Chapter Eleven
Dan hadn’t made it home last night. Partly because it had been nearly eight o’clock when he’d finally left the school, having stayed on until the alarm had been fixed and Anna safely on her way home.
It had been the gentlemanly thing to do, and he liked to think he was one.
Of course staying had also meant he’d got to spend another half an hour with her, even though they had been chaperoned by two burly workmen.
Perhaps just as well, considering he’d not only kissed her.
He’d told her he wanted to kiss her again.
Pete would be apoplectic. If he ever told him.
As there wouldn’t be a repeat of the experience, he didn’t plan on it.
Dan wasn’t grieving over the loss of a partner like Anna was, but he understood himself enough to know his actions over the last few months had been a show of his own, lesser but still real, grief.
Loss of his son, his job. Loss, if he was honest, of his own self-worth.
He no longer knew what he could offer anyone. Not a child, not a partner.
Until he figured that out, he was no use to anyone.
So no, as incredible as the kiss had been, as much as he wanted to see more of her outside the school, he wasn’t going to push it.
The real reason he’d chosen to stay another night in the hotel wasn’t to see Anna again then, but to see Sid. He couldn’t wait another week before apologising to the man.
The school was quiet when he stepped inside. Hayley looked surprised, and if it didn’t sound too arrogant, also delighted to see him.
‘Mr Ramsey. We weren’t expecting you today.’
‘It’s Dan, and I’m on my way back to London. I was hoping to have a chat with Sid before I left.’
‘Sure. Let me check his timetable.’ She darted back to her computer, her long pink nails making a tapping noise on the keyboard. ‘You’re in luck, he’s actually on a free at the moment. I’ll check the staffroom for you. Unless you want to head back there yourself?’
It would mean he had to walk past Anna’s office and he wasn’t sure he was ready to see her again yet. Not until his head and his body were on the same page. ‘If you could check, that would be great. Thanks.’
She beamed a smile at him, one he’d read before.
It said I’m happy to do anything you ask.
Anything. As she turned to walk down the corridor he saw the deliberate sway of her hips and his heart sank.
He was starting to enjoy working here. The kids, the teachers.
It was so wonderfully ordinary. And he didn’t mean that in a derogatory way.
Acting was exciting at times, yes. The ability to create, to be someone he wasn’t for a while.
But it was also so artificial and trivial. This was real. Important.
He didn’t want his short time blighted by having to dodge the attentions of a young woman who thought herself attracted to him, even though she was really only attracted to the recently deceased Dr Tyler Moore.
The sight of Sid waddling towards him put those worries to one side. Time to eat humble pie and get back to a civil relationship with the person he’d be working with closest over the next month.
‘Sid, sorry to disturb you. I wondered if you had a few minutes to chat in private?’
Sid narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything. Just walked with him to the spare office Dan had used before. Then plonked himself down with a thud on one of the chairs.
Dan took the opposite chair and got straight to it. ‘I wanted to apologise about what I said last night. About you liking Bridget.’
Sid sat bolt upright, anger fizzing off him. ‘Now look here—’
Dan held up a hand. ‘It is absolutely none of my business and I had no right to talk to you like that. I’d be pissed off if you started prying into my personal life, so I totally understand why you reacted like you did.
’ Some of the stiffness left Sid’s posture and Dan started to relax a fraction.
‘For the record, I wasn’t taking the mickey out of you.
Nor was I trying to annoy you. In my own misguided way, I was trying to bond with you. ’
‘Bond?’ Sid huffed. ‘Funny way of going about it.’
‘I know. And I’m sorry.’
Sid shifted his weight on the chair. ‘Fine.’
Fine? Looked like he wasn’t going to get an apology back for the tasteless remarks about him losing his job then. ‘Okay. Are we good?’
‘I suppose.’ He caught Dan’s eye and gave him a slightly evil smile. ‘Probably not the time for me to ask how you’re getting on with our Anna then, huh?’
He steeled himself not to blush. Not to flinch, not to twitch. ‘We’re getting on just fine, Sid, thank you.’
‘Aye. I bet you are.’ With those enigmatic words, Sid heaved himself out of his chair and walked to the door.
Dan followed, thinking that was going to be the end of it, until Sid halted abruptly.
‘These dancing classes.’ His eyes darted around the room before finally meeting Dan’s.
‘You really think Bridget wouldn’t mind me turning up? By myself, I mean.’
As his track record of tact with Sid was pitiful, Dan considered his next words very carefully.
‘The lessons are for people who enjoy dancing. Those who want to learn, or who want a refresher. She’s not said you need to come with a partner.
’ He smiled. ‘Just that you need to come with a desire to dance.’
Sid nodded. ‘Maybe I’ll go next week. Just to see what it’s like.’
‘You should do that.’ Because he’d met Bridget, seen how smart she was, how lovely, Dan had an inkling she wouldn’t be too impressed with being spun around the dance floor by a man with sweaty armpits.
He was loathe to end the fragile truce, but he also had a duty to his fellow man.
‘It’s my experience,’ he began, feeling as if he was tiptoeing across a field of eggshells, ‘that women like to dance with a man who’s .
. . well turned out. It’s quite an intimate experience.
Not one you’d want to undertake without some care. ’
‘Care.’ Sid looked at him blankly.
‘Yes.’ It took all his acting experience to smile with what he hoped was the right amount of friendly, but not too friendly, man-to-man.
‘I always have a shower before I take a woman dancing. Change my clothes.’ When Sid still stared at him, Dan added desperately, ‘It seems to work, if you know what I mean.’
‘Yes, yes.’ Sid nodded again, a little too rigorously. ‘I’m with you. Right then, better get back to the marking. See you next week.’
When he’d gone, Dan sunk back onto the chair. Bloody hell. And of the two conversations he’d promised himself he’d have over the next couple of days, that one was supposed to be the easiest.
* * *
The following evening
Anna put down the menu and looked across the table at her friends, both of them married.
She’d met Faith a year after Chris had died when she’d still been in a fog of grief, finding day-to-day life with Maisie an uphill struggle.
The routine of school had helped them both, yet suddenly she’d been faced with a two-week Easter holiday.
Unable to stomach the thought of staying in the same four walls, she’d booked them into a hotel in the Lake District she’d heard good reports about.
Faith had immediately taken them under her wing, and instead of a holiday she’d dreaded, it had become a fabulous escape.
Maisie had loved the fresh air, and Faith’s crazy dogs.
Anna had loved being able to talk to someone who hadn’t known Chris, so didn’t treat her with kid gloves.
And Adam, Faith’s husband, had made her laugh with the driest humour she’d ever come across.
Through Faith, and her many stays at the Old Mill Hotel since, she’d met Gabby and her charmer of a husband, Owen.
‘Decided what you want to eat?’ Gabby smirked across at her. ‘Because you know when you have, you’re in for a full evening of grilling.’
Anna raised both eyebrows. ‘Me? Why? You know how boring my life is. When I’m not at school, I’m at home.’
‘Umm.’ Faith, too, closed her menu. ‘It’s the school part we’re interested in right now. Particularly the part where you talk about you and Daniel Ramsey.’
Anna felt the heat rush up her neck and across her face. ‘Ah. You’ve seen the press clippings.’ So far all they’d announced was that Dan was helping the school with some acting lessons. In December, when the media became obsessed about Christmas, they would issue a release about the play.
‘We have indeed. Funny how you haven’t mentioned it yourself, since it seems he agreed to volunteer at the school in early October.’
Busted. ‘I meant to tell you last time we caught up, but . . .’ I knew I’d blush, and then you’d ask questions, and I’d have to admit I have a crush on him.
‘I forgot.’ And now I’m hoping you won’t ask questions about whether I like him, because then I’ll have to admit I do. And probably blurt that I kissed him.
‘You forgot?’ Gabby and Faith both said in unison, before they started to laugh. ‘Okay, Anna Dalton,’ Gabby said when they’d quietened down. ‘Time to be honest with your friends. Do you, or do you not, have a big fat crush on the man? And if not, do you still have a pulse?’
And yes, the blush scalded her cheeks now. ‘Fine. I do.’ She willed the waitress to come and take their order, but when she failed to catch her eye, Anna blurted. ‘I kissed him last night.’
Damn it. She’d never make a spy. They wouldn’t need to torture information from her. She’d hand it over the first time they said please.
Both her friends stilled, two pairs of eyes staring at her as if she’d just told them she’d seen an alien in her back garden. And maybe that was more believable than the thought of her kissing Daniel Ramsey.
‘Where?’ From Gabby. She was the more thoughtful of the two.
‘Was it good? Please tell me it was good?’ From Faith, the chatterbox.