Netta responded by blowing her a kiss and Ginny had to blink back tears of pure joy for her friend. She’d miss this. She’d miss them all. Her world was about to completely change, and the emotion of the day suddenly became all too much. As she heard Moira wrap it all up and say her goodbyes, Ginny took a step backwards and then discreetly ducked out of the door, seeking refuge in the corridor.
Caden must have spotted her make her escape though, because only a few seconds later, he found her there. ‘Hey… I just got a text from Carl Boddins to say that you got the role. Congratulations. I knew you’d do it.’
‘You did?’
‘Yeah, of course. I mean, they know we’re together. They wouldn’t dare piss me off by knocking you back.’
Ginny closed her eyes. There was so much she could say – the first being the obvious point that they couldn’t care too much about pissing him off because they were in fact going to reject her until they saw the show tonight and changed their minds. But what was the point?
Because even with her eyes shut, even if she were wearing a mask, even if she was in a blacked out room, with a blanket over her head, even if all those things were true, for the first time in a long time she felt like she could see something absolutely clearly.
‘I’m not accepting the role.’
He laughed. ‘Yeah right, babe. Of course you’re not. Good joke.’ The scoff in his voice made her even more resolute.
‘I’m serious, Caden, I’m not taking it.’
He stopped laughing and eyed her like she’d lost her mind. ‘Fuck, you’re serious.’
‘I’m serious.’
‘But that doesn’t make any sense. Why?’
‘Because it’s not right for me. Being a touring theatre actress was never my dream. That’s your path. It’s not mine.’ Even as she was saying it, the knowledge that it was true was descending on her like a calm, clear breath of air. ‘I don’t want to be on the road.’ There was a pause, before her mouth blurted out her next thought, before consulting her brain. The truth did that sometimes. ‘And I don’t want to be with you.’
Despite the brutal truth of it, the words felt like another breath of calm, clear air. Their relationship had worked when it was long distance. When it was a few nights here and there, with occasional longer spells between productions. But twenty-four/seven, with no breaks from each other? No. Just no.
Apparently, he wasn’t on the same page of the script.
‘Now I know you’re joking,’ he scoffed again. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Ginny. The two best things that ever happened to you are me and this offer.’
Now she was the one who was laughing, but it came from a place of incredulity that she’d cared for this guy, that she hadn’t seen who he really was until today. Before now, the excitement of him riding into town for snatched romantic breaks had formed rose coloured glasses on her face and she’d chosen not to take them off. Her sister had always said that Ginny lived like she was in a perpetual romcom, and now she recognised that Alyssa wasn’t wrong.
‘And that, right there, is what I should have seen a long time ago. Don’t flatter yourself, Caden. I’ll let Carl Dobbins know in the morning that I’m rejecting the job. Consider this your official notification that I’m rejecting you too.’
With that, she turned and began walking away, leaving him behind her. Where she now realised that he should have been left long ago.
‘Ginny, don’t you dare walk away from me.’ It was a low, arrogant growl and it was immediately followed by a very direct and definitive, ‘Don’t you fucking dare speak to her like that.’
Oh shit.
Ginny turned around to see that Ollie had come out of the same door she’d escaped through and was now facing Caden, eyes blazing.
‘Time to leave, pal,’ he added. ‘Pal’ was a much-used and very affectionate word in Scotland, but not when it was being said in the broad Glaswegian tone of warning that Ollie was using now, one that definitely didn’t suggest friendliness.
Ginny watched as Caden took a second to decide if he was going to challenge Ollie or walk away. She already knew the answer.
‘Ah, you can keep her. I couldn’t give a toss,’ Caden spat, as he began walking backwards. Ginny had a sudden wish that there was a bollard in the middle of the corridor behind him, because she’d give anything to see him land on his arse.
Ollie shook his head, a wry smile on his face. ‘You know, Caden, I remember you being a bit of a prick at school. Good to see some things don’t change.’
Caden just turned around and kept on walking, and Ginny felt, in every fibre of her soul, that she was happy to see him go.
Ollie sauntered towards her, shrugged as he got closer. ‘So, I guess we’re both going to be avoiding romcoms for the foreseeable future then?’ he asked, and it was so ridiculous that Ginny burst out laughing.
‘I guess so.’
He slung his arm around her shoulder as they both walked down the corridor towards Moira’s office.
