“Well, don’t be! You can go shopping, go out to restaurants to eat, you can do whatever you want,” Anna encouraged.

“You’re right. Grab your bag! I am taking you to lunch.” The determination was evident in James’s face.

“You go. I’m fine. I’ll just stay here,” Anna informed him shyly. She liked her anonymity. She wasn’t ready to become a household name.

“Hell no!” he snapped, more forcefully than he intended. “The whole point of going out is to do normal things. You said it yourself, eat, shop, and don’t be a prisoner in your own home or hotel room or wherever we happen to be. Come on, do this with me.” James had a point. Those were Anna’s words. And she hated that he threw them back in her face.

“Okay. Give me a second to get changed?” Anna requested, looking up at James hopefully.

“Absolutely.”

Dashing off, Anna got changed and appeared a moment later.

Anna wore a pair of tight skinny jeans and black high-heeled shoes, which added another five centimetres, to her already impressive height. Her hair was swept up in a pile on the top of her head. She wore a light blue woollen jumper. James gawked as she entered the room. She giggled as James’s mouth fell open and it took him a moment to pick it up off the floor again.

“Well, you’ll do, I suppose,” James taunted. The sparkle in his eye gave away his secret. Anna knew he thought she looked a hell of a lot better than nice, but he wouldn’t admit it.

“Okay then. If I’m not good enough to take to lunch with you, you can always just go by yourself.” Anna smiled seductively at him, spinning on her heel and heading back towards the bedroom.

“You don’t look that bad. I guess you’ll do.” James chuckled, grabbing her arm and tugging her gently back in his direction. “Let’s go.” James wrapped his arm around Anna’s waist as they stepped into the lift.

“Ready?” James asked nervously. He was used to having his life constantly invaded by the media. Although it had taken years, James had all but adapted to having no privacy but now, thanks to him, Anna had been thrust into the spotlight as well.

Anna thought she had prepared herself for anything and everything the media baboons could throw at her. Deep in her heart she knew while she continued to pursue a relationship with James, one day she would have to face this. And in a way she was lucky that so far they had been able to maintain their privacy. But nothing could have prepared her for the media frenzy that was set up in battle formation. As the doors opened, the sea of camera flashes almost blinded them. Questions were being screamed at them so quickly they were indecipherable. Somehow James and Anna managed to push their way past the cameras and to the car. It seemed they wanted every minute detail of their relationship.

Anna was shaken up as one of the reporters cornered her. The fiery redheaded woman grabbed her arm and spun her around brusquely. “Are you after his money?” she asked. Her question tore straight through Anna. She had no response for that. What response was there? Anna was appalled by the forwardness of the woman. How could she? No one had ever asked her that before, despite the fact Anna knew many who had asked themselves that exact question.

Once they were tucked safely in James’s car, he turned to Anna, who had gone a weird shade of grey, as she battled the nauseating feeling, “Well, that was fun. Want to go again?” James sighed, running his hand through his hair. The look on Anna’s face told him this was not a laughing matter. “We’ll be okay. Promise,” he said as he squeezed her hand. Anna felt slightly better, but she knew from this moment on she was no longer anonymous.

As James drove, Anna got lost staring out the window at nothing in particular. Well, she told herself, at least that was the worst of it. Or so Anna wished. They arrived at the small café in the shopping centre and slipped past most of the people without incident. Everyone around them appeared as though they were caught in a trance, moving in slow motion.

For the first time since they had gotten together they sat at a table in the middle of the busy café. In that moment they were a normal couple. James had been adamant—that as much as possible they would live a normal life. People surrounding them paused mid-sentence and watched them enter, yet just as quickly as they had ceased their conversations, they returned to their meals and it was as if it had never happened.

After finishing their lunch, Anna expected to head straight back to the hotel or at least just go for a drive. But James had other plans. Unfortunately for Anna, when James set his mind to something, his stubbornness became apparent. He wanted to go shopping. Reluctantly, Anna conceded.

Neither of them needed anything, and Anna couldn’t even think of anything she could possibly want, but that wasn’t the point. Obviously James was on a mission to prove a point. They wandered through music shops, shoe stores, sports stores, and eventually ended up in the biggest toy store Anna had ever seen.

“Come on, let’s have some fun! Cause some mischief. Be normal, immature kids.” James had a mischievous grin plastered across his face.

“Okay, listen to me, James. You’ve proved your point. We can be normal and go out for lunch. And we can shop. You don’t have to do this,” Anna pleaded, as James dragged her by the hand into yet another store.

“Nope! You were right. I’ve missed out on doing so much, so from now on I’m going to do them all. And I’m going to do it better than everyone else, because I get to do them with you.” James kissed Anna’s hand. She had such an obvious soft spot for him that she gave in instantly. They raced down aisles of the toy store as staff, kids, and customers watched on. No one said anything; they just watched in silence as James and Anna behaved like the fun loving kids they wanted to be.

“You know, Anna, it might actually be possible for me to have a life outside of swimming,” James considered hopefully. Since his career took off in a whirlwind he had led a sheltered existence, most of the time he wouldn’t even call it a life. He never seemed to be living, so how could it be a life? He had tried to stay out of the public eye as much as possible; but now he had something else to live for, someone else to live for. And they weren’t going to spend their lives hiding. An hour or so later James and Anna left the toy store carrying armfuls of bags stuffed with all sorts of goodies. They didn’t care they had been acting like spoilt eight year old brats, running up and down the aisles causing havoc. Their only focus was laughing and having a good time.

It was still a beautiful winter afternoon when they arrived back at their hotel, still caught up in the whirlwind of freedom, when James declared he wasn’t yet ready to call it a day, much to Anna’s surprise. She was staring out the window, her arms wrapped around her waist protectively as she overlooked the lake. When James jumped out from behind her it scared the shit out of her. Fighting to regather her scattered wits, Anna was mesmerised as she watched two love struck teenagers as they attempted to paddle-boat on the water. They were joking and laughing and threatening to tip the other in the freezing water.

“Doesn’t that make you want to vomit?” Anna asked sarcastically.

James slid his long, muscled arms around Anna’s tiny waist. His chin was resting comfortably on Anna’s head. “I think it’s kind of romantic. I mean, look at it this way. It’s a beautiful winter afternoon, the sun is high in the sky, the birds are flying around and the two kids are in love. I thought you in particular, would be a lot sappier about all that kind of stuff. I mean, you’re the one with a romantic streak five miles long,”

“I am, but…I don’t know what it is.”

Twenty-four hours had changed Anna forever. Her optimism had evaporated. James wasn’t an idiot and as much as Anna tried, she knew she wasn’t fooling him. No matter how many times Anna read it in a book or heard it in a song, until this moment she hadn’t believed it. You can never go home again.