Silent Treatment (18 page)

“No matter, it was a big school and a long time ago. I don’t suppose you remember many people from there anyway. Well, except for this gentleman of course, but then you do seem to spend every waking moment together so it would be hard not to remember him.” She edged
her way between the two footballers and Daniel stared down at her in utter amazement at her words. He didn’t have time to comment before she carried on. “I have a car waiting outside, if you’d like to come with me.” She gave a hurried glance at Lisa. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think about a booster seat for your kid. Shall I call you a cab with one? I can take Daniel onto the studio and you can do…well, you can do just what you feel like.” Jenna turned from Lisa dismissively.

Paul stepped away from Jenna and passed Tommy to Lisa. He spoke to her in a low voice close to her ear.

“Look, I don’t know what her game is, but you don’t have to be a part of it. I’ll call you and Tommy a cab. Can you go round to Carrie’s house? See if her dad knows what’s going on. I’d better go with Dan, he’s obviously upset she’s not here. There’s probably a simple explanation. I bet airport security have kept the public out or something like that. We’ll meet you at Carrie’s later.”

Lisa nodded and Paul kissed her briefly to a mad clicking of cameras.

Jenna gushed wildly.

“Ooh young lov
e! Perhaps we can get some background on you too Paul, though obviously you are not quite as famous as the lovely Daniel Lewis.”

Paul shook his head and laughed.

“Not a chance Jenna. I may not be as famous, but then I’m probably not as polite as Daniel either. You’d better stick with him. I’ll just tag along for the ride.”

They had reached the picking up point and a long limousine swept into view. Paul made everyone wait until he was sure Lisa was pu
t into a cab with Tommy and all their luggage, then he climbed into the limousine with Jenna, Daniel and what felt like a whole film crew.

Jenna talked
Daniel through the coming live interview the whole way to the studios. A couple of times he nodded at something Jenna said, but most of the journey he just stared morosely out of the window.

Paul knew that something was terribly
wrong. Daniel was normally fairly chatty, conversation coming easily to his lips, but now his face was sombre, his forehead wrinkled into a deep frown and his eyes dull with his own thoughts. He barely spoke a word and his fingertips continually drummed on his knee.

Paul talked incessantly to
cover for Daniel’s silence. He was desperate to speak to his friend, to reassure him, but he couldn’t say a word in front of Jenna. It would be all over the news in seconds.

Daniel sat coiled in the leather seat. His expression grim and Paul could see that he was about to
go off like an erupting volcano but there was nothing he could say to ease Daniel’s tension. All he could do was stay close to his friend’s side and be there to catch the fallout when the explosion eventually took place.

Another television crew met them at the studio and Daniel was rushed through to make-up. Then twenty minutes later Jenna came into the dressing room and asked
him to come through to the studio.

Paul watched
from the sidelines as the camera crew fell silent and Jenna introduced the Atlanta Raiders youngest ever Captain and highest ever goal scorer. Then the interview began.

Jenna started by asking about the transition from English rugby to American football and Daniel explained the first few weeks training that he and Paul had undergone. He answered her questions on his studies and the college in general. He was a little more reticent when she asked about his thirty million dollar contract and whether it was going to be
renewed and then she asked about his living arrangements.

Daniel shook his head
firmly.

“Sorry Jenna. I
don’t discuss my personal life. You know that.” He began to tap his foot slightly.

Jenna spread her hands in mock shock.

“But Daniel, the public are fascinated by you. Successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams at the age of twenty one, and no one knows about your home life. You must be able to give us something to get out teeth into. Your relationship with Paul and his…err, his wife, for instance. I understand that you all live together. A real ménage a trois.” Jenna’s voice gave the slightest lift and even Paul’s eyes boggled at her insinuation. He saw Daniel sit a little straighter in his chair, his fingers drumming on the arm rest.

“I’m not answering any questions about my private life Jenna.” His voice was very low, his eyebrows furrowed and his sapphire eyes became midnight dark.

Jenna sat forward as if about to pounce on him.

“Oh
, come on Daniel, you can tell us. We all know that you’ve lived with Paul Edmonds since you left England for the States. I can’t think why you need to keep it a secret.”

Daniel positively glowered
at her now.

“It’s no secret. I’m just not answering any questions on it. Now please ask something else or we
will have to conclude this interview.”

Jenna looked as though she were about to ask again, but then she backed off
as she caught his furious expression.

“Okay, if you insist. Now about your thesis on sports injuries and the completely new techniq
ue of keeping fit while injured. As you seem to do so much together, can you confirm to the viewers if Paul is involved with you in that? As a ‘hands on’ sort of friend?”

Daniel put his hands firmly on the arms of the chair and started to push himself up. Jenna reached out and made to push him down again, but Daniel whisked his arm from u
nder hand before she could touch him.

“Oh dear, Daniel.”
She laughed again as she nearly fell over. “We do seem to have hit a bit of a raw nerve. I only want to discover your true personality, not the image that you live behind. Well, I can’t really see why your private relationship with Paul bothers you anyway. Everyone has one or two guilty secrets. If you are in the public eye, you must expect them to be exposed.”

Daniel
suddenly turned on the woman, his face like stone. He leaned forwards slightly in his chair, his expression dangerous.

“Yes. I expect we all have a secret or two.
Like you for instance. Actually I lied to you at the airport earlier, I do remember you.” He waited while Jenna gave a delighted smile and then carried on. “I did a little checking before we came over. I recalled that your name was really Jennifer and that you hide your real name just in case people remember what a vile woman you really are.” He looked fiercely into her eyes. She was momentarily stunned and then he spoke suspiciously softly again. “So maybe that’s just one of your guilty secrets, but I know another one too Jennifer. Perhaps your viewers would like to share it with me. Do you remember, Jennifer?” He emphasized her real name. “Do you remember when you were sixteen, you were so jealous of your best friend gaining a dancing contract, that you tried to sabotage her whole future by slamming her arm in a fire door. You and one or two of your miserable friends managed to dislocate her shoulder…And, as if trying to end her career wasn’t enough for you, you wrote up spiteful articles and then outright lies about her relationship with me.” He paused, but Jenna didn’t respond. Her whole face was a mask of shock. He hissed at her. “So is that your other guilty secret Jennifer, the fact that you are a nasty, scheming, two faced bitch who just likes to hurt people who do better than you? Perhaps you like it now that your true personality has been exposed to your viewers by an eye witness.” He stood up swiftly, shoving his chair backwards into a wall and then moved across the studio. There was stunned silence on the studio floor as he strode towards Paul and said.

“Come on, let’s ditch the bodyguards and get out of here. I can drop you off so that you can meet Lisa. I’m going back to Heathrow. With a bit of luck I can get a flight back out to Atlanta this afternoon.”

And then the cameras cut back to Jennifer as she sat stunned in her chair while her mouth opened and closed soundlessly.

Chapter Fourteen

At the same time in Harrow

“What the hell is she talking about!” Lisa was standing in front of the television screen, her fists clenched in fury. “She’s insinuating that we have some kind of threesome going! A ménage a trois? Did she really say that? What a stinking cow! What the hell is she suggesting?” She was totally shocked.

Carrie sat with her head in her hands. Seeing Daniel rattled like this was appalling.

“Well she hasn’t changed much! I don’t think it’s about a threesome Lisa. I think she’s trying to get him to come out of the closet on live television.”

Lisa looked at her in total confusion.

“What closet? They’re in a studio…” And then it sunk in. “Oh! The gay thing.”

Carrie looked kindly at Lisa.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to cover up for him, I’ve suspected it for years. And you’ve told me yourself that he never goes out with any women in America…Do you know what Lisa? I think that maybe Jennifer is right and Daniel is in love with Paul. He probably lives with you two still, just so he can be near him.”

Lisa started an almost maniacal laugh, but caught her breath quickly as she saw Carrie shake her head.

“Are you mad Carrie! Daniel isn’t gay, you idiot. And especially not with my Paul! My God, Paul would go bonkers! I can’t believe you think it still. They’re just best friends and the house is enormous, it makes sense that we all live together. I thought I’d explained, Daniel has his own wing to himself. Why would he want to bother spending a fortune living anywhere else?”

Carrie looked up at the screen again just as the odious Jennifer tried to shoot yet another barb. He fought back, his revealing words rocking Carrie to the core, and then he stalked off the set. She could barely believe it as she heard his voice, angry and tight, coming from somewhere out of camera shot.

“I’m going back to Heathrow. With a bit of luck I can get a flight back out to Atlanta this afternoon.”

Carrie sat back and stared at Jenna’s gawping, silent face for a few seconds and then the screen cut to
advertisements. She tried to take in Lisa’s words and then she swivelled round to her mother who was bouncing a laughing Tommy on her knee.

“Did you hear that
mum? He said he was going back to Heathrow. He’s not coming here at all.” Her face was a solid mask, her voice completely hollow with shock.

Lisa spun around
from the screen.

“He can’t go back! He’s meant to be coming with us. Something has gone dreadfully wrong
Carrie. I’m sure he was expecting you to be at the airport today. I know Paul rang your dad with the flight numbers yesterday. And I overheard Daniel talking to Paul a while back about some sort of pact you two had made. He always said he couldn’t speak to you because it would break his word.”

Carrie stood up and wrung her hands.

“What pact? I don’t know what you’re talking about. The last time I saw Daniel was at that hotel in Birmingham after we finished our first tour together, and we never said anything about any pact. He left after he put me to bed. You have to remember the night Lisa. It was the night you got pregnant!” The desperation in her tone was obvious.

Lisa tried very hard not to go mushy with the memory.

“Of course I remember the night Carrie, but Paul and I hardly saw you and Daniel. As you point out we were otherwise engaged.” She looked fondly at Tommy.

Carrie was frantic now.

“But how does he expect me to be somewhere when I don’t know what he’s arranged? I didn’t know about the flight. I didn’t even know you were coming home until mum told me as I arrived back from Paris yesterday.” Carrie caught hold of her friend’s arms and shook her imploringly.

Jim suddenly shuffled in
to the lounge from the kitchen. He had been listening to the conversation. He coughed nervously a couple of times before Helen almost shouted at him.

“For goodness sake Jim, I can tell you’ve got something to do with this. Spit it out. This is important.”

Jim hesitated for a second longer.

“It’s just that…you remember me saying that I found out about the spa because someone reconfirmed the booking, well I also said there had been two other messages, neither of which I understood because of the echoing and distortion
on the line, but now, hearing what Lisa says, I think that they may have been flight details.”

Tommy slid from Helen’s knee as her arms fell limp at her sides. He ran to his mother and clutched at her leg.

Helen shook her head in defeat.

“Oh God Jim, you idiot.
What have you gone and done?”

Jim puffed out his chest.

“Now hang on just a moment! There’s no need to take that attitude with me. How was I to know it was some kind of message for Carrie? If you ask me he’s just trying to get out of coming here. He doesn’t want to be associated with the likes of us. He’s gone way too upmarket with his thirty million dollars to come anywhere near here.”

Lisa picked up Tommy and leapt forwards.

“That’s ridiculous Jim. Daniel’s not a snob. He loves it around here and wanted to come back. He’s bought a house not far away so I know he wants to be here. And apart from that, he and Paul have been selected for the England rugby squad! The contracts have all been signed, and his visa has run out anyway. He can’t just go back to America!”

Carrie didn’t have time to gasp before there was a loud hammering on the front door. Everyone jumped as Jim went to answer it and he was almost crushed behind the door as Paul thundered through into the lounge.

He faced Carrie, his expression beyond furious. He didn’t wait for her to open her mouth before he shouted.

“He’s gone! My be
st friend has gone and it’s all your fault! Why couldn’t you have been at the airport like he asked? Even if you don’t want him, you could have been there. We could have sorted everything else out afterwards, but now…I don’t know what’s going to happen now.” His angry tone was tinged with sadness.

Carrie felt faint, but she managed to answer quietly.

“I didn’t know that I was supposed to be there. I didn’t know I was meant to be waiting for your flight. I didn’t even know anything about you all coming home until I arrived here yesterday.” She felt her knees giving way and she clutched at the doorframe.

Paul was still furious.

“Don’t give me that Carrie. I’ve known that you had some kind of agreement with Dan for years. He just dropped me off at the end of the road, told me while we were getting here that he gave you a letter three years ago explaining everything. He was sure that you would stand by what he asked you. But you didn’t…” Paul trailed off helplessly.

C
arrie’s vision cleared slightly but she was still very confused. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

“That doesn’t make sense. H
e didn’t give me any letter, Paul. He hasn’t asked me to do anything. I haven’t seen or heard a thing from him in nearly three years. If he sent a letter, it must have been lost in the post. I swear to you, Paul. I haven’t received a thing from him in all the time you have been away. Not one single thing.” Carrie had tears of desperation in her eyes.

Lisa jumped in.

“And Carrie thought because Daniel never made a move on her before you both left, she thought that he must be gay. That’s what that vile reporter thought too. That’s why she asked those ridiculous questions and insinuated all that idiotic stuff.”

Paul looked completely dumbfounded.

“Gay! Daniel Lewis gay? Have you all gone completely mad? He’s probably the least gay man I know. Just because a guy doesn’t fool a round or play the field, doesn’t mean that he’s gay, but whatever that evil cow insinuated or whatever Carrie thought, it doesn’t explain why Carrie didn’t get the letter. Dan said he’d given it to you, not sent it.

Jim found his way out from behind the door. He couldn’t look at either Carrie or Paul. He looked down at the floor as he stammered.

“I…I…err, I think I may have to make a confession.” There was stunned silence as everyone looked over at him. He continued nervously. “Daniel gave a letter to me when you both came round the afternoon you left for Atlanta, just before Carrie was due home from that first tour. He told me about the cheap plane tickets going out from Birmingham and that he wouldn’t be able to come to Carrie’s welcome home party. He didn’t know if he’d get time to see Carrie before he flew so he asked me to pass it on.” His face was rapidly turning crimson and Carrie heard her mother whisper.

“Oh no!
What have you gone and done now Jim?”

Jim was still spluttering. He turned to his wife.

“I thought he was trying to make her go to America, Helen! I had every right not to give her the letter.”

Carrie stood firmly now. She faced her father.

“You have to hope and pray that you still have it dad, or I swear to God that there is going to be a murder in this family.” Her tone would have splintered solid granite.

Jim moved quickly to the sideboard and rummage
d right at the back of a drawer for what felt like an eternity. He pulled out a dusty, crumpled envelope. It was addressed to Carrie in bold black writing. Carrie snatched it from his hand and tore it open.

Three close
ly written sheets were in her hand.

She began to cry at the first line.

Carrie, I love you.

There! I’ve said it at last. It’s so simple on paper.

I love you. See, easy.

I have wanted to say these words to you so many times over the last few weeks, over the last few years really. I’ve known that I wanted to be with you since I was about twelve. You had just come up to the senior school and you looked just so cute in your new uniform. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed walking to school with you after I left the Juniors, but suddenly I just knew that I had. I was so happy every time I saw you coming along the road towards me.

Then earlier this year, when I was filling in the application forms for Atlanta, it
all hit me like a brick between the eyes. I felt physically sick as I posted the application. I wasn’t going to see you for three years! And then I knew it was way more than just missing walking along a road with you. I should have told you the truth then, but I just couldn’t, and now I’ve gone and left it too late. All those years of walking right beside you, all the times I could have said something about how I feel. I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been.

And I couldn’t tell you just as you are about to embark on a fabulous dancing career and I am about to leave you for three years. What a fool eh?

I’m only writing this now because I’m sure you feel the same about me. Carrie, I swear I could hear your heart beating every time I was near you. And the gasps of pain, that were no such thing. I could see the pulse in your throat leaping endlessly. God! I so wanted to kiss it. And when your lips trembled, I just wanted to cover them with mine. The few times I touched your bare skin were pure torture. And when you cried and I held you because you felt lonely! I can barely write this now for the feelings that are burning through my body.

I’ve had to keep everything back from you and I don’t know how I’ve managed it, but I can’t take you from your family or your education or
your dancing. Sixteen is way too young to give everything up. I know I may make it out in the States, but I may not either. I can’t take the risk of asking you to come with me. It wouldn’t be fair.

Carrie, I want you to do something for me. I want you to wait for me. I know I have no right to
ask, but please believe me when I say that I know I will only ever love you and that I will come back for you. The way things are going with your dancing, you probably won’t even notice that I’m gone, so three years will be easy for you.

I’m not goin
g to contact you at all while I’m gone. I can’t. If I see you, or even hear you, I will be lost completely. It’s hard enough knowing I am leaving a day early and I can’t even tell you all this. You’ll cry again and then I will have to stay. I can’t do that. I have of make a go of this for us.

When my course is finished and I’m on
my way home, I’ll ask Paul to call. He’ll leave you the flight date and number. I’m too scared to do it myself in case I have this all wrong. I’m praying that I don’t. If you’re at the airport, I’ll know that you have waited for me and that you love me and want me as much as I love and want you.

I so need you to wait for me.

Please be there Carrie.

Daniel

P.S. I’ve written out enough “I love you’s” for you to have at least one for every day that I’m gone.

P.P.S. Don’t
show this to your dad, I would hate for him to think I’m soft.

P.P.P.S. Sorry about the
doughnuts and the chewing gum and the foam. I only did it because I thought you might like me more if I could protect you from the so called ‘School bully.’

The next pages were covered in hundreds of tiny “I love you’s”

Carrie was sobbing and laughing into the letter. The paper was becoming damp as she cried.