Page 54 of Ghost Note

Gripping the straps of the rucksack, I spun around and almost fell right back off when I saw Danny lying there with his hands behind his head, and his feet crossed at the ankle.

He looked as though he was sleeping.

With tattoos poking out of his T-shirt sleeves, and his toned thighs pressed against the material of his tight black jeans, he was someone I shouldn’t recognise. Those tattoos and that adult strength hadn’t been there before, but love was a familiar friend, and that’s what I saw when I looked at him.

Love.

Even though I hated it, the naive girl within me loved him. The scorned woman wanted to roll him off the roof and see how much he liked that.

The two emotions were battling out, but love, as always, proved to be stronger.

I walked forward on the flat roof, and before long, I’d shuffled my backpack off as quietly as I could so I could use it as a chair to sit down on while Danny laid beside me with his eyes closed. Just like in the polaroid pictures I had at home.

I looked out across at the ocean. The beach was barren, and the waves crashed in slow, soothing motions as the moon twinkled across the inky sea. Pulling my knees up, I let my arms rest over them, and I sat there quietly, with old loves beside me and the ever-reliable horizon ahead.

“I was giving you a day off,” Danny mumbled sleepily, his tired voice making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I glanced down at him to see he had one eye peeking open.

Danny unleashed his bright, white smile, and the scorned version of Daisy drifted away with the soft night breeze that blew strands of my hair over my face.

“You still come here?” he asked with surprise.

“Not until now.”

“Why not?”

“You know why.”

Danny opened both eyes and blew a stream of breath out up to the sky. “Guess I do.”

“Why areyouhere?”

“You know why.” With a groan and a roll, he swung his body up until he was sitting beside me, copying my pose. The two of us were side by side with our arms hanging over our knees, like two familiar best friends who always did this.

I studied his profile, unable to deny the pull I felt towards him.

“You’ve weathered well, Danny Silver,” I admitted quietly.

He turned to me, his eyes searching mine. “You, too, Daisy Piper.” He cast a brief glance at the rucksack beneath my bum. “Are you running away or something?”

“It’s more like I’m runningtosomething—to things I’ve been avoiding for a while now.”

“Me?” he whispered.

With a soft nod, I had to look away from him because looking hurt. He had eyes that were so easy to drown in, and I had suddenly forgotten how to keep myself afloat. “It’s easier if I hate you. Things are more manageable. The questions I ask myself in the middle of the night can be answered quicker if I feel nothing for you, Danny.”

“What questions?”

“The kind I torture myself with.Why did he leave? Why wasn’t I good enough? Who made him happy when I couldn’t?They’re easier to deal with when the answer is always the same:it wasn’t about me. No one will make him happy because he’s an arrogant, selfish arsehole who I never really knew.”

“Is that what you really think of me?”

“It’s what Iwantto think of you.” Turning back to him, I pinched my brows together. “I wish you hadn’t come back.”

“I know.”

“But I’m also glad you did. Not for me, but for Tim. For Amie. For Florence. I can sleep easier now knowing you did the right thing by them, and I’ll make sure everyone else around here knows it from now on.”

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