Between The Sheets (34 page)

'That's great news,' Sylvie said.

When Ed had got the drinks, Dana led them through to the conservatory. After she'd settled herself in an armchair, she looked at them expectantly. 'So, what did you want to talk about?'

Ian and Sylvie exchanged glances and then he looked back at Dana. 'Sylvie is a bit concerned about her job.'

'Ah.' Dana nodded. 'I see.'

'I'm sorry, Dana,' Sylvie added. 'I know this hasn't been an easy time and you have enough on your plate. It's just that, well—'

'I completely understand,' Dana assured her. 'I don't have all the answers at the moment. I haven't heard from Wally yet, but I don't think Gretta will accept this book.'

'I'm sure Walter could buy you some more time,' Ian told her. 'If anyone can, he can.'

Dana shook her head. 'It wouldn't make any difference, I just can't do it. I don't want to.'

'But you've always wanted to be published in Ireland,' Sylvie said.

Dana shrugged. 'Let's say my priorities have changed slightly over the last few months.'

There was a moment's silence as her two visitors absorbed this.

'So are you going to give up writing completely?' Sylvie asked faintly.

'I don't think so.' Dana smiled. 'I don't think I could even if I wanted to. I might try something different, though.'

Sylvie's eyes lit up. 'A different genre?'

'Maybe, or possibly even non-fiction.'

'So do you think you'll still need a PA?' Sylvie asked in a small voice.

Dana knew she probably didn't, but understood now how important this job was to Sylvie. 'I should think so,' she said vaguely. 'Even if I don't write any more books for Peyton Publishing, I'm still going to have to maintain the website for the existing fan base. And there'll still be the post to open and the VAT forms to complete. How would I manage without you?'

'But still flexible hours?' Ian asked.

'Yes, I suppose so. Why?'

Ian shot Sylvie a look and when she gave him the nod, he told Dana about his idea.

'I think that's a marvellous idea/ Dana said, when he'd finished. Her eyes twinkled as she looked from one to the other. 'And I think you two will make a great team in every way.'

'We're just dating,' Sylvie said firmly.

Ian grinned. 'She's mad about me, really.'

Sylvie rolled her eyes and stood up. 'We should go. Thank you so much, Dana.'

'For nothing. And I'm sorry I have been so difficult to work with lately—'

'Forget it,' Sylvie said immediately.

Dana smiled. 'So, let's put the past behind us and make a fresh start tomorrow. Is that okay?'

'Great.' The girl nodded happily.

'You probably won't need my services, though, will you?' Ian said as they walked to the door.

'Probably not in the immediate future,' Dana agreed. 'The last thing I want now is publicity. But if or when that changes, you'll be the first person I call.'

After she'd waved the two of them off, Dana went back out to the conservatory and sat down. The sky was already darkening and she could barely see the silhouette of her brother at work in the garden, oblivious to the wind and rain that lashed him. Dana closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off.

She was asleep only a few minutes when the buzzer went again, pulling her back to consciousness. Who the hell could it be now? Dana dragged herself out of the chair, went out into the hall and lifted the handset. 'Hello?'

'Hello, darling. Open this bloody gate, will you? And make me a G & T. I'm gagging for a drink.'

Dana pressed the button and went to open the door. Wally was already stepping out of the taxi.

She held out her arms to him and smiled. 'Hello, Wally. This is a nice surprise.'

He looked at her. 'You may not think that after you've heard what I've come to say.'

'You're always welcome, no matter what.' She pulled him inside and closed the door. 'Now let's go and get you that drink.'

'You know why I'm here, then?' Walter said, following her to the kitchen.

'I think I can guess.' Dana got the drinks, fetched ice from the freezer and took a lemon from the fridge. 'I'm afraid you'll have to serve yourself. My brother usually acts as waiter, but he's working at the moment.'

'How is the arm?' Walter asked, as he halved and sliced the lemon.

'Fine.' She watched as he made his drink and then led him back across the hall to the conservatory.

'Aren't you drinking?'

'No, I've given up.'

'No!'

'No,' she agreed, grinning. 'There's a bottle of wine already open.'

'Well, I'm glad someone can still laugh in the face of total disaster,' he said dramatically, throwing himself down on the sofa.

'So you agree it's a disaster, then?'

'Let's say, this novel is not your best.'

'Very sensitively put.'

'I'm sorry, darling. I really thought we could rescue it. I wasn't listening to you, was I?'

Dana shrugged. 'You were just doing your job. I'm sorry I let you down.'

He waved away the apology. 'Don't worry about me. But I have to figure out what I'm going to tell Gretta.'

'Yes. She won't be impressed, will she?'

'No, but Gretta's no fool. I'm sure she has a Plan B.'

'True.'

'Still, we need to handle this carefully. She's not a woman we should make an enemy of.'

'No.' Dana agreed. Gretta could turn nasty, and life was difficult enough at the moment. 'So, what do you think we should do?'

'That depends on you, my darling. Do you want to sign a new contract with Peyton Publishing?'

Dana thought for a second. Although her biography was painful to write, she was enjoying the fact that it was real and that there wasn't a heaving bosom or a chiselled jaw in sight. She looked up at him, her face solemn. 'No, I'm finished with all that.'

'Phew! I can't believe it.' Walter dabbed his eyes. 'I really thought you'd keep going until you were six feet under.'

She smiled, feeling a little tearful herself. 'Me too.'

He cleared his throat and then he was all business again. 'Very well then, here's the plan. I have a new author that I think Gretta might be interested in. I wasn't thinking of pitching her at Peyton Publishing, but it might be the politically correct thing to do. Hopefully it will help Gretta get over the shock of losing you.'

'You don't think she'll try to sue me, do you?'

He shrugged. 'Hard to know. She might settle for taking the book as is.'

She frowned. 'I don't mind that, but I don't want it used to launch Passion. I want my first book published here to be something completely different.'

'Well, I'm relieved to hear that you do plan to continue writing.' He smiled.

'I thought I mightn't at the beginning,' she admitted. 'But I'm over that now.'

He looked at her through narrowed eyes. 'You're working on something, aren't you?'

She nodded. 'I don't think I'll ever do anything with it, though.'

'Let me be the judge of that,' he said, sitting forward and watching her with interest.

Her eyes met his. 'It's my autobiography.'

'Oh!' His eyes widened. 'I see. Commercial or candid?'

She winced. 'Very candid.'

'Oh!'

'Stop saying "oh". I'm only writing it for me. I'll probably never show it to anyone.'

'That would be a great shame,' he said sadly.

'But if I do decide to do anything with it, you'll be the first to know,' she promised.

'I'll hold you to that. So why are you writing it? Is it therapy?'

She nodded. 'In a way.'

'And has it worked?'

'I'm getting there.'

He patted her hand. 'You've always been a fighter, Dana. I'm glad that hasn't changed.'

'I don't know about that. I've felt a total loser these last few months.'

'Don't talk like that,' Walter chided. 'You've been to hell and back again. Losing the love of your life isn't easy for anyone.'

Dana raised an eyebrow. 'How do you know he was the love of my life?'

He smiled. 'I've seen you together, remember?'

'He obviously didn't love me as much as either of us thought,' she said, and sighed.

His smile faltered. 'By the way, I have a confession to make.'

'Go on.'

'I phoned him the other night.'

She sat upright. 'Who? Gus?'

He nodded sheepishly. 'I was a bit upset after I'd finished
The Mile High Club
, and very slightly inebriated. So I decided to call him and tell him exactly what I thought of him.'

Dana's lips twitched. 'What did he say?'

'I don't think I gave him a chance to say anything. When he finally got a word in edgeways he just told me I was pissed and hung up. I'm sorry. Not very professional of me, was it?'

'You were acting like a friend and I love you for it,' she told him. 'Anyway he deserved it.'

Walter leaned over to squeeze her good hand. 'I'm so glad you're okay again.'

'You think I'm okay?' She laughed, though her eyes were bright with tears.

'I think you're marvellous, darling. I'm very proud of you.'

'Proud? Of what? I thought you would kill me when you read that book.'

'Me too,' he admitted, with a smile. 'But I can see that you've come to a crossroads and nothing I can do or say is going to change that. I hope, though, that when you do produce your next masterpiece, you'll bring it to me.'

Dana leaned over to kiss his cheek. 'I wouldn't dream of going to anyone else.'

'Oh, don't, you'll start me off.' He pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose. 'We need more drinks.' He filled her glass and then poured wine into his tumbler.

'Wally, you can have a wine glass,' she said with a laugh.

'Don't worry, darling. Once it's alcoholic, I'd drink it out of a chipped mug!'

'It's absolutely freezing out there.' Ed burst in through the french windows and stopped short when he saw Walter. 'Oh, I'm sorry, Dana. I didn't know you had company.'

'Ed, this is Walter Grimes, my agent and dear, dear friend.'

Wally reached out a hand and smiled. 'It's a pleasure to meet you.'

Ed shook it warmly. 'And you. I've heard so much about you.'

Walter groaned dramatically. 'I deny it all!'

Ed laughed. 'It was all good, I promise.'

'Have a glass of wine,' Dana offered, amused to see that her agent was blushing.

Ed shook his head. 'I won't, thanks. I'm not done yet. I only came in for some more film.'

'A drink would warm you up,' Walter pointed out.

Ed smiled. 'You're right but if I stop for a drink, I'll lose the light.'

'Oh. Pity.'

'Nice to meet you, though.' Ed held out his hand once more.

Walter grasped it. 'And you.'

Dana watched them both, mesmerized. Walter looked like a lovesick teenager. And Ed — Ed wasn't much better. How on earth had she not seen it before? How had she been so blind?

She talked on with Walter until they finished their drinks, and then she faked a yawn. 'Oh, sorry, Wally. It's just that it's been a very long day. I'm exhausted. Can we continue in the morning?'

'Of course, my darling.'

'I'll call for a taxi.' She went out to the hall to make the call and heaved a sigh of relief when she was told there was a car available immediately. She went back in to Walter. 'That's lucky. There's a car around the corner.'

He took her arm and they went out into the hall together. 'I tell you what, darling. Why don't I take you and Ed to lunch tomorrow?' he suggested.

'Oh, I'm not sure—'

'Oh, go on. This is the end of an era. It will be fun.'

Dana looked into his eyes and smiled. 'Okay, then. But I'm not sure what Ed's plans are. What time were you thinking of?'

'Whenever,' he said quickly. 'You let me know what suits, and where. We could go to that Thai restaurant you took me to once. Or maybe Ed wouldn't like Thai—'

'I'll call you in the morning,' Dana broke in, and was relieved when the buzzer went.

Walter gave a small, embarrassed smile. 'Okay, then.'

He opened the door and turned to her once more. 'Goodnight, my darling.'

She returned his kiss. 'Goodnight, Wally. And thank you, for everything.'

He hugged her, tears in his eyes. 'It's been a pleasure — all of it. Talk to you tomorrow.'

When he had gone, Dana walked back into the conservatory and sat down to wait for Ed. It was nearly an hour before he came in, and then he stopped and smiled when he saw her sitting there.

'Are you okay? Only, you don't have a glass in your hand.' He grinned, his teeth shining white in the darkness.

Dana reached out a hand and switched on the lamp. 'It's true, isn't it?'

His smile faded. 'What?'

'I saw the way Walter looked at you. And I saw the way you looked at him. You're gay.'

Ed's smile was nervous as he held up his hands. 'Guilty. It didn't really come as that much of a surprise, did it?'

'It did,' she told him, nodding her head. 'I'm very dense, aren't I? It honestly never occurred to me.'

Ed sat down in Wally's seat. 'Sadly it occurred to our father long before even I realized it.'

Dana put a hand to her mouth as realization dawned.

'Oh my God! Is that what it was all about? He treated you that way because you were gay?'

'I'm afraid so. He did everything he could to knock it out of me — literally. He even dragged me down to Father Flynn and made me confess. He asked him what saint we should pray to in order to turn me back to normal. If he caught me even looking at another boy he dragged me out to the shed and took the belt to me.'

'Oh, Ed, I'm so sorry. I had no idea. Did Mum know that was the reason he treated you so badly?'

He frowned. 'I'm not sure. We never talked about it. I'm not sure they ever did either — too disgusting to put into words. When Dad was angry or drunk, though, he'd refer to me as a perverted little bugger.'

'When did you know?' she asked, tears rolling down her face unheeded.

'That I was gay?' Ed smiled. 'I suppose it was a gradual process. I wasn't interested in the porn magazines that were passed around under the desks in the classroom. When I went to the school disco, I felt nothing for the girls I danced with. But,' he grinned, 'I had a young, handsome history teacher and every time he looked at me, or asked me a question, my mouth went dry and my heart skipped a beat.'