Page 80 of Ghost Note

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Shall I open one of those bottles?”

Danny’s voice brought me back to the present, and I swallowed down the sadness I felt for the girl I’d been right there and then at that moment—the pathetic one, so desperate to please and put her own worries aside, with no clue about how her life was going to be tipped upside down.

“Yeah,” I croaked, clearing my throat and pushing the sadness away to offer him a soft smile. “Yes, please.”

I could tell that he thought about asking me if I was okay, but something stopped Danny and made him reach for the drinks instead.

Maybe he saw the defeat in my eyes.

I was giving in to everything at the moment. Into Danny, my fantasies, and all my fears. But more than anything, I was giving in to the fact that maybe, just maybe, I’d brought our breakup on myself by suffocating a man who was never meant to stay in one place for as long as he had.

Maybe sometimes youcanlove a person too much.

Twenty-Six

Irecognised the Plymouth Pavilion before we pulled up around the back of it to what Danny informed me was the stage door. Cars and buses lined the roadside, and we’d had to prove who we were—or at least the driver did—before we’d been allowed into the unloading of the equipment and the backstage access area.

When the limo came to a slow stop, I thought I heard screaming from somewhere beyond the windows. A shrill kind of cry I’d only ever heard on the television during coverage of premieres with fancy Hollywood stars.

Danny took the now-empty champagne flute from my hand, dropped it somewhere, and knelt in front of me, looking up as he placed his hands on my thighs. The screaming picked up again, and he closed his eyes for a second before he looked up again, his jaw ticking. I reached up to smooth the tension away on one side before I offered him a nod that wasn’t very convincing.

“My heart is doing that crazy beating you described to me before. The one where you think it’s going to burst out of your chest,” I admitted.

“You’re going to be fine. Do you know why?”

I shook my head.

“Because I’ll be right here with you the whole time.” With a kiss to the heel of my hand, he began to pull away. “Our driver has parked so you’re on the side closest to the entrance. When he opens it for you, look up and head straight to the door. No one will see you if we do this right.”

I frowned, just as the screaming picked up again. “Is that screaming foryou?”

“Yeah. It’s completely embarrassing. The fake waves and the forced smiles. I hate it.”

“Hate is a strong word.”

“And one you used on me not two days ago.” He smirked.

“Yes, well, I have strong feelings about you that tend to swing one way or the other.”

He huffed out a laugh and shuffled over to the door. “Don’t I know it. Are you going to be okay?”

“Sure.” I nodded, feeling that, actually, I might just die instead.

“Be right back. See you in a few minutes.”

His door was open for barely a second before it shut again, but I saw the bright, flashing cameras aimed his way, and I heard the rise of the cries of his name. I didn’t have time to compose myself before the driver whisked my door open and carefully guided me to the Pavilion without so much as looking back. He showed his ID to someone who looked like a blur of a body before I was pushed inside the building and into a pale grey, busy corridor, packed and stacked with equipment and people charging backwards and forwards.

A few seconds later, the groan of the door caught my attention, and Danny came rushing through, his breathing heavy as it slammed shut behind him with a loud clang.

“You okay?” he asked, panting.

We’d been apart for less than a minute, yet the world looked different to me now somehow. I was standing in a foreign land. We just hadn’t had to take a private jet to get there.

I nodded, not knowing what the hell to do with my hands. All I’d brought with me was the phone in my pocket, my house key, and a small red lipstick. Now I wished I had something to cling onto.

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