Alyce the rebellious drummer

Shanet was presently residing in London in an apartment which she received as part of a generous―but in her view; undesirable and really weak―divorce settlement. It was quite luxurious, in Blake's opinion.

Shanet was often lively company. Being pretty and vivacious, she spent her public life as a

fairly laid-back and contented person, who knew how to enjoy herself.

Despite his breakup with Carminda, Alyce remained good buddies with Shanet. They saw each other on isolated occasions and always made the most of such times: either around Cape Town, Sandton, Swaziland and also often in London.

Rene decided to put all his energy into his current music video and ignore Alyce Mills, as well as Blake.

Things have worked out well for Laura so far. Her financial troubles were over and those have been his main concern. He could now sleep easy on that.

Laura was smart; she could look after herself. He had the feeling that everything would work out well, even if he himself did nothing about it.

He had to let it all be, because he was really in need of a break from fretting.

***

Laura jumped up and made an excuse to visit the ladies room, while George Hendricks was in mid-sentence. She rushed off in pursuit of the guest bathroom.

Once there, she splashed her face with cold water and contemplated her next action.

She could see that George had a tenacious personality. She also knew that he was an influential person in local circles.

This meant that if she wanted to be welcome everywhere in Hollywood, she would have to oblige him somehow.

She decided there and then that she would defiantly lead him to believe that she was also interested in him, as long as she left unexpectedly within the following few days.

Laura escaped Mr Hendricks and left by way of a side door, because he was apparently taken up in the throes of welcoming a new visitor.

As Laura had anticipated, Mr Hendricks had somehow contrived to get her phone number from her agent and he phoned her the following day, to invite her over to a party which he was having on his estate.

Laura decided that she would attend, as long as she informed her agent about her feelings concerning the latest state of affairs.

Perry should then expect her to be back at the hotel at any given moment.

She could not specify a time for her return from the party.

This was her second visit to George's house, so she felt confident enough to go on her own.

The party was great and to her relief, Laura discovered that George was surrounded by many beautiful women, so he could not possibly develop an obsession about her.

She mingled with the crowd around her and George also introduced her to a young musician simply called Tres. He had black dredlocks, which bounced around on his shoulders when he spoke. He had a warm, brown complexion and deep dimples.

His eyes twinkled with excitement. It seemed to Laura as if everyone at this party was attractive.

She remained at the side of her new acquaintance for the rest of the evening.

He casually introduced her to other people and seemed laid-back; not interested in any form of closer relationship with Laura.

She got the feeling that Tres might have been appointed to be her unofficial companion for the evening. She was really relieved to find that Mr. Hendricks was well occupied with his other guests.

Later on, she was just as happy to learn that she could leave on her own, after Tres had hailed a taxi and paid in advance for her to return to her hotel. She thanked him for showing her a good time.

On the day that she left for the airport, Laura had not heard anything from George yet and was surprised when she felt a little bit disappointed. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that she had imagined his earlier interest in her as a woman. Had he just been drunk at the time?

***

Back in Pretoria, Laura found Monique at her in-laws' residence. Blake was in London doing his investigation work on yet another visit there. With her modelling work to keep her busy, Laura hardly found any reason to be concerned about Blake's job. She knew that he was finally happy and earning quite a large income; way more than hers.

This of course, was good for his self-esteem. She was earning a great deal of job satisfaction herself. They lived comfortably, but saved most of their money. So best keep the peace and don't "rock the boat". This has been her motto for life in recent months.

Monique ran to Laura with a shriek of excitement when she saw her.

Two hours later the first thrills of reconciliation were over and Monique began to let Laura know just how frustrated she was about having been left on her own. Her tantrums were becoming worse as she grew older, Laura noticed.

Blake had to leave unexpectedly this time, otherwise he would have waited for her to return from her trip. Laura knew that she would have to start making a few changes in her family's lifestyle. They needed to plan for time together.

Apart from her trip to Hollywood, she has had more jobs, which took her to other cities in the country recently. In the meantime, her in-laws did provide some form of stability for Monique and she was eternally grateful towards them for that.

One week after Laura's return, Blake also returned home. He did not receive any further assignments from Carminda or Shannon, because the two of them were taking time off for family vacationing. He did not know much about Shannon, except for the fact that she was different from Carminda, personality-wise.