Away From the Spotlight (41 page)

While we were driving, I called Pam on her cell and told her that we were fine, but that I didn’t think we would be able to get together again before I met her at Heathrow for the flight to Ireland.  She understood and hung up, sayin
g, “Be careful.”

Will’s mother and Pete both called Will on his cell to check in, having seen the morning papers.  Will informed them that we would be fi
ne and asked them not to worry,
that he would take c
are of it like he always did.

We decided to get out of
C
entral London, believing that we might be safer elsewhere.  We took the road north and I thought of
a place
where we could go that might be quieter this time of year
:
Cambridge.

I had
attended
a summer program there after my sophomore year of college
.  Although I
had one of the best times of my life
there
,
I
hadn’t been back since.

“You went to
Cambridge
?
I
don’t know why I’m surprised.”

“I told you I had been to England before
a couple of times
.
  Th
at
was one of the times.
 
I
t was only a summer program.  I received two units of college credit, that’s all.
  It was no big deal.
”

“I wanted to take you somewhere
new
.”

“This will be just as fun for me, I promise.  I would love to go back
and see some of my old haunts.”

“Will this make you happy?”

“Yes
. 
I would love to share it with you.”

As we approached Cambridge, it was
late morning,
close to lunchtime.  I took
Will
to
a p
ub just down the street from the college I had lived in during my stay there.  The food had been so bad at my college that I often came
here
to eat something after
the so-called meals
.
The
pub
was located right alongside the River Cam and we sat out on the patio for the view since it was a nice day. 
I ordered quiche, salad and cider
and Will had the steak and mushroom pie
,
and a beer.

“Did you ever do that?” Will asked pointing at the people on the boats called punts that were pushed downriver with long poles.

“Yes.  We tried it ourselves.  We were pretty pathetic.  We had to have someone tow us back because we got stuck.”  I laughed at the memory.  Will laughed with me.

“You want to try it again?  It looks like fun.”

“Sure, but let’s do the chauffeured tour.”

We arranged for a private tour and settled into the punt facing away from the tour guide who was pushing the punt.  Will had his arm around me and would kiss me from time-to-time throughout the tour, while we listened to the history of the various Cambridge colleges we passed and what life is like
there
today.  Before we got out of the punt at the end of the tour, I used my camera for the first time since my arrival and had the guide ta
ke a picture of the two of us.

After
the tour
, we strolled
through
town.  It was very peaceful and the crowd was pretty light.  There were a
few stares, but no paparazzi.

I
then
took
Will
to
a well-known t
ea
h
ouse for tea and the best scones I had ever had, piled high with jam and Devonshire clotted cream.  I was going
to be in sugar shock for days.

We headed back toward London
in the
late afternoon
, both of us quietly thinking about what was in s
tore for us when we got there.

As we approached Hampstead, Will looked at me and asked, “You ready
?
”

I gulped, “Yes.”

We were going to try the back entrance trick again, but we weren’t sure
whether or not
it was going to work.  There was no key for the entrance from the back.  The only way for Will to get in was through the front door.  The plan was that he would drop me off at the back, park on the side street and brave the masses to come in through the front
walking back to let me inside.

We drove down a street perpendicul
ar to Will’s and saw the crowd.

“Don’t the
police do anything about this?”

“They probably have, several times today.  The paparazzi just come back again and again.  A picture of you or of us is worth a fortune to the
m.  They won’t give up easily.”

Will dropped me off as planned.  There was no one there.  A little bit later,
although I couldn’t hear anything due to the distance and the building in the way,
I
imagined that I
could hear
Will
arrive out front
with
cameras clicking and questions
posed
such as “Who is she?” “Where did you meet her?
” and “H
ow long have you been dating?”

At that moment, I heard someone walk toward me and look
ed
down at the
ground before I heard the camera
click and saw the flash.  Not long after, I heard the door open and Will call for me to come inside.  The photographer probably got a good shot of
Will
, but thankfully not of
my face
. 
T
his time,
though,
I wouldn’t be fuzzy and the fact that I had red hair would be clear.

When we got inside, Will was upset.
 
We sat on the sofa together and
I kissed him
to try
to take his mind off of things.  His mood didn’t improve.

“Will, don’t
be
like this.  We have only a few days
left
before I leave.”

“
Shannon, y
ou have
no
idea what this could do to your life.  I won’t do this to you.”

“I don’t think we have a choice at this point.”

“There’s
always
a choice.”

“What do you mean by
that
?”

“Nothing.”
Will scowled.

“Will, nothing bad has happened.  You
’
re borrowing trouble and you’re scaring me.”

“Shannon, you just don’t
understand
!” he yelled.  I had never heard him yell before except in
his
movie
s
.

I started to cry in response.  I
then
grabbed my purse on the table next t
o the sofa and ran out of the flat, exiting through the bac
k door.  There was a lone photographer
there waiting
, but my head was down as I ran away.  The photographer didn’t follow, probably unsure
of
whether I was the one he was seeking since Will wasn’t with me.  I didn’t stop running until I hit the Tube station.  I took the Tube southbound
, changing trains at Euston, and finally arriving at
Victoria
, the Britrail station for those trains headed in the direction of
Jane
’s place
.  There were a few stares on the train as I sobbed somewhat uncontrollably.  Upon arriving at Victoria, I wandered around and found a Starbucks and decided to
get coffee before calling Pam.

“Shannon, what’s up?  Is everything all right?”

“No.  Will and I just got into a fight.”  I fought to hold back the sobs and succeeded only partially.

“Where are you?  There’s a lot of background noise.”

“At the Starbucks at Victoria.”

“Can I call you right back?  Let me get on a land line.  I
’
m having trouble hearing you.”

“Okay.”

I took several sips of my
latte
before the phone rang.

“That’s better,” Pam said.  Of course, I
had
n’t ha
d
any trouble hearing before.  “What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know,” I responded.  “I thought about coming your way.”

“You know you’re welcome here, but maybe you should consider going back and talking to Will.  He’s probably very worried.”

“I don’t care
right this moment
.  He’s all paranoid about the paparazzi and is taking it out on me.”
  Anger was beginning to replace my sobs.

“He’ll calm down
, I’m sure.  He’s probably
feeling guilty about putting you in this position.”

“Maybe, but he shouldn’t be taking it out on me,” I said sh
arply
.

“I think the best thing
f
or us
to do is
to change the subject for a while and let you calm down.  Then we can figure out what to do.  Okay?”

I agreed and so w
e talked for a while about what we both had been doing since arriving
in London
.  My sobs
completely
subsided and I hoped that the redness and puffiness in my face was starting to
diminish
.  Just as I was about to
return to
the subject
of
meeting Pam at
Jane
’s
place
, I looked up from my
latte
to find Will standin
g in front of me
with
an anguished look on
his face
.

“You called Will, didn’t you?” I said to Pam.

“Yes, he called before you in a panic.”

“Well, he’s here.  I’ll talk to you later.” 
I
’ll
deal with the Benedict Arnold
then
.

Will grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet into a hug.  “I love you, Shannon.  I am
so
sor
ry.  Please come back home with me.
”

He kissed me and, when I pulled away, I noticed that everyone around us was staring, no doubt having recognized Will.  Will must have noticed too because he took my hand and led me out of
the coffee house
. 
When we got
outside of the station and
to the street
,
Will started to look out for a cab
.

I said, “You’re assuming my answer is ‘yes.’”

Will looked at me with a distraught expression.  “You won’t
come home with me
?”

“I will, but I don’t like that you just assumed I would.”

“What do you want me to do, Shannon?”

“I don’t know.  I’m just mad at you
right now
.”

“Why don’t I take you to dinner
then
and
we can talk
?
”

“Okay,” I said reluctant
ly
.

We
took
a cab to a
trendy
retro restaurant in Soho where the tables were not placed so close together that your neighbors could hear your conversation.  It was a casual hipster kind of place, which was good because I was not dressed for a more formal setting.  The cab ride was spent in silence and, when we arrived at the restaurant
and Will was recognized by the Maitre D’
, we were seated without delay at a
dark and
private cor
ner table.

Once alone again
, Will asked, “What can I do to fix things, Shannon?”

I had been thinking about
it
in
the
cab
ride
over
and I responded,
“Don’t obsess about the paparazzi.”

“I can do that.  What else?”

“If they cause a problem, don’t take it out on me.”

“I didn’t mean to do that.  I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t hear your promise on that one.”

“Okay, I promise.”

“One more thing:
Don’t take me for granted.  You’re so used to getting your way.  Even Pam did what you wanted and told you where I was without regard for what
I
wanted.  And you just assumed I would see you and fall into
your arms and forgive you.”