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"And you saw me with a woman?"
Oh, god. He’s not denying it. He’s not.I glance around to find our friends are following our exchange with interest. They’re not close enough to hear us, thankfully. I take a step back, and it might as well be a thousand paces, that’s how huge the distance between us already seems.
"Who was she?" I manage to force out the words through lips gone numb. My stomach churns, heat flushes my skin, and yet, I’m so cold. I wrap my arms around my waist. "Who was she, Declan?"
He looks away into the distance as if calibrating his response. His jaw ticks, and a vein pops at his temple. His shoulders bunch and I know, whatever he’s going to tell me is going to change my future.
I sense the impending shock and brace myself, so when he opens his mouth and says, "I can’t tell you," I’m almost not surprised and yet, I am.
What, I expected him to say she was his wife, a girlfriend? The real love of his life? The reason he’s been unable to make time for me as we danced the transatlantic-long-distance-relationship-that’s-been-going-down-the-shitter-shuffle.
"You can’t tell me?" I finally push the words out through lips gone numb.
He doesn’t answer.
"You can’t tell me who the woman I saw you talking to was? The woman whose shoulders you held; the woman who you consoled as she sobbed into your chest. Was she your sister? A cousin? A relative?" This is the chance for him to tell me it was all a stupid misunderstanding. That what I saw was completely innocent. That, there was a perfectly logical explanation to why he’d been comforting her.
"Declan?" I whisper, hating how desperate I sound in the moment. Hating the fact that although I thought I’d resigned myself to the fact that our relationship was slowly fading away, faced with evidence of it, I now realize I hadn’t. I’d hoped we could set things right. That we could meet and talk things out. That we’d each apologize for being so focused on our respective careers. That we could come together and stay strong in the face of all the media scrutiny every time we were spotted together in public.
"Declan, please—"
"It’s not what it seems," he finally says.
That’s good. He’s finally telling me the words I want to hear. Okay, not exactly the words I want to hear, considering they’re a little too trite, a little too forced, a little too familiar from every bad romance film I’ve ever seen. Still, it’s a start, right?"
I straighten my shoulders, then fix my gaze on him. "So, can you tell me who she was?"
"I can’t."
"You can’t tell me—"
"I can’t, Solene. You’ll have to trust me on this."
"I trusted you, Declan. You were the man who saved me from a Mafia wedding. You were the man who gave me a chance to pursue my dreams of being a singer. You gave me a place to stay in LA. You’re the one who introduced me around to those in the business. It’s you who gave me the confidence to release my first single. It’s because of you I followed my dreams. It’s because of you I found my voice. You created this new me. I owe everything I am to you, D, but I’d trade it all in to find out who you were with."
"Solene, please, believe me when I say you have nothing to worry about from that woman."
He closes the distance between us and places his palms on my shoulders.And I let him. Because he was supposed to be my Happily Ever After. My one true love. He was supposed to be one. I thought, when I found him, I’d walk into the sunset with him. I thought I’d found my match.
"Are you in love with her?"
He blinks.
"Are you, Declan? Is that someone you met on the road? I know how isolating it is to be shooting for months on end. I know I’ve been busy pursuing my career too."
"As you should. You’re a talented artiste. You owe it to yourself to share your voice with them."
"I’d rather sing only for you."
"You shouldn’t treat your art with such disrespect." He peers into my eyes. "You’re a star, you need to shine bright, and nothing and no-one should hold you back."
I stare. "What does that mean? Are you implying you’re holding me back?"
"That’s not what I said."
"That’s what you implied. Is this because my song hit number one before your movie became the top grossing at the box-office? Are you holding it against me that my career took off before yours?"
He hesitates, then shakes his head. "You’re putting words in my mouth."
