‘No, dear, I wouldn’t if I were you,’ said Cecil. Nate looked up, expecting to see a gleeful face. It was what he’d come to expect from Emma and from critics, even fans sometimes. Everyone felt they had a right to judge you when you were in the public eye. But Nate was surprised to see a sympathetic, almost reassuring smile.
‘This will all pass, dear boy,’ Gregory said, pulling out a biscuit from the porcelain pig. ‘If you can be sure of anything, it’s that the press will soon find something else to write about and this will be old news.’
Nate’s voice was small and shaky, and he cleared his throat again. ‘I’m sure you’re right.’
‘Don’t tell him that, Nathaniel,’ replied Cecil, smiling. ‘He’ll only get big-headed.’
‘I am always right, though.’ Gregory grinned, and as they bickered playfully, Nate excused himself from the table and made his way upstairs to the cosy quiet bedroom to call Robin.
On the ninth attempt he finally got through. ‘Robin, it’s Nate. What’s happening, mate?’
‘“Good morning, Robin”,’ his agent said, pretending to be affronted at the lack of civility. ‘“I realise you’ve been working for hours and hours, most of the night in fact, trying to clean up my shit-show of a life, but I thought I’d check in and see how you are.”’
Somehow managing to find a trace of his sense of humour, Nate smiled. ‘I should really. You’re not as young as you used to be.’
‘That’s enough of that.’
‘But I do appreciate everything you’re doing, Robin. You know that, right?’
The fondness in Robin’s voice was evident. ‘I do. How are you, Nate? Have Greg and Cecil settled you in?’ Robin made it sound like this was a hotel, or some kind of wellness retreat for his own good and Nate felt a flare of frustration at the mess he’d created and all the extra work he’d caused Robin. Nate didn’t have time to be settled in here, he needed this all sorted so he could get back to London and get his career back on track. He took a deep breath, knowing it was tiredness and stress making him lose control of his emotions.
‘They’re very nice but I really need to know what’s happening there. What’s going on with Hannah? Is she gone? And have you talked to Emma yet? She’s—’
‘Wow, slow down, slow down.’ Nate drew back the net curtain and watched the sea shimmer in the light before rubbing his hot eyes with the heel of his hand. ‘We’re in a difficult situation with her. She’s threatening to sell her story to the tabloids. Hot News are offering a lot of money for it, but I’m in discussions with her agent.’
‘I thought that you paid her before and it was understood that she’d forget about it?’ Hearing himself say the words made him feel dirty and a complete scumbag. If only he could wind the clock back and stop himself from making such a stupid mistake.
‘We didn’t have a contract drawn up and signed, Nate. It was just an understanding. Normally that’s enough.’
A lump formed in Nate’s throat and he had to work hard to get the words out. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘I’m negotiating another payment to her. Her agent will make it clear she really has to let this go now.’
‘Do you think she will?’ He could hear Robin’s polished brogues tapping on the floor as he paced.
‘Yes, I think so. We don’t want to get all legal and make this more complicated than it needs to be. If the press were to pick up on something like that it’d look even worse for you. Has she made contact with you?’
‘What? Called?’
‘Yeah.’
‘No. Nothing yet.’ He rubbed his eyes again as the bright sun made them sting.
‘If she does, don’t answer her. She could record it and go straight to the press.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay.’ Nate nodded to himself. As horrid as it was to believe, Robin was right. ‘Robin, tell me honestly, how bad is this looking?’
‘Look, Nate, I know this feels like the end of your career and it is a blip, I won’t lie. It’s a big one. But you’re not the first man to have done this and you won’t be the last. It will all die down soon enough, and we’ll try and repair the damage. You haven’t Googled yourself, have you?’
‘No.’
‘Good. Don’t. Things will get nastier before they get better.’
‘Just give me the rundown.’ He had to know how the world was seeing him. How his fans were seeing him. It wasn’t vanity, it was that, stupidly, their opinion mattered to him. These people he didn’t know had sent him nice messages on his birthday. They hadn’t known that he’d been alone because Emma was out shagging her lover. Their messages had made him feel less lonely. He knew his actions had disappointed them. He’d let them down and he desperately wanted to say sorry, but he couldn’t.
Robin went on, ‘The papers are portraying you as a complete dick for cheating on your wife, who’s now the nation’s sweetheart by default. That’s no surprise and we’re sending out a press release just asking for privacy while you deal with recent events. We’re not saying you did or didn’t do anything at this stage. Then there’s outrage from those who were hoping to see you in the last few shows. Twitter’s gone mental, so turn off your notifications, and you’re now a meme thanks to some recording people took on their mobile phones.’
Nate sat down on the side of the bed, his shoulders slumped.
‘It’s all to be expected though, and within a week this will have calmed down if we keep up with the illness story and you and Emma show a united front. We’ll have to do some good PR and you and Emma are going to have to put off your divorce for a bit—’
‘Oh, she’ll love that.’ She’d hate him even more now, if that was possible.
‘It can’t be helped. An amicable divorce is far more acceptable to the public than something like this. A few public appearances together and then in six to eight months’ time you can divorce as planned.’ Nate smiled to himself at how Robin had it all figured out. It was why he was one of the best. ‘A couple of casting directors have politely withdrawn the offers of roles, but I don’t think you were going to do them anyway, so never mind that.’
‘Which ones?’ Nate asked, feeling a stone settle in his stomach and his intestines wrap around it.
‘It doesn’t matter.’ The fact that Robin didn’t want to tell him was worrying. ‘There’ll be more though, so be prepared.’
‘Have you spoken to Emma again?’ Nate asked cautiously. Though Emma didn’t love him and hadn’t for a while, his heart still ached. They’d been together for so long. A part of him still cared for her and wanted her to be okay. Robin didn’t answer. ‘Have you?’
‘Sort of.’
‘Sort of?’
‘I’ve made sure she’s okay, but I think you should talk to her about the plan to put off the divorce. It isn’t my place to go into that sort of thing.’