Page 112 of Ghost Note

“It’s always been here… waiting for you to come back.”Like me.“You needed to follow the music.”

“I left for you, too, you know.”

“For me?”

“I loved the way you loved me, Zee, but I was also terrified by the responsibility of your happiness being solely in my hands.”

Pulling away, I looked at him, my face blank. No one emotion registered because, truthfully, I didn’t know what I was feeling.

Danny’s expression turned sad. “You’ve always gone through life doing what makes everyone else happy. First your mum and dad. You went to church for years and years, even though you hated it, and they never suspected a thing. All you cared about was making them happy, no matter the cost. Then I came along, and you threw everything you had at me. And believe me, as a young, horny, in love teenage boy, I wanted to take it. I wanted to take everything you had to give because it meant the world to me. Look at you, Daisy. Just look at you.

“I could tour the world for twenty years and not come across another woman like you, but that last year of us being together… fuck.” He sighed. “You scared the shit out of me. Blowing your savings on making my dreams come true. Going to the college I went to. Choosing the same subjects. Telling me all the time, ‘The only thing I need in my life is you’ and never once thinking about whatyouwanted. Forgiving me for my irrational mood swings without standing up for yourself. Putting me before everything.”

“I didn’t realise I was such a burden.”

“Flip that. I was the burden to you. I needed you to be free of the weight of me and stand on your own two feet for a while—to figure out what you wanted, not what I, Diane, Malcolm, Gina, or Jackson needed from you.” He leaned closer, his voice dropping. “But I selfishly also wish you’d have tried to reach out to me, too.”

I scowled up at him. “Reach out, how? You left.”

“One phone call, Zee. One text message. One… anything, and damn, I would have run back to you. I would have run back so fast; I’d have broken records.”

“I can’t believe you’re trying to turn this around on me.”

He shook his head and swallowed his obvious guilt. “That’s not what I’m saying. I know what I did. I hurt you, and I handled the consequences of that, but I can’t deny how much it stung when I watched Saff chasing Archer across the country to make him see how perfect they were for each other, while I couldn’t get you to answer a simple phone call.”

“You told me you couldn’t take me with you. You… you said those words. There wasn’t anything else you could have added to it. I didn’t want you to check up on me like I was some sad, pining pet you’d left behind. Do you know how stupid and silly I felt once you dumped me like that?”

“You didn’t let me finish what I had to say to you before you ran away. There was so much more. So many words I wanted to speak. So many options…”

“What could youpossiblyhave said after telling me that Hope Cove and our relationship wasn’t enough for you?”

“I was going to ask you to give me a year. Just twelve months to find my feet. To go out there and make music, travel, see the world beyond this village and Devon.”

“And then what?”

“Then, I’d have come back for you.”

I inhaled sharply, and my chest stuttered. “Why didn’t you ever tell me?” I whispered.

“Daisy, I tried.”

Looking down at our thighs pressed together, a thousand thoughts and memories rushed through my mind. My parents telling me that Danny had tried to call again, a whole month after we’d finished with each other. Gina saying she’d had an email from him two weeks after he’d gone, begging for her to let him know that I was okay. Even Tim and Amie Silver, driving over to my mum and dad’s house to check on me, which I left my parent’s to deal with because looking at them would have reminded me of Danny, and I wanted to erase all those wasted days, months, and years from my mind.

I’d had nothing to say to anyone. My world had turned black with no sparks of silver anywhere to be found, and there I was, finding out that things could have been different.

We could have been together.

“I can’t believe this,” I eventually muttered, looking up at him. I blew out a breath, unable to ignore the tight knot of regret that had formed in my stomach, twisting me up. “If I’d have known…”

“I’m not saying that what I did was right in the end, but it’s what I thought was right at the time. Yeah, I went away for myself and for the music, but I also wanted to give you time to go out there and find yourself. To figure out what made you happy. I wanted to set you free, Zee.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be free of what I feel for you.”

“Then come with me now.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Come with me…”

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