Page 99 of Doc Rock
He chuckled.“My unit in Sydney isn’t very big either.”
“But does it have a view of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House? ‘Cause I’d take a small unit for those views.”
Ford flushed slightly when he admitted,“Yeah, it does.”
“That sounds amazing. I’m happy for you.”Sie reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. Slipping his ring off, she held it out to him.“Here.”
Ford stared at it, an image overlaying the current one: a girl with long dark hair, wearing a white dress, handing it to him with a broad grin.
Reaching out, he took it.
“Thanks.”His fingers grazed over hers, then he undid his own necklace and placed the ring back whereit wasmeant to be and slipped it under his shirt. But not before he glanced at his ring finger and the thought crossed his mind—that was whereit wasactually meant to be.
“So, take a seat. I hope you’re hungry. I’ve chucked a lasagne and garlic bread in the oven. It’ll be ready soon. Can Igetyou a beer or a wine? I’ve also got sparkling water, or cordial, or?—“
Ford cut off her rambling; heknewshe was nervous.“I’ll grab a sparkling water, thanks.”His eyes didn’t leave her as she moved around the small kitchen, collecting glasses and opening the fridge.
Itfeltso domestic. Itfeltso right. When she placed the drinks in front of him, he blurted,“Shall we start from the beginning?”
Sie sat down opposite him, which annoyed him, as shecouldhave sat beside him.
She stared at the table for a long time before her eyes rose to his.“Sure.”But she didn’t say anything else, and the silence between them stretched.
“Sie?”
“I don’tknowhow to start, as all I want to say is sorry, and that’s not going togetus anywhere.”
“It won’t,” he agreed.
“I left because I was scared.”Again, she stopped talking for a long time before she finally said,“I lost my family. I was scared that if I stayed, I would have lost you, too. At the time, itseemedeasier to walk away from you than risk another loss.”
“You wouldn’t have lost me,”Ford whispered.
Her eyes were sad when she said,“The problem is I would have. I couldn’t carry on touring. Each one of those last shows I did nearly broke me.”
“I thought you were grieving.”
“I was. Butit wasmore than that. My stage fright was crippling. Every time I went outthere, itfeltlike I couldn’t breathe. Iknewthat if I quit Midnight Thunder, you would have quit too.”
Ford opened his mouth to deny it, then closed it again. If she told him she was leaving the band to settle into a small town life, he would have gone with her. He would have given it all up to make sure she woke up in his arms every day.
“Yes,” he said simply.
“And you would have grown to resent me.”
Ford again opened his mouth to deny it. Then he closed it again.Couldhe say with all honesty that he wouldn’t have grownto resent her if he'd given up the chance to be successful in music?
“Shit,” he groaned. “We were fucked.”
Sie chuckled ruefully.“Yup. I shouldn’t have left that way. I’ve regretted it every single day since I did it.”
“But if you told me you were going, I would have come too and been destroyed by constantly asking myself ‘what if?’. What if I stayed? What if we were successful and I missed out?”
“Yeah,” Sie agreed.
“Basically, we were fucked.”Ford ran his hands through his hair.
“Yep. But I still shouldn’t have run away. I should have given you a choice.”
