Man of the Match: hot celebrity romance (FULL NOVEL)

17. Stolen meeting

[RECAP: Cara spent a weekend with her friends the Hilliers. Mrs Hillier guessed about Cara's secret affair with Matt.]

Matt told himself it was to get it out of his system. That it was the right thing to do. That he owed her, and himself. That it would help bring "closure", that clichéd term that he had always dismissed before.

But he had to see Cara one more time. The truth was that he simply wanted to. The urge to contact her and see her again was stronger than the rational arguments he made to himself against doing so.

He could have tried to ring her but he didn't think hearing her voice would be enough. So he drove to her town. He had asked for her address before she had left Sri Lanka, when he was still considering a very different outcome.

The journey took longer than he thought and he had left on a whim so it was late evening by the time he reached Cara's place. It took him back to his own student days: a quiet suburban street of small red-brick terraces, most of them shared houses or split into flats. Many had bicycles chained to the railings in front.

He found the right number and knocked on the door. For a moment as he waited there he thought of leaving again but then the door opened. A young woman stood there, about the same age as Cara.

"Can I help?" she asked.

Ann was used to odd friends of Fiona occasionally turning up at all hours so she wasn't overly disconcerted by a strange man appearing on the doorstep at night. That was student life for you, there was always someone trying to find a party or a study session somewhere. Besides which he also looked quite respectable even if he was older than most of their student friends. Fiona's friends tended to be more alternative but this man was clean cut, and very attractive.

Thinking all this as she saw him, Ann also realised that he looked strangely familiar. "Aren't you...?"

"Off Coronation Street? I get that a lot. No, I just look like him." Matt had used this strategy a few times, pretending to be the doppelganger of some soap star. People often thought they recognised him or even knew him, so he laid a false trail whenever he could.

Ann was frowning, even more confused. She'd be leafing through a television guide later on, trying to place whom he reminded her of.

"I'm actually a friend of Cara's cousin," he said. He hoped that Cara had a cousin, or that Ann would be unaware whether she did or not. "Is she in?"

"No, she's out for the evening. But you're welcome to wait here for her. She might not be back until late though."

Having come all this way, Matt couldn't wait that long.

"I'll go and meet her in the town. Do you know where she is?"

"Downtown. I mean it's a club," Ann said, seeing his confusion. "Called Downtown."

"Which is also down town? I'll find it." Matt thanked her and left.

* * *

Cara had been dragged out on the town by Fiona and some of her flamboyant friends yet again. Fiona was determined not to let her sit around and mope. "You're still looking tired and miserable all the time, it's much better to get out and distract yourself."

They had tried to persuade Ann to come but nightclubs weren't really her thing. She had a lot of study to do anyway.

Fiona was studying biochemistry like Cara, but most of her friends seemed to be doing theatre studies. They were a lively crowd and Cara was managing to enjoy herself.