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“You are not an aspiring songwriter.” Martin snorted. “And you sure as hell don’t need a part-time job. So, what gives?”
Shifting the grip he had on his cup, the ceramic warm in his hands, Eric took a moment to reply. “I never said I was an aspiring songwriter.”
“No.” Martin raised an eyebrow. “But you were happy for us to assume.”
Yeah, that was fair.
The others had reached the pier, Adrian laughing at something Kojo had said—a bright sound that carried. When Eric started walking again, Martin fell into step with him, clearly waiting for a response.
“Maybe I was,” Eric allowed quietly.
Martin hummed. “Why not just tell us you’re massively successful, at least from what I gather?”
“It was sort of nice to just be me, I guess.” That didn’t quite capture it, so Eric tried again. “It’s not like the average person would recognise my name, but once people know I wrote this or that songthat they might have heard on the radio… Sometimes, it changes how they act around me, you know?”
Martin’s lips tugged into a playful smirk. “No idea what you mean, man. Never happened to me—people acting weird because of something I did in the past? Surely not.”
It drew a chuckle from Eric. “Yeah, okay. I guess you’d get it.”
“Adrian would, too.” Martin’s tone was unassuming, but when Eric glanced over, it was to find Martin watching him with careful attention. It was true—Adrian would get it. But it still had the potential to change things between them, especially if Adrian realised that Eric could walk away from the hotel tomorrow and it wouldn’t even register in his financial situation.
Did that make sense? Probably not. But then emotions weren’t meant to make sense.
“Are you going to tell him?” Eric asked.
“No.” Martin tipped his face into the weak sunlight, eyes half-closing. His voice was serious, though. “That’s for the two of you to sort out. I’m not getting in the middle of that.”
“You know it’s not…” Eric shook his head, briefly glancing off to the side. “We’re not really anything.”
Martin’s gaze sharpened as it flicked over Eric’s face. He didn’t reply, though, and after a couple of seconds, Eric checked on the others, just up ahead.
“How did you find out?” he asked.
“Matteo.” Martin smiled. “Some people like to chat with the electrician who’s fixing their Wi-Fi or the light in the basement, so he tries to stay on top of the latest celebrity gossip. He recognised you from one of our skiing pictures—you dated that dancer who’s dating Max Fina.”
“Lucas, and that was a year ago.” Eric cleared his throat. “Also, I can neither confirm nor deny they’re dating.”
“I’m not going to run to the press, man. Classy, though.” Martin took a thoughtful sip of his mulled wine. “Is that why you left London—because your ex was back?”
Wow, okay.
“You sure do your research, huh?”
“Give Matteo a trail and he’ll follow it to the end.” Martin sounded personally proud of it. “Bit of a coincidence, isn’t it, that you come here just when Lucas Clarke stars in some London musical.” The downward inflection made it a statement rather than a question, and objectively, Eric could see what it might suggest.
“Look, I don’t claim it’sfunto walk past larger-than-life posters of my ex.” Eric squinted at reflections of sunlight on the lake. “But it’s been a while, and we’d only been dating for half a year, not five. So no, I didn’t run from him.”
Martin waited until their eyes met before he nodded. “Okay. Then why are you here?”
“Why do you care?” Eric asked.
Martin’s mouth pinched at the corners. “Humour me.”
Eric studied him. For once, Martin looked utterly serious, and maybe it made sense that he’d want to know. The Gletscherhaus was his home, Adrian his best mate, and Martin would want some kind of reassurance that Eric wouldn’t pack up and leave halfway through the high season.
“Two reasons.” A few steps away from the others, Eric stopped and gave Martin his full attention. “First off, Kojo can be very convincing. And secondly, he wasn’t wrong about how I needed a change of scenery, get out of my head. I’d been in a bit of a rut, and this has been…” Eric hesitated. “It’s been brilliant, actually. I love being here.”
A sudden grin changed Martin’s whole demeanour, much more the bloke Eric had come to know and like. “So you’ll stick around for a while?”
