“Because I’ll make you the envy of the room.” He got it. What woman wouldn’t want to bring someone most of her school friends would consider hot to her reunion? Dating or not, having an impressive date would boost her self-confidence. “So how are we playing it? Are you and I having a torrid affair?”
“I don’t think we need to go that far. I’m only expecting to see one person tonight who is a real friend, that’s Alison. She’s on the organizing committee, and when she saw that Henry and his fiancée had bought tickets she rang to tell me. At some stage I’d like to introduce her to Drew—that’s the guy I’ve just started seeing. I don’t want her to think I’m a total slut.”
“So I should play it as though I’m your date for the evening. Your very attentive date. When we get there I want you to point out your ex-husband to me and I’ll be extra attentive.”
“That sounds awesome. I just don’t want people to pity me. I don’t want them talking about how sad I must be now I’ve lost the love of my life, and had cancer. I’d much prefer to be envied rather than pitied.”
“Wouldn’t we all?” Sholto drained his drink and glanced at his watch. “It’s time to go.”
Cam picked up her bag, and this time when they linked arms she didn’t pull away. He was glad he’d chosen Gerard and his Mercedes to drive them rather than a limo, because it ate up the miles quickly, and didn’t shout ‘film star’ on their arrival. After talking with Cam, he was one hundred percent on board with this evening. She’d had it tough. She deserved to be the envy of every person there, and he was determined to make this night perfect for her.
They chatted en route about her day job, and the little nuggets of information she let drop about Max made him admire her all the more. She was obviously a good employer, as well as a great friend.
The parallels to the past were striking. She didn’t want her friend to be alone on a night where couples were celebrating their coupledom. Just as she hadn’t wanted him to be alone at the school dance years ago. She had a big, open, generous heart. She cared about her friend now and when he’d been her friend she’d cared about him too.
Until it all got fucked up.
The car slowed, then turned into the gates of the school. Showtime.
It was a big lump of concrete. A damned unattractive building with little to endear it to anyone. People were everywhere, walking through the parked cars and the sparse patches of grass that littered the verges.
“Just let us out here,” Sholto said to the driver. Then he turned to Cam. “Nervous?”
“Very. I haven’t seen most of these people for ten years.” Her fingers played with the bag on her lap.
“Well, you look fantastic. You and I are gonna rock this reunion. I have Gerard here on speed dial, so the minute you want to leave let me know.” His gaze connected with the driver’s in the rearview mirror. “We’re ready.”
Cam patted back her hair as Gerard exited the car and held the door for her.
The inside of the school wasn’t much better than the outside.
“It hasn’t changed as much as I’d hoped it would.” Cam gripped his arm. He’d been recognized almost immediately and both of them were aware of it. Shocked glances were followed by whispers as they made their way through the open doors. Ahead, in front of a wall painted an unimaginative shade of gunmetal grey, was a serviceable Formica-topped desk with two women sitting behind it.
On the table were pieces of paper printed with long lists of attendees.
They joined the queue, ignoring the looks and whispers.
“I went to a school very much like this once. It’s where I met Max, although she went by Maxine then.”
“She told me you were in school together.” Cam glanced at him with curiosity in her eyes. “Were you friends?”
They shuffled forward another couple of inches. “We sat next to each other in chemistry class.” She’d worn her hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail back then. And like him, she hadn’t really fitted in. A memory came to him fully formed. “We blew something up together once. I can’t remember exactly what chemicals were involved, but it culminated in a full evacuation of the classroom.”
“So you had explosive chemistry?” Cam grinned.
“We still do.”
They were almost at the head of the queue now. “I can’t imagine Max in school. She told me her mother used to make all her clothes—she described herself as dowdy.”
“She was never that. She was cute and funny. Kind and smart.”
“Did you and she ever date?” Cam grimaced. “I guess that’s a bit of a personal question. Don’t answer if you don’t want to.”
“I didn’t have many friends in school, not real ones. Sure, I was popular, but that was because I played the school stud. A reputation I picked up along the way made the other boys think I was cool. I wasn’t. I dated most of the girls in our class, but never Max. She was always special. She was my one true friend.”
The couple in front of them signed in and picked up identification badges.
Sholto and Cam took their place.
“Cameron Bailey,” Cam told the attractive redhead behind the desk.
The woman ticked Cam’s name off her list and picked up a badge. Then she looked over at Sholto. Her eyes widened and her mouth gaped a little. “You’re—”
“I’m Cam’s date.” He took the badge from the woman’s fingers and fastened it on Cam’s dress.
They followed the rest of the partygoers down long, cream-colored corridors. On the walls were framed photographs of various school sports teams over the years. “I’m probably in one of these,” Cam said. “I was the hockey captain for a while.”
He’d hung with the bad boys. “I liked to run, but I never joined any teams.”
They were attracting attention still. “Do you see anyone you know?”
“I must know all of them, this reunion is just for our year, but I don’t recognize anyone.”
They entered the school gym, transformed for the occasion with banners and balloons. The central space was surrounded by tables where people nursed drinks and talked. A bar was set up on one wall, and a band played on a stage at the back. A small group of people were dancing in the center of the room. “Let’s dance.” The idea of standing around holding a drink while people stared at them wasn’t appealing.
Cam’s eyes shone. “You really are a dream date.”
They walked onto the dancefloor, and the music shifted soft and slow. Sholto snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Can you see him?”
They moved around the floor.
Cam glanced across the room. “He’s over there. The guy in the blue suit and orange tie.”
“Interesting fashion statement.” Cam’s ex-husband was laughing with a couple of guys who were probably old school buddies.
Cam snorted. “He was never great with clothes. I used to pick out all his suits. The one he’s wearing he obviously picked himself.” Her hands were around his neck, but she held her body at a respectable distance. “I can only guess that his fiancée doesn’t help him shop.” She glanced around. “I don’t see her anywhere.”
“How long were you married?”
“We were married a year before I got pregnant. I was so delighted. I’d always wanted a baby. I thought he did too.” There was a wistful tone in her voice. “Maybe it would have all worked out if it hadn’t been for the cancer. He hated everything about me being sick.”
“I guess men like to fix things.”
She nodded. “And I couldn’t be fixed. I wouldn’t have treatment while the baby was growing in me. We argued about it, he wanted me to have an abortion and get into treatment right away, but I refused. Things went downhill from there. I thought he’d come around. That when Lindsay was born, he’d love me again, and we’d be a happy family. Instead, he left us a couple of months after her birth, just as I had the operation.” Her body stiffened.
“That must have been a really hard time
for you. I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
She shrugged. “Life isn’t easy. And it’s hard living with someone who’s sick. I get that. But I thought he loved me enough to respect my decision. To let me choose how to live my life.”
Sholto’s mother had been sick too. He hadn’t seen it when he was a kid, but she’d been so entrenched in her boxed-in life she’d been unable to consider leaving it. For years, he’d lived with the guilt that he should have got treatment for her sooner; he should have protected her. “My mother never wanted to leave the house. She was agoraphobic.”
“What about your father?”
“There was only ever the two of us.” He swirled her around. “I’ve often thought I should have got her some help.”
“How could you though? You were a kid.”
“Yes, but still…”
“Answer me this.” She looked up at him. “Was she happy? Was she living the life she wanted?”
He remembered the way they’d sat in the room amongst all the piled up detritus of life she was unable to let go. With plates full of the dinner he’d made propped on their knees, watching the tiny television in the corner. She’d laughed often at her favorite shows. Had always been interested to learn what had happened in school. She’d loved hearing his stories. Even though she found it impossible to participate in the world outside, she’d been supportive and loving, and always encouraged him to follow his dreams and not be held back by her shortcomings. “She was happy. And she loved me very much.”
“There’s your answer.” Cam smiled. “Her choices weren’t yours to change. You did right by her, that’s all that matters.”
He still couldn’t think back to that day so many years ago without wincing, but Cam’s words soothed his soul. The song was coming to an end. “Let’s get a drink.”
*****
“Hey, sleephead.”
Max woke from a dream in which Sholto was trailing his big, tanned hand down the bumps of her spine while whispering hot words into her ear, to cold reality.
Cam stood smiling down at her.
“Hey.” Max scrambled up from her prone position on the sofa to sitting, still feeling the lingering touch of her lover from the dream. “What time is it?”
“Just after midnight.” Cam tossed her silver clutch onto the nearest chair. “I’m having tea, do you want some?”
Max’s mouth was as dry as Melati’s hot sand. She nodded. “Yes.”
She followed Cam into the kitchen, pulled out a chair at the table, and sat. “So, don’t leave me in suspense, how did it go?”
“It was actually a lot of fun. Sholto’s a great guy. But you know that, don’t you?” She filled the kettle and took cups from the mug tree. “Henry was…well, his face was something I won’t forget in a hurry.” She grinned. “His fiancée called off attending at the last moment, so he was flying solo. He saw me standing on my own at one point, and walked over with a smug, satisfied smile on his face.”
“Where was Sholto?”
“He’d gone to get me another drink. Anyway, Henry was standing there, just about to say hello, when Sholto walked over. I’d pointed Henry out when we arrived, so he knew he was my ex. He handed me a glass of wine and said ‘Here you are, darling.’”
A laugh bubbled up at the mental picture Cam had painted.
“Henry spluttered and coughed. His eyes were so wide it was as though he’d been strolling through the jungle and found a cobra in his path. Sholto looked him up and down, and Henry’s face went bright red. It was immensely satisfying.”
“Did you introduce him?”
“Sholto introduced himself. Henry muttered that he was my ex-husband. Then Sholto said, ‘Drink up, Cam, I want to dance with you again.’” She giggled. “I’ve never seen Henry speechless before. It was wonderful.”
She made two cups of tea, and brought them to the table. Then she opened a packet of cookies from the cupboard, and spread them on a plate. “He was just perfect.”
Something akin to envy twisted in Max’s gut. She pushed it away. Cam hadn’t been on a real date, there was no need to feel jealous or envious. “He is pretty perfect, isn’t he?”
Cam sat opposite Max and looked at her with concern in her eyes. “All he wanted to talk about was you. He told me about how you’d been in school together. How you and he had been friends. He’s missing you.”
“I’m missing him, too.” She ran a hand over her eyes. Took a deep breath. “I think I overreacted to what he said to the press.”
“I think so too.” Cam’s words were delivered in a quiet, careful way. “Everyone knows who he is. We were left alone for the most part, but I did notice people taking pictures on their phones when they thought he wasn’t looking. He told me it happens everywhere, and he wasn’t inclined to satisfy people’s curiosity most of the time. He said he likes to keep important things private, and I’m guessing you’re one of those important things.”
“He hasn’t called.”
“Because you said you wanted space, remember? He asked if I’d heard from you.” Her mouth pursed. “I didn’t like lying to him, but I couldn’t very well let him know you were in my apartment, could I? If I had he would have asked to come in for coffee.”
“He walked you to the door?” Her heartrate picked up at the thought that while she’d been dreaming of him, he’d been outside the door, just a heartbeat away.
“He did. Why don’t you call him now?”
It was late, but he’d still be awake. Max wanted to talk to him, but didn’t want to do that while in Cam’s home. And there was no way she could sleep any longer. She’d arranged to stay the night in Cam’s spare room, but now the urge to be home, in her own bed was overwhelming. If things went the way she hoped they would, he’d leave the hotel and join her at her apartment. Max drained her teacup. “It’s time for me to go home.” She stood. “I’ll call tomorrow and let you know how things went.”
Chapter Nineteen
“Where to, Sir?”
Sholto sat back in the back seat of the Mercedes. His fingers found the key in his pocket--the key he’d had on him since leaving Max’s apartment. “I think it’s about time you called me Sholto, don’t you, Gerard? After all, we’re practically friends at this point.”
“Sholto.” The driver tried on the name for size. “Do you want me to drive you to The West Continental?”
Pride had kept him from contacting her again, pride and fear. He’d told himself he was giving her time, giving her space. But fuck that. He was through with waiting. She may condemn him for not protecting his mother, but that didn’t mean their relationship was over. He’d blindsided her with the ‘let’s move in together’ line. Maybe if he took it slower, showed her how much he cared for her…
“You remember the address where you picked me up that first time?”
“When you were being pursued by the journalists?”
Sholto met Gerard’s gaze in the mirror and nodded. “Take me there.”
Gerard turned out into the traffic, and soon they were speeding through the streets.
“Did you have a good time this evening?” Gerard asked.
“It wasn’t a date, but yes, I did. It was good to be with regular people for once.” They’d met Cam’s friend, Alison, and once she got over the whole superstar thing they had a fun evening. Cam had explained how Sholto had come with her as a favor, and that she was seeing someone new—a fact that had been greeted by Alison’s genuine enthusiasm. It was good to be among people who really cared for each other’s happiness. He’d spent so many years with a mask in place it was a relief to take it off and just be a regular person.
Cam had wanted to leave before the end of the reunion, and she chattered happily in the car all the way back to her house. She was grateful, but when he asked about Max, a tiny frown appeared between her eyebrows, and she changed the subject.
It was time to take matters into his own hands. Max would be at home now, probably asleep. But the idea of r
eturning to the hotel alone was abhorrent. He wouldn’t be able to sleep, and the thought of watching pay-per-view and drinking to kill the hours before he saw her again filled him with loneliness and loathing.
If they were over, he needed to know now. If she didn’t want anything he had to offer, he’d go straight to bloody Heathrow, and fly back to the States.
The car slowed. “We’re here, Sholto. But there don’t appear to be any lights on.” The heavy car came to a stop outside Max’s home. “I’ll wait for you...”
“There’s no need for that.” Sholto climbed from the car. “If she’s not here, I’ll camp out on the doorstep until she gets home.”
“It’s not a great area. I’ll stay with you.”
It was past midnight. Gerard was being a trooper, but he must have somewhere else to be. “Thanks, man. I appreciate the thought, but I’ll be fine.” He peeled off a couple of notes. “I know the hotel is billing me for this evening, but this is for you.”
Gerard nodded. “Thanks. Have a good night.”
Sholto waited until the car vanished down the deserted street before walking up the steps to Max’s door. He pressed the bell, but no light came on upstairs. He fingered the key in his pocket, then sat on the front step to wait for her.
“OMG.” A touch on his shoulder woke Sholto from sleep. He blinked. For a moment, he couldn’t remember where he was. There was cold stone under his ass, and he was leaning against something hard.
And there were two twenty-somethings in mini-skirts and sky-high heels peering down at him.
“You’re him, aren’t you?” one asked in a breathy voice. “Damon Fitz.”
“Sholto Kincaid,” he corrected. “But yes, I played Damon in the movie.” He flexed his back in a stretch. “What time is it?”
“It’s a quarter to one,” the other girl, a redhead, said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m waiting for my girlfriend to get home.” The truth.
“Your girlfriend? I’m confused.” The blonde took off her leather jacket, placed it on the step beside him and sat. “I saw you on the TV—you said you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
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