Among a Thousand Stars

by Jo Bartlett

  ‘Yes, happy to help.’ There was that tight smile again. ‘I’ll be out here when you need me, Tom, and everyone else has gone.’

  ****

  Susie-Anne was in a private room and was almost unrecognisable with her white-blonde hair scrapped back and not an ounce of make-up on her face. Despite being hooked up to a drip and devastated by the events of the last few days, she was doll-like and much prettier than Ashleigh remembered. She should go without make-up more often.

  ‘Oh, Tom, I’m so sorry.’ Susie-Anne clasped his hand, like a drowning woman clinging to a life raft. ‘I’m so glad you’re here.’ Ashleigh shrank back into the corner of the room by the door, hoping that Susie-Anne wouldn’t see her. It felt so wrong to be here, like she was intruding in someone else’s life and, in a way, she was.

  ‘Is that the photographer?’ Susie-Anne, who clearly knew exactly what had been going on between Ashleigh and Tom, was playing the innocent. ‘Thank you darling, I know my fans will be anxious to know how I’m doing, but I don’t think photographs right now are a good idea.’

  ‘Ashleigh’s not here for…’ Tom started to explain, but she cut him off.

  ‘Susie-Anne’s right, I should go.’ She held up a hand to stop Tom, as he moved to come towards her. ‘Give me a call when you’re ready for those photos. I hope it goes alright and the baby is okay.’

  Out in the corridor, she just wanted to escape. She wouldn’t cry, not here. The last thing she wanted was to give Francine the satisfaction of seeing that.

  ‘Ashleigh, don’t go. Wait for me in Reception, I won’t be long.’ Tom was behind her, his hand on her shoulder, and she turned around to face him.

  ‘It’s best if I leave. Without Michael, she needs you. Even as her agent you owe her that, despite whatever else has gone on.’ She dropped her eyes, not giving him a chance to make her weaken. ‘Just call me when you’re ready, we can talk then. Goodbye Tom.’

  ‘Are you okay?’ He tried to touch her face, but she turned away and began walking to the double doors that led back to the Reception area. Susie-Anne was calling his name and, when she glanced back at him, he was torn for a moment, before the inevitable happened, his business head took over and he turned towards the hospital room. She just kept walking.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ashleigh decided to take the long way out of the hospital, unable to face bumping into the journalists who’d be hanging around outside the building by now. If Tom had used her as a pawn she could deal with that, it might even make the decision she was considering easier to stand by, but she wasn’t about to make the job of the leeches who drew their life blood from this sort of situation any easier.

  The hospital, like most big city hospitals, was a maze of corridors and wards. In an attempt to find an exit as far away from the maternity unit as possible, Ashleigh ended up passing the cardiac unit, just as the double doors to one of the wards swung open. She nearly bumped straight into a couple emerging from the unit, who were giggling and holding hands, oblivious to the world around them.

  ‘Ashleigh, my goodness, fancy meeting you here!’ Chloe Nicholas, with a glow about her like one of the new mums in the maternity unit, let go of the hand she’d been holding and threw her slender arms around Ashleigh’s waist.

  ‘I’ve just popped in to see a friend.’ It was a bit of a stretch to describe Susie-Anne in that way, but it wasn’t a lie to say she’d popped in. Driving this far for a two-minute visit would definitely hit that classification. ‘How’s your mum doing?’

  ‘Brilliantly!’ Chloe was beaming, almost unrecognisable as the fragile young woman that she and Stevie had met a few weeks before and who’d been found disorientated and wandering the streets in the early aftermath of her mother’s heart attack. ‘And it’s all thanks to Hugo.’ Shyly she reached out her hand to draw the man behind her slightly forward. ‘He’s the doctor who saved Mum.’

  ‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far!’ Hugo to his credit blushed slightly, two crimson dots colouring his cheeks in a way that Ashleigh herself would have been proud of. ‘There were lots of us who treated Mrs Nicholas, although it was never really life threatening as such, and we’re all delighted that she’s on the mend.’

  ‘He’s fantastic! Mum and I realise that, even if he doesn’t.’ Chloe rose to her tiptoes, planting a kiss on his cheek, making him redder than ever.

  ‘I think all doctors and nurses are amazing, so I’m with Chloe on this one.’ Ashleigh smiled, immediately warming to Hugo, her kindred spirit in the blushing stakes.

  ‘Well I’ll take that then, two beautiful ladies singing my praises.’ Hugo beamed. He was obviously modest enough to take their admiration as a real compliment. ‘But I’m afraid I will have to love you and leave you, as I’ve got to have a chat with the clinical lead before he goes on his rounds.’ Hugo and Chloe exchanged a brief but meaningful kiss on the lips, leaving no doubt that theirs was more than a doctor and grateful relative’s relationship.

  ‘Have you got time for a coffee? There’s loads to tell you!’ Chloe had publicly credited Glitz with saving her fledgling career – allowing people to see her as she really was and to fall in love with her all over again. She’d written to Stevie and Ashleigh telling them as much and sending them both a crate of Champagne. So perhaps it shouldn’t have been such a surprise that she seemed so thrilled to see Ashleigh again.

  ‘I’ve got plenty of time.’ The prospect of sharing a coffee with Chloe was infinitely preferable to driving home, or over to see Zac and Stevie and having to explain everything. She didn’t want to do that anymore than she wanted to go back to the flat straight away and begin turning over the rest of the day’s events in her mind and analysing things to death, as she was so prone to doing.

  The hospital cafeteria was largely populated by exhausted looking relatives, who had probably spent their Christmas at the bedside of very poorly loved ones and for whom the tinsel festooned, neon-lit room’s festive atmosphere was quite likely to be the very definition of irony.

  ‘I’m so glad your mum is okay.’ Ashleigh wrapped her hands around the polystyrene cup of coffee, thankful for the warmth it proffered, despite the taste.

  ‘God, me too. They say once her pace-maker is sorted she should make a complete recovery and it should prevent any recurrence.’ Chloe couldn’t stop beaming. ‘And Hugo… it’s like he was sent to save us both. I spent a night in rehab, as Tom was so worried about how I was coping with Mum being ill and then I came back here. Hugo’s been my rock.’

  ‘I take it you two are an item?’ Chloe’s excitement was infectious, how could Tom not believe in love when it made this amount of difference to someone’s life?

  ‘It’s been mad, so intense and so quick, but I can honestly say I’ve never felt anything like it.’ Chloe dropped her gaze slightly, as if she was still coming to terms with her own feelings. ‘I know it sounds cheesy and crazy because we’ve only known each other a few days, but I feel like he’s my soul mate.’

  ‘Life is mad.’ Ashleigh grinned. ‘My cousin, Sally, got engaged to her fiancé when they were at Uni and they finally got married twelve years later, in June this year. Mum sent them a Christmas card at the beginning of December and got a letter back from Sally to say they’d split up, it turns out they weren’t suited after all. So who’s to say that just because something is quick and intense, that it’s any madder than a slow burn? If it’s meant to be it will be.’

  ‘I love you more every time we meet!’ Chloe clasped her tiny hands around Ashleigh’s. ‘I just knew you’d understand. I’m writing a song about him! It’s so great to be able to write a happy song for once, and we’ve already told each other we think it’s love.’

  ‘He seems like a lovely, genuine guy. I should probably tell you to be careful, but I’m a sucker for a romance and life is for living. You and I both lost our dads at a young age, so we know that more than anyone.’
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br />   ‘True, and don’t worry, Tom will no doubt be the voice of reason!’ Chloe, who didn’t seem to have any idea that Ashleigh and Tom were together, pulled a face. ‘You know what a stickler he is for the business and I’m sure he’ll tell me not to get carried away.’

  ‘I think you can bank on that,’ Ashleigh struggled to keep her voice level, ‘and do you think you’ll listen to him?’

  ‘For now, but not because of the business. I just don’t want the press to taint things.’ Chloe sighed, for the first time more like the frightened and fragile girl that Ashleigh had met at the photo-shoot. ‘I know only too well how it works. They’ll find something to dig up about Hugo – some girlfriend from university who wants to pay off her student debt by sharing an exposé on him. It sucks and I don’t want that to touch what’s so perfect for us at the moment. So if we keep it quiet that will be the reason.’

  ‘That side of things does get to you after a while doesn’t it?’ Ashleigh for her part was exhausted by it all.

  ‘Definitely. If singing wasn’t my dream I’d quit tomorrow. But there’s nothing else I want to do right now, so I just have to try to find a way of balancing it.’ Everything Chloe had been through had made her wise beyond her years and her words resonated with Ashleigh, who wasn’t really living her dream. Now there was even more to think about on the journey home.

  ****

  ‘So what’s going on between you and the photographer, sugar? I hear you two have been getting quite cosy?’ There was an edge to Susie-Anne’s voice, as if she was jealous. Had she seriously expected him to pine for her and stay celibate in the hope that things might not work out with Michael? Surely even Susie-Anne wasn’t that deluded.

  ‘Does it matter?’ It wasn’t often that Tom hated his job, but today came pretty close; both Francine and his ex-fiancée had pushed him to the very limits of his patience. He could have been in Ashleigh’s warm flat and… He tried not to think about the rest, it only made him more irritated.

  ‘I guess not, but we’re friends aren’t we? We can still care about each other.’ Susie-Anne was using the little girl voice that she mistakenly assumed was endearing, but which frankly made Tom question how he’d ever managed to spend more than half an hour in her company.

  ‘What about you and Michael, isn’t that a more pressing issue right now?’ Tom changed the subject. He’d never been friends with Susie-Anne and never would be. He liked her less and less every time they came into contact. So the last thing he wanted was to have a cosy chat with her about his personal life.

  ‘Oh he’s just an arsehole who can’t keep it in his pants!’ Susie-Anne’s accent was stronger than it had been in months, her anger at the alleged father of her unborn child tangible.

  ‘You knew about that before, though.’ Tom raised an eyebrow and resisted the urge to ask Susie-Anne just how many men she’d helped out of their pants, to see if they could narrow down the growing list for the DNA testing.

  ‘Yes, but he’s been jumping anything that moved and he’s got the cheek to question my fidelity.’ She looked completely affronted at the thought and Tom wanted to laugh out loud. Susie-Anne taking the moral high ground was a paradox of epic proportions.

  ‘And is the baby his?’

  ‘What if I told you that the baby might be yours?’ There was the little girl voice again and she glanced up at him through ridiculously long eyelash extensions that wouldn’t have been out of place on a pantomime cow.

  ‘Then I’d know you were bullshitting.’ She’d fooled him once, but he wasn’t in the frame this time and he was more thankful for that than she’d ever know.

  ‘Pity, but you can’t blame a girl for trying.’ She really had no shame. ‘So is it love with you and the photographer then?’ Susie-Anne clearly couldn’t believe there’d be any other reason for Tom turning her down. Apparently she was that deluded after all.

  ‘You of all people should know there’s no such thing.’ His patience was now completely exhausted. ‘We’re friends, that’s all’

  ‘Friends with benefits? Does she know that’s all you are?’ Susie-Anne feigned a sympathetic look. ‘Poor girl, she’s obviously crazy about you.’

  ‘You’ve barely said ten words to her in your whole life, so just keep out of my personal life and I’ll pick up the pieces of yours, okay?’ Despite his strong rebuttal, Susie-Anne’s words had hit the Achilles heel they’d been aimed at, creating a sense of unease. He needed to speak to Ashleigh, iron things out, make sure they were both still on the same page. Tom could understand her not wanting to hang around in the same room as Susie-Anne, he wouldn’t do it himself unless he was getting paid for it, but she’d definitely been upset. He hoped she wasn’t developing feelings for him that could ruin what they had together, because, if Tom was honest with himself, he wasn’t ready for things to end just yet either. He’d sort the Susie-Anne situation, work with Francine on a press release and then call Ashleigh. Prioritise and keep everything in his life within the parameters he’d set for them, just as he always had.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Ashleigh decided not to call in on Zac and Stevie on the way back from Brighton. She figured that the last thing they wanted was her arriving as a human antidote to their first heady days of love, moping around following the decision she’d reached to end things with Tom.

  She’d realised something at the hospital. As much as she’d tried to understand Tom’s commitment to the business and his total rejection of a real relationship because of Isobel and Clive’s cold marriage, she couldn’t live with his willingness to live a lie and manipulate the world into believing something – just to turn a profit for his clients and Rushworth Associates.

  It was fair enough for Tom to reject love, he’d been honest about that from the start and Isobel’s sharing so much with her had touched Ashleigh. In a way it had made her feel like she knew Tom better than most people. But he’d told Chloe to lie about her relationship too and she’d realised he would always put the likes of Susie-Anne and the business first. Now she wondered if anyone, least of all her, knew the real Tom at all. She did know herself, though, and that if she didn’t call things off now, she’d be the one to get really hurt.

  For his part he’d called or texted every day, Susie-Anne had been put on bed rest due to her threatened miscarriage and they were keeping her in hospital for monitoring as her blood pressure continued to spike. Chloe’s mum, Gilly, had been released from the same hospital and there were lots of photos of Chloe in the papers, being shielded by Tom, his arm around her shoulders looking every inch the protector.

  She couldn’t tell Tom why she needed to finish things over the phone, she’d been tempted on more than one occasion just to text him, but she’d hate that if the situation were reversed. Christmas Day had been so perfect and they had shared so much on Christmas Eve and that deserved more than a phone call. After all, she was the one who hadn’t been able to stick to the bargain they’d struck.

  Tom had headed back to London, but had called to say he’d be down in Kent on the thirtieth and that he’d like to see her. Steeling herself to face up to the situation, Ashleigh had arranged for him to meet her at the flat. He wouldn’t make a scene; in fact she wasn’t even sure how bothered he’d be. Although she suspected he was the one used to finishing things.

  ‘You look pale.’ Concern tempered Tom’s voice and he kissed her slowly, with a tenderness that twisted her heart just a little bit more.

  ‘I’m fine, I’ve just had a few things on my mind that’s all.’ She pulled away from him, the familiar scent of his aftershave and their close physical proximity momentarily weakening her resolve. ‘Can I get you a coffee or something?’

  ‘That would be great, thanks.’ Tom headed through to the lounge and she busied herself making drinks in the kitchen, running through what she wanted to say in her head, as she had done so many times over the last couple of days.<
br />
  ‘So how is Susie-Anne?’ She handed Tom his coffee, drawing him back from whatever it was he’d been thinking about. He’d been staring out at the grey sea, which was lashing the sea wall; a cruel mistress indeed.

  ‘She’s okay, living out every second of her hospital stay and her personal life on Twitter.’ Tom sighed. ‘Against mine and Francine’s advice of course. And she’s very emotional at the moment.’

  ‘I guess that’s understandable.’ Ashleigh allowed herself a half smile, imagining Tom and Francine discussing the ridiculousness of all that emotion, when there was business to think about. ‘And Chloe and her mum, are they doing okay?’

  ‘Yes, Gilly’s had a pacemaker fitted and Chloe is really upbeat at the moment, writing new songs. She seems to have turned a corner.’

  ‘I understand some romance might be on the cards.’ Ashleigh held her breath; it was Tom’s reaction to this that would be most telling. Her brain told her exactly what he’d say, but her heart still held on to the tiniest grain of hope that he might surprise her, make her think that their relationship was worth something to him after all.

  ‘What this?’ Tom picked up a copy of the paper, which Ashleigh had left on the coffee table with a couple of other tabloids.

  ‘There’s nothing going on with Chloe if that’s what you mean. I promised I’d be straight with you and I always have been.’

  ‘I bumped into her when we went down to see Susie-Anne.’ Ashleigh took a swig of coffee. ‘I met Hugo, he’s lovely.’

  ‘I see.’ He paused for a minute, wrong footed. ‘Yes, he’s a nice enough boy, but it won’t last.’ Tom laughed as Ashleigh pulled a face, not realising he’d said the very words she knew he would. ‘It’s just that Doctor effect, where a good bedside manner can look like love. I’ve told her to keep things discreet, but she’s writing soppy love songs. If Chloe being photographed with me allows the papers to make false assumptions, and put someone else in the frame, then that’s great. It’s not like I’ve hidden my relationship with you, but that won’t sell papers and so they prefer to print that Chloe and I are together.’