Love's Dilemma (Sixty Minute Romance) (3 page)

Chapter Six – The Reception Committee

Clair had become distracted. She had met a nice guy
called Max and sung with his band in her local pub. Now she had agreed to sing
with him next weekend. Sandy and she were already becoming friends and Clair
could see them getting very close indeed, if they kept in contact. Clair
wondered how close her relationship with Max would become.

Sandy kissed Clair on both cheeks and Max gave her a
hug. Clair’s body jumped slightly at this and she looked into Max’s eyes in
surprise. She hugged him back.

“Thanks for asking me to sing. I’m very grateful.” Is what
Clair actually said. What she really meant to say was
‘I like you, you are
different and a bit dangerous, and that could be fun.’
She also told Max
that, much as she had enjoyed the ride on his motor bike, she would take a taxi
home. Next time she would wear something more appropriate for a motor bike.

It was only as she was dropped off by the taxi outside
her parents’ house in Hillingdon, that she started to have some misgivings. She
saw a curtain move in the lounge window. A few moments later the front door was
open and her mum and dad were there waiting for her. She stopped and looked up
the five steps to the front door. This was going to be difficult.

And the following forty minutes were interminable for
Clair. If it wasn’t for the love she had for her mum and dad, she would have
found it impossible. They had had disagreements in the past, and she still did
not always see eye to eye with them. But tonight was a meeting of Clair’s will
against her parents.

The motor bike incident had not gone unnoticed. Aaron
and Cora Holding had spent the evening fretting at the sight of their daughter
getting onto a motor bike and roaring off, without stopping to explain things
to them. They could not understand why she would ever get on a motor bike in
the first place. Motor bikes were for dirty uncouth people who swore a lot and
drank too much.

Clair had always told them the truth, sometimes with
some detail omitted, but she decided to be completely truthful with them this
evening. Clair went through the events of the night out at the pub. She talked
about her singing. Then she talked about her agreeing to perform next week. The
biggest shock for them was that she would miss church this week, because she
had to rehearse with the band on Sunday.

“But we thought you had given up all the singing. That
was good for when you were growing up and as a hobby. But your career is what
should come first. You must see that.”

“I do see that. This is nothing to do with my career.
This is me wanting to do something that I love to do. I’m not giving up my
career, but I want to sing!” Clair found it hard to raise her head to look at
them. She knew how hard this was for them to accept.

“But you have finished with all that!”

“Only because that is what you wanted. I have filled my
life with studying and working for more than five years. But part of me has
always wanted to sing and perform. You know that. Why don’t you come and see me
perform? You haven’t heard me for years. You can come and see us next weekend.”

“I don’t want my daughter running off with a scruffy little
thug who rides a motor bike and plays in a rock band. You are much better than
that!” Aaron Holding had prepared this little speech and had finally delivered
it. It sounded so good to him when he had rehearsed it. It sounded hollow now
it was out.

“I am not about to run off with anyone. This is about
me singing.” Clair was almost sure that this was correct. But she couldn’t get
Max out of her head, since she had left him two hours earlier. There was a
freedom of attitude and a love of life that he had. It was unique and very
infectious.

The evening ended with Clair reheating up her meal that
had been made for her, and sitting opposite her mum in the kitchen. Her dad
left them alone. Cora Holding was similar to Clair in that she would often sit silently
for long periods of time when others were expecting her to speak. So with
mother and daughter sitting opposite each other there was not a lot of repartee
to be had. Eventually Cora asked the important question.

“What is he like, kiddo?”

Clair felt her face and body go hot as she talked about
Max. She had been caught unawares by her mum’s simple question. The
conversation came very freely from her and she was surprised at the amount of
details she was giving to her mum. Eventually after ten minutes her mum looked
into Clair’s eyes, with a tear running down her right cheek.

“You be careful now, don’t rush into anything you can’t
undo. Your father will find this very difficult and disappointing if anything
becomes of it.”

“Are you OK with it? I mean me singing and things.”
Clair thought that was what she meant.

“I am OK with it, as long as it is the right thing for
you. I have never heard you talk about a man like you have tonight. I’ve just
got to remember that you are twenty five and grown up.”

“But he isn’t a boyfriend or anything. He is a friend
and we are playing in a band together.” Clair started feeling hot again for a
second or two.

“Are you sure? kiddo”

“I’m completely sure!” Clair thought she was sure. Then
she thought that she wasn’t at all sure.

Chapter Seven – The Big Night

On Sunday, Jo went with Clair to the rehearsal. Gail
had come up with an idea about having a line of girl singers for some of the
songs. So Jo got an invite to sing with the band. Seven long hours of
rehearsing later, Max’s band sounded ready for action. Seeing Clair, Jo and
Gail singing and moving together with some simple dance moves was great. Max
was very excited at the prospect of the concert this weekend.

The concert was a practice run for the Hammersmith
dates they had booked later on. So the audience had the potential to be quite
large. It was in a proper concert hall rather than a pub. It was definitely a huge
step up for the band. On the way home Jo kept singing and saying to herself
‘I’m
singing in the band!’ ‘I’m singing in the band!
’ It got quite distracting.

The intervening week went by very slowly. On Monday
morning Clay Smith greeted Clair with the file she had refused from him on the
Friday. She scowled at him and snatched it off him.

“So it wasn’t so urgent after all.” Clay looked Clair
up and down before leaving, saying.

“I need it done by lunchtime!”

It took ten minutes for Clair to process the file and
make one phone call. The file was back sitting on Clay’s desk by ten o’clock.

Clair managed to block out the oncoming weekend concert
for most of the time, and no one really noticed any difference in her. She
spent most of her spare time thinking about Max. He was definitely not
boyfriend material for her. She agreed with her parents about that. So why
couldn’t she remove him from her mind? Why did she wake up having dreamt about
him? And why did she start feeling hot and sweaty whenever she talked about
him?

At home, Clair’s mum and dad were trying to act as if
everything was fine, except perhaps that they kept looking at her more
noticeably than before. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that they were
occasionally shaking their heads at each other. On Saturday, her dad asked
where the concert was being performed.

“We will come and hear you sing. Mum says we haven’t
heard you sing since your eighteenth birthday.”

“Really?” This was a bit of a surprise to Clair. She
hadn’t realised that it had been that long.

“This doesn’t mean that I like it! I just want to hear
you sing.” Aaron Holding was trying to let go of his daughter. It was not very
easy.

Max offered to collect Clair from home, but she wasn’t
ready for her parents to meet him face to face. Then the penny dropped. If they
were coming to the concert, a meeting with Max and her parents would be
unavoidable. Perhaps that was their plan all along!

Clair told Max that she would make her own way there.
They were due to meet at five o’clock for the sound check. Jo was now more
excited than Clair at the thought of singing in the band. She kept thumping
Clair, and repeatedly saying
‘I’m singing in the band’,
over and over again.
The sound check went well and Jo finally stopped jumping around like ‘Tigger’ from
Winnie the Pooh
as she started to get nervous.

Max was wearing a pink T-shirt with the slogan ‘God
made me, and then he broke the mould’ printed on it in bright blue.

They were the second support to the main Robbie
Williams tribute act. Their set went reasonably well with Gail and Jo
overacting and jumping around a bit too much. Clair sang five songs as lead
singer and felt completely at home. Max had persuaded Clair to revive the Annie
Lennox
‘Why’
performance she had done all those years ago. This was done
as an encore to the main set.

Clair left the comfort of the stage and stepped down in
front of the expectant audience. As she walked along the aisles, she picked out
individuals and sang a line to them. Each line of the song was filled with
meaning and emotion that had the audience mesmerised. Clair avoided where her
parents were sitting as she walked through the crowd. As she returned to the
stage to end the song, there was a standing ovation for her. She was in heaven.

The band walked off the stage, leaving a very grumpy
looking Robbie Williams act that had to follow them. There was no way he could
top that performance. He kicked off with
‘Let me entertain you’
. It
sounded hollow and ordinary by comparison.

It took a few minutes to settle down in the back room
of the hall. Jo and Clair were seated together, emotionally exhausted. They had
given out the most in the performance. The rest of the band was reconsidering their
decision to split up. After packing up their things they went for a drink and a
wind down in a pub nearby. Some of the pub customers had seen the concert and
came over to say thank you. Clair’s phone rang and her dad wanted to know where
she was. Ten minutes later she had the dubious and unexpected pleasure of
introducing Max to them, as well as the rest of the band.

“I am so proud of you; I had forgotten what you were
like, how good you are.” Aaron Holding was beside himself, he had obviously
been crying.

Clair’s mum just smiled and said
‘Well done’
quietly
in her ear. They both shook Max’s hand and he was polite and well behaved in
return. His hair was still a mess and his outfit didn’t match, but they seemed
to be pleased to meet him. Clair wished he would stop using the word
‘Cool’
when he spoke to them. Max looked over to Clair and said out loud.

“Your Ma and Pa are cool!” It was embarrassing and a
little bit endearing at the same time. Max had his own way with people that was
unique. There was no point trying to change him.

Clair couldn’t work out what her parents’ reaction to
Max was. Did they like him or not? She would find out later on. Mercifully, Mr
and Mrs Holding left after twenty minutes and Clair could relax once more in
the company of Max and the band.

“See you later!” they said to Clair and Jo as they
left. Jo was staying the night with them when she and Clair got home.

“Well thanks Clair, you have turned this band around.
It was better than I could have imagined.” Max drew near to Clair and sat with
his arm around her shoulders.

“Are you going to sign up for more?” Max was being
forthright and positive. He didn’t have a negative bone in his body.

“I might. Let’s see how things go shall we?” Clair
wanted to say a straight out
‘Yes’
. But something was holding her back.
She wasn’t quite sure about the arm around the shoulders thing, but she let it
stay there. She would much rather her parents had given her a huge reassuring
hug. She wasn’t quite ready for a full on hug with Max,

“OK, I’ll pick you up tomorrow and we’ll spend a bit of
time talking about it. How does that sound?” Max wanted to spend the whole day
with this magical woman. The prospect of a second ride on Max’s motorbike
loomed for Clair.

“Have you got a car?” Clair asked in hope, rather than
expectation.

“No way, that would be far too boring! You can wear
that nice suit thing you had on the other day.” Max winked at her.

“Is this a date? Or do you really want to talk about
the band and my singing?” Clair already knew the answer.

“Of course it’s a date!” Max was on a high after the
concert, plus he didn’t do subtle. He wanted a full on proper date with Clair.
Why wouldn’t he?

“Hmm. I’ll come, but I’ll wear something a bit more
decent than my suit. And I’ll consider whether it is a date depending on how
nice you are to me.” Max kissed her on both cheeks and did a loud
‘Woo Hoo!’
to the world.

“You will be treated better than royalty. I promise!”
Max had a wide grin on his lovely tanned, fresh face.

“I don’t think many royal princesses have been picked
up on a motorbike.” She smiled wryly. Clair was looking forward to tomorrow
already. Max couldn’t hide his feelings and it had been obvious to Clair from
their first meeting that he wanted to go out with her.