription and non-prescription drugs, convinced that they would help him stay young. Drinking a bottle of tomato ketchup every day to prevent prostate cancer. His obsession with immortality even went to the extreme of his forging an obsessive