Chapter Sixteen
Fame was a strange thing.
For fifteen years, Raven had been recognized everywhere she went. Airports, restaurants, Tesco Metro at two in the morning when she just wanted crisps and wine. Paparazzi lurking outside her flat. Journalists calling her manager for quotes about everything from her latest album to her opinion on Brexit.
Then she'd come to Bankton specifically to escape all that, to be anonymous and left alone.
And now, somehow, being mistaken for a criminal outside a primary school had made her infamous in the village.
"Morning, Raven!" Daisy called out, bouncing past with her post bag. "Lovely day, isn't it?"
"Is it?" Raven squinted at the gray October sky.
"Oh, absolutely! Any day without rain is a gift, that's what I always say." Daisy beamed at her.
Raven shook her head and kept walking, hands shoved deep in the pockets of her leather jacket. The corner shop owner had nodded at her when she bought coffee that morning. Gloria Cunningham had actually stopped mid-sentence during oneof her dramatic monologues yesterday to say hello. Even the dustman knew her name now.
It was unsettling.
But also… not entirely terrible.
Which was even more unsettling.
She was heading toward the pub, ready for the two beers she was going to allow herself after writing for twenty minutes and staring into space for four hours, when she spotted Jamie Long sitting alone on a bench in the village square.
The kid looked miserable.
Raven's first instinct was to keep walking. She had no business getting involved in whatever was making an eight-year-old look like the world was ending. She was a rockstar, not a social worker.
But then she remembered how he'd smiled when she'd taught him those guitar chords. How he'd actually looked happy for the first time since she'd met him.
Bollocks.
She crossed the square and sat down at the other end of the bench.
"Hey."
Jamie looked up, surprised. "Hi, Ms. Raven."
"Just Raven's fine." She pulled out her phone and pretended to check it, giving him space to either talk or not. "You alright?"
He shrugged.
"Fair enough." Raven pocketed her phone. "Stupid question anyway."
That got a tiny smile.
They sat in silence for a moment. A few villagers walked past, and Raven caught them glancing over with that look people got when they recognized her but weren't quite sure what to do about it. She ignored them.
"Do you think…" Jamie started, then stopped.
"Think what?"
"Do you think you could teach me more guitar?"
Raven studied him. He was gripping the edge of the bench like he expected her to say no.
"Yeah," she said. "I could do that."
