20
BROOKE
Brooke always said thank you to the hairdressers when they came upstairs after finishing work to sort things out in the flat. She knew they couldn’t hear or see her, but it wouldn’t have felt right not to acknowledge their thoughtfulness.
She watched as Ingrid closed the living room window and drew the curtains before flicking on the two lamps. She took the remote and turned the television on, then headed into the bedrooms to shut the windows and draw the curtains in those rooms. She kindly didn’t put the lights on in there so Brooke and Danny could sleep.
‘Right, my loves,’ Ingrid said, gazing for some reason in the direction of the kitchen, ‘that’s that sorted for today. I’ll love you and leave you. Hope you both have a good night.’
Brooke smiled. Ingrid always spoke out loud as if they were having a two-way conversation, though many times she and Danny had got home to find the tasks had already been carried out, so Ingrid would have been speaking to an empty flat. It was very thoughtful of her, though. People were very kind.
When Ingrid left, carefully locking the front door behind her, Brooke sank into an armchair and stared at the television without even noticing what was on it.
It had been a crazy day, meeting Kirsty of all people. She couldn’t believe her cousin was right here in Rowan Vale.
Should she have told her that Danny was also here? She nibbled at her thumbnail, thinking. She supposed, if she was being honest with herself, that she should have. It would surely be the right thing to do.
But would it? Kirsty wouldn’t be able to see or hear Danny so that would only be frustrating for her. And it would set Danny back no end if he saw his wife again. Besides, if Kirsty told him she was married to his brother now it might just tip him over the edge.
It was all right for Kirsty and Rory. They could drop the bombshell and head home to their perfect little life together. It was Brooke who’d have to stay behind and pick up the pieces again, and it had taken eighteen years to get Danny to the point of talking about Kirsty to the other ghosts. What would this setback do to him?
Oh! It was just typical of Kirsty to upset things, just as they were finally getting somewhere. She always was a pain in the arse.
‘Oh, you’re home.’
She jumped as Danny spoke, and looked up to see him standing by the door. He looked a bit edgy, and for an awful moment she wondered if he’d spotted Kirsty in the village. It was a scenario Brooke had played out in her head multiple times, and she knew it was a risk she couldn’t do anything about. She just had to hope Danny somehow didn’t catch sight of his wife while she was in the village.
Not, she realised suddenly, that Kirsty was his wife any more. She’d married Rory. She washiswife now. Oh heck, and how would Danny react to that?
Fingers crossed Kirsty would be gone soon and Danny would never find out.
‘Are you okay? How did the song rehearsal go?’ she asked.
Danny sat on the edge of the sofa looking rather guilty. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly. ‘I didn’t go to any song rehearsal because there wasn’t one. The truth is, I made that up so you wouldn’t come with me.’
Brooke couldn’t deny she was a bit hurt by that, even though he’d at least admitted it to her. It gave her the chills, though, when she realised that if Danny hadn’t been at a rehearsal he’d probably been wandering around Rowan Vale all afternoon and might have spotted Kirsty in the street. Or worse, come back to the flat and found her sitting in his living room with Brooke.
‘I see,’ she said. ‘And the reason for that was?’
Danny eyed her steadily for a moment and she noticed a sudden gleam that hadn’t been there before.
‘What are you up to?’ she asked suspiciously.
His face broke into a wide smile. ‘Sorry, Brooke,’ he said. ‘There’s something I didn’t tell you yesterday. I know I should have, but to be honest I needed to get my head around it and I wanted space to think it over before I told you.’
‘Told me what?’ Brooke felt a vague unease. What was Danny keeping from her?
‘You’re not going to believe this. Yesterday, I saw someone in the village. And you’ll never guess who.’
Brooke gave a silent groan. Too late then. It could only be Kirsty. Always popping up where she shouldn’t be and getting in the way of things.
‘Who?’
‘Rory!’
‘Oh heck.’
While she and Kirsty had been chewing the fat right here, Rory had been somewhere having a catch-up with Danny. So did that mean Danny knew everything? He seemed remarkably cheerful if so.
