Still Ryan didn’t look in the least bit discouraged as he considered her answer. And even as he handed her a piece of paper with his phone number on it, ‘just in case you are ever bored’, Beth told herself that she would simply throw it away later.
But when, later, the slip of paper materialised in her pocket as she clocked out of Carlisle’s for the day, she put it in her purse. No big deal, it was just a number. She had contact details for many of her co-workers, after all.
And really, what was so wrong with having a new friend?
***
‘Hey, Billy,’ Danny called out as he beat the concierge to the front entry of the building. ‘No worries, I got it,’ he added, opening the door himself.
Billy stood back as Danny made his way into the lobby of the apartment building. ‘How you doing today, Danny boy? Life treating you well? Haven’t seen you around much lately; they must be working you hard over on Madison Avenue.’
Danny smiled uncomfortably as he passed the Scotsman, and punched the up button for the elevator. ‘It is what it is. Work has been busy, yes, a lot to do.’ He glanced at the elevator doors, willing them to open faster. Billy was a nice guy but Danny wasn’t in the mood for making small talk, and the last thing he wanted was to get into a discussion about why he hadn’t been around lately. While the concierge would of course be none the wiser about any of Danny’s activities, he still knew he was a lousy liar, and speaking anything but the truth always made him feel guilty.
Billy nodded. ‘Yeah, I understand that for sure. Beth’s already home, you’ll be glad to hear. She came in about an hour ago. Practically dancing on air. That girl is always happy but today you could tell that she had a real spring in her step. You two going out tonight then?’ The concierge smiled knowingly and Danny couldn’t help but wonder why. He swallowed hard when he realised that he hadn’t yet spoken to Beth today.
‘No plans. Not that I know of, anyway.’ What he did know was that whatever was behind Beth’s apparent good mood had nothing to do with him. To Danny’s knowledge, the only thing that his girlfriend had done today was go to work. Hardly anything exciting about that. He knew that she was great at her job, threw everything into her movie-themed shoe displays, and made terrific commission from some of her very rich clients, especially at this time of year. But in his mind, unless someone had walked in and spent twenty grand on stuff, there was little about a day in Carlisle’s to be overly giddy about.
Billy chuckled merrily. ‘Ach, well, maybe you do and you don’t know it. You know what women are like: always keeping us on our toes,’ he joked in his Scottish lilt. ‘Though I have yet to find one to do that for me,’ he added, somewhat wistfully.
‘See you later, Billy.’
As Danny got out of the elevator and approached the door to his apartment, he heard the sound of cheery music from inside: ‘Sleigh Ride’by the Ronettes, one of Beth’s favourite Christmas tunes. She loved this time of year and, much to Danny’s amusement, always insisted on playing a Christmas album while they were decorating the tree.
But they hadn’t done that yet this year.
Frowning confusedly, he fished his keys out of his pocket and, as he opened the door, the music got louder. He placed his briefcase down and was immediately met with a dancing and singing Beth in the kitchen.
Danny had to smile. She had obviously not heard him enter, nor did she realise that her performance now had an audience. With Brinkley at her feet, and pans strewn across the counter as she prepped the dinner, she spun around the kitchen, extracting a corkscrew from one cabinet and pirouetting to the small wine rack they kept on an opposite counter. She then did a twirl, using the wine bottle as her microphone and continued to sing about how lovely the weather was for a sleigh ride.
Just as she was about to reach the cabinet where they kept their wine glasses, she faltered and started to laugh, embarrassed. She had finally noticed him standing there.
‘Bravo,’ he smiled, applauding. However he might be feeling, it was impossible not to get caught up in Beth’s infectious joy, and Danny’s heart twisted a little as he realised just how much he loved this girl, despite everything.
And more to the point, how it would kill him to intentionally break her heart.
‘Why that song? We’re not decorating the tree tonight, are we?’ Danny called out over the music.
She put the wine bottle and corkscrew down and did a small curtsy for show. Then she picked up the remote control to the iPhone dock and pointed it across the room, decreasing the volume of the music.
‘Nope, just in a good mood. Felt like some Christmas cheer, that’s all.’
But Danny continued to probe further, noticing that Beth had a semi manic look about her just then. The way someone might look if they just got off a roller coaster: face flushed, cheeks glowing, eyes happy. It was one thing to be in a good mood – indeed, Beth was in a good mood pretty much all the time – but something else was going on here.
And that bothered Danny because he couldn’t put his finger on it.
‘A good day at work, then?’ he asked.
She shrugged noncommittally, and turned her attention back to the cabinet to reach for a wine glass. ‘Yeah, it was fine, typical holiday shopping craziness. Marley Dempsey came in too, you know, the hotel heiress? That will be a nice commission cheque next month,’ she smiled, and flipped her hair over her shoulder.
OK, so a good sale, that must be it – but…
At that moment, Beth turned back towards him for a split second and that’s when he noticed it. Yes, her face was flushed, no doubt from the exertion of dancing and singing, but there was something else. The faintest blush was creeping up around her neck, making its way to find a home on her face. He hadseenthat blush before. That much, he was sure of. Beth blushed like that when she was nervous, and excited, or… guilty about something.
Danny’s eyes narrowed. But what was she guilty about? Something was going on. He knew Beth’s moods, kneweverythingabout her. One thing was for sure, he could read her like an open book and he knew without a doubt that something had happened. Something, or someone, had caused Beth’s jubilant mood. And he also knew it certainly wasn’t him.
That thought troubled him. But then he wondered why he was being this way. After all,hehad been keeping something fromher. Something huge. Wasn’t he being a hypocrite here? Or was sneaking around like this making him paranoid?
Goodness knew it wasn’t the first time he’d seen her happy and dancing around the kitchen like the kids fromFootloose. Though that had mostly been in the early days, Danny thought wistfully. There hadn’t been too many opportunities for fun and whimsy over the last couple of years, since money had become tight and more grown-up issues had gotten in the way.
