Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
We all clustered around Dane, who raised his phone horizontally, so we could see the screen.
Evan’s image appeared.
Every fibre of me felt adrift at the sight of him.
‘Evan’s on your phone?’ asked Alison.
‘He sure is, Mum. Across social media, no less.’
Bennett frowned. ‘Well, where is he? What’s he doing?’
Dane squinted at the screen. ‘Looks like he’s standing in front of Loch Crawe.’
Louise glanced at Bennett. ‘What’s he doing there?’
‘Broadcasting live by the look of things,’ said Dane.
‘Broadcasting?’ repeated Alison. ‘Broadcasting what?’
Dane shrugged. ‘That’s what I want to find out! Dez, one of my roadie friends was checking his social media and stumbled across Evan saying he was going to go live online and make some kind of announcement.’
An announcement? What announcement?
The Great Hall seemed to be holding her breath too.
Dane looked impressed. ‘Looks like he’s live on You Tube, Instagram, Facebook, Tik-Tok … I didn’t realise my big brother was so tech savvy.’
‘That’s impressive,’ piped up Cayla.
My attention jerked from Dane back to his phone. What was Evan doing up by Loch Crawe? What was he going to say?
But it was as if Evan could read my mind and didn’t give me any more opportunity to mentally dissect this bizarre situation. Behind him was the silver splendour of Loch Crawe, lit up like a gilded mirror in the Scottish June sunshine.
His voice rang out around The Ramblings.
‘You won’t know me.’ He appeared hesitant; even a little self-conscious. ‘My name is Evan Lord, and I’m a journalist.’ The sun, up by Loch Crawe, strobed through his dark hair.
I couldn’t pull my attention away from the screen. What was he doing there? Was this some sort of surprise promotional thing he was doing on behalf of the tour?
Bennet shook his head. ‘Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?’
‘None of us know, Dad,’ said Dane.
Evan cleared his throat. Behind him, Loch Crawe shimmied in the light. Puffs of cloud danced overhead. ‘My family own The Ramblings, which is an old estate in the Scottish Highlands. It’s full of character and has been in our family for generations.’
Evan’s gaze bore down his phone camera.
‘But, like many of these old houses, they eat up money. Now, I’m not looking for sympathy for me or my family.’ He raised his square chin. ‘We’re very fortunate to have The Ramblings as the family home, but in recent years it began to fall into disrepair. It became one thing after the other.’
Evan raised a hand and counted off his fingers.
‘If it wasn’t the central heating, it was repairs to its stonework, or dry rot, or woodworm in the beams, or was electrical issues or leaks.
’ He paused, then proceeded to speak again.
‘I could see how worried my parents were over the place and what would happen. They’d deny it to my brother and me so as not to worry us, but as I got older, I soon came to realise it was becoming a never-ending battle to keep the place going. ’
Evan lifted his hands and let them fall by his sides again. ‘I knew I couldn’t stand by and watch them deal with this on their own. They needed some financial assistance, but I knew my brother and I couldn’t help much on that score.’
Evan gave a sad, brief smile. ‘And then something happened. At the time, it seemed like a blessing. We needed a financial injection, and this seemed like the answer.’ He stared down his phone camera lens, as though he were looking right at me.
I found myself taking a deep, inward breath, oblivious to Dane noticing.
‘I received this new job offer. It just seemed too good to be true.’
I glanced at the intrigued faces around me. Grandpa caught me looking over at him and arched a brow.
On the phone, Evan braced himself as Loch Crawe continued to shimmy behind him.
‘A friend of mine, Dave Woodrow, worked as senior sports reporter on The London Gazette. He said that a new editor had taken over and wanted to shake things up a bit.’ Evan hesitated.
‘He’d had the idea of introducing a brash and controversial TV and film review column and asked Dave if he knew of anyone who could write sharp, controversial copy; pull new readers in and get people talking. ’
My eyes widened.
‘Where the hell is he going with this story?’ puzzled Dane.
I swallowed, said nothing and returned my attention to Dane’s mobile.
‘Dave kindly recommended me to his editor; I got called in for an interview and was asked to produce some example column copy. The editor read it, liked it and said he’d give me a six-month freelance trial.
He also said I’d have no byline; I’d be anonymous, and therefore I could say what I wanted, and it would stir up more interest about who was behind the column. ’
Evan rubbed at his face. ‘I created a monster. The nastier and more sarcastic I was about TV and movies, the more the editor loved it, and so did the readers.’
I swung my attention away from Dane holding up his phone and examined the bewildered faces around me.
Evan stopped scratching his dark, stubbly jaw. ‘What I’m trying to say is.’ He gathered himself. ‘I’m Fox, the critic for The London Gazette.’
Even though I’d guessed the direction of travel Evan was taking, it was still a surprise to hear him utter Fox’s name and confess that they were one and the same person.
Alison almost got whiplash, jerking her head at Dane and then Bennett.
Dane let out a, ‘Shit! You’re kidding!’ and scrambled not to drop his phone on the tiled hall floor.
‘What’s he admitted this for?’ I murmured to myself. ‘Why did he have to go public like that?’
I froze.
Several sets of eyes swivelled in my direction.
‘You knew?’ asked Dane. ‘You knew Evan was Fox?’
I struggled to think of something to say, but Evan picked up his monologue again, and the gasps around me fell quiet. ‘But I’m not Fox. At least not anymore. I’ve come to realise that some things are more important than having people talk about you.’
His bright, deep, dark eyes seemed to lock with mine through the phone screen.
‘Me becoming Britain’s most talked-about TV critic doesn’t matter to me anymore.
I only did it in the first place for the paycheque to help out my parents and The Ramblings.
But over time, Fox took over, and I guess my ego did, too.
’ He gave his head a brief shake. ‘But it’s taken one special young woman to make me realise that what I was doing wasn’t me, even though I thought I was doing it for the right reasons. ’
My stomach whooshed.
Evan blew out a cloud of air. ‘Daisy,’ he faltered, eliciting sets of eyes to switch back in my direction again.
‘Daisy Madden. She’s not only a wonderful actor, but a sweet, thoughtful and beautiful woman.
I mauled the TV show she was in for my column, even though half of what I said, I never meant.
Again, they were just words to pull in the readers and cause a stir.
’ Shame gripped his handsome face. ‘But it wasn’t until I met her and saw what effect my review had had on her and her belief in herself that I wondered what the hell I was doing. ’
‘I think a certain young man is in love,’ piped up Grandpa beside Louise. ‘He wouldn’t be doing all this if he weren’t.’
‘I think you’re right,’ agreed Josie, giving me a soft smile.
My head was spinning. Evan was revealing who he was on social media. He was making his career implode. He was doing all this because of me?
Evan gazed down the phone screen. ‘Daisy, I don’t know if you’re watching this.
But I want you to know that I’ve fallen in love with you.
You’ve made me realise what matters, and that if you don’t like yourself, how the hell can you expect someone else to?
’ His generous mouth flickered. ‘From the way you took care of Shaun on our road trip…’
‘Who’s Shaun?’ puzzled Louise.
Cayla shrugged. ‘Beats me.’
‘The way you’ve done everything you can to help with The Ramblings financial situation; how you’ve thrown yourself into the arrangements for the Florence tour; how you got involved with Cayla to make her see what a great little actor she is…’
At this, Cayla grinned so hard she looked like she might explode.
‘And I get now how reckless words hurt people and what impact my review of Sinister had on you. I got to see that first-hand. I didn’t see the people behind what I was doing, because I was too preoccupied trying to keep Fox’s reputation going.’
Evan gazed up at the cloud-scattered sky for a few moments before looking directly back down at the camera.
‘I wanted to tell you, Daisy. I wanted to tell you too, Mum and Dad and Dane. But Daisy, I knew I was falling for you, and I also knew I couldn’t do it.
I was terrified of what you’d say.’ He shuffled from foot to foot. ‘I was in too deep by then.’
‘All I can say is, I’m so sorry you had to find out through a random email. I love you, and you’ve made me look at everything differently.’
‘You and me both,’ uttered Dane.
Evan reset his expression. ‘Anyway, I just had to do this and clear the air before I head back to London.’
His words made my blood freeze.
‘I can’t face the prospect of returning to The Ramblings without you being there, Daisy, so I’ve managed to book myself on a flight back down south later on today.
’ His face was still for a moment. ‘I’ve messed up big time, but please know I never meant to deceive you.
And as for my family, I’m sorry for not telling you the truth.
Being Fox wasn’t something I was very proud of, considering the effect my words had on people, but I did it to try and help secure the future of the family home. ’
More gasps and murmurs rose up into the hall. ‘It just turned out not to be the best idea, and it wasn’t enough anyway.’
Evan lurched forward towards his phone and switched it off. The screen went dark.