Page 9 of Not Just for Christmas

Merrydown was in danger of feeling like a prison. Was running the farm what I wanted? I wasn’t sure anymore. I wasn’t sure about anything.

Chapter 4

Dylan Wilde, singer-songwriter, four times Grammy winner, and holder of the dubious honour of third place in the ‘sexiest man on the internet’ poll was getting settled in for his flight.

‘I’ll never be able to break up with you.’ Dylan’s girlfriend Amelia had fully reclined her leather seat and had a glass of Champagne resting by her elbow, a copy of British Vogue on her lap, a sleep mask pushed up on her forehead. ‘Just so you know.’

They’d been offered a drink as they boarded. Dylan was rehydrating with soda. Champagne had its place, but not at forty thousand feet up when he had a performance in Texas tomorrow.

He smiled; the excitement bouncing off his girlfriend in waves was infectious. ‘Glad to hear it – any particular reason?’

‘Because of everything.’ She circled a finger to encompass the private jet’s luxurious cabin. ‘The personal service, the gorgeous food, the table linen. Ain’t no going back to cattle class after this.’

‘I can’t promise this forever.’ Dylan grinned. ‘But let’s enjoy it while it lasts.’

‘Cheers to that,’ she said with a giggle, and lifted her Champagne flute up in a toast. ‘Hashtag feeling blessed.’

‘Feeling blessed,’ Dylan echoed, raising his soda glass to touch hers.

She blew him a kiss and went back to reading her magazine.

He watched her for a moment, as she ooh’d and ahh’d over the fashion pages. There were no sides to Amelia, what you saw was what you got. It felt good seeing all this stuff through her eyes. He was ashamed to say it, but he’d flown in private planes for so long that he’d gotten blasé about it. Travel was a necessary evil to get him from one city to the next, but she was right, he was blessed. They were lucky to be able to travel in luxury. Little moments should be celebrated. He was half tempted to change his drink to a glass of fizz, but decided against it; he really did have to work.

It was December already and he was due in the studio in the New Year to record his next album. At this rate he wouldn’t be ready. He needed one more song, one more big romantic upbeat song that had the potential to hit the charts. But for some reason, it just wasn’t coming to him.

He massaged his brow to rid himself of the stress he could feel building up. Should he work over the holidays instead of the surprise trip he had planned for Amelia? It was the sensible thing to do, disappear by himself, take two uninterrupted weeks to lose himself in music and write the goddamn song. But then … his jaw tensed; he had to stop doing this, missing out on life and putting work first. If he’d learned anything from Jack’s accident it was that life was short, and while you were here, you had to make the most of it.

I miss you, man. I wish … I wish I’d spent more time with you, Lucy and Sam. What I’d give to ride one more wave with you, dude.

‘Awww.’ Amelia was looking at her phone, one hand pressed to her heart. ‘That was so cute when the mom and her daughter asked for a selfie with me at the airport. And look – they’ve tagged me on their insta.’ She turned her phone to show him.

‘Very cute,’ he agreed.

Selfies with fans were another necessary evil. Dylan was raised by his mom to be polite. When he’d first started out that meant mostly signing autographs for fans; now he posed for pictures all the time. He’d learned that he was expected to be nice to the public at all times, even when the public pushed and shoved to get close to him and weren’t gracious about their invasion of his personal space.

Amelia’s long nails tapped the little heart on her phone screen to demonstrate her approval of the photo. The selfie had actually been with Amelia and him. He didn’t mind that she had skated over his part in the picture. Fame was still new for her. Admittedly she was only famous for being his girlfriend, but brands were starting to approach her for partnerships, and she was getting a following in her own right.

He did sometimes wonder if she’d be quite as interested in him if he wasn’t a star, but there was no point going there. Besides, she’d chosen to be here now beside him on the way to his gig in Dallas. Which sounded way more glamorous than it was. The gigs on this tour were back-to-back. There was no downtime, no chance of doing any fun stuff. Just travelling, rehearsals, performing, leaving just enough time to eat and sleep before flying on to the next leg of the tour. She must love him to want to go through all that.

‘I’ll let you get on with stuff while I take a nap.’ She blew him a kiss before pulling down her eye mask.

‘Sleep well,’ he said, turning to his laptop.

He clicked on the list of Christmas gifts that his PA planned on sending on his behalf to all the people who made his life that bit easier.

‘Oh.’ Amelia pushed up her eye mask. ‘I forgot to say, Scott and Monica just got engaged. Did you hear?’

‘No, I didn’t, good for them.’ Scott was a TV presenter who lived in Dylan’s apartment block. Monica was a hotshot lawyer. She scared Dylan to death.

‘A bit weird though.’ Amelia wrinkled her nose. ‘He proposed at Monica’s sister’s wedding. What do you think about that?’

‘It wouldn’t be my choice.’ He glanced through the list, it all looked good to him. Janet hadn’t included herself on the list, but he’d already sorted her gift. He was sending her and her best friend Margo to Las Vegas at spring break next year; she was going to love it.

‘I mean, talk about making it all about them. Not cool,’ Amelia continued. ‘If a man proposes to me, I want to be able to remember it as my special day, not as someone else’s anniversary.’

‘My special day?’ Dylan grinned. ‘Don’t you mean our special day?’

‘Our? Me and you?’ She turned to face him properly, her eyes sparkling. ‘What are you saying?’