Page 90 of Doc Rock
“We broke up,”Ford answered, his tone flat.
“Ahhhh, shame. I’m guessing she was getting too old. Thirty is pushing it, mate. They start togetwrinkly and needy, wanting togetmarried. You’re smart to move on to someone younger.”The drunken man was obnoxious and moving very close to a fist in his face.
“Abigail and I mutually decided it wasn’t working. She’s a beautiful woman and a lovely person.”Well… lovely when she wasn’t throwing a vase at his head for telling her that he wasn’t going to marry her, ever.
His eyes drifted to his wife at the bar, and his heart skipped a beat when hesawSie's face as she navigated back to their table with a drink in each hand.
Abigail was one of the most beautiful women in the world, but if he had the choice, he would follow Sie to the ends of the earth.
“Anyway, shall we take that photo?”Fordcouldseea lot of people in the pub who were poised to leap up and ask for a selfie too.
He'd thought Burra Creek would be quiet for him, as Taylor seemed togetalong all right. He’d clearly underestimated people’s desire to meet a homegrown star.
“Yes!”Another big hand gesture and another slosh of beer, this time only just missing Ford’s shoe.
Then a sweaty arm was around his shoulder, and a phone was being held up in front of Ford’s face. Giving his trademark stare into the lens, he waited for the photo to be taken.
Another person hovered in the periphery of his vision, and he went straight from his drunken friend to them.
He smiled, chatted, shook hands and took photos. Bloody Donnie should be grateful he didn’t tell them all to fuck off, so hecouldgo and sit with Sie, who was chatting with Frost and Hel, occasionally glancing at him. Although her eyes would quickly slide away every time they met his.
When Sie stood up, he was instantly aware of her movement and frowned.
Where was she going?
She looped around the pub, careful to avoid him and his crowd of fans. Ford lost sight of her when another person sidled to his side for a photo.
He tried to concentrate, but his eyes kept searching for Sie.
His shoulders sagged in relief when she came back carrying a tray with two burgers on it.
Stopping at the table her friends sat at, Sie was about to put the tray down, when Hel gestured to a door, where a staff member was standing. Sie nodded and headed for the door.
Hel picked up the drinks and followed Sie. Frost, however, made his way through the crowd of people to Ford’s side.
“How are you going, man?”Frost enquired.
“I’m hungry.”Ford grinned ruefully, shrugging apologetically to the crowd of people surrounding him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll need to excuse us for a while so Ford can eat.”Frost put his arm around Ford’s shoulders and began to move him through the fans.
A couple of the people looked like they wanted to object, but a glare from Frost, who was built like a tank, stopped them, and Ford was pulled out of the crowd unscathed.
“He’ll play some songs once he’s eaten,”Frost said over his shoulder.
“I will?” Ford questioned.
“Yup. That’s how Hel persuaded them to let you eat in their breakroom. It’s the only way you can eat your mealundisturbed.”Frost shoved him gently through the door labelled STAFF ONLY, then turned the lock on the door so no onecouldfollow them through it.“You might need to borrow a beard off Taylor if you’re going to start coming to the pub regularly.”
“I won’t need to. I won’t be in Burra Creek much longer.”As the words left his mouth, he made eye contact with Sie andsawa shock of hurt spread over her face before she hid it.
Shit.
“I ordered you a burger.”Sie didn’t look up as she shoved his plate towards him.
“Sie, I?—”
Sie cut him off.“Eat it before it gets cold.”
