Page 59 of So That Happened
* * *
Connor stood at the back of the room as the awards ceremony rolled out on the stage in front of him. Cameras were stationed at every available angle of the grand room and the place buzzed with excited chatter. The tables where the audience sat were dark compared to the dazzling light of the stage, so he had to work hard to locate where Josie was seated with her sister and parents. He finally spotted her.
She sat, spine straight, eyes trained on the stage, a forced smile plastered onto her face as her sister’s name was announced as the winner of Presenter of the Year.
Maddie gave the camera trained on her an almost comical fake surprise expression as the spotlight found her, and then she leant across to hug her mother and father before sweeping off towards the stage. Josie sat, ramrod-straight and ignored, at the other side of the table. She seemed smaller than she had in France, as if the weight of being here was pressing down on her, squashing her into a less than Josie-sized space.
A blast of possessive anger nearly knocked Connor off his feet. How could they blatantly snub her like that? His Josie. His sparky, smart, funny, fascinating Josie.
He itched to march over there and rescue her from this nauseating display of self-glorifying nonsense. She deserved better than being side-lined in the corner whilst this circus happened around her.
* * *
After her sister’s win, the host called for a break and there was a sudden ruckus of chairs being scraped back and loud conversation as people got up and headed over to the winners to bestow their congratulations.
This awards ceremony had been just as awful as she’d anticipated, but Josie was still glad she’d come. She knew the only way to overcome these feelings of inadequacy around her sister was to face them head-on and walk away with her head held high. There would be no more hiding from life and no more jealousy; it was a leech she was going to burn off, no matter what it took.
Knowing she could entertain and enthral someone as incredible as Connor – even temporarily – had gone a long way to persuading her there was more to her than she’d supposed. She would celebrate all her successes from now on, even the small ones, and never, ever compare them to someone else’s again. She would be the queen of her own universe.
She stood up and wandered off to the bar in the adjoining room as their table was swamped with well-wishers hoping to get a piece of her sister. Maddie already looked exhausted from all the fawning attention and having to be on her best behaviour. How could she have ever been jealous of that? It was the epitome of her worst nightmare. She needed to remember that the next time she experienced debilitating jealousy about her sister’s success. Everything came with its own problems, after all – even fame and adoration.
The bar was quiet compared to the shouty hubbub of the ballroom, and she let out a long breath of relief as the silence wrapped around her, soothing her ringing ears and throbbing head.
‘Hi, Josie.’
The bottom of her stomach hit the floor, and all the air rushed out of her lungs at the sound of the deep, smooth voice she’d know anywhere.
Connor.
She spun round to find him standing behind her, glorious in a black shirt and dark blue jeans, his blond hair rumpled, his ice-blue eyes ringed with dark circles. If anything, he seemed larger and even more commanding than she remembered. All she could do was stand and stare at the vision in front of her, an irritating excitement building in her stomach.
‘How did you find me?’ she blurted. ‘I mean, what are you doing here?’ she corrected, trying to keep her tone neutral, but failing to keep the quaver of hopeful excitement out of her voice. He only had to look at her with those gorgeous cool blue eyes and she turned to mulch.
‘Abigail told me where you’d be.’
‘You’ve seen her?’
‘I called her.’
‘That’s great,’ she said, the pleasure and surprise at the fact she’d actually got through to him on some level momentarily overtaking the exhilaration of his appearance.
He looked at her levelly but didn’t say anything. His silence unnerved her.
‘Right. So, are you up for an award tonight or are you just here stalking me?’ She’d meant it as a joke – a throwaway comment to distract him from the total chaos of her response to his appearance – but of course it came out sounding more serious than she intended.
‘Hardly.’ Connor raised a derisive eyebrow but shifted on his feet, crossing his arms in front of him.
‘So what are you doing in London? Something I thought I’d never see.’ This was like pulling teeth. Her throat was tight with tension and she had to fight to keep tears from welling in her eyes. She would not go to pieces, though. No way.
Connor’s gaze flicked up to hers, his eyes hard behind his frown. ‘Look, I don’t want to leave things the way we did. I admit I was frustrated with you for leaving early and I reacted badly. I wanted to come and apologise face to face for the way I behaved.’
‘What? You mean you’re not planning on getting up on the stage to announce your apology to the whole room?’ she said.
The inability to keep stupid jokes from tumbling out of her mouth was embarrassing, but not surprising considering how tense she was.
The comment earned her a smile, but it didn’t quite penetrate the disquiet in his eyes.
What the hell did this mean? Was he only here to say sorry? Her heart thumped in her ribcage with alarming force.
