Watching Willow Watts (15 page)

A
s the months went by and photos of Claire and Alex at various functions appeared during Willow’s Google searches, it became clear that for Alex, it
had
been for the best. Claire was ambitious, elegant, confident – and in London. But had it been the best move for Willow? Whenever she thought of Alex, an ache so strong it was almost physical filled her heart.

‘
We’re just going out for a catch-up,’ she said, as much to herself as to Paula. ‘I’m sure it will be fine.’

Paula s
hot her a doubtful look but didn’t question the words. ‘What’s he doing in town, anyway?’

‘
His firm’s bidding to build the new tourist centre,’ Willow said, fussing with her curls in the mirror. ‘And if he does win the bid, he’s going to be around town regularly. It’ll be good to clear the air.’ She tried to act nonchalant, but inside her heart was pounding at the thought of facing him again.

‘
What about Jay?’ Paula asked, taking a brush and stroking Willow’s platinum hair back into its wavy
bob. ‘Will he mind if you go out with your ex?’

Oh God, Jay. Willow hadn’t even thought about him. Well, there was nothing for Jay to be jealous about – not that he would be.

‘
I’m sure he won’t care. Can you redo my face?’ Willow asked. ‘I want to look my Marilyn best.’ The further she could get from the past, the better.

It wa
s almost seven, and Willow’s whole body shook with nerves as she trudged the short distance to the fountain by the green. Why oh why had she agreed to this?

At least she could hide behind her Marilyn gear.
Paula had re-plastered her face until it was smooth and poreless. Her lids glistened with shiny eye shadow and her fake lashes were coated with so much mascara, she could barely keep them open. With needle and thread Paula uncovered from God knows where, she’d pulled the fabric of Willow’s dress even tighter. It might look ‘rad’, as Paula had remarked, but it certainly wasn’t practical for walking. Willow could barely shuffle now and even without the arse-cushion she’d decided to leave behind tonight, the short walk was taking forever.

There he was! Her stomach shifted as she spotted
Alex pacing back and forth in front of the fountain, wearing the same dark suit he’d had on earlier and talking into his BlackBerry. Willow couldn’t help smiling – he was a habitual pacer. Back in London, she used to jokingly throw herself at him, knocking him onto the sofa to see if he could actually talk on the phone while staying still.

Alex
lifted a hand as he spotted her. ‘Oh, hello. I thought I’d be dining tonight with Willow, not Marilyn.’ His tone was joking, but his eyes looked serious.

‘
Sorry.’
Don’t apologise!
‘My agent Jay said it’s important to build my brand,’ she added quickly, pasting on a big confident smile.

‘
Your agent!’ Alex looked impressed. ‘Well, I can’t wait to hear all about it. I’ve booked us in for dinner at the
White Hart Inn in Stow-on-the-Wold. Ever been?’

Willow shook her head. ‘No, but Paula has.’ It was the only u
pscale restaurant within a thirty-mile radius, and Paula usually made a point of road-testing every man there first – once she finally decided they were date-worthy.

God, it was
weird being together again, Willow thought as they walked to where Alex had parked his car. Everything about him felt so familiar – how her head came to just the right point at his shoulder; his relaxed gait; the gentlemanly way he put his hand on her waist to guide her forward . . . she forced her mind away from the warmth of his fingers seeping through the fabric of her satin dress.

‘
Nice car!’ Willow
commented as they climbed into his sleek black BMW. Guess some things did change, after all – in London when they were both just starting out, he’d had a beat up VW. If she closed her eyes, she could still smell the cracked leather seats mixed with Alex’s cologne.

Alex grinned
over at her as if he was remembering the same thing. ‘Not mine; a company car. Can’t say I mind, though – it’s nice driving something that doesn’t rattle.’

Willow laughed. ‘Or needs an oil transfusion every ten miles!’

‘
Yeah,’ he chuckled. ‘Remember that time we went out for dinner at Gordon Ramsay, and the valet came to tell us our car was leaking brown sludge everywhere?’

Willow smiled, recalling the next bit of the story. The car had refused to budge when they’d tried to move it, and they’d got on the wrong night bus home and ended up lost in some dodgy part of London . . . She shook her head to stop from going further down memory lane.

A
few minutes later, they entered Stow-on-the-Wold and Alex deftly parked the car in front of the White Hart Inn. The setting sun made the stone buildings glow softly and the scent of the flowers bursting from hanging baskets perfumed the air. Even though they were only a few miles from Belcherton’s packed confines, it seemed a world away. For the first time in ages, Willow felt like she could breathe again.

‘
Here we are!’ Alex cut the engine and the tension returned as she pictured the two of them sitting down to eat. Clasping her hands in her lap, she tried to keep from biting her nails.

‘
Can I have yo
ur autograph?’ A group of Korean tourists peered in the car window, clutching pens and glossy photos of Marilyn, and snapping pictures with their cameras.

‘
Sure,’ Willow said, blinking against the flashes. She scrawled the now familiar ‘Marilyn xx’ across the photos, then climbed out of the car and posed with the fans as Alex stood off to the side.

‘
Sorry about that,’ she said when they’d gone, kicking herself for apologising once again.

‘
That’s all right.’ He shook his head. ‘I never thought I’d live to see the day when you’d be a celebrity, Disa. I mean, maybe a celebrity florist. But Marilyn Monroe?’

Willow’s heart clutched at the nickname, and she threw him a bright smile to cover the pain. ‘I know!’ she chirped in the high-pitched tone she was perfecting for her fans. ‘But I’m really enjoying it.’ Kind of.

‘
The new Marilyn!’ The maitre d’s eyes bulged from his head as Alex and Willow entered the restaurant. ‘You’re all anyone’s been talking about lately. If we’d only known you were coming . . .’

‘
That’s fine
,’ Willow said quickly before the man started hyperventilating.

‘
Let me show you to your table.’ The maitre d’ couldn’t stop staring at Willow, and it was starting to make her feel a little uncomfortable. She and Alex followed the man up the stairs to a dining area that went silent when she entered. One diner even dropped a fork, leaving what looked like fettuccini hanging from her open mouth.

‘
Er, hello
,’ Willow said finally, since they seemed to expect her to
do
something. Leaning forward, she put her hands on her hips and spun around, throwing the room a big grin and fluttering her eyelashes. One dislodged slightly, swimming into her vision like a sinister caterpillar, but Willow ignored it. The room broke into applause and she threw as much of a curtsy as the dress allowed, then followed the stunned maitre d’ over to the table in the corner. Willow couldn’t help smiling at Alex’s incredulous expression as they settled into their chairs.

‘
So.’ She met his familiar blue eyes. ‘How have you been?’ Lame thing to say, but she really wanted to know. Were he and Claire happy together? Were they planning for the future?

‘
I’m good,’ Alex responded. ‘Work’s going really well, and London’s still London.’

And Claire?
Willow was dying to ask, but no way would she show her desperation for information on that front. ‘Great.’ Dropping her head, she studied the menu, trying to think of something more to say.

Alex reached over as if he was going to touch her hand, stopping a few inches short of her fingertips. ‘Look, I’m sorry to just turn up like this. I didn’t want to make things uncomfortable for you.’

‘
Oh, yo
u’re not,’ Willow said, fervently hoping all that make-up was hiding the heat spreading across her cheeks.

‘
I couldn’t believe it when I saw our firm’s bid for the new Belcherton tourist centre,’ Alex continued. ‘I thought it looked like an interesting project, of course.’ He paused, and Willow tried hard to breathe despite the pressure building in her chest. What the hell was wrong with her? They were just two old friends, having dinner. Nothing more.

‘
Yes, interesting,’ Willow managed to echo hoarsely.

‘
But if I’m really honest . . .’ Alex’s voice trailed off.

Willow held her breath.
‘Yes?’

‘
Well, I was more interested in seeing you again.’

The pounding of her heart was so loud now Willow could barely hear anything.
What?

‘
I know a lot of time has passed
, and we’ve both moved on to other things’ – he raised an eyebrow and scanned the Marilyn gear – ‘but I never felt good about how it ended with us. Have you ever wondered what might have happened if we’d just, you know, maybe tried a bit harder to stay together?’

Willow crossed he
r arms over massive bosoms as Alex’s words swirled through her head. Could they have tried harder to stay together? If she’d gone down to London more often, or he’d travelled to Belcherton on weekends . . . would they have been able to maintain a relationship? Distance aside, though, there was still the small matter of Claire. Willow might have put everything she had into keeping things going, and Alex still could have chosen that woman.
Trying harder
wouldn’t have solved that issue.

‘
Excuse me, Marilyn?’

Willow’s head jerked around as the maitre d’s voice cut into her thoughts. ‘Yes?’ She gave herself a mental shake and forced a smile.

‘
Um, the manager wanted to know if he could get a photo with you,’ the man said. ‘You know, to put on the wall. So far, we’ve got the Toon Brothers, Iron Joe and even Lettie Porchetti!’

Willow hadn’t heard of any of them, but she was so grateful for the interruption she would have agreed to almost anything right about now. ‘Of course.’

T
he maitre d’ motioned eagerly to the manager. He slung an arm around Willow’s waist and as they posed for photos, Willow’s mind churned with how to respond. As much as she longed to tell Alex how much she’d missed him, now was not the time to undo years of hard work getting over him. He was in London, a partner in one of the most prestigious architectural firms and, from what she had seen, had wasted no time replacing her. Reopening her Pandora’s box of emotion now wasn’t going to do either of them any good.

Willow
sat down at the table again. ‘I think it’s best if we don’t look back,’ she said finally, struggling to get the sentence past the hard knot in her throat. Although her heart protested each word with every beat, Willow knew she was doing the right thing. Besides, there was nothing to say Alex had come here for anything other than a little bit of nostalgic reminiscence. He
did
have Claire.

For a split of a second, Willow thought she saw something like pain flash across Alex’s face but an instant later it was gone, replaced by the usual calm expression.

‘
The future’s so bright, you gotta wear shades?’ he quipped, smiling over at her.

‘
Something like that,’ Willow
mumbled, lowering her head to focus again on the menu.

*

Jay strolled down the high street, spirits high after his meeting with Simpson. The old man had jumped at the chance to nab more publicity for Belcherton through the Marilyn Mania Festival. He hadn’t even batted an eye when Jay outlined the costs involved, saying the council was so happy with all the added tourism to the area, they’d more than likely agree to cover any up-front fees. And since the profit margins were so high, it was practically a no-brainer. Even a country hick like Simpson could see that.

Jay
narrowed his eyes as he spotted Willow’s buxom form coming toward him, along with a man he didn’t recognise. The man was walking close to Willow in a familiar manner that suggested the two of them hadn’t just met. Who the hell was that? Willow had never mentioned any boyfriend. Even though they weren’t touching, Jay could almost sense the energy snapping between them.

The pair stopped in f
ront of Willow’s house and Jay quickened his pace. Whoever this bloke was, no way was Jay going to let him get his claws into Willow. He needed her one hundred and ten per cent dedicated to
him
, especially with the coming festival. Sure, he’d signed her up to an iron-tight contract, but he knew from experience that women in love could do funny things.

‘
Baby
!’ Jay burst out of the shadows and strode over to where the two of them stood, slinging his arm around Willow’s waist and pulling her up against him. ‘I’ve been looking all over for you.’ The man took a step back in surprise, his gaze flitting back and forth from Jay to Willow.

‘
Who’s this?’ Jay asked, sliding his
hand up and down Willow’s arm and smugly noting the look of irritation that scudded across the man’s face.