THE CALIFORNIA CLUB.

Belinda Jones.

PRAISE FOR BELINDA'S BOOKS.

"Fast-paced, enthusiastic, good-hearted... a wise & witty read about the secret desires deep within us.' Marie Claire.

'There's something about Belinda Jones's writing that takes you away to whatever beautiful setting she's evoking and holds you there right until you reach the last page.' Daily Express 'Great gags undercut with genuinely moving emotion - this is a cut above most romantic comedies. A gem.' Woman's Own.

'Definitely worth cramming in your suitcase.' Cosmopolitan.

'A deliciously entertaining beach read.' Heat.

'Fun, romantic and set in various exotic locations, it's the perfect escapist read for summer days.' Closer.

'A sparkling read.' OK!.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR.

I think The California Club is my biggest-selling novel to date because of a) the aspirational setting and b) the appeal of a club that would grant you one sun-kissed wish, causing thousands of readers to ponder, 'What's my dream?'

You might ask yourself the same question as you tour San Diego, Los Angeles, Yosemite National Park and beyond, and perhaps by the end of the book your answer will change and surprise you!

Enjoy the read!.

Belinda xx.

DEDICATION.

For Tony Horkins.

(for showing me just how fabulous unrequited love can be).

Chapter 1.

Elliot.

I've been carrying a torch for him so long people mistake me for the Statue of Liberty. In fact just last month I celebrated a whole decade of unrequited love. But now look at me standing at London's Heathrow airport about to jet off with His Handsomeness for two weeks of swaying palms, candy-colored convertibles and airbrushed skies.

Shame he's bringing his girlfriend.

Elise. That's right Elliot and Elise. The two Es. Shouldn't be allowed.

It would all be fairly unbearable were it not for the fact that I am to be joined by two fabulous allies Sasha and Zo. They got me through the first meeting with Elise and they can get me through this. Not that this was supposed to be an ordeal. The original plan was a two-week romp over to California to visit our beloved friend Helen and stage a grand sandy reunion of our old gang: the Brighton Beau-Belles.

For the record, we comprise one beau (Elliot) and four belles (Helen, Sasha, Zo and me Lara). Categorically no Elises.

The five of us were drawn together one brow-moppingly hot summer by The Seaflower Brighton's most wincingly chintzy B&B. I'm allowed to say that because it belonged to my mother. Belonged. Past tense. As of a week ago it belonged to me. I may as well continue using the past tense because, before I can so much as change a lace doily, I am about to lose it. That's got to be the ultimate definition of carelessness losing a six-guest-room building. And I got off to such a great start inheriting it without my mother even having to die and just at a time when I fancied a career change.

I'm a Home Stylist which sounds rather bogus, I know, but in reality I make a decent living shopping with other people's money and providing one-of-a-kind finishing touches once the interior decorators have done their utmost. Whether you're after a Regency mud-sc.r.a.per or Warhol original, an antique Venetian mirror or functioning Sodastream to ruin the look of your Tikki Bar, I'm your woman.

The thought of getting my hands on the B&B ie: ripping out every carpet and cornice thrilled me, as for nearly twenty-two years I've been planning a stunning re-design from the depths of my ever-metamorphosing bedroom. Every year since I was eight years-old, my mother has given me a birthday present of a Room Makeover Kit - pot of paint and a new duvet cover in the lean, younger years and then hard cash ever since I was big enough and tough enough to haggle at a flea market.

Each spring I'd create a whole new environment for myself running the gamut from s.p.a.ce-age tinfoil to Zen bamboo. But not this year. This year I'm going to be thousands of miles from home, staying in someone else's hotel, a.s.sessing their knick-knacks.

I was hoping we'd be checking in to the hotel where Helen works as head pastry chef the legendary Hotel Del Coronado, set on a tiny island across the bay from San Diego. It's where Some Like It Hot was filmed and still attracts big movie stars today the day Helen called to say Brad Pitt had just checked in was the day we finally quit our a.s.sorted procrastinations and booked our flights.

I don't know why she's got us staying elsewhere as I'm sure she could have w.a.n.gled us a reasonable room rate with her keen negotiating skills. That's how she got out to America in the first place, on a business exchange with a tech company in Arizona. How she ended up fluffing meringues by the seaside is beyond us all.

Helen has always been the executive among us, even at the age of twenty when she decided to use the B&B as a case study for her Business Studies degree course. That's how we met.

It was an auspicious start within a matter of months she'd taken over from our accountant, neatly tr.i.m.m.i.n.g back our overheads and plumping our profits. She was a natural so smart, so quick, so ambitious and as the rest of the group began to form Helen easily filled the role of Mother Hen, though never in a clucky, fussy way. It was more that she was the hyper-organized one. Yes, she can come off a little bossy at times but she always has our best interests at heart as she chivvies us along, h.e.l.l-bent on us reaching our full potential.

'Oop!'

I step out the way of an outsize family struggling with an over-stacked trolley (which will almost certainly topple over and flatten at least one of their three tots before they reach the check-in desk) and survey the airport concourse for signs of Zo. I arranged to meet her half an hour early so I could break the news about the B&B to her first. For all her in-yer-face bravado she's going to be the most devastated about losing it. It was her home for seven years, after all.

Zo turned up at The Seaflower just shy of midnight one Tuesday in June with a distinctly pink chin and the man responsible for her stubble rash lurching behind her. He was much older twenty-five, I think. Doesn't sound that old until you consider that she was fifteen at the time. They were both drunk and not the least bit interested in hearing about the coffee-making facilities. The next morning she woke to find him gone, leaving a soggy condom (actually a blessing teenage pregnancy runs in her family) and an unpaid bill. As a schoolgirl with only a Betty Boop purse-full of coins to her name, this presented her with something of a dilemma.

My mum threatened to call her parents but the look on Zo's face made me intervene. Mum was late for the hairdresser's anyway so she left the situation in my inexperienced hands. I'd seen enough soaps to know that all problem-solving began with a nice cup of tea and so I took her through to our private living area and reached for the large brown glazed teapot and even made use of granny's crocheted tea cozy. Something about the cliched homeliness of it all prompted Zo to spill her heart out.

She told me all about her volatile, racist stepfather (who seemed permanently furious with Zo that her real father was black) and her cowering, in-denial mother. She had no one to stand in her corner and I could only imagine what her stepfather would do if he found out what she'd been doing last night, and with whom.

Being five years older than her and having always hankered after a younger sister, I adopted her on the spot. And then my mum did the same for real a year later. The three of us lived in giggly, girlie companionship until the day Zo decided her destiny lay in Hemel Hempstead. Not an obvious relocation destination for someone hoping to be 'discovered', but at the time she had a more pressing reason for moving her youngest cousin on her blood father's side was diagnosed with dyspraxia (formerly known as the clumsy child syndrome) and in her efforts to gather every sc.r.a.p of information on the subject she so impressed the MD of the Dyspraxia Foundation that they offered her a job at their HQ in HH. It was just answering enquiries and general office admin but considering Zo had barely attended school she felt this was her big break.

It was a real wrench watching her leave, not least because I felt like she didn't need me any more. But I understood that she had something to prove to herself her mother and stepfather barely set a s.k.a.n.ky toe outside Brighton's notorious Whitehawk Estate and she has always felt a keen need to not be like them. Well I reckon the 'Have a Beautiful Day!' cheeriness of California has got to be about as far from their miserable mindset as possible must remind her to send them a postcard.

'Lara!' A clattering of mule heels and jangle of charms announces Zo's arrival.

Since I saw her last, her springy brown curls have been ironed straight and interlaced with multi-colored extensions, hanging in chunky layers past her shoulders like a carwash brush. Gotta love her she's full-on drag queen glamor 24/7.

'Did you see him?' she yelps, releasing me from an overexcited embrace.

I take a moment to recover Zo's hugs always put me in mind of those junkyard compressor machines that can turn a tank into a battered metal sheet in one crunch.

'Did I see who?' I ask, setting my shoulder back in its socket.

'David Duchovny! He's over there at the First Cla.s.s desk.'

Normally we don't give any credence to Zo's star-spotting to her every man in a tuxedo is Pierce Brosnan, every grey-haired gent drinking red wine is Anthony Hopkins and every pet.i.te brunette eyeing the security cameras is Winona Ryder. Even if we're at the Churchill Square mall. But in this location, it actually seems feasible.

'He's so s.e.xy, isn't he?' she continues, leering over at his sleepy, stubbly face.

I roll my eyes considering she's only twenty-five, Zo is partial to a strange array of retro crushes. I blame the repeats on Living TV.

'I think it's a sign!' she decides.

'Of what?' I laugh.

'That I'm going to s.h.a.g a celebrity!'

'Well, law of averages, it's going to happen sooner or later.'

'I'll have you know I've been very restrained lately,' she sniffs.

'No more single fathers, child psychologists or male nurses?' I check.

'No, I've cut right back!' Zo looks pious.

'Conserving your energy for this trip?'

She nods eagerly. Men of America beware.

'So what did you want to talk about?' she tilts her head expectantly.

Suddenly I can't do it. The timing is all out. She's hyped up about the trip and I don't want to see the work-of-art that is her eye make-up streaking on my account. Maybe it's best I wait until we're all together?

'Lara?' Zo tries to prompt a response.

'I just wanted to make sure you'd get here before Elliot and Elise you know how I feel about seeing him with her ...' It's only half a lie I am genuinely queasy at the prospect.

She gives me an understanding squeeze. 'Vile creature. I don't know why he had to bring her. Why can't it just be our gang like the good old days?'

'Like she was going to leave him alone with four women,' I huff.

'Yeah but he's known us for years, if he was going to get it on with any of us it would've happened by now. Oh!' Zo clamps her hand over her mouth. 'Sorry Lara-'

'It's okay,' I mumble.

'Obviously he wouldn't you know with the rest of us. But you ... you he could do it with any minute!' Zo gives me an earnest smile.

'I'll be lucky if he can hold himself back!' I try to play along. 'We might have to do it right here on the suitcase scanner.'

Nervous laughter.

I wish I could convince the Belles that I'm over Elliot so they wouldn't have to constantly feel bad on my behalf, but it's tricky. First I'd have to convince myself.

'At least we can count on Helen to be single!' Zo takes a different tack. 'Maybe she can hook us up with some naked chefs!'

I chuckle. She may well have some spare Helen has always found men too disobedient and lax with their promises to take seriously. She once totted up how many hours her sister wasted waiting for the phone to ring or sobbing into her pillow over some guy and other than the occasional accidental summer romance decided she had more productive things to do with her time. Zo's relationships rarely lasted either, but that's more down to her 'variety is the spice of life' motto.

As for Sasha, she gets more offers than all of us put together but never seems particularly keen on any of the poor love-struck fools. She only goes on dates to prove she isn't aloof and out of fear of seeming ungrateful. Whereas I long to inspire eternal devotion, she finds that infatuated puppy-dog look the biggest turn-off. She says it makes her want to give the guy a good 'snap out of it' slap a la Cher in Moonstruck. Well, if she acted on that impulse today she would have already a.s.saulted half the men in Terminal 4 as she sashays towards us they gawp after her slinky bod and swishy hair like she's hooked their noses with an invisible fishing line.

I look at my watch. 1pm on the dot. Sasha never did learn the diva ways of a supermodel despite nine years in the business and a cereal ad campaign that made her a household bottom. She's given it all up now and is currently between careers, though the first word that springs to mind when you see her will always be 'model'. (Fractionally ahead of 'vain cow' not that she is, but you can't help wishing, can you?) 'Belles!' she breathes, gliding into our arms and staying there for a full minute.

'It's so good to see you!' I smile and inhale her Scandi-fresh scent.

'You too,' she sighs, still holding life-raft-tight. 'I'm sorry I've been such a recluse lately.'

Sasha's normally the best at keeping in touch but over the past few months she's been uncharacteristically 'absent'. I presumed she just wanted to take some time to de-program herself now that she's an ex-model you know, let her cuticles grow ragged and maybe cultivate a baby pot belly but it'll never work, she's beautiful to the core.

'I've been thinking about you all so much.' She's misty with sentiment as her eyes flick between us. 'We've had some good times, haven't we?' she adds with perfect death-bed delivery.

'We're about to have a whole lot more.' Zo reminds her.

'Yes!' I grin to excess in the hope that it proves contagious, but all Sasha can manage is a slight 'let's hope so' smile. She never was exactly a raver but today her meek streak seems more apparent than ever.

'So, how are you?' I probe, feeling the first twitches of concern. 'How's life without the lens?'

'Fine,' she looks uncomfortable but quickly brightens. 'You know how the last time we spoke I said I wished I'd never gone into modeling in the first place?'

I nod. She had a point there is a certain cla.s.s to being that exquisite and not doing the obvious thing.

'Have you changed your mind?' I ask.

'Oh no! It just occurred to me that if I hadn't gone down that path we might never have met!'

Beautiful, languid Sasha slipped into the B&B one afternoon in July on a fashion shoot for Marie Claire magazine. I would have stared longer but the photographer distracted me with his rapturous tizzy on seeing my mother's decor: 'This is exactly the level of tackiness we were going for!' he cheered as I showed him our flouncy four-poster suite. 'I mean, it looked cheesy in your brochure but all these ornamental bells and cross-st.i.tched pillows it's perfect!'

I thanked him through gritted teeth and left them to it, but within twenty minutes the make-up artist came dinging on the reception bell asking me to call a doctor Sasha was being violently ill. I thought she'd looked a bit pale on arrival but this was back in the days where all models were supposed to look eerily pallid so I hadn't taken much notice. Turns out she had gastroenteritis and couldn't move from the bathroom. Not even back to the luxury of The Grand Hotel where the rest of them were holed up for the night.

She ended up staying with us for a week, sweating and vomiting and writhing until 'just can't take any more' tears slipped down her poreless face. No family swooped in to look after her they live in Monaco so Zo and I took it in turns to watch over her. Then Helen became matron to our nurses and by the following Wednesday we were all having a Baileys slumber party in Sasha's four-poster, getting her to regale us with stories of who she'd modeled with and where, from Tyson Beckford to Tibet. Zo was particularly entranced. 'You've got the perfect life!' she used to tell her. 'All pampering and pandering and champagne!'

Sasha told us repeatedly that it wasn't nearly as glamorous or as fun as it sounded but we didn't believe a word of it. Proof positive that Sasha led a charmed life came when she was well enough to eat again and we discovered she could indulge her profoundly sweet tooth with no repercussions, whereas Zo in particular has to watch every Skittle. Not that Zo begrudged Sasha her speedy metabolism, just like I don't begrudge her the fact that Elliot had a brief crush when they first met. Anyone would. Everyone does.

'Maybe we should be feeling sorry for Elise,' Sasha takes a rather controversial stance as we scoot over to the telephone bay to avoid further clashes with the stream of hara.s.sed holidaymakers. 'Going away with three girls she hardly knows, to visit a fourth she's never met she must be worrying about being the odd one out.'

Zo and I give her a stern 'whose side are you on?' look.

'Sorry,' Sasha demurs.