Page 32 of Ghost Note

“Daisy, maybe you shouldn’t—”

“I swear, Danny,” I started, laughing as I slid my glass back between us and leaned closer to him, “if you tell me to slow down or stop drinking, I will tell you to get the fuck out of here right now. What I do and don’t do with my life, my body, and my time is no longer your concern.”

His face fell, and his eyes stared into mine with such an intensity, it hit me everywhere.

Especially the places he used to touch.

The tears of laughter turned into something else as the humour faded away, and the memories of what we once were and who we now were collided together.

“In fact, your minutes are up,” I whispered.

“I haven’t finished my drink yet. You’re going to kick me out before I’ve even touched it.”

“Yep.”

Draining my glass, I spun out of my chair and took it to the sink. It landed with a clatter, and for a moment I thought I’d broken even more things, but when I looked it had survived. A little shaken, sure, but it had endured the fall.

Just like me.

I twisted around on the balls of my feet and clung to the countertop as I looked at Danny sitting at my kitchen table like he’d sat there a thousand times before. Danny, with his wild, rock star hair, his unbuttoned white shirt, and his forearms out on display. Danny, who looked like my first love, but also looked like a love that was way out of my league. Too big for my small life.

“You know where the door is.”

“Doesn’t mean I’m going to use it,” he said with confidence, raising the glass of wine to his lips and leaning back against the window ledge to take me in.

“Fine.” I pushed away from the counter and began to turn the lights out as I went, cloaking him in darkness. “But I’m going to bed. I’ll phone Gina to come and get you out of here while I’m sleeping. She’s got a lot to say to you. A lot more than me… that’s for sure.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

“Christ, Daisy, okay, wait.”

I heard the chair scrape against the floor, a glass tinkle against the counter, and his feet marching towards me as I dropped a hand to the bannister and let my foot rest on the bottom step. Danny came towards me in the hallway that was now lit only by the moon streaming through the windows, and the lights from my bedroom upstairs. I turned my head his way when he came beside me, and I waited.

My mouth felt dry, and my eyes betrayed me by drifting down to his lips for just a second. But it was a second too long, and he saw it.

He saw it, and he used it against me.

Leaning closer, he rested a searing palm on top of my hand, his wine-soaked breaths washing over me, making me lightheaded.

“I’m not this bad guy your mind has turned me into, Zee.”

“You’re whoever I want you to be, and that’s the end of it.”

“It’s only the beginning. I know that isn’t easy for you to accept, though, so I’ll let you adjust to me being back for a while. I’ll give you some time.”

“Wait, what? You’re not leaving?” I asked, wide-eyed. He was meant to leave. Danny wasalwaysmeant to leave.

He shook his head slowly, delighting in my obvious discomfort. “Last living member of the Silver family now means that I have some shit to take care of, so I’ll be around for the next week. A lot can happen in just a few days, Daisy. You take tonight to think about that. Take tonight and know that there are going to be plenty more chances for you to drink wine, open up, and tell me how much you hate me while I’m still around. But know that there are only so many occasions I’ll let you walk away. This is your third strike. Next time, I’ll chase you, and I’llmakeyou listen because, whether you want to hear it or not, I have a hell of a lot to say… and one way or another, you’re going to hear all of it.”

His eyes drifted over my face, and before I could stop him, Danny placed a soft, warm kiss to my forehead that winded me in places I didn’t know it was possible to be winded. My eyes closed, and by the time I’d regained enough composure to open them and tell him where to go…

He was gone.

Ten

“Ican’t believe you passed your driving test on the first go. You’re so lucky.”

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