“You look great, Leah. Really great.”
I’d missed Miguel as much as I’d missed Freya. I'd missed those big brown eyes, and the wild hair, not to mention the warmth of his hugs and the soothing sound of his voice.
“Thanks, but I look like hell.”
“You never look like hell, and I know you’ll have made sure you looked perfect before coming here so quit being so hard on yourself.”
I laughed because he was right. In the car, I’d checked my make-up and reapplied my lip gloss to make sure I looked at least half decent. Perfect was a bit of a stretch though.
I hugged him again but our embrace was cut short as Jamie let out a yelp of excitement.
“Radleigh!”
Jamie let go of my hand and as I turned to see where he’d sped off to, my eyes were greeted with the sight of a very surprised looking McCoy. Jamie flew at him and Radleigh recovered from the shock enough to smile at my nephew and lift him into the air.
“Hey, Jamie,” he laughed. “How are you doing?”
Jamie hugged Radleigh and said, “I'm fine. Daddy and Auntie Leah brought me here and Auntie Leah's friend let us backstage to see everyone!”
The whole place seemed to stand still as Radleigh and I surveyed each other.
When you don’t see someone for a while, sometimes the image of them changes in your mind. Maybe they get thinner, or the details of their face begin to fade. Not with Radleigh. Everything from the way his t-shirts clung to his muscles, to the colour of his eyes and the shape of his lips had never left my mind.
Taking a deep breath, I surprised everyone, including myself, by approaching him. If I had to speak to him, I may as well get it over with.
“Leah,” he said with an uncertain smile. “I didn't know you were coming.”
“There's a reason for that.”
“You didn't want to see me?”
“Not particularly. I came to see Freya.”
“And Miguel, by the looks of it,” he said, his tone somewhere between teasing and mild discontent.
“I came to see my friends,” I told him, emphasising the last word.
As his ice blue eyes gazed at me I saw him examining my face for a sign that I'd missed him. I tried to keep my expression neutral. It wasn't easy with him looking at me that way.
“Leah, can we go somewhere so we can talk?”
My heart leapt into my throat but I was very aware that there were at least six people staring at us, so I needed to either accept his offer or quickly decline so as not to prolong the moment any longer.
The
problem was, I didn't know what I wanted to do.
“I don't know,” I answered. “I've only just got here and-”
“Please?”
It was a simple plea. But that was exactly what it was.
I looked down at Jamie and said, “J, can you tell your dad that I need to talk to Radleigh for a while? I won't be long.”
Jamie looked from me to Radleigh with a serious expression. “You're not going to argue, are you?”
Perceptive kid.