CHAPTER 14

 

“I’ve been tough on you in the past for not working hard enough,” Bruce said after Declan and Cate had finished their Foxtrot on Saturday night. “Tonight, I want to applaud you because I can tell that you’ve been working your little socks off on that dance, missy. It is notoriously difficult to master the footwork for a slow-Foxtrot but yours was some of the best I’ve ever seen on Stepping Out.”

“However, there’s a line in the song which says, “you have a certain lil’ cute way of flirtin’ with them there eyes.” That’s what we wanted to see tonight - the sparkle, the bubble, the whole lot of trouble.” The audience laughed. “You’ve got three children, Cate; you know what I’m talking about.”

Cate held Declan’s hand as they walked up the stairs. After he’d stormed out of the studio, Cate had apologised and they’d forged a delicate truce.

“Don’t you listen to Bruce,” Annie gave Cate a hug after the judges had revealed their scores; they’d got straight sevens. “You looked gorgeous out there. I think he must be going through a midlife crisis or something. Have you seen how he slobbers all over poor Poppy?”

They watched as Vladimir and Poppy got the first ten of the series for their Argentine Tango. “Oh Lordy,” Annie said, fanning herself. “I’ve got to go on after that?”

“You’re going to be awesome,” Cate said genuinely. Her curvy friend might not be built like the average dancer but she had that something special. She went out on to that dance floor on Saturday night and “funned the shite” out of every single dance she did.

“I’ll see you on the other side,” Annie blew Cate a kiss as she smoothed out her high, silver-grey ponytail. Annie and Michel were doing a jive this week to “Hey Mickey” by Toni Basil.

When they finished, the applause was deafening. The poor host spent nearly five minutes trying to get the audience to quieten down enough that they could hear the judges’ comments.

“How did that feel?” Tom asked as Annie and Michel came back upstairs.

“It was fun,” Annie shrugged, “all our dances are fun. Life’s too short to do anything else.”

There was loud booing in the audience as the judges gave their scores; Charlene and Rich gave them nines but Bruce only gave them a six.

“Seriously, you’re my new girl crush,” Cate said afterwards, giving Annie another hug. “I can’t remember the last time I smiled that much. My cheeks hurt.”

During the break between the live show and the pre-recorded results show which would be shown the following night, Cate and Annie went backstage to get their hair and make-up redone.

As they walked past Vladimir, he had a strange grin on his face. “I guess we’ll be seeing that sparkle, that bubble, that whole lot of trouble a lot sooner than we thought.”

“What’s he talking about?” Cate asked Annie.

“Who knows?” Annie shrugged. “Nobody listens to Vladimir; they just look at his six-pack.”

Cate had just sat down in the make-up chair when one of the runners called her name. “Can I borrow her for a sec, Velma?”

“Sure thing,” Velma said. She’d already started touching up Annie’s make-up instead.

Cate’s stomach churned as she followed the runner through a maze of narrow corridors until they ended up outside the storage cupboard where they kept all the old props for Stepping Out. The runner pushed open the door, the light was already on inside. “I wouldn’t get too close to the shelves,” she advised, “it’s dusty in there.” Cate was still wearing her pale lavender Foxtrot dress.

Kian was leaning against the wooden shelves. “What are you doing here?” Cate asked. “Has something happened?” Her first thought was for her children.

She closed her eyes, “please just tell me they are OK?”

“Yes,” Kian said quickly, “they’re fine. I’m not here because of them.”

“I don’t understand. You’re supposed to be at home in Seattle.”

“I wanted to tell you before you found out from somebody else.”

Cate was almost hysterical, “tell me what?”

“You should sit down.”

“I can’t sit down, I’ll ruin my dress.”

“A porn site is claiming that they’ve got a sex tape of us. They’re threatening to release it.”

“What?” Cate sat down on a cardboard box and then immediately jumped up again. “That’s… It’s impossible. We’ve never made a sex tape.” It just wasn’t something that turned either of them on.

“Unless we didn’t know we were being filmed.”

“But we’ve never… oh God, the Cabaret!” Cate thought about their night of debauchery in what she’d thought was a private room at the Cabaret. The reality of the situation began to sink in. Cate felt sick to her stomach. She grabbed an empty bucket and dry-retched. It had felt intrusive when only the details of the night she’d lost her virginity had been printed in a national newspaper but this was so much worse. If it was true, strangers were going to be able to pay to watch her and Kian be intimate. It truly felt like the end of the world.

“Look at me,” Kian said harshly. “Nobody is going to see that tape, Cate. I’ve got my lawyers working on it right now. I will go fucking broke before I let anybody hurt our family.”

Cate wrapped her arms around him, “I’m so sorry, Kian. It’s all my fault.”

The runner knocked on the door, “Cate, we need you back in hair and make-up.”

“I’m going to quit the show,” Cate reached up to remove the silk flower from her hair.

“Don’t you dare,” Kian warned, gripping her wrist. “You’re not quitting because of this, angel.”

She thought about Vladimir’s evil grin. “How am I supposed to go out there and smile for the cameras, knowing full well that everybody is gossiping about me behind my back? It feels like that Christmas Eve party all over again. I just can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can,” Kian insisted. “If you quit now, it’s like admitting that you’ve got something to be ashamed of. You had sex with your husband in what we both thought was a private room.”

“I’m terrified,” Cate admitted. “Will you wait for me after the show?”

Kian softened, “of course, I will.

Cate reached for the door handle and turned back to look at Kian, “how do I do this again?”

“One foot in front of the other, angel.”

Somehow, Cate made it through the results show. Afterwards, she met Kian at the back of the studio where he had a car waiting. “Let’s go back to the hotel.”

Cate cringed. Even though it was late and it was probably more sensible to go back to the hotel, Cate was so paranoid that all she really wanted to do was go home to Seattle.

Kian slid his arm around her shoulders, “I’ve had a security firm check your room for hidden cameras. It’s clear.”

Cate was relieved but angry, “what a horrible world we live in.”

When they got inside the hotel room, the first thing Cate did was close the heavy drapes across the large windows. Even though Kian had assured her that they were completely safe there, she didn’t feel it.

When Kian came out of the bathroom, he found Cate trying to turn the heavy TV screen so that it was facing the wall. She had already blocked the peephole on the door with a plaster. “What are you doing?”

Cate pushed it so the screen was right up against the wall. “The red standby light… It felt like somebody was watching us.”

“Cate…”

Cate hugged her arms across her chest, “you don’t have to say anything. I know I’m being paranoid, Kian.”

“You’re tired, angel. Let’s go to bed.”

Kian pulled back the covers. “Aren’t you going to get changed?”

Cate shook her head, “they’ve seen too much of me already.”