A Beautiful Star (Beautiful Series, Book 5) by Lilliana Anderson Page B

away and eat it at your place just to make sure everything is fine there. I’m still a little worried about you and those awful pappies,” she states.
    “Paps,” I correct with a laugh. “Not pappies.”
    “Oh, whatever,” she says with a wave of her hand. “I can’t be hip all the time.”
    “I’ll go pack my clothes up and then we can get going. You want to order so we can pick up on the way through?”
    “Chinese? Indian? Thai?”
    “Thai.”
    I move around my childhood bedroom and collect my things, always loving that this room is here waiting for me whenever I need it. I’ve heard from most of my friends that the moment they moved out of home, their parents turned their room into a study or a guest bedroom or home gym. The idea of that makes me sad.
    When I’m done, we get into my Astra and drive over to my place where my dad will pick my mother up and double check that my house is safe on his way home from work.
    “You really should get a housemate you know,” my mother advises, as we unpack the takeaway containers from their plastic bag on my new dining setting. Another thing I forgot to thank Jonathan for. A pang of guilt hits me. Despite his faults, he has gone above and beyond what was necessary after Marcus destroyed my house.
    As if reading my mind, my mother speaks. “Have you heard anything from Lisa yet?”
    Moving into the kitchen, I take down two wine glasses and grab a bottle of white from the fridge. “No. Not a thing.”
    “Would she go back to her family do you think?” she asks, accepting the glass and taking a sip after I hand it to her.
    “I don’t think so.” I take a seat next to her and slide my wooden chopsticks out of their paper packet. “She never spoke about any family, and from what I know about her now, they’re all estranged.”
    “Well, she has to be somewhere… I’m just really disappointed. She seemed like a really nice girl.”
    I reach for the bag with the thin spring rolls inside it and slide one out, biting into the pastry with a crunch, thinking as I chew. “She’ll make contact when she’s ready, I suppose.”
    We eat in silence for a while before my mother decides it’s time to pump me for information again.
    “So tell me about this chef of yours. I saw the picture of you smooching outside that restaurant and he looks a bit of all right to me. Not a fan of those tattoos, but I understand they’re pretty popular these days because of all those Ink shows. Maybe you could call him to come and stay with you for a little while?”
    “No mum. Stop trying to get me in bed with the guy. He’s nice though. We’re going out again in a few weeks.”
    “A few weeks? Why so far away?”
    “He’s got some work thing he has to go to overseas, which I don’t mind. I travel for work at times too. So if he has a schedule that’s up and down, he’ll understand the demands of my job.”
    “Fair enough. And what about this other man you’ve been spotted in the papers with. The actor. What about him? What’s happening there?”
    “Jonathan Masters. Well, that is…I don’t know what that is. I had coffee with him, and if he wasn’t so famous, and known for using his fame to bed women, then I might be interested. But…”
    “But you’ve been down that road before. Is that why you were so down on the idea of love last night? Because you let yourself care for that musician fellow?”
    “Marcus Bailey. Yeah. I suppose. But you remember how that was mum. I got caught up in the whole thing and I believed him when he said I was special. It was so stupid.”
    “You were a twenty year old girl then. You were barely out of university and you got a little star struck. I don’t think you should let that colour your judgement of other people.”
    “He’s been engaged twice though, mum. And both times he was unfaithful. I don’t think he’s capable of anything more than a hook up and I’m not that girl mum. I can’t do that kind of thing. I think we learnt