I could hear music being played next door as I sat out on my veranda in the shade, covered in soothing Aloe Vera gel. It sounded as though there was a party going on in Iris' villa. I resisted the urge to go and look, preferring to sit and watch the glorious sunset instead. Ava wandered past after a few minutes. "Hey Henry, 'sup?" She said.

"Just chilling," I replied, "you got a party going on?"

"Just Alex and Howie over with a few of their friends. The Pixie is beyond excited, keeps plying poor Alex with drink. I think she's planning to finally seduce him tonight."

"Lucky Alex," I said, instantly envious that someone wanted him that badly.

"I'm sure you get plenty of women flinging themselves at you," Ava laughed, "besides, you have a whole harem here, how could you possibly choose just one?" She didn't wait for an answer, just strolled off towards the music while I sat back and considered what she'd said.

The truth was, I ignored the myriad women who slipped their numbers in my pocket or flirted shamelessly around me. It had almost become my default position to reject those that showed their interest. I'd turned down some famous actresses, renowned beauties that men all over the world desired, and here I was all alone and lonely, jealous of a geeky loser who happened to have a girl in love with him.

I sat there for an hour or so thinking about it, how I'd fallen into the bad habit of assuming everyone had an agenda. In LA I was cosseted to the point of being cut off from the world, and the trip to San Vinco had opened my eyes to it. I decided that things had to change.

With the night insects coming out, I went inside and switched on my laptop, determined to make some sort of contact with the outside world. I emailed my PA, Linda, asking how her own vacation was going. Five minutes later a reply pinged into my inbox.

'My vacation is lovely thank you Henry. What is it you need?'

I sighed. There was no way I could interrupt her break to just chat. I never 'chatted' to her, just emailed requests or paperwork to be completed. It struck me that I didn't even ask where she was going, let alone who she was with. I'd never been interested in Linda's private life, so wasn't sure if she had a boyfriend or not. It was just further evidence of how self obsessed I'd become.

A knock on my back door interrupted my pity party. I opened the door to Janine. "Hey you," she said, "wanna come join the party?" I shook my head. She tilted her head to one side, regarding me intently. "You seem a little down. Wanna talk about it?" Without waiting for an answer, she walked in. "It's pretty obvious to me that you're hiding yourself away here."

"I guess I am," I admitted. She didn't speak. "I just became someone I didn't want to become, and I don't like him very much," I told her.

"That figures," she replied, "money and power does that to people, as does too much adulation and not enough real love."

She'd hit the nail on the head. "Sometimes, I'd just like to feel normal again, just Henry, with all my failings on show, not this 'perfect man' persona that's been so carefully crafted."

"You're lonely aren't you?" She observed. I nodded. "Hardly surprising given the life you lead."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean cut off from reality, a person can be too beautiful, rich and talented you know. It might protect you from a lot of the problems life presents, but in turn it can be dreadfully isolating. Just ask Iris."

"What's Iris got to do with it?" I demanded.

Janine smiled. "Because she's beautiful, talented and successful. She had her heart totally broken several months back, I doubt if she'll ever get over it. Howie's on a hiding to nothing." She tilted her head towards the party.

"Who broke her heart?" I asked. If Janine was in the mood for talking, I wanted to take advantage.

"Some billionaire CEO from the valley. She worshiped him, he was madly in love with her. They made a beautiful couple, and when he asked her to marry him, she was beside herself with happiness. Got all ready to move out of here and onto his ranch."

"What happened?"

"Two days after he proposed, he was killed in a motor racing accident on the Alonso racing circuit. It was one of his expensive hobbies. Iris was ravaged with grief. It's why we're all so protective of her. There's no man alive who'll live up to the memory of Christian, plus of course, everyone knows that Iris was the woman he fell in love with. He was probably the most eligible bachelor in California, and we have quite a few."

I reeled with her revelation. I remembered Christian Page's death being big news. In my closed off world, I barely had time for TV, and rarely bothered to watch the news. I wondered if Iris' tragedy had been reported too.

"I was surprised you didn't recognise her," Janine went on, "we had reporters camped here for weeks. It was a nightmare for her."

"I don't watch much TV, or read the papers very often, so I didn't know," I confessed.

"People thought she'd be rich, inherit everything from him. It wasn't the case at all, it all went to his brother. Even so, people look at Iris and think she has it so easy, whereas the truth is that she shuts herself away a lot working. It's her therapy, well, that and us lot. Ava and Rachelle are very close to her and try and shield her from the worst of it."

"That's...awful," I said, suddenly feeling stupid for being so self-pitying earlier. My life wasn't perfect by a long stretch, but I'd never suffered a tragedy or even anything remotely similar. "Does this Howie know?"

Janine nodded. "He's Christian's brother."