Richard frowned. “Did you give Lizzy your cell number or the loft’s?”
“The loft’s,” Darcy said darkly.
“Why didn’t you give her your cell? Charlotte is calling the loft.”
“Because it’s my house!” Darcy replied. “Why didn’t you tell Charlotte to call your cell?”
The ringing of Charles’s phone interrupted the fight; Darcy and Richard watched, eyes wide, until Charles said, “Hi, Jane,” loudly, for their benefit. Charles got up and moved into the library as the landline rang.
“Lizzy?” Darcy answered.
“No,” a laughing voice answered, “it’s Charlotte.”
“Hi, Charlotte, hang on.” Darcy said sullenly, passing the phone to Richard.
Richard took the phone and, covering the mouthpiece with his hand, told Darcy, “Call Liz on your cell,” before speaking into the phone.
Darcy was up in a heartbeat, grabbing his cell and dialing Elizabeth’s number as he went into his bedroom and closed the door.
“Hello?” a very confused-sounding Elizabeth answered.
“It’s me. Charlotte and Richard are on the landline.”
“Oh good. I tried calling and couldn’t get through.” He could hear the relief in her voice. “How are you doing?”
“Terrible,” Jane moaned. “I’m bruised all over.”
“Baby, what happened?” Charles asked imploringly.
“Promise you won’t hate me?”
“She can’t surf!” Charlotte replied. “Oh my God, I lost count how many times she fell off the dumb surfboard just paddling out.”
Richard laughed. “And how did you do?”
“I’m a surfing natural,” she grinned.
“That’s my girl.”
“So then what happened?” Charles asked.
“Oh, George finally gave up on the surfing thing and had us cliff diving instead,” Jane said wearily.
“How did that go?” Charles sounded dubious.
“Well, it was more jumping off rocks than actually diving. I tried to do a real dive, but then George said they couldn’t see my face.”
Darcy smiled, warmed by her voice. “I hate to admit it, but he’s right about that. How has he been treating you?”
“Fine,” Elizabeth shrugged. “I told him I was in a new relationship and he’s totally left me alone.”
“Good, I’m glad that’s all over. So how was the night shoot?”
“Boring,” Jane said tiredly. “They got a bunch of guests from the resort to be extras and had us playing around a bonfire on the beach.”
“Oh, that sounds lame,” Richard scoffed.
“Tell me about it,” Charlotte agreed. “George has changed. You can tell.”
“How?” he demanded.
“It’s like he doesn’t care. He wasn’t paying much attention to the shooting, and the crew clearly had no respect for him.”
“It’s like everyone is just going through the motions here. I don’t think the video will be very good.”
Darcy sighed. “Just get it done and come home, Lizzy.”
Elizabeth smiled. “That’s what I’m doing, my love. What did you do today?”
“We worked on some new songs today.”
Jane sounded pleased. “Will we get to hear them when we get back?”
Charles smiled, recalling the content of the two love songs. “I guarantee it.”
“When?”
“So, um, tomorrow night.”
Charlotte was puzzled by Richard’s tone. If she didn’t know better, she would swear he was almost shy. But that was ridiculous, she told herself. Richard Fitzwilliam had never had a shy day in his life.
“Yes?” she said encouragingly.
“Do you think we could get together and, um, talk?”
Charlotte stopped breathing. Struggling, she laughed weakly. “Richard, we’ve been talking every night.”
“I meant face-to-face. I want to see you, Char.”
“I’m never going to sleep tonight,” Darcy complained.
“I know. Why do they make these beds so huge?”
“Do you forgive me for this morning?”
Elizabeth had to think a moment to remember what he was referring to, and then she smiled brightly. “Of course I do.” She laughed. “Can I tell you something?”
Darcy’s voice warmed. “Anything.”
“Well, this is a little gross, but I um, I kind of liked it. All morning long I would catch little whiffs of you in my hair. It was nice,” she said in a very small voice.
Darcy grinned. “I found one of your long Lizzy hairs on my guitar today.”
Elizabeth laughed. “How did it get there?”
“I don’t know, but I liked it. It’s like having a ‘Property of Elizabeth’ sign on me.”
“I love you,” Jane cooed.
“I love you too, angel.” Charles sounded lonely. “I wish you were here. Let’s not ever do anything stupid, like go on separate tours, all right?”
“Charles, I could never do that,” Jane answered without thinking. She paused, realizing what she said and was stunned by the implications. “Oh!”
“Jane?” He was concerned by the emotion in her voice. He wished he were there with her. “Jane, it’s okay. We’ll talk about it when you get back, but it’s okay.”
“Are you sure?” Her voice was a weak whisper.
“Darling, I’m certain. I lost you once and I am not going to do that again. We’ll work it out. We always do.”
Jane closed her eyes to the sound of his voice and let it soothe her.
“I’ll meet you at the airport?”
Charlotte looked down to see her fingers trembling. She clenched her fist to stop them. “Yes,” she answered, wishing her voice was stronger.
“Great.” He sounded relieved.
“Richard?” she called out plaintively.
“Yes?” His answer was quick and ready.
“I… I miss you.”
He closed his eyes against the desperation in her voice. “I miss you too, Char. I’ve missed you so much. There are so many things I want to tell you.” He made a conscious decision to stop talking. He longed to say those three little words to her, but he wanted to see her face, to hold her when he said it. Instead he told her, “I’ll see you tomorrow, Char.”
“I can’t wait.”
“I never knew one night could be so long, Elizabeth.”
“Me neither. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“Sleep well, angel.”
“You too, love.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
Elizabeth found herself in the strange position of growing tired of her own song as she heard the playback once again.
While the previous video was filmed with a sense of order and precision, this one seemed to be thrown together in a haphazard fashion. The day had started out well enough, with filming Elizabeth in an RV. But it had since gone downhill. After a half-dozen takes of the band playing together while sitting on the sand, Elizabeth was now being asked to writhe about on the beach while a camera filmed her from overhead. She was quickly losing patience with it all.
She found her attention drifting back to Darcy and all the things she wanted to do with him back in New York. This would be the last night of the break. Tomorrow they were scheduled for the first of three nights at Madison Square Garden, then a day off, and then they were back on the road.
Elizabeth’s eyes drifted over to Charlotte, who was smoking again. Elizabeth realized that she had been smoking every time Elizabeth had seen her today, except when they were filming, and wondered what was wrong. Charlotte was being uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, and Elizabeth strongly suspected that returning to the tour was weighing heavily on her mind as well.
Elizabeth sighed. No matter what happened, Elizabeth couldn’t see a happy course for her. With a flash, she realized that Charlotte was now in the same boat she had been in for most of the tour—the only one not in a relationship—and Elizabeth’s heart filled with empathy for her friend.