Just a Fan (42 page)

I frowned. By the way he said it, it sounded far away. 'Is that North or Central America?' I asked, trying to dispel my shock and sound casual.

Connor gave me a long look, then blinked once.

'It's in the South Pacific,' he told me slowly. 'The Fiji Islands.'

I blushed for a brief second, cursing my lack of geographical knowledge, and then registered what he had said. '
Fiji
?' I gasped. 'South - oh, God...that's so
far
!'

He nodded gravely, looking at the carpet. 'We'll be gone for at least a few weeks,' he replied. 'But on the bright side, most of the crew are already there and have been setting up, so we might not be there for too long. It's just that most of the scenes take place in a more tropical area, which isn't really the same as a studio in New York...'

My heart had sunk almost to my feet at the thought of how many miles of ocean would soon separate us. Half of me felt envious that Connor would be off to such an exciting, tropical place, while the other half of me was dejected at the thought of being left all on my own.

'When do you have to go?' I asked him quietly, picking at my fingernails and unable to meet his eyes.

'In three days,' he replied grimly. 'It's short notice, but the director likes things to be done quick and efficiently. The trip to the island was mentioned in the contract - only it wasn't certain at the time.' He sighed. 'Lilly, if there was any chance that I could stay here and not leave you by yourself, I'd have taken it...'

'It's fine, Conn - really, it is,' I assured him hurriedly, not wanting him to feel so guilty on my behalf. 'It's not every day you get to go to Fiji, after all - you go do your job and have fun.'

He sat back, crossing one leg over the other, still looking a bit guilty.

I bravely gave him a smile. 'You still have to call me though. And tell me all about it.'

Finally Connor grinned too. 'I'll bring my laptop and webcam,' he told me. 'It's the least I can do...But, Lilly -' His expression became a bit anxious, '- you know how I get worried about you...you'll be careful while I'm gone, won't you? Because if you get lost again or something, while I'm all the way in the Pacific...'

I got up and came to sit down beside him, putting an arm around his chest. 'Relax, Conn - it'll be okay,' I reassured him, knowing that what he needed right now was my support. 'Besides, there are no sheep here, so...'

He broke into a lovely little chuckle, the lines of worry momentarily eased from his brow. 'I suppose you're right,' he replied, rubbing the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. 'But I still want you to have fun one way or another. You saw Michaela again last week, didn't you? I'm sure she'll think of plenty more places to take you...'

I smiled, remembering her great enthusiasm when she had found out about our recent engagement.

Connor seemed to be recalling it too, as he added: 'And once I'm back and it's all over, I'll take you straight home - then I suppose it'll be time for a wedding...'

I was about to let out a squeal of glee, but then paused, narrowing my eyes at him. 'Is that a grim tone I'm hearing?' I asked him suspiciously. 'I thought you were ready for -'

'I am, of course I am,' Connor affirmed, then looked shifty. 'It's just that...weddings involve the kilts...'

My eyes widened and I laughed out loud as I realised.

'Seriously?' I chuckled, my eyes wide with glee. Connor didn't look so enthusiastic, the corner of his his lovely mouth twisting gloomily to one side in a long-suffering manner.

'Before you go all starry-eyed, Lilly, I'd like you to spare a thought for the poor guys who have to actually wear them on formal occasions,' he told me dourly. 'When you're expected to stick to tradition, all you can do is hope it's not a windy day, if you catch my meaning.'

I burst out laughing again, unable to stop myself.

'It's not funny!' Connor reproached me with a frown, but I could see he was trying not to smile.

'I can't
wait
to see you in a nice "kiltie",' I told him with great eagerness, already trying to picture it in my head.

'Well,
I
can,' he replied wryly. 'The last time I was forced to wear one, I was eleven and I
hated
it – I felt so exposed. I couldn't sit down without worrying…Ach, will ye stop
laughing
?' he growled abruptly, and wrestled me with mock ferocity down onto the seat of the sofa. He did so with frustrating ease, using only one strong arm to hold me down. 'And stay there,' he told me firmly.

I struggled in vain to get back up. 'That's not fair, you're more muscle-y than me!' I complained as he effortlessly shoved me back down each time I raised myself.

His blue eyes glinted with roguish mischief. 'What're you gonnae do – pull my hair?'

I huffed at him. 'What hair?' I grumbled, grabbing his hand as he tried to push me down again. He tried to shake me off, but soon gave up, reversing his tactics in favour of forcibly pulling me with gruff affection to his chest.

'If you're going to be my wife, you'd better learn to behave,' he lectured me teasingly. 'Otherwise I'll
shave
all my hair off, and you'll be too horrified to ever make fun of me again.'

'Wanna bet?' I murmured, but more gently this time, as I found myself feeling rather comfortable here close to his warm body, intoxicated as I was by his inticing, familiar scent. I gave a small, wistful sigh.

'What? Do I hear you giving up without a fight?' Connor fondly asked me, his smile a little softer around the edges.

'I'm really going to miss you, Conn,' I told him earnestly, breathing in the warm, manly musk of his jumper. 'Not to mention our little fights…'

'Don't worry, Lilly,' he reassured me gently, kissing the top of my head. 'I'll be back as soon as I can, and then you can fight me all you like.'

When the dreaded day finally came, and Connor reluctantly woke me up at three in the morning to tell me that he was going, I threw myself on him, shaking off my sleepiness to better savour his presence while he was still here. He hugged me back just as tightly, the familiar security of his embrace only ruined by the knowledge that he was leaving.

'Come back soon, okay?' I whispered in a rush, barely able to get my words out. 'Call me every night – if you can…'

'I will, I will,' he murmured back, his breath warm against the side of my neck. 'And you be safe while I'm gone…'

The moment his soft lips touched mine I simply couldn't help myself. I raised myself on tiptoe, my fingers raking through the tidy little waves on the top of his head, causing them to stand on end. We didn't need much to get ourselves a bit carried away, and our kiss goodbye must have lasted a full five minutes before Connor managed to unwillingly disengage himself.

'I'll see you tonight on the webcam, right?' he reminded me, slightly out of breath, still close to me. 'You know how to work it...'

'Yeah…' I murmured vaguely, feeling light-headed, ready to collapse on him again. He gave me a quick smile.

'Well – I'd best be off,' he told me. But before he went out of the door, he turned around and said: 'Oh, and Lilly – I think there are some of those nice little microwave pastries left in the fridge…you can have that for dinner tonight, to cheer yourself up.'

I gave him an odd look.

'Um…okay, then…' I replied, wondering why he was talking about my dinner. But this thought was soon out of my head when he gave me a final wave goodbye and went out of the door, leaving me to stare wistfully after him for a while before going back to bed.

Microwave pastries...I thought to myself that evening, after a long, quiet day. Connor really was weird sometimes...

I sighed as I got the packet out of the freezer and slowly but surely got it defrosted. I wondered what Connor was up to now...he had told me the day before that the plane flight would take ten solid hours - something compensated by cocktails and some miscellaneous forms of entertainment - which meant that he was definitely there by now.

As I idly shoved the little pastries into the microwave, stretching over to get the empty box at the same time, I tried to remember the name of their shooting location. Connor had said it was something like Mana or Mondriki Island, which was part of the Mamanuca Islands in the West. I hoped he was having fun there in that tropical paradise, the lucky thing...

I turned on the microwave with a vague swipe of the hand, leaning back on the counter and crossing my arms. I had left the TV on, to make the place seem less quiet and lonely. The smooth, animated talking reminded me a bit of Connor's own vibrant speech...

I gave another sigh, and looked down at my left hand, which was on my right forearm. The fingers looked sadly bare...I hadn't thought it tactful to pester Connor about getting me a ring. Before he left, I had expected that he would maybe take me out for dinner or something and give me the ring then...but now he was in Fiji or Mondriki or whatever it was called, and I was left rather dismally ringless.

I gazed out through the huge windows, lost in thought. I hoped he wouldn't be gone for
too
long -

Abruptly, I caught a bizarre smell and noticed that for the past few seconds the tiles were reflecting a light that was most certainly not coming from the overhead lamps. I quickly looked through the meshed window of the microwave, and gasped.

There was something odd going on - a bright glow of white light was radiating from inside the microwave, blindingly intense. For a split second I stared at it stupidly, not knowing what the hell was going on, and then I suddenly remembered about spoons and microwaves and quickly stopped it, opening the door. There was something metallic inside - but strangely enough, I hadn't put a spoon or metal utensil inside it by accident.

'Oh, Jesus -' I grumbled through gritted teeth as I reached around the pastries with a hand to retrieve whatever it was. '
Ow!
Hot! Aaah....gloves, gloves, gloves...' Still shaking my singed fingers furiously, I grabbed a pair of oven gloves and fumbled about with that instead. After a few moments of rummaging, I took my glove out of the microwave and opened my hand.

I gave a laugh of surprise and shock. Upon my palm, there lay a circular piece of metal, slightly blackened and still smoking. Taking it between finger and thumb, I brushed the soot from it.

'Oh, no...' I laughed weakly. It was a perfect silver ring beneath the blackened layer, even with a pretty little shiny stone held by four clasps...which were, right now, looking a bit droopy and warped.

'The
idiot
...' I whispered, shaking my head in horrified shock but grinning in joy at the same time. 'Why the hell did he put it in there...?' I peered into the microwave. Just visible - and frankly quite obvious now that I was properly looking - was a large square of paper, folded to stand upright, with the word 'Surprise!!!' written on it. The paper was now a bit yellow and curly, but the writing was still legible. I chuckled, taking it out of the microwave. He had obviously thought I would pay more attention to cooking than I actually did...when I had carelessly pushed the pastries into the microwave, I had obviously knocked the paper over without seeing it. Oh, God...

'You are such a fool!' I scolded Connor in joyful outrage that night when we had both turned on our webcams. Connor's expression was only slightly bashful, and he looked rather dashing in his half-open shirt with the bright sunlight streaming through the pale brown blinds beside him.