Free It All Began in Monte Carlo by Elizabeth Adler Page B

decide what to do, where she was at? Try to deal with being alone again, after four entire years spent in Mac’s company?
    â€œI guess they do,” she admitted. “Mac is a celebrity because of his TV show. He’s got those kind of rumpled good looks detectives in fiction are supposed to have: deep blue eyes, crazy black hair, always standing on end because he pushes his hand through it so much. And he has wonderful hands, slender, tanned . . .”
    â€œA tight body?” Kitty asked.
    Surprised, Sunny admitted that yes Mac did have a tight body.
    â€œThen you must be missing him. Missing having sex with him, I mean.” Kitty glanced sideways at Sunny as she parked at the Gray d’Albion lot in Cannes. She laughed and added in a mischievous tone, “If you are missing him like that, then I know exactly how to take care of it. I mean, a woman can’t go without sex simply because she leaves a man. No reason for that now, is there?”
    â€œI really hadn’t thought about it.” Sunny’s back was stiff with embarrassment. She hardly knew this woman. What exactly did she mean, she
knew how
to take care of it?
    â€œWell, here we are,” Kitty said. “Let’s start with Gucci. They’re all here. There are other shops just off the main boulevard, we can do them all and fit in some lunch in between.”
    Adjusting her white sunglasses, Kitty took Sunny’s arm and they walked into the sunshine. They drifted in and out of the stores, butSunny’s mind was not on shopping. She was thinking about Allie, who was to arrive that evening, and also about Eddie and how she was going to manage that situation with both of them there. Allie would never understand about Eddie. In fact she wouldn’t dare tell her.
    An answer came as the BlackBerry buzzed. “We have people for dinner tonight—I can’t just cancel. Will you be okay if we come tomorrow?” Allie said.
    â€œWho is ‘we’?”
    â€œI’m bringing Pru Hilson, an old friend from my school days. I told you about her. She’s going to need our expert Hollywood makeover help.”
    â€œHow about making over my heart?”
    â€œThat’s my priority, baby. I’ll see you tomorrow. Behave yourself. I love you.”
    Sunny found herself having lunch with Kitty on the terrace of the Hotel Martinez, sipping a glass of rosé and tucking into a hearty roast chicken, then, because she’d hardly eaten the previous night, and was suddenly starving, following it with delicious cheeses, a soft Banon wrapped in chestnut leaves; a Saint-André, her favorite; and a hard sheep’s milk cheese that tasted of rosemary, served with a heavenly crusted golden baguette, the kind she and Mac sometimes dreamed of, on their Malibu deck, and sometimes wishing they were in France. Oooh . . . how she wished Mac were here now, eating this
fromage de Saint-André,
and the Banon, a contrast in cream and suppleness that, simple though it was, somehow hit that satisfying spot.
    Kitty’s flame-red hair glittered in the sunlight as she bit inelegantly into a burger. Her plump peasant hands gripped it like paws, and she smiled up at Sunny as she chewed.
    â€œ
Soo
good,” she said. “I didn’t realize I was quite this hungry.”
    She looked at Sunny from behind the white sunglasses with the intertwined Gucci
G
’s on the sides in gold. Her Chanel pursewas on the chair next to her and her Dior earrings swung like signs in her ears. “I feel so sorry for you,” she said, patting Sunny’s knee gently. “You are going through so much, and I was hoping this little diversion would help you forget. Well, perhaps not
forget,
but help you not think about what happened, for a short while at least.”
    She said it so kindly Sunny was touched. In fact, apart from a penchant for luxury stores and a taste for sex talk, Kitty Ratte was innocuous. Yet,