Chapter Twenty-Nine
Dan was shattered. Maybe that explained his shitty mood because when he looked at things logically, there was no reason to feel this gloomy.
He’d signed a contract for a not insignificant part in a Hollywood film.
Rehearsals started early January, followed by filming, and it was expected it would take up to the end of April.
Dan’s role was the hero’s sidekick, his wisecracking sidekick.
After years of playing the same role, it was a thrill to work on something different.
Hopefully to show the world he was capable of being more than a doctor falling in and out of love.
To top all that, the role of the hero would be played by Casey Affleck.
Pete had smirked when he’d told him. ‘At least you’ll be able to say you’ve rubbed shoulders with an Oscar.’
Of course Pete wasn’t too happy with Dan’s subsequent career decision, but he could take a running jump. For once, Dan felt his career was heading the way he wanted it to.
All in all, one hell of a lot to look forward to.
Yet even as he walked towards Natalie’s house to spend Christmas Eve with his son, he couldn’t shake off the misery.
In his mind he replayed the conversation he’d had with Anna last night.
Admittedly he’d been in LA, on his way to the airport, so it had been hurried.
And it had been the wrong timing for her, with Maisie about to go to bed.
But was that enough to account for the strain he’d sensed? Or was there something else going on?
It had started well enough. She’d seemed pleased to hear from him, and interested in what he’d been up to.
‘While you’ve been mixing with Hollywood movers and shakers, we’ve been doing some moving and shaking of our own,’ she’d told him.
‘The local press did a piece about The Play About a Nativity, and that was taken up by the national press. We’ve been inundated with requests for the script.
The powers that be have asked how you want to handle it. ’
‘The play belongs to the school,’ he’d told her. ‘You own the copyright so do whatever you want, but I hope you charge for it and raise some funds. Maybe use them to get a proper lighting system for the stage. Or put into a pot Sid can use to buy more exciting scripts in the future.’
She’d been touched at his response, he’d known that much, but when he’d broached the subject of seeing her again, he’d noticed a change.
‘I can’t say for definite when, at the moment,’ he’d had to admit. ‘I’ve not had the talk with Natalie about when I can see Max.’
The pause between his words and her next ones, I understand, had been achingly long, yet not as long as the next pause, before which she’d uttered the dreaded words. ‘Look, maybe it’s best if we cool things. You’ll be off to America soon—’
‘But I’ll be back,’ he’d interrupted harshly, dread curdling in his stomach.
She’d carried on as if she hadn’t heard him. ‘And next term’s going to be hugely busy for me, what with the building work starting on the new extension.’
At that point, his phone had decided to really bugger things up for him by crackling, making it impossible to hear her. He’d had to make do with shouting, ‘I’ll be in touch,’ before ending the call.
He’d been left feeling as if someone had scooped his insides out. Drained, hollow.
Pushing the shitty memories to one side, he pressed the bell on Natalie’s front door.
When she opened it, she took one look at him and frowned. ‘You’d better get rid of that long face before Max sees you.’
‘Sorry.’ He wiped a hand across his face and smiled at her. ‘Better?’
Natalie raised her eyes to the ceiling. ‘And you call yourself an actor? What’s wrong?’
‘Would you believe nothing?’
‘No?’
He laughed softly. ‘Okay, I’m jet-lagged.’
‘And?’ she prompted, crossing her arms.
‘And . . . and I think Anna’s having second thoughts about me,’ he blurted, then immediately wished he hadn’t. It was nobody’s business but his and Anna’s.
Natalie’s face softened. ‘Damn, I’m sorry to hear that. Max thinks she’s great.’
Okay, maybe his ex did have some right to know what was happening between him and Anna. Just as he had a right to know how serious it was between Natalie and Robin, the man she was currently dating.
‘Why don’t you come in and we can talk about it, if you want.’ Natalie stepped back inside. ‘I’m sure Max won’t mind finishing off the car race he’s having with Robin.’
Sure enough, when Dan wandered into the living room he heard shrieks from Max as he jerked furiously at a steering wheel attached to the games consul. ‘Your dad’s here,’ Natalie shouted over at him, and Dan was gratified when Max pulled his head off the screen long enough to smile at him.
‘Hey, Dad. Be with you when I’ve beaten Robin.’
‘They seem to get on well,’ Dan remarked as he followed Natalie into the kitchen.
‘Of course they do.’ She smirked over at him. ‘I only date nice men.’
Dan waited for the twinge of jealousy, and was relieved to find there wasn’t one. He was happy Max had a good relationship with the man he spent time with when he wasn’t with him.
‘Sometimes I marry them, too,’ she remarked, causing Dan to glance sharply at her.
‘Are you and Robin planning on getting married?’
‘Actually, I meant you.’ She shrugged, as if she was embarrassed about admitting that. ‘I know we’ve had our differences, and I was a right cow for a while, but I always realised you were a good guy.’ Turning to the sink, she filled the kettle. ‘As for Robin and me, yes, maybe.’
‘Rich and ambitious enough for you, is he?’ The moment he said it, he regretted it. ‘Sorry, that was petty.’
‘It was.’ Natalie started to laugh. ‘Robin works in the city and he’s loaded.’ Clicking on the kettle she turned back to him. ‘What about you and Anna? Are you planning on marrying her?’
* * *
Anna laughed as she was lifted off her feet by a big strapping man the moment she and Maisie stepped foot inside the Old Mill Hotel.
‘Hello, Adam.’ She gave her friend’s husband an affectionate kiss on the cheek. ‘Still able to pick me up, that’s impressive for a man of your age.’
‘Hey, less of the cheek. I have two years on you, that’s all.’ Smoothly he let her down, proving he was still working out with weights, though where once he’d done it to clear his head, now he did it, in his words, to keep my wife happy.
While he went to make a fuss of Maisie, Faith and Anna shared a hug, though at eight months pregnant it was hard for Anna to wrap her arms around her friend.
‘So glad you two could make it,’ Faith told her, smiling widely. ‘I can’t wait to show Maisie the Christmas tree. It’s bigger than ever this year.’
Faith was notorious for buying crazily oversized Christmas trees for the Old Mill. Every year she promised a very tolerant Adam she’d buy a smaller one, and every year it ended up even bigger than the last.
‘Don’t I know it,’ Adam grumbled behind her. ‘If next year’s is any bigger, I’m not putting it up. It can stay outside.’
Faith pouted, patting her stomach. ‘But, darling, it will be the bump’s first Christmas. You can’t deny him or her a huge tree.’
Adam, a mountain of a man, turned to goo in front of Anna’s eyes as he gazed at his wife. ‘You’re not wrong there.’ He sighed, shaking his head. ‘I’m doomed.’
Laughing, Faith tugged at Anna’s hand. ‘Come with me. Gabby and Owen arrived only a few minutes ago, they’re upstairs in our apartment.
Adam will put the cases in your rooms.’ She stretched out a hand to Maisie.
‘And as for you, young lady, there are two dogs waiting very impatiently for you to play with them.’
A short while later Anna found herself sitting with Gabby and Faith, nursing a huge glass of mulled wine — as Faith loved everything about Christmas, she assumed everyone else did too, even if it meant murdering a decent red wine.
Maisie was playing with Nip and Tuck in the hallway, and Adam was taking Owen on a tour of the new hotel extension.
‘So.’ Faith huddled closer to Anna. ‘I was kind of hoping we might get to meet the rather fabulous-looking Mr Ramsey this Christmas.’
‘Ah.’ It was Christmas Eve. She was in a gorgeous hotel with two of her closest friends.
Her daughter was giggling in the hallway.
Crying was not allowed. ‘I think that little fantasy may be over.’ She took a big gulp of the mulled wine, figuring the more she drank of it, the better it would taste.
‘Reality has come crashing in, and . . . well, it’s okay.
I don’t regret it, not at all, but now I see it for what it was.
And that’s good. It’s fine. We all need a little escapism in our lives now and again. ’
She felt the weight of her friends’ scrutiny.
‘What happened?’ Gabby asked quietly.
‘Nothing. Unless you count him getting a role in a Hollywood film. Not a lead role, but he’ll be out there filming at the start of next year. They actually sent a car for him the night of the staff party so he could get a flight the next morning, can you believe that?’
Gabby and Faith shared a look, before swinging their attention back to her. ‘He dumped you?’ Faith asked, her tone both angry and incredulous.
‘No, no.’ Anna sighed. ‘We barely had time to talk before his car came. I’m just being realistic.
He’s off to LA to film for . . . God, I don’t even know how long filming takes.
And after that, who knows what he’ll be doing, where he’ll be?
What we had was lovely, really lovely.’ She heard her voice tremble and knew from the sympathy in her friends’ eyes they had, too.
‘But it’s silly to pretend it was anything more than a brief, glorious fling. ’
‘Have you spoken to him since he left?’
Her heart ached as she recalled his voice.
He’d sounded like he wanted to see her. Like he missed her as much as she’d missed him.
‘He phoned yesterday, and I know he wants to see me again. I just don’t know if that’s a good idea.
’ Her voice caught as she struggled to say what was in her heart.
‘He’s the first man I’ve felt any sort of attraction towards since Chris, and I thought I could have some fun.
But I made the mistake of taking it too seriously.
’ Damn it, she could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks now.
‘I’m already in love with him, and if I see him again, I’ll just fall deeper.
I really don’t think I can handle any more heartbreak.
’ Her eyes drifted over to Maisie and she had to stifle the sob she knew was forming.
‘Maisie’s already asked questions about whether Dan would be her dad if we got married.
’ She wiped furiously at the tears. ‘She’s already lost one dad.
If I’m not careful, she’s going to think she’s lost another. ’
Quietly, her friends enveloped her in a tight hug.
‘It’s Christmas,’ Faith said finally, handing her a box of tissues.
‘We can’t have sad faces at Christmas.’ Easing her heavily pregnant body off the sofa, she clapped her hands.
‘Okay then, it’s time we got ready for Santa’s visit.
We need to get the stockings hung over the fireplace.
The mince pies on a plate. The carrots out for the reindeers. ’
‘And the whisky,’ Maisie shouted from the hallway. ‘Father Christmas likes a glass of whisky.’
‘So does your mum,’ Gabby added dryly, making them all laugh. ‘Does she still believe in him?’ she whispered to Anna.
‘I’m not sure. She’s at that awkward age when it’s hard to tell. I don’t want to ask her outright in case it ruins things, so I’ll just carry on until she says something.’ She gazed at her daughter. ‘I’d love her to believe in the magic of it all for as long as possible.’
‘Then we’ll make sure Father Christmas comes to her.’ Gabby gave her arm a quick squeeze. ‘And who knows, maybe he’ll come to you, too.’