“Erin?” Danny’s voice, worried. Then his footsteps, getting closer.

“I’m okay,” I insisted, in a voice that clearly wasn’t. I blundered deeper into the maze.

I turned a corner and came to a dead end. I turned around but it was too late: I could hear Danny around the bend. I blinked furiously and tried to swallow down the pain. He’ll think I’m pathetic. I didn’t want that to be the last memory he had of me.

Danny strode around the corner, his big shoulders almost brushing the shelves. I kept my eyes on the floor, afraid to look at him. I saw his feet stop in front of me and braced myself for his questions: why are you crying? What happened in Vegas? How did you lose your job?

But he didn’t speak. When I finally worked up the courage to look at him, the concern in his eyes made me melt. I could see he wanted to ask…but he knew it would break me. Instead, he just lifted one brow very slightly. You okay? I’d never known a man be so subtle. How the hell was he so good with women?

I swallowed. “Just...” I croaked, then started again. “Just looking around.”

He nodded, his voice gentle and infinitely patient. “You look all you want.”

I nodded gratefully and turned to stare at a socket set while I willed my face to cool. The memories retreated, scared away by Danny’s presence. There was something about the way he looked at me…I felt safe, even from the past.

I took a deep breath, back in control but feeling stupid. And then I saw something in the shadows behind Danny that made me forget everything. I frowned. “Is that…?”

I walked towards it and Danny backed up to let me through. As I got closer, my jaw dropped. I crouched in front of it, running a hand over the glass top. “Oh my God!”

It was a jukebox. A proper, old-fashioned jukebox with vinyl records. I crouched, put both hands on the glass and pressed my nose to it, entranced. “I love these things,” I breathed. Retro tech is art, to me. I have a whole collection of tape decks, big CRT TVs and neon signs. “That’s the arm that picks up the record,” I mumbled to myself. I craned my neck to peer at the mechanism. “That must flip it so you can have the A side or the B side….” Then I remembered I wasn’t just talking to myself. I looked up at Danny, embarrassed for geeking out. But he wasn’t sneering or rolling his eyes. He was grinning almost…adoringly. I flushed.

“Do you want to put something on?” he asked.

I jumped to my feet so fast I got room spin. “You mean it works?!”