Shopaholic to the Stars(137)

‘You must have some idea.’

‘No! I don’t!’

‘Didn’t you talk to your dad, Bex? Don’t you know what he’s doing here? Weren’t you interested?’ Suze sounds so scathing that I flinch. First Mum, then Luke, now Suze.

‘I was going to talk to him.’ I know how feeble this sounds, and a warm shame creeps over me. Why didn’t I sit down properly with Dad? ‘All I know is it was something to do with some old friend from a trip, years ago.’

‘Some old friend,’ repeats Suze sarcastically. ‘Could you be any more vague?’

Her tone is so lacerating, I suddenly find myself lashing back. ‘Why are you blaming me? It’s not my fault!’

‘It is your fault! You’ve totally ignored your dad, so he’s latched on to Tarkie! They were drunk last night, you know that? Tarkie’s in a vulnerable place at the moment. He shouldn’t be getting drunk. Your dad’s a total alkie.’

‘No he isn’t! If anything, Tarquin got him drunk.’

‘Rubbish.’

‘It’s not rubbish!’

We’re both glaring at each other, and I suddenly realize we’ll wake Minnie, standing here and yelling.

‘Look,’ I say more quietly. ‘Look, I’ll find out. I’ll find out where they’ve gone. We’ll track them down.’

‘Where’s Luke?’

I feel a spasm of pain, but hide it. I don’t feel like sharing this evening’s events with Suze right now.

‘Gone back to the UK,’ I say matter-of-factly. ‘He has to talk to the Treasury.’

‘Great. Just great.’ Suze lifts her hands and drops them despairingly. ‘I thought he’d be able to help.’

She looks so devastated, I feel instantly nettled. So what if Luke’s away? We don’t need him. We don’t need a man. I may have messed up on this, but I can put things right.

‘I’ll help,’ I say, with determination. ‘I’ll do it. I’ll find them, Suze. I promise.’





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PLEASEGIVEGENEROUSLY.COM



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Give to the world … share with the world … enhance the world …

YOU HAVE REACHED THE PLEDGE PAGE OF:

DANNY KOVITZ

Personal message from Danny Kovitz

Dear Friends

As many of you know, this is my year of ‘giving back’, of ‘challenging myself’, of ‘taking myself to a whole new place’.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have sadly had to cancel my planned schedule of endeavors. However, I am now going to undertake a different – though equally taxing – set of challenges, which I list below. Please follow the links and pledge generously, my darling, wonderful friends.

Miami cocktail challenge

Spa challenge (Chiva Som)

Spa challenge (Golden Door)

Cruise challenge (Caribbean)

If any of you would like to join me in these endeavors, please do. Let’s change the world together.

Big love

Danny xxx



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TWENTY-ONE


Where am I supposed to start? I mean, how do you find a middle-aged man and a slightly troubled aristocrat who could be anywhere in LA, or California or … anywhere?

Suze rang the police last night, but it wasn’t a success. They didn’t exactly rush round to the house with their sirens blaring. In fact, they didn’t rush anywhere. Suze didn’t tell me what they said, but I could hear her getting quite shirty down the phone. I think they implied that Dad and Tarkie were probably just at a nightclub and would reel back in the morning and she should stop stressing out.

Which, you know. Might be true.

I’ve searched Dad’s room for clues, of course. The first thing I found was a jolly note on his pillow, telling me that he was off on a ‘little trip’ and he had ‘something to put right’, but that I wasn’t to worry and he would be back with Tarquin in ‘two shakes of a duck’s tail’. Apart from that, my findings consist of:

1. The map from his trip, all those years ago.

2. A copy of Vanity Fair from 1972.

3. A napkin from Dillon’s Irish Bar. (Relevant?)

I look yet again at the map. I’m holding it really carefully, because it’s pretty fragile, and I’m tracing my finger over the ancient red-biro line marking their route. Los Angeles … Las Vegas … Salt Lake City …

What is he ‘putting right’? What’s been going on?

I wish for the millionth time that I’d listened more carefully when Dad was telling me about his trip. I can remember vague details and stories – like the time they staked their hire car in a poker game, and the time they got lost in Death Valley and thought they were going to die – but nothing solid. Nothing that actually helps us.