‘You’re … oh my God … you’re not alone in there. Who are you with? Deano! Tell me!’
‘Parker … just …’
But Deano’s exasperation was not enough to put her off.
She flipped the screen aside and gasped.
‘Oh my God! Deano! Oh my God! I thought …’
‘You thought what?’ said Kayley, adjusting a wrinkle in her tights and flashing a look up at Parker.
‘I thought that we … I mean, I thought you were just in trauma after the fire and we’d … in time …’ Her eyes filled with tears.
‘Deano,’ said Kayley sharply. ‘Have you been leading this poor kid a dance? Or did you think you could play us both?’
‘It’s not like that, I swear!’ he said desperately. ‘Parker, I’m sorry, I should have been clearer. I know we had something going before we came out here but … I should have told you I couldn’t be with you. It was just … I don’t know … I didn’t want to hurt you.’
‘Well, that’s funny, because do you know what? I’m hurt! Hurt right here.’ Parker slapped a hand over her heart. ‘I thought we were going to be …’
She started crying.
‘The new power couple?’ said Deano. ‘The new Diamonds? Parker, I’m sorry, but that’s not what I want. I don’t want a carbon copy of my relationship with Jenna. There’s only one Jenna anyway.’
‘And I’ll never measure up,’ wailed Parker. ‘I’m just here to fill in while you find yourself something better. Well, fuck you, Diamond. You can represent yourself from now on. And good luck with that, because I’ve got friends, you know. Powerful friends.’
‘Great,’ said Kayley, after a beat of embarrassed silence. ‘See ya then.’
There was no dignified way for Parker to retaliate to this. She turned and ran out of the tent.
‘Oh God, babe, I’m so sorry.’ Deano turned to Kayley, holding out his arms.
‘You’re doing a lot of apologising just lately, aren’t you?’ she said primly. ‘Looks like you’ve got good reason to. Who else have you been leading on? Just me and Parker? Or are there others?’
‘I swear, Kayley, there’s only you for me. Parker – she just got some ideas about us. I suppose I was too lazy to set her straight. I’m not proud of myself. But she knew I’d come here to get Jenna back – she was deluding herself.’
‘Yeah, about that,’ said Kayley, ‘about you coming here to get Jenna back. Is that still the plan? If she clicks her fingers, will you go running? Am I just a, I don’t know, a second prize? A consolation prize, that’s the word.’
‘Christ, Kayley, no.’ He passed a hand through spiked, bleached hair. ‘OK. I can see why you might think that. But so much has changed since I came back to Bledburn. I … do love Jenna. I’ll always love her. But I don’t want to be with her, not any more. I want to be with you.’
‘When you say “be with”, you mean …?’
‘I mean whatever you want me to mean.’ Deano laughed brokenly. ‘Whatever it takes to keep you in my life, Kayley – that’s what I’ll do.’
‘Thing is, Deano, our lives are worlds apart. You live in LA!’
‘And so can you. If you want to. There’s plenty of work for a smart girl like you out there. Jenna’ll be good for a reference, won’t she?’
‘Er … my criminal record?’ said Kayley, the thought weighing her down like lead after a microsecond of considering a Hollywood life.
‘Oh. Yeah. I suppose that could be a problem. Well, whatever. We’ll work it out. If we really want it. Do you?’
‘I … think I do,’ she said, laughing at the thought that she, Kayley Milton, had Deano Diamond begging to be her man.
They were embracing, laughing in that jagged way that brings it close to crying, when Jenna stormed through the open tent flap.
‘What the hell have you said to Parker? And … Oh, sorry.’
She took a step back and looked down, taking a sudden keen interest in her footwear.