Chapter 1
They’d met in the rain, as cliché as it was.
She’d been reversing, he’d been too close, and suddenly their lives were entangled, irrevocably bound, all because of a glazed road, and a mindless daydream.
“Miss,” he’d shouted, pulling out an umbrella from his car’s boot, before rushing over to her, fighting to open it, as she fought not to laugh at the sight of the endearing Hello Kitty ears that protruded from the top. “Are you okay, Miss?”
She nodded, smiling in a dazed manner and climbing out of her own car to stand in the rain, gently pushing the umbrella aside, as he attempted to shelter her.
Vivienne Sallow had always been perfectly poised and put together, but today, today she wanted to dance in the rain.
So she did, tugging the man’s arm, and pulling him to the centre of the abandoned road, trying to ignore the cold metal that pressed against her fingers, when they clasped hands, instead, spiraling in squealing arc, hair splaying out behind her, sticking to her mouth, her cheeks, kicking up puddles as she went.
“Samantha,” she breathed when he asked for her name, because just for today, she didn’t want to be straight-laced Vivienne, just for today, she didn’t want to be the girl who’d run away to Paris, only to come back years later without a penny in her name. Just for today, she wanted to be free.
She'd always thought freedom was abstract, but in him, it was clearly defined in the hard lines of his jaw, and determined crease of his eyes, and God, she loved it.
In that moment, Vivienne had never wanted to be an artist more. So, standing on tiptoes she cupped his face between trembling fingers, swirling the rain in a myriad of patterns, imagining just for a moment that she was painting him all the colours of the rainbow.
“Hello,” she muttered, inches away from his face.
“Hello,” he replied, leaning in even closer.
And for a second, she forgot about the ring on his finger, and the Hello Kitty umbrella. For a second it was just him and her on a rainy day, away from the prying eyes of streetlights, and entwined beneath a sky of clouds.
Her breath caught when she glanced up at him, only to see him staring at her already, as though she had stars in her eyes, and galaxies painted across her cheeks, heart juddering when he pressed his lips to hers, slowly, cautiously, tentatively.
He tasted like freedom and mistakes, but Vivienne Sallow didn’t care. Not today. Today, she was Samantha, and Samantha could make as many mistakes as she wanted. So she kissed him back. She kissed him hard.
And when the rain fell, so did she.
