Page 61 of Under A Sicilian Sky
The rest of journey home was made in silence, apart from the Proclaimers CD playing ‘Letter from America’ in the background as they admired the views through the glass.
* * *
The more she saw of the island, the more Ruby contemplated buying a small property there; a bolthole or pied-à-terre; somewhere where she could escape fame and all the stress and hassle it brought. Over the last few weeks, she had looked upon her status with less and less positivity. The pros she tried to think of were eluding her and seemed outweighed by cons. She missed dancing, she missed shopping, she missed her parents, she missed Kitty. She missed having a normal life. These factors had always bothered her, but lately they had even more so.
Once back at the house, she dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a baggy T-shirt she usually slept in. She tied it in a knot at the waist, closed her room door and hoped that the rest of the residents would realise she wanted to be alone. She linked up her phone to the iPod docking station in the room adjoining her bedroom and pushed the small coffee table towards the wall.
She flicked through her downloaded songs until she reached Cindy Lauper’s albumA Night to Rememberand forwarded the tracks until she reached the song ‘Heading West’. She hit play and swayed to the music for a moment, eyes closed. As the song played and the music took her, she raised her arms and twirled on the spot, letting the emotion of the song carry her. In seconds. she was utterly lost in movement and feeling. Her eyes remained closed as her breathing quickened and her heart rate picked up its pace. Sadness washed over her as she listened to the lyrics that sang of moving on without regret and hoped that one day, she would have that strength.
But she had many regrets.
As she danced, she remembered the good times with Tyler, laughing, making love, holding each other. It had all been a lie, a publicity stunt. She should have known really. She was too ‘normal’ to be in a relationship with someone who held himself in such high regard, above everythingandeveryone else. If only she had realised that before she’d wasted so much time on him.
It felt good to surrender to the music once again, to be filled with endorphins racing around her veins. A kind of muscle memory took over as she reached and stretched, bent and pirouetted. Tears trickled down her cheeks from the conflicting emotions she had been trying to hold in check for weeks, but no one was watching so she didn’t care.
When the song came to an end, she was out of breath and sweat had beaded on her brow, but she felt a kind of euphoria that only dancing seemed to bring her. She reached to pause the playlist and as she did, someone behind her applauded, causing her to jump and turn around to face her unexpected audience.
‘Wow. I have no words… just… wow,’ Mitch said with eyes that seemed to be glistening with emotion.
She swiped her hand across her forehead. ‘You weren’t… I mean… the door was closed.’ She panted as she spoke.
He slipped his hands into his pockets and cleared his throat. ‘Aye, I know, I’m so sorry about that, but I knocked and when you didn’t answer…’
She felt her face warming from something other than her exertion. ‘Sorry, yes, I was a bit preoccupied.’
He stepped closer and removed his hands from his pockets. ‘You looked…’ He shook his head. ‘Sorry I shouldn’t have—’
She waved her hand. ‘Oh, it’s… it’s fine. What’s wrong? Has Archie been in touch again?’
He took a few more steps. ‘Aye. He has. He has names.’
Ruby gasped. ‘Oh my goodness! That’s incredible! Names? Plural? There’s more than one hacker? Fantastic! I can go to the police; this can all be—’
Mitch held up his hand. ‘Not quite.’
She frowned and stepped towards him, confusion taking over again. ‘But why? If we have names, we can—’
He closed his eyes for a moment. ‘They’re fake. The names are fake.’
Her heart sank and she slumped onto the small sofa. ‘Oh. Right. So we’re no further forward? And anyway, how do you know they’re fake?’
‘Did you ever watchThe Big Bang Theory?’ he asked with a tilt of his head.
She scrunched her brow. ‘Yes. I used to love that show!’ She wagged her finger as a memory came back to her. ‘In fact, I met Jim Parsons on a set once. He was such a nice guy. Very funny in real life.’ She stopped, realising this wasn’t really the time for name dropping. ‘Sorry… I digress, what has that got to do with the hacking?’
‘The names were Howard Wolowitz and Sheldon Cooper.’
‘Oh shit. They’re character names from the show.’ She sank into the seat and let her head rest back.
‘Yup. But, again, the bright side is that Archie has made more headway in the last few days than anyone up to now. It’s all good. Hewillget there. He said I had to tell you so.’
She sighed and nodded. The high she’d had while dancing had been dashed. ‘Yes, he’s doing a good job. He clearly knows what he’s doing.’
Mitch nodded with a look of sympathy. ‘Aye, he really,reallydoes. Please have faith. Anyway, grubs up. I’ve made a risotto. It’s amazing, even if I do say so myself. Although I can’t take all the credit, it’s one of my mamma’s recipes.’
Her mood lifted at the mention of Rosa. ‘Ooh yum. I’m starving. I’ll get changed and be down soon.’
He nodded and turned as if to walk away but paused and faced her again. ‘When you said you loved to dance, I don’t think I expected such talent, Ruby. But that…’ He pointed at the floor where she had been moments before. ‘That was so beautiful. It made me feel…’ He shook his head and briefly glanced at the ceiling. ‘I don’t know what it made me feel, to be honest… I don’t think I have the words. But it was…’ He smiled warmly. ‘Your face… You looked so serene. So happy.’ He shrugged. ‘I’m blethering on. I’ll leave you to get sorted.’ He quickly turned and left the room.
