The One You Love (21 page)

Emma and Stuart laughed along with Guy, although Emma wondered whether he was joking or not.

***

‘How are you getting home?’ Stuart said, as they stood at the end of the gangway.

The boat had just moored and most people were in the process of disembarking. Emma was glad to have returned to dry land, and she was even gladder to see that there were no press people waiting for her.

‘I’ll catch the tube,’ she said, gesturing towards the direction of the station.

‘I’ll walk you,’ he offered.

‘No, it’s okay.’

‘No, really.’

‘I’ll be fine, honestly. It was good to chat.’

‘Maybe we could keep in touch? Here’s my number if you want it.’ He handed her a card. ‘If you don’t call, I’ll understand.’

‘Goodbye, Stuart,’ Emma said, taking the card.

She turned and walked away, not quite knowing why she had been so adamant in refusing Stuart’s offer of walking her to the station. Maybe she was too proud to have him do her any kind of favour. She moved through the tourists who were still out at this late hour, heading for Waterloo Station.

She was around the back of the station when her mobile registered a text message.

Initially deciding to wait until she was safely inside the station, she couldn’t resist reading the message. When she read it, a chill ran through her – an icy wind whipping up from behind and slithering down her back.

It was from Dan.

Why do you hurt the one you love?

She read the message again. Then she hurried into the station, heading for the tube entrance, thinking about what he had meant by that strange message. Suddenly she stopped and pressed the shortcut key to Dan’s number, expecting the call to be diverted like on all the other occasions. But it started ringing.

She held the phone close to her ear, breathing hard, waiting for the pick-up.

It came on the sixth ring.

‘Hello?’

‘Dad?’ Emma said, completely dumbfounded.
‘I don’t understand.’

36

‘He found it below the letter box,’ Emma said to Lizzy, trying to eat a piece of toast, but without much appetite. ‘Dan must have posted it through. Miranda heard it ringing and called Dad. He picked it up.’

‘But why?’ Lizzy asked. ‘It doesn’t make sense. Why would he post his mobile phone through your dad’s letterbox?’

Emma shrugged.

‘And that text message.
It’s so strange, Em.
Not just what he said, but the fact that he must have sent it whilst he was standing outside your dad’s house. Do you think Dan’s okay? Mentally, I mean? You hear about people suddenly having some kind of breakdown, then walking out and spending the rest of their lives wandering around, hanging around bus stations.’

‘Don’t,’ Emma said, not wanting to think about Dan suffering like that. ‘Anyway, he seemed okay when he cancelled the wedding dress.’

‘You did say his voice was a little strange.’

‘Yes, but not that strange. I just want to know what he meant by that message. Does he think I hurt him? Have I hurt him?’

‘Not unless you’ve had an affair that you’re not telling me about.’

Emma pondered some more.

‘Could the police do anything with the phone?’ asked Lizzy.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I don’t know. Check who he’s called since he went missing? He might also have some text messages saved in there too.’

‘Good idea,’ Emma said. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll check it when I go round to Dad’s this afternoon.’

‘I meant give it to the police, really.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘You really don’t like the police, do you?’

‘I don’t trust them,’ Emma said. ‘Anyway, even if they did take a look at the phone, they’d have to ask me about the numbers. I’m saving them the bother.’

‘Your call,’ Lizzy said, holding up her hands. ‘So are you looking forward to lunch at your dad’s?’

‘Not particularly,’ Emma admitted. ‘He’s probably going to go mad when I tell him I’ve met Stuart. He really hated him for walking out on me – made me promise that I’d never take him back.’

‘You’re going to tell him?’

‘I think so.’

‘Will you see him again? Stuart, I mean?’

‘I don’t think so,’ Emma said, thinking back to the contact card he had given her, and the way she had just walked away.

‘You don’t sound so sure any more,’ Lizzy noted. ‘You’re not still in love with him, are you?

‘No way… no way.’

‘Okay,’ Lizzy said. ‘I’m convinced.’

But she didn’t sound convinced, and Emma knew it.

‘The other reason I’m not particularly looking forward to the meal,’ Emma said, changing the subject, ‘is because Miranda’s going to be there, and I’m not sure I can take all that talk about the new baby.’

‘Your new half-brother or sister.’

‘I know,’ Emma grimaced. ‘Don’t get me wrong; I’m happy for Dad if he’s happy. But I can’t help thinking that it could be too much for him. It’s a long time since he had a small baby.’

‘Are you sure you’re not just a little bit jealous? I mean, it would be understandable.’

‘Jealous of a baby?’

‘Jealous of his new family.’

Just hearing the phrase Emma stopped in her tracks – maybe Lizzy had got it dead right.

‘Maybe,’ she admitted.

‘How do you feel about Miranda now?’

‘I don’t know really. My instinct is still not to like her very much.’

‘Why?’

‘I don’t know – because she’s taken my mum’s place, really,’ Emma admitted. ‘And because she makes me feel… jealous?’

‘Maybe you should give Miranda a chance? Your dad’s going to need all the support he can get, and it’ll be so much better for him if you two are getting along. And Will, when he gets back.’

‘Maybe you’re right,’ Emma conceded. ‘Anyway, enough about me. How are your nerves for tonight?’

‘Shot. Why do you think I’m throwing all my energies into solving your problems? It’s a classic distraction technique.’

‘You’ll be fantastic,’ Emma said. ‘I can’t wait to see the finished article.’

‘These shows never get finished,’ Lizzy said. ‘We’ll be tweaking it for a while yet. Knowing the director, we’ll be changing things right up to curtain call. Today is going to be a long day.’

‘A challenging day for both of us then. I’ll see you at the theatre.’

***

‘Will there be anything else?’ said the newsagent, an aging Asian man with a patchy white beard.

‘No, that’s it,’ she said, picking up the newspaper. It wasn’t until she saw the
London Daily News
placard that she remembered about the newspaper reporter from the previous night. With all the events that had followed – Stuart’s appearance, Dan’s text message, and the mystery of why he posted the phone through her dad’s letterbox – she had forgotten all about it.

The newsagent handed her the change and smiled. ‘I don’t understand why people read that newspaper. Full of silly stories.’

‘I know,’ Emma said, feeling embarrassed for buying it. ‘It’s for research.’

‘Good luck with the research,’ he said. ‘Have a nice day.’

‘You too.’

She stopped outside the newsagents, leant against the roadside barrier and opened up the paper.

Her worst-case scenario was a small piece in the gossip column.

The story was there, covering half of page seven.

Secret torment of movie beauty.

Fiancé hunted by police.

Brother attacked and in coma.

“Emma’s devastated by what’s happened,” said a family friend.

“No-one suspected a thing,” said another.

But no matter how bad the feature-length article was it was the accompanying photos that made the most impact on her.

One was of her in her jogging trousers and had been taken on the morning before the launch party. It must have been one of the photos taken by Eric, the guy she had chatted with. She had swallowed his lies about not selling photos to newspapers. How naïve and stupid was she? Would she never learn?

But it was the second photo that really shocked her to the core.

It was a photo she knew well. It was the one of Dan and her in Rome – the photo that until last week had been on their bedside cabinet.

37

‘Have you seen it?’ Emma thrust the newspaper into her dad’s hand as he stood at the front door. He just looked at the front headlines, his brow knotted, confused as to what he should be looking at. ‘Page seven,’ Emma directed. ‘The story on page seven is about me and Dan.’

‘What?’ he said, aghast. He turned through the pages. ‘I don’t understand,’ he said, scanning the article. ‘Who gave them this photo, of you and Dan?’

‘It was the one missing from our bedroom,’ Emma explained.

‘But then how did it get here?’

‘Dan must have given it to them. I don’t like to think that he would, but there were no other copies of that photograph.’

‘And these quotes,’ he said, visibly disgusted. ‘Who are these quotes from?’

‘I don’t know,’ Emma admitted. ‘They might have just made them up.’

‘How did you know to look for this? You don’t buy this paper.’

‘There was a reporter at the boat last night, asking me about Dan.’

‘Why didn’t you mention it last night?’

Emma shrugged.

‘What’s up?’ said Miranda, appearing at Edward’s shoulder. ‘Hey, that’s you.’

She looked up at Emma, then back down at the paper.

‘Oh my God,’ she said, as she read the article. ‘Emma, that’s terrible.’

‘Let’s get inside,’ Edward said. He led them into the lounge, shaking his head. ‘I can’t believe how I misjudged Dan. I never would have thought he’d do something like this. Take a seat.’ He pointed to the table. ‘The meal’s nearly ready. I mean,’ he continued, sitting down himself, ‘what the hell is going on inside that head of his? As if it wasn’t bad enough running off the week before you were supposed to be getting married, he goes and does this.’ He slapped the offending article, his anger rising.

Miranda stood behind him, twirling the hairs on the back of his head through her fingers. ‘Try and stay calm, dear. You know what the doctor said.’

Emma’s ears pricked up.

‘Doctor?’ she said. ‘You’ve been to the doctor?’

He waved away her concern. ‘It’s nothing. He just said I should make sure I try and stay relaxed, that’s all.’

Emma looked at Miranda and caught a flicker in her eyes that told her it wasn’t quite that innocuous. But she wouldn’t push it any further, not for now.

‘Don’t talk to any other reporters,’ he advised.

‘I won’t.’

‘And if Dan tries to contact you again, tell me.’

‘Okay.’

‘Right,’ he said, tearing the newspaper in two. ‘Let that be an end to it.’

***

‘Have you heard from Will?’ Edward said, tucking into his salad as the three of them were sitting around the dining table.

‘No,’ Emma said. ‘Have you?’

He shook his head.

‘I never realised Will was so bad,’ she said. ‘I thought he was fine.’

‘He’ll be okay. He just needs a break.’

‘When are you going to tell him about the baby?’

‘As soon as he gets back. I hope that he’ll be happy about it. Not at first, maybe, but eventually. Are you happy about it, Em?’

‘Yes, of course,’ said Emma, glancing at Miranda and smiling. ‘Of course – it’s great news.’

‘You never were a very good liar,’ said Edward bitterly, pushing his plate away. ‘I need to get some air.’

‘Dad, wait,’ Emma pleaded. But he walked out of the room.

‘I’m really sorry,’ she said, looking across to Miranda.

‘It’s okay. It isn’t just you – he’s been tetchy for the past week or so. Better just to let him go and cool off.’

‘I really am happy for you both,’ Emma said.

‘You don’t have to be. I wouldn’t blame you if you hated my guts, like Will obviously does. I’ve taken your mum’s place. I know I wouldn’t like it if the situation were reversed.’

‘Okay, I admit it was hard. It still is. But it’s not personal, Miranda. I actually think you’re very nice. It just takes time, that’s all. And Will – he’ll come around too. It’s just that my mum dying hurt him more than anyone.’

‘I didn’t plan to fall in love with your dad, you know. I don’t have some kind of fetish for older men. It just happened. My parents still think I’m crazy for being with someone not much younger than they are. But you don’t choose who you fall in love with. You just go along with the ride and see where it takes you. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.’