Page 66 of Love At First Fright
He chuckled, bending further to rest his forehead in the crook of her neck. Warm, soft.
“What do you know about hiring hit men?”
“You’d be surprised. Publishing can get ugly.”
“Ha. Well, I’ll let you know if we ever arrive at ‘order a hit man’ territory.”
“Good. For now, can I give you a hug instead?” she asked, and pivoted in his arms to face him.
“Please,” he muttered, and although Rosemary was so much shorter than him, her hug seemed big enough to encompass him entirely. Had he ever felt this immediately safe with a person? If he told her right now that he was at home here, in the circle of her arms, how would she react? He didn’t speak. Instead, Ellis held her tight as if she were his only tether, the only thing grounding him. The shake in his hands faded, the knot of worry that always flared when he spoke to Brody began to unravel. Rosemary held him, and everything was easier to manage again. He raised his head to see how she’d got on with unpacking.
“You brought a candle with you?” he asked.
“Umm, yeah.” She looked sheepishly back at him. “It’s a ghost-repelling candle. In case there are any to bother us.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts.”
“I…uh…It was a gift from my friend Dina, she’s a—well, she makes candles sometimes. And I figured, better safe than sorry.”
“Without a doubt,” Ellis agreed. Whatever she needed to do to feel comfortable, he was on board with.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” he asked. “Feel like I’ve missed feeling the sun on my face.”
Rosemary sighed and nodded. “Yes, please.”
—
They followed Mr. Tokes’s directionsup to Chipping Hill to take in the view. If Ellis was honest, now that he’d recovered from his call with Brody, his mind had swiftly travelled to the gutter, because the only view he was interested in was of Rosemary’s hips as they swayed in front of him up the path.
They crested the hill, the early-November light breaking through the clouds and scattering across the countryside. Ellis saw tufts of woodland in the distance, broken apart by the squat stone steeples of village churches and winding country lanes. The fields were a riot of burnt orange and deep evergreens, as late autumn fell away into winter. Beside him, Rosemary huffed out a steaming breath and pulled her jacket tight around her. He let Fig off her lead—she had a good recall so he wasn’t worried.
“I missed this,” she said. “The sense of space. Of sky. It was impossible in New York, you could never see the sky without the teeth of skyscrapers in the way.”
They found a bench, partially hiding them from the windchill. It really was remote out here, not another person around.
“That’s why I moved out of London.”
“You don’t live in London?”
“Not anymore. I’m not far away, but I had to leave. Before I had dogs, I lived in an apartment near Soho, and it was so noisy all the time. Couldn’t hear myself think. Now I have a garden.”
“I’ve always wanted to have my own garden,” Rosemary said wistfully.
“You could come see mine. I have a little greenhouse and a vegetable and herb garden, too. Back when Hank was alive, he used to steal all the carrots.”
“Is Hank the dog you had before Fig?”
He nodded, feeling the claws of grief reaching for him. “I don’t talk about him much. Hank died about a year ago now.”
Rosemary touched his arm lightly. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.”
“No, it’s okay, I want to tell you.” He felt safe here, with her, safe enough to fall back into the memory.
“We were out on a late-night walk while I was staying in a hotel for a shoot. I guess I thought that walking that late would mean that there were no paparazzi, but they were waiting; they must have known the hotel was full of cast members. I turned down a street, and they started snapping photos. I—I freaked out, it surprised me. I dropped Hank’s lead. And he freaked out, too, the flashes were so bright, and they were so fucking loud, and he ran into the road.” Ellis stuttered a breath. “I should have been holding his lead. If I’d kept my cool, kept my shit together, then I would never have let go and he wouldn’t have been hit by that car.”
He rubbed furiously at his eyes, swallowing the lump in his throat.
“Ellis, I’m so sorry.”
