He leaned against the chair, rubbing his face with the heel of his hand. When he pulled it away, it took a moment to regain his focus. ‘Look, I’m sorry for hitting you. Especially in front of your son. It was wrong and I shouldn’t have done it.’
Everett’s mouth fell open. Whatever he was expecting, an apology wasn’t it. ‘You’re sorry?’
‘Yeah.’ Adam could feel his back stiffen. It wasn’t quite giving him the relief he’d expected.
‘OK.’ Everett slowly nodded his head. ‘OK. I kind of understand why you did.’
‘You do?’ It was Adam’s turn to be surprised.
‘I’m not happy you did it. God knows I tried to talk to you so many times over the past couple of weeks. To explain what was going on. But every time I opened my mouth you shot me down.’
‘Because you betrayed me,’ Adam pointed out, trying to swallow down the anger. ‘Bec
ause you wanted to tell my story and put people in danger on the way. Not to mention the fact you called the cops on me.’
Everett sighed, scratching the back of his neck. ‘Look, will you let me explain?’ He pointed to the easy chairs by the window. ‘Sit down, let’s talk. Finally.’
Adam stared at the chairs for a moment, weighing up the options. Was he ready to listen to his brother without resorting to his fists once again? Yeah, he thought he probably was. And maybe if he listened, he might find out more about Kitty, why she left, where she was, if she ever wanted to see him again.
‘OK,’ he said, clearing the distance to the chairs, as Everett picked the script up from the library table. ‘Let’s talk.’
‘Happy New Year, darling.’ Cesca engulfed Kitty in a hug. Her voice was loud enough to silence the coffee drinkers around them. ‘How are you doing?’ she asked, releasing her. ‘I bought us both a latte, I hope that’s OK. You haven’t gone all vegan or anything on me again, have you?’
‘Nope, milk is all good.’ Kitty sat down opposite her sister, lifting the cup to her lips, not bothering to point out it was already January. ‘I swear you’ll never let me forget that year I became a vegetarian.’
‘How could we let you forget?’ Cesca teased. ‘I came down to the kitchen at midnight and saw you stuffing five chipolatas into your mouth. Some vegetarian you turned out to be.’
‘It was your fault for leaving them out there,’ Kitty protested. ‘It was cruel, like leaving an open bottle of vodka in front of an alcoholic.’
‘Well I’m glad that particular phase only lasted a few months.’ Cesca looked her up and down. ‘Not that you look like you’ve been eating much of anything for a bit. How much weight have you lost?’
Kitty shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I’m not on a diet or anything.’ As if to emphasise her point, she took another sip of her full-fat latte. ‘I’m just not very hungry.’
‘No wonder, after everything you’ve been through. You should have seen us all on Christmas Day, we were fuming. Lucy and I spent most of the night trying to dream up ways of getting even with that horrible family. I can’t believe they sent you away, the bastards.’
Kitty sniffed. ‘It was my fault,’ she said quietly. ‘I got involved in things I shouldn’t have.’
‘You mean you got involved with a guy you shouldn’t have?’ Cesca corrected, rolling her eyes. ‘I’ve made Sam promise never to make a movie with any of those arsehole Kleins. I don’t know who they think they are, treating you like that.’
Kitty opened her mouth to protest that Adam wasn’t an arsehole, but really, what was the point? It didn’t matter if he was an arsehole or an angel, he wasn’t here and he didn’t want her.
‘I wish you’d flown back to London instead of coming here on Christmas Day,’ Cesca continued. ‘We tried Skypeing you and you didn’t answer. Lucy was all for flying over and dragging you back home.’
Kitty shook her head, her mouth feeling dry in spite of the coffee. ‘I wanted to be alone. So much had been going on, I needed a bit of silence to get my head straight.’
Cesca leaned her head to the side. ‘And is it straight now?’
‘Not really,’ Kitty confessed. ‘But it’s a little straighter than it was. I even managed to get a couple of assignments finished.’
When she wasn’t watching YouTube clips of Adam over and over again, she’d been holed up in the Young Research Library, or in the editing suite at school. Her enforced solitude may have been bad in some respects, but academically, it had been a huge step forward.
‘And what are your plans now?’ Cesca asked. They were both aware that Kitty’s future depended on an internship with a production company. And she’d all but shot that hope out of the water.
‘I’ve absolutely no idea,’ Kitty admitted. She hadn’t let herself think about that too much. She’d been too focused on getting through the day to consider the future. ‘I guess if I don’t get anything I’ll have to go home to London.’ She shook her head at that thought. It felt like defeat, having to fly back to a city she’d left behind with such high hopes. To return with her tail between her legs, and not much more than she left with – unless you counted a post-grad degree that had cost her more money than she cared to think about.
The door to the café opened up, letting in a fresh draught of warm air. The room went suddenly silent. Cesca turned around to see who it was, her face lighting up with recognition. ‘Sam, we’re over here.’
He walked over, pointedly ignoring the chattering girls and phone-camera-pointing women who were all following his progress. And no wonder, with his dark, Italian good looks, and movie-star presence, he drew eyes wherever he went. Kitty felt herself get embarrassed for Sam – she knew how much he hated the constant attention. If it was her, she’d probably become a hermit, hide away from it all. She had to give him credit for braving the inside of the café.