“No,” she said.
He laughed. “You’re lying. I think you remember.”
She shook her head, focusing on the top button of his shirt, undone, just above the knot in the tie. She worried he could hear her heartbeat.
“It wouldn’t have ended well if we’d got together then,” he said, almost musing to himself.
“No, it wouldn’t,” she said, her eyes still on the button, thinking about a long-distance relationship with him when he was at the height of his solo success. She thought about her arduous journey to graduating medical school. Would she have finished it if, by some chance, they had got together? Would she have followed him round the world with her baby or would she have stayed and slogged her guts out to achieve her own dream and get qualified? She couldn’t say for sure but thinking about it then, she immediately saw herself on a tour bus, feeding a baby, alone.
“I was not ready then by any stretch of the imagination,” he said, blowing out a breath.
She thought about herself back then, all idealistic ambition. “No, me neither,” she admitted, grateful for the first time that their paths had diverged. It hit her unexpectedly hard, the idea that she would have almost definitely given up her own dream. How deep their resentment would be now.
She watched him smile down at her, his straight white teeth and the smattering of freckles over his nose. His hand held a bit tighter. The song changed. She found herself relaxing, allowing herself finally to keep looking at him.
“I know what you were wearing,” she relented.
He grinned. “Iknewyou did.”
She bashed him on the arm. “You’re so arrogant.”
He laughed, she felt the vibration in her chest, found they were dancing closer now than she’d thought. “One of my many charms,” he replied.
She had to look away again because, when he looked at her like that, it made her worry not about when he might leave again, but what might happen if he stayed.
More than anything, though, in that moment, she wanted them to be alone. Back in Logan’s house or at the cabin. She wanted him to pull her closer, wanted to reach up herself, rest her palm on his cheek and draw his lips to hers. To disappear into a moment that was just for them. Older, wiser, yet still with the same crackling, searing energy between them. Looking at his lips, she could almost taste him.
“Brodie Carter, can I have this dance?” a voice cut in next to them. It was Janette, Suki Rogers’s mom from Zoey’s class, the one who was so clued up about Brodie’s reputation.
“Certainly,” he said, because of course it would be impolite to say anything else, but Maeve felt the icy chill of stepping out of his embrace. The loss of his hand in hers.
Up on the stage, she was sure she saw Brodie’s mom narrow her eyes at Janette, like she was messing up the plan.
When Maeve turned, she was struck by the sight of Zoey watching gleefully, sitting on the edge of the stage with Logan and Bella, a toffee-apple in her hand, kicking her legs against the side.
She realized then that her and Brodiewerethe show, and that, of course, it wasn’t just the two of them. It was all much more complicated than that. Maeve wanted to melt into the crowd and disappear.
ChapterThirty-Four
The band took a break, which gave Brodie the opportunity to thank Janette Rogers for the many dances—she just wouldn’t let him go—and slip away. She wanted a quick selfie before he did, pressing their cheeks together as she beamed for the camera. He caught Zoey doing an impression of Janette behind them, which made him struggle to keep a straight face. When he went over to join her he said, “You gotta stop doing things like that, you’ll get me into trouble.”
“Please don’t marry Suki’s mom. I don’t want to have to go to their house for Christmas,” Zoey said with a scowl.
Brodie frowned, and turned to lean against the stage where Zoey was sitting. “Zoey, I danced with her, I’m not marrying her. You don’t need to worry about spending Christmas anywhere other than at your home with your mom.”
“And you,” she said, without hesitation.
Brodie remembered the rising claustrophobia when she’d said it the first time, when she’d asked him if he was her dad and he’d denied it. He may have managed to leap the dad hurdle but judging by the clamping of his lungs and the immediate denial on his lips, the instinct to say that he spent Christmas in St. Moritz every year, he clearly hadn’t made peace with the idea of being tied to Autumn Falls for the holiday season and beyond.
He was saved from having to answer by the band leader, John-Luke, who’d been drinking a paper cup of coffee while the band took their break, coming over and tapping him on the shoulder.
Zoey jumped down from the stage to dance with her friends because there was now a DJ playing loads of their favorite songs.
“Your dad tells me you might be interested in buying the orchard?” John-Luke said as he sipped his coffee.
Caught off-guard, Brodie smiled. “Oh… No we were just messing around.”
John-Luke seemed unperturbed, he said, “I did think it was a little weird. Can’t really picture you settling down and looking after apple trees.”
