Chapter 47
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
phantom lady
MARK
The billboards went up this morning all across London, even in New York and Tokyo. My Hail Mary.
So far, it’s had 525,341 votes. Most of them are ‘yes’ and about half of my private parts are visible on the website, which has gone viral. I don’t care about that as much as I thought I would, but I need to know if one of those votes came from the person it was directed at.
I lean back on the couch, looking out at my parents’ lounge. Despite having planned it so well, I messed up the timing. It’s my brother’s birthday today, and I promised him I’d be here.
It’s been a pity party like no other to this point, and I keep checking my phone, hoping to see something from Rey or maybe Kaia, who came up with the idea of her guiding Rey to see the Camden Market billboard and would know what her reaction was.
Rallying the creative team and two of the development pods around this project has been successful in so many ways. But all that matters is whether Rey forgives me.
The doorbell rings, and I startle.
Mum shouts ‘I’ll get it’ across the house and opens the door. My ears prickle. There’s something different.
Mum pokes her head around the doorframe. “Mark, there’s someone here for you.”
“Here?”
I put my whiskey down on the table and walk into the hallway, and my entire body floods with relief when I see Rey on the doorstep. She smiles, a sheepish, nervous smile, and her eyes are glossy.
Fuck, I’ve missed her. Her hair is wild and wavy as always, but she’s wearing a coat on this warm summer evening, which is new for her.
“Can you come outside, please?” she says, and I rush to do as she asks, closing the door behind me.
“How did you know to come here?” I ask.
She laughs and hugs herself, and I want to reach out to hold her, but I need to wait. I don’t know why she’s here. Please tell me she’s here to give me another chance.
“I went to your flat, or should I say your building. I didn’t realise you own the whole place, but one of your neighbours—tenants?—told me they saw you with your family.”
Her eyes scan up the Victorian townhouse. “After a lot of Googling, and I still couldn’t find the address, I called Aiden in the end. And here I am.” She shrugs.
“You did all that to see me?”
She wouldn’t do that to tell me to fuck off, would she?
Her eyes move across my face, those big brown eyes that have a tiredness to them I’m sure I put there.
“Mark,” she looks down now, kicking at the ground with a pair of green ankle boots I’ve not seen her wear before. “I saw your billboard.”
Adrenaline surges through me, making it hard to stay calm, but I take a deep breath.
“It’s hard to miss,” I say. And I made damn sure she wouldn’t.
She finds my eyes again.
“Did you like it?” I ask.
A smile spreads slowly across her face, almost big enough to make those dimples pop, but not entirely. “I did. Has the whole world seen your penis now?”
I shrug. “At the rate it was going, I’m guessing by tomorrow morning, yes.”
I’m glad that part of it is working out. We’ll have a record number of downloads, new subscribers, and two million pounds going to Graham’s wife’s charity. The board can stick their threats up their arses; there’s no way they will fire me now. They don’t get to push me around anymore.
I hope the main point has come across, though.
“It doesn’t matter,” I add. “As long as you have. I mean, as long as you’re here.” I rub my neck, still feeling uncertain. “Rey, I’ve been an absolute arse.”
She lets out a puff of air. I continue, she needs to hear me say it.
“There’s no excuse for me not standing up for you entirely.
I sat there, looking at my old friend, my advisor, and I was convinced they were right.
But it was all wrong. The way I handled it was wrong.
” I reach out to her now, cupping her elbows.
She’s still hugging herself, as if she’s holding herself together.
It makes my chest ache, knowing she’s been hurting because of me.
“The billboard… I did that to show that I don’t care what others think. All I care about is you.
“If you let me, I want to spend my life proving to you that I deserve to be with someone as vibrant and joyful as you.” I get down on my knees now, grasping her hips and looking up at her.
She bites her lip and opens her mouth as if to say something, but I keep going.
“I’m so sorry I took that joy away from you.
It kills me to think you don’t feel you can be yourself, your fullest, best self, with me, and in the world. ”
Her arms release, and when her hands make their way into my hair, I need to swallow the lump that’s growing.
“I’ll dress up with you. We can go anywhere, dance anywhere. Please Rey. I want to be the man who makes you laugh. Every day I will do my best to make you feel as good as you possibly can feel.”
She grins now, finally flashing me those dimples, and I press my face against her stomach. I missed her so much.
“That’s a big promise,” she says.
“I mean it.” My voice comes out muffled against her coat.
“You’re not ashamed of me?” she whispers, and I look up to see her biting her lip again, her eyes tearing up. I stand back up and cup her face.
“No, no, I was never. It’s… I won’t excuse it, but please know I was confused, but I was never ashamed of you.” She nods, it seems she’s accepting what I’m saying. “I love you, Rey. All of you. Everything about you.”
She laughs again and opens her coat.
“Even like this?”
It takes me a second to absorb what I’m looking at. The yellow playsuit, the green boots. It’s so familiar. Then she drops her coat and reveals her green cape and I can’t hold back my smile. It hurts my cheeks, I can’t smile wide enough.
“You dressed up as Phantom Lady for me?”
She remembered.
She twirls, and I catch a glimpse of the open back of her playsuit. I wrap my arms around her and feel the naked skin of her back, pressing her close to me. “Does it mean you forgive me?”
“Are you sure about us?” she asks, uncertainty in her voice, in her knitted brow. “Billionaires don’t date baristas who moonlight as amateur cosplayers, do they?”
“Sometimes they marry them,” I say, leaning my forehead against hers.
“Mark,” she whispers.
“Don’t worry, I’ll ask you properly one day.” I grin at her, seeing the light growing in her eyes. “I love you so much, Rey.”
“Then I forgive you,” she says, grinning, but I know there’s still hurt behind that smile and I’ll keep my promise to prove myself to her. Every day. “But you might have to grovel some more for my brother. He’s not impressed with you.”
“I will. And speaking of brothers…” I nod towards the house. “It’s James’ thirtieth and the whole family is here.”
“Oh, right, do you want to come see me later instead?” she asks, looking towards the house where laughter sounds from inside.
“What?”
“I mean, I can’t gatecrash your family get-together.”
“Bloody better,” I say, grasping her hand. “I’m not letting you go anywhere without me.”
“I can’t join your dinner party as Phantom Lady,” she says, laughing.
“We’re playing Becktionary, the playsuit will be an asset in the running part. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” she says, and I look back. “You forgot something.”
She takes both my hands and places them on her face, beaming at me. “I’ve missed you caressing my dimples.”
My chest feels too small as I hold her heart-shaped face in my hands. She leans into my palm and kisses my wrist.
“I love you, Mark.”
I bend down and press my lips against hers, breathing her in. I drop my arms to her waist and press her against me, feeling her soft, warm body against mine.
The door opens behind me. “Hey, we’re about to start the game. Are you two joining or not?”
I look at her and raise my eyebrows. She nods, and I take her hand, leading my Phantom Lady into the house.
“Everyone, you remember Rey?” I say and look back at her as she smiles to my family, crossing her free arm over her front, squeezing my hand with the other. I need to fix this shyness I put in her, if it takes me the rest of my life.
I twirl her around, receiving a hearty laugh in response, just as I hoped, and spin her right back into my arms.
“So you’re the woman who compelled our son to bare his private parts to the world?” Mum asks in a teasing tone. She’s smiling, and Rey’s cheeks go red.
“It seems,” Rey whispers.
“She is the woman who taught your son what real joy feels like.” I tug Rey’s hand, and her eyes meet mine. I smile at her. “And she’s the woman I’m going to marry one day, if she’ll let me.”