City of Second Chances

by Jane Lacey-Crane

  ‘Only you could think I’d nodded off when I have your amazing chest in my face. No, I’m wide awake, trust me. I’m just enjoying the feeling of being here with you.’

  ‘We should get some sleep really. You have a performance tomorrow – you need to rest.’

  ‘Rest?’ He raised his head from my chest and grinned. ‘I don’t need to rest, do you?’

  ‘Not really.’

  He tipped me backwards and then suddenly I was no longer on top of him; he was now leaning over me.

  ‘That’s my girl,’ he said.

  *

  We must have fallen asleep eventually, because I woke to find myself naked in Daniel’s arms. He was lying behind me with his leg draped over the top of mine. He was sound asleep, and I lay there for a few minutes just listening to him breathe. I didn’t want to move in case I woke him up. I was content to just lie there, enjoying the feel of his smooth skin on mine, the sound of his heartbeat, but the peace was destroyed by the sudden sound of someone knocking on the door to Daniel’s suite.

  ‘Daniel,’ I murmured. ‘Dan, wake up.’

  ‘Mmm? What? What’s up?’ He opened his eyes, scrubbing away sleep with the heel of his hands.

  ‘There’s someone at the door,’ I said. The knocking was becoming more insistent and then a man’s voice was shouting.

  ‘Daniel, it’s me. Get the fuck out of bed!’

  ‘Who the hell is that?’ I asked. Daniel climbed out of bed and pulled on his jeans.

  ‘It’s Anthony, my publicist. I’ll go and get rid of him.’ The banging came again. ‘For fuck’s sake, hold on, I’m coming.’ Daniel left the room, closing the door gently behind him. It was hard to hear through the door – and believe me, I tried. I couldn’t make much out, but I could tell from the raised voices that Anthony was very unhappy with something. I felt like a naughty teenager, hiding under the sheets in my boyfriend’s bedroom and praying that his parents wouldn’t barge in and find me. I got out of bed and started getting dressed.

  Just as I was struggling to zip up my dress, the bedroom door opened and Daniel came in. I could see Anthony just beyond the door, pacing up and down and talking into his phone.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked, coming over to me and taking my hands. ‘Why are you getting dressed?’

  ‘There’s obviously something going on that you need to deal with. It’s fine, Dan, really. I should be going anyway.’

  ‘It’s nothing that Anthony can’t handle. Please don’t go, not yet.’

  ‘Tell me what’s happened, then.’

  Daniel let go of my hands and sat down heavily on the edge of the bed. ‘Some pictures have popped up, that’s all.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Front page of a couple of the papers back home.’

  I was furious; how could Maria humiliate him like this after everything he’d agreed to do for her?

  ‘Have you spoken to her?’ I asked.

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Maria. If she’s managed to get herself and her lover splashed across the papers then it’s no longer your responsibility to protect her career.’

  ‘It’s not Maria. It’s us.’

  I didn’t understand. ‘Who us?’

  ‘You and me. There are pictures of us outside the bar last night, whilst we were waiting for the car.’

  I had a sudden flashback to the previous night – all the kissing and my hands under Daniel’s sweater. ‘Oh, shit.’ The room started to spin a little and I went and sat next to Daniel.

  ‘It’s all right. Maria and I were already over by then.’

  ‘But no one else knows that yet, do they?’ I said.

  ‘It’s going to be fine, Evie, I promise you. Anthony will release a brief statement telling people that Maria and I broke up a while ago, but we kept it quiet for the sake of everyone else involved in the play.’

  ‘Oh, Jesus,’ I exclaimed. Daniel came around to kneel in front of me.

  ‘Please don’t let this change things between us. I want to be with you, Evie, please. The play will close in a few weeks, and then it won’t matter any more. People will lose interest.’

  I wanted to believe him but part of me thought he was being incredibly naïve; I was certain that the newspapers would relish the chance to run with this one. I didn’t have too much time to dwell on that thought; Anthony knocked lightly on the door.

  ‘Come in,’ said Daniel. Anthony, a tall grey haired man in a sharply cut suit, poked his head around the door.

  ‘How are we all doing in here?’ he asked, stepping into the room. He extended a hand to me. ‘Evie, it’s a pleasure to meet you in person. I’ve heard a lot about you.’ I shook his hand.

  ‘You have?’

  ‘Are you kidding me? I can’t get this one to shut up about you. Honestly, he’s been annoyingly happy since you stumbled back into his life.’

  That made me laugh. ‘Well, I can only apologise if he’s been a pain in your arse.’

  Anthony waved his hand. ‘Nothing I can’t handle. Speaking of which, we need to get a statement sorted for the papers. It’s already been headline news in the UK. Don’t forget, we’re five hours behind here. The morning shows will already have it too.’

  On cue, I heard a phone start to ring in the other room – it was mine. I’d left it in my coat pocket last night. The kids! I ran across the living room of the suite, desperate to get to the phone before it stopped ringing. Sure enough, when I picked it up, I saw my son’s smiling face on the screen.

  ‘Morning, Sam,’ I said cheerily, hoping against all hope that he hadn’t seen any pictures of his mother cavorting on the pavement with a movie star.

  ‘Mum, what the hell is going on?’ Okay, no such luck with that, then.

  ‘Everything’s fine, Sam, don’t worry about it.’

  ‘Don’t worry! I woke up this morning and switched on my phone to find tons of messages from my mates telling me that my mum was plastered all over the news. Pictures of you with Daniel Roberts stuck to your face and his hand up your dress!’

  ‘Just calm down, Sam, please. It’s not what it looks like—’

  ‘It looks like you were heading off to shag Daniel Roberts, probably in some seedy hotel somewhere.’

  ‘Actually, it’s a very nice hotel,’ I replied.

  ‘Mum! This isn’t funny, it’s embarrassing. He has a girlfriend. Did you know that?’

  ‘Yes, but they aren’t together any more. We haven’t done anything wrong.’

  ‘That’s not what the papers said.’

  ‘Yes, well, you shouldn’t believe everything you read.’

  ‘This isn’t like you, Mum. I don’t understand what’s going on. Is this why you flew out to New York? To be with him?’

  ‘No, of course not. Look, Sam, it’s a long story and I don’t want to go into everything over the phone. I’ll be back soon enough, we can talk about everything then. All right?’

  ‘Fine. At least they haven’t printed your name. You’re just “Daniel’s mystery woman”, which is something. Just as long as you’re all right?’

  ‘I am, don’t worry. Have you spoken to your sister about all this? Does she know what’s going on?’

  ‘I spoke to her this morning. She thought the whole thing was fantastic. She said she’d sent you about a dozen texts, but you hadn’t replied.’

  I took the phone away from my ear and saw that Grace had indeed been bombarding my phone with messages for the last four hours or so.

  ‘Okay, I’ll message her back right now. I have to go, Sam. I’ll call you later, all right?’

  ‘Fine. Whatever. Just be careful.’

  ‘I will. I love you.’

  ‘Yeah, you too.’

  I ended the call with Sam and then opened my messages. I couldn’t help laughing as I read them – talk about polar opposites. Whilst Sam had been outraged at the idea of me having sex with a man, Grace was practically cheering me on!

  Just seen pictures of you with Daniel Roberts’
tongue down your throat! Go, Mum!

  He is as fit as fuck – even for an older man! I love this!!

  No need for a battery operated boyfriend now is there???

  I’ll bet you’re having loads of sex – that’s why you haven’t replied to my texts. Whoop whoop!

  The messages continued in much the same vein – with the addition of plenty of emoji faces that ranged from shocked to crying with laughter. I put my phone back in my coat pocket and went back to the bedroom.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ asked Daniel. He looked so worried. I held his hand and squeezed it tight.

  ‘Everything’s fine. My son is having a minor meltdown about the fact that his mum might be having some sex, and my daughter texted me to say that she hopes I’m at it like a rabbit and that you’re apparently as fit as fuck even though you’re old, or words to that effect.’

  Daniel and Anthony’s shocked faces made me laugh. ‘It’s fine, really. Now, what’s the plan? What do we do?’

  ‘We need to get ahead of this. They don’t know who you are yet so the more we can control the story, the better. We’ll release a statement to a select few friendly journos, tell them that you’re two old friends, play up the romantic first love angle and hope they run with that rather than “Daniel Roberts – skirt-chasing love rat”.’ Anthony was already tapping something into his phone before he’d finished speaking.

  ‘I don’t want you to do anything you’re not comfortable with, Evie. I don’t want to force you into anything.’ Daniel looked so nervous; I needed to reassure him I was fine, even though at that moment I wasn’t sure I was.

  ‘It’s fine, Dan, really. Like you said, the play will be over soon and then everyone will move on to the next thing.’

  ‘You’re wonderful, do you know that?’

  ‘Of course I do, but feel free to keep saying it,’ I replied.

  He kissed me gently on the mouth; Anthony gave a discreet cough. ‘You should be getting ready to head to the theatre. Best you get there early before the crowds build up. We can sneak you in quietly that way, not too much fuss.’

  Daniel turned to me. ‘Will you come with me?’

  I saw Anthony start to speak but I cut him off.

  ‘I don’t think that would be a good idea.’ I watched the relief wash over poor Anthony’s face. ‘It would just be adding more fuel to the fire.’

  ‘But I don’t want to leave you. I want you with me. I can’t protect you from them if I’m not with you.’

  ‘You can’t protect me from them anyway. They’ll say what they think sells the most papers. I’m a big girl, I can handle it. I’m going to head back to my sister’s to change out of this dress and then I’ll come back later, after the show is finished.’

  ‘Promise me,’ he said. ‘Promise me that you’ll come back.’

  I nodded, and he pulled me into his arms, burying his face into my neck.

  ‘I’m… er… just going to make a few phone calls, then,’ said Anthony awkwardly. He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

  ‘You should get dressed,’ I murmured into his chest. ‘Anthony’s right. You should get to the theatre sooner rather than later.’

  ‘I don’t want to let you go. I’m worried if I do, then you won’t come back. You’ll disappear again, and I won’t be able to find you.’

  I held his face in my hands and kissed him. ‘I’ll come back, I promise.’

  My reassurance seemed to satisfy him, even if I hadn’t totally convinced myself yet, but our quiet moment was shattered by the sound of more knocking on the door of the suite. I heard a woman’s raised voice and then Anthony’s. ‘You can’t go in there!’

  ‘Who the hell is that now?’ exclaimed Daniel, wrenching open the bedroom door.

  ‘There you are, Daniel, you stupid man! Do you realise what you’ve done?’

  It was Maria Williams.

  Twenty-Four

  Up close, Maria was even more beautiful than her photos. She was dressed casually in jeans and a leather jacket and her hair was immaculately blow dried. But her eyes were filled with panic.

  ‘What are you talking about? Maria, we’ve been over this. I don’t care if the press knows our relationship ended. I told you I’d take the blame.’

  Maria sat down heavily in one of the armchairs in the living room. ‘No, no, this is going to ruin everything. Don’t you see?’

  ‘We’d already agreed to release a statement about the end of our relationship.’

  ‘Yes, a quiet, under-the-radar statement that wouldn’t attract too much attention. But this!’ She wrenched a newspaper out of her bag and threw it on the coffee table. They weren’t the clearest pictures I’d ever seen but there was no mistaking who was in them. There was a long shot of the two of us kissing and then a close-up. There I was in full, if a little blurry, colour; eyes closed, lips locked against Daniel’s, dragging my hands through his hair and looking like I wanted to shag him on the spot. Which I did, but no one wants to be faced with that image of themselves. Not my finest hour. I felt my knees start to shake and I leaned against the bedroom doorway for support. Daniel watched me closely. It was one thing talking about being splashed on the front cover of a newspaper but another thing entirely to be faced with it.

  ‘Evie, are you all right?’ Daniel’s concerned face swam into view.

  ‘Yes, I’m fine. I just need to sit down for a minute.’ I heard a phone ringing and then Anthony’s clipped voice. ‘Yes… oh, Jesus Christ. How did they get hold of that? All right, fine. I’ll deal with it.’

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Daniel asked.

  ‘Apparently they’ve got hold of Evie’s name. Some of the websites have it up already.’

  ‘How did they find out her name? For fuck’s sake, Anthony, what do I pay you for?’

  ‘I don’t know how they found it but that’s the least of our worries right now.’ Anthony looked across to me.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  ‘The papers are favouring the story that Evie was responsible for your break-up with Maria. I’m sorry, Evie.’

  I felt sick; my palms were clammy, and my knees were shaking uncontrollably.

  ‘Oh, Jesus,’ Daniel muttered.

  ‘I told you! I told you this would ruin everything, didn’t I?’ shouted Maria. ‘There’s no way the show’s producers are going to back a run in the West End with all this scandal going on.’

  Daniel looked confused. ‘West End run? What are you going on about?’

  ‘Didn’t you get my messages? I left about half a dozen for you last night.’

  That was what the receptionist had given Daniel when we came back to the hotel last night.

  ‘I didn’t read them.’

  ‘The show is going to the West End for a limited run in February,’ said Maria. ‘At least it was, before all this.’ She waved a dismissive hand towards me.

  ‘This isn’t Evie’s fault, Maria, you know that. She isn’t the other woman. You left me for someone else long before Evie came back into my life.’

  Maria shrugged. ‘Of course. I’m sorry.’ She gave me a polite smile. ‘I’m afraid this is going to get worse before it gets better. I hope you’re ready for it.’

  ‘Of course she is, she’ll be fine.’ Daniel reached out for my hand, but I moved away.

  ‘Excuse me, I need the bathroom.’ I scurried back into the bedroom and over to the en-suite door, slamming it shut behind me. Looking at my reflection in the mirror above the sink – mascara smudged eyes, severe post-sex bed head and a dress that revealed too much cleavage in the harsh light of the bathroom – I looked every inch the sex mad home wrecker. What if there were photographers outside the hotel? I panicked. They’d see me still in the same clothes as yesterday, confirming everything they thought they knew about me. And now they knew my name! God knew what else they’d drag up if they started looking. I could feel tears pricking my eyes as I did my best to clean my face and tidy my hair. I couldn’t do much about
the clothes but as long as I kept my coat done up and pulled my hat down low, I was confident no one would spot me. I knew I had to get out of Daniel’s hotel room and back to my sister’s flat as quickly and discreetly as possible.

  When I opened the bathroom door, I found Daniel sitting on the floor outside. He scrambled to his feet as I came out.

  ‘Are you all right?’ There was a desperation in his voice that I immediately felt the need to soothe.

  ‘I’m fine. I just need to get back to my sister’s place. Is there a back exit out of the hotel?’

  ‘Please don’t go. Not yet. Not until things get sorted.’

  ‘Is Anthony still here?’

  ‘Yes, why?’

  ‘I need to talk to him.’ I walked past Daniel and back out to the living room. Anthony had set up a mobile PR department in my absence. He now had copies of every newspaper with my face splashed on it and he was scrolling through websites on his laptop and his smartphone.

  ‘Yes. What do you want now?’ he barked. I was taken aback by the anger in his voice, until I noticed he was wearing a Bluetooth earpiece and wasn’t actually speaking to me. He held up a finger and mouthed, ‘One minute,’ to me. Before carrying on his conversation.

  ‘I swear, Kelvin, if you insist on printing that kind of crap you can kiss any further exclusives from me goodbye. This is all bullshit and you know it.’ He ripped out his earpiece and threw it on the table.

  ‘More bad news?’ I asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

  ‘Well, I found out who gave your name to the press.’ He looked down at his notepad. ‘Someone called Trish, Trish Stedman. Says you used to work for her?’

  ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake. That bloody woman. She hates me. I’ll bet she couldn’t wait to go to the papers when she saw the photos.’

  ‘She’s also been telling anyone who’ll listen that you’re a violent lunatic, said that you threatened her and damaged some property at your former workplace in a fit of uncontrollable rage.’

  ‘So, now I’m not only a slut, I’m dangerous too? That’s just bloody fantastic.’

  Anthony put a consoling hand on my shoulder. ‘Look, I can handle this, don’t worry. Just let me do what I do best. From what Daniel tells me, there isn’t much for journos to find if they go digging. Is there?’ He gave me a hopeful smile. Oh, bloody hell.