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to favour. But then she was the agent Alex had recommended, back when she still liked him.
    Marc let out a sigh. Thoughts of Alexis Kirkwood had been clouding his mind all day. He should be making a decision, right here, right now, but all he could think about was Alex. Was he being naïve, Marc wondered, or could it be that he was falling in love? How else to explain why every single flat he’d visited that day had been weighed against what Alex might think of it, which one she might prefer.
    Is that how one felt when it was the real deal?
    He would never know if he didn’t apologize to her. And the sooner, the better.
    Thea’s voice broke through his reverie. “What would you like to do, Mr. Daniels? There are other offers pending.”
    “I’ll have to get back to you,” said Marc, holding out his hand. “There’s someone I have to see first.”
     
    A few minutes later, with yet another of Thea’s business cards – this one with her personal number written on the back – tucked in his pocket, Marc was heading towards Kensington High Street.
    Within six blocks, he’d passed three coffee shops, a wine merchant, two green grocers and a classic British pub, its black and gilt sign beckoning him inside for a pint. That alone was enough to clinch the deal, grinned Marc as he reached the high street.
    He rounded the busy corner, melding into the teeming mass of pedestrians crowding the pavement as if he did it every day.
    It felt wonderful.
    And, unlike his trip to the antique hall with Alex, everybody was going about their business, and leaving him to mind his own. That, Marc decided, was the way it should be. With a rush of exuberance, he vowed he would never let his celebrity dictate his life again.
    Leaving the congestion and the roar of the traffic behind, Marc followed the flowered walkway into Hyde Park. There were splashes of colour everywhere he looked, pinks, purples, and yellows, and in the distance, he could see Queen Victoria’s gilded memorial to her beloved Albert.
    And Marc had thought his life was public! He knew he couldn’t undo the fact that he was a star, but changes could, and would, be made. Starting today.
    With Alex. He had already blown it with her twice, first as Marc the fake plumber and then as Marc Daniels the movie star. Up until that point, the attraction between them had been very, very real. But would it be enough, he wondered, to make up for his behaviour?
    Marc kicked at a stray stone in his path.
    And then felt churlish. He was the most fortunate of men. He stopped to watch a grey squirrel take a peanut from an old man sitting on a bench. He had a plastic shopping bag at his feet, presumably full of peanuts, because once the first one disappeared, the squirrel waited in expectation for another.
    “Do you come here often?” asked Marc as he drew nearer.
    “Every day.” The man set out another peanut.
    It was an enjoyable pantomime. After a half-dozen peanuts, the grey squirrel leapt down and scampered into the nearby bushes, only to be replaced by another one.
    Marc started to walk away, then stopped and turned back. “Okay if I bring some peanuts next time?” he asked. The man on the bench gave him a shy smile. Marc continued on his way, his step lighter than it had been for days. This was what he had been missing, the small exchanges and casual encounters of a normal life. He paused briefly at the Albert Memorial to watch a group of kids playing soccer in the distance, their shouts travelling across the grass towards him as they chased the ball, and each other.
    Decision made.
    Marc pulled Thea’s card from his pocket and started walking as he dialled her number.
    “Thea?” he said. “Let’s make it official.” She laughed excitedly in his ear, and five minutes later, the flat was his.
    Next stop, The Sadler. He jogged the rest of the way, his mind filled with images of Alex in those high-ceilinged rooms, scenting the air with her subtle perfume, chasing away the