For the Love of Music (Sixty Minute Romance) (5 page)

It turned out that Anne
had not only copied the office nerd, Stanley, in on her email to Sandy the
previous week. She must have clicked ‘copy to all contacts’ before she sent it.
Jayne welcomed her on Monday to see if she was going round to Sandy’s that
night. Gemma, who sat next to her, wanted to know exactly who Ed was, and when
the next email installment would be written. Stanley came over and helpfully offered
to change the settings on her Gmail account, before she gave away any more
state secrets.

Sure enough, Sandy had
replied to Anne’s somewhat private email and everyone in her office had also, somehow
received a copy of the reply. Anne read through the short email and felt her face
turn red as she did so. The email read as follows.

‘Wow, this Ed of yours sounds hot. A real musician and
he’s got proper injuries from the battle front. Come round on Monday and tell
me all about him. My own hunk, Paulo, is lecturing and won’t be home until
later on. You’ll have to go home when he comes back, you know why!!?? We can
compare notes on the two of them if you like.

Sandy

Oh, bring a bottle!’

Sandy had her own special
views on men, as can be seen by the vocabulary used in the email. She was a
very close friend and Anne loved her to bits, but Sandy was never subtle, or
sophisticated.

Anne somehow got through
her day trying to avoid everyone and having to explain her mistake. It could
have happened to anyone. But it had happened to Anne. She was very embarrassed.

She replied to Sandy by
email, making sure she copied no one else.

‘See you later, have bottle. Anne’

There was so much more she
could say in reply to Sandy, and indeed a lot she should say, but Sandy was a
simple girl and she wouldn’t understand Anne’s mortification at her life being
paraded around the office through their emails.

Anne spent her lunch break
sitting in a nearby café, dreaming about Ed. She hadn’t meant to dream about
him in particular. It just happened. She could see him in her mind dressed in
his wonderful three piece suit being the perfect gentleman. In her mind they
were together somewhere, it was all actually a bit blurry on details, but they
were together having a good time.

“Knock  knock.” Her boss,
Carla, had joined her and interrupted her dream.

“Hi Carla, sorry, I’m
miles away.” Anne’s ham roll was still on her plate, untouched and her coffee
was cold. She ordered a new one from the counter.

“You have got to sort
yourself out girl. I’ve never seen you like this.” Carla was genuinely
concerned.

“I know. I’ll sort it out.
Don’t worry.” Anne didn’t really know how to sort it out. Suddenly she started
pouring her heart out to Carla about Ed. She told her about their first meeting
and how wonderful she felt when they played music together. Then she told Carla
about Ed liking her and her difficulties with that. Anne started talking about
Ed, and his mental problems dealing with his new life and then Anne realised
that this was her boss Carla she was talking to.

“You won’t say any of this
to anyone, will you, Carla? Especially Jayne.” Anne suddenly became very
fearful.

“I can see you are in
trouble Anne. I will not say a word to anyone, promise. Thank you for trusting
me.” Carla was serious. Anne wasn’t sure that she did trust her one hundred
percent, but it was too late now.

That evening, she left
straight from work and took the tube to Bank, where she changed for the Docklands
Light Railway to East India. Then she made her way to the flat her friend
shared with her boyfriend. Whilst Sandy was not the most sophisticated of friends,
she, and her fianc
é
Paulo, had both inherited money. They lived the life of luxury on the top floor
of a reclaimed and refurbished warehouse development. It was far too big for
the two of them but there was always the idea of a young family for them in the
future to justify them owning this apartment.

Anne rang the video entry
button. The box made a pathetic sounding buzz and she pushed the door to enter
the ground floor lobby. The lift was waiting for her and she pressed button
eight, plus Sandy’s special security number, to go up. You could only get up to
the eighth floor with this entry code. When the door of the lift opened, there
was no hallway, it opened directly into the apartment and Sandy came rushing
over to kiss Anne.

“I’m so glad you have come.
We are going to have a great time, you and me. We haven’t done this for ages.”
Sandy was enthusiastic and gushing as usual.

Anne handed her the bottle
of Corbieres Red and walked with Sandy over to the open plan kitchen. Sandy
opened the bottle and shared it carefully between two huge wine glasses.

“That’s about half each, isn’t
it?” Sandy asked earnestly, stooping down to check the levels.

“Yes, that’s fine.” Said
Anne. She was enjoying Sandy’s carefree and easy attitude. She never made
things complicated and always looked on the positive side of things. Anne
needed Sandy tonight.

“Dinner will be ready in
about twenty minutes. We are having venison pie, Is that OK?” Sandy didn’t know
it, but she was a natural and gregarious cook, and a great host. She actually
used all those TV chef cookbooks and always came up with fantastic meals.
Presenting someone with a venison pie, seemed completely normal to her. If Anne
had said anything about the eclectic choice of menu, it would have confused
Sandy.

“That sounds good to me.”
Anne replied, she was sure she had never eaten venison before.

They sat down on a long,
white, leather sofa.

“So, Ed is your new guy,
have I got that right?” asked Sandy.

Anne went through how she
and Ed had met up. They continued at the dining table during the meal. Sandy loved
all the details and Anne was enjoying offloading her story onto her. As Sandy
went to the fridge for pudding she said.

“Rumbaba’s OK? I made them
yesterday, they should be fine.” Anne didn’t know what Rumbabas were, but nodded.

“I didn’t put too much rum
in them so you should be OK.” Sandy placed one on a plate for each of them.

“So you aren’t going out
with this Ed yet then?” Sandy asked for clarification.

“No, Sandy. I told you. I
am helping him out by playing music with him. It’s a sort of therapy for him. He
likes me but I don’t think that I should see him again because of that.” Anne
was finding it hard to find the words.

“But you said that you
have never felt anything like it when you played together. You said that you
felt alive and exhilarated when you were with him.”

“Yes I did say that, but
it was nothing to do with liking him. It was a musical connection. It’s like we
have a very strong musical connection when we play together.”

“Well I wish I had a
musical connection with Paulo. He has no musical taste at all. He thinks that
Tony Christie and The Bay City Rollers made great records. You know what? I
think you like this guy. I think that you like Ed more than you realise, but
there are things about him that are stopping you going further. We have been
here chatting about him for nearly two hours. I can hardly shut you up, telling
me every detail about him, and what has happened each time you have met.”

“He is not a
straightforward guy. He is disabled and has problems in his head in recovering
from being on the frontline in Afghanistan. I can’t get involved with a man
like that.” Anne really hated herself for voicing her discrimination so openly.

“If you think that is
complicated, let me tell you, he has nothing on Paulo.” Anne knew that Sandy
had a point. Paulo was not your regular man off the street. Sandy and Paulo had
survived a typical, but turbulent, holiday romance and negotiated six months of
living together, but their up and coming wedding had created all sorts of
problems with Paulo and commitment. There was a month to go to the happy day, but
it had definitely not been a smooth journey.

Paulo arrived about nine
thirty and gave Anne a huge hug.

“How’s the old firm
going?” he asked. Paulo used to work with Anne and Giorgio.

“We are missing you but I
know that Sandy is much happier with you doing what you’re doing.” Anne looked
over towards Sandy, who gave her a two handed thumbs up behind Paulo’s back.

“Well I’m sure she is. How
are you getting home?” Asked Paulo, rather too quickly.

“Oh, I’m on the tube.”
Replied Anne.

“Do you want a lift
halfway?” asked Paulo.

“No, I’m fine. I must be
going. Thanks Sandy. I’ll see you soon.”

Sandy and Anne hugged and
Paulo waved as he went into the bedroom to get changed.

“Bring him here as soon as
you like. He sounds really interesting.” Said Sandy.

“I might. Let me think
about things. Thanks for hearing me out. I don’t know what I’ll do - but it
helps that you know all about it.”

The rest of the week, was
spent avoiding the smirking and whispering in the office, from some of Anne’s
heartless work colleagues. Carla was true to her word and did not say anything,
but it is amazing what one false step, like the emails with Sandy, can do to a
girl’s reputation. Jayne wanted to know more details and in the end, had to
make it all up, as Anne refused to say anything to her.

Anne actually spent very little
time in the following week thinking about Ed. She had far too much on at work
and the Kovergirls had an extra rehearsal this week, to finish off the Adele/Emile
Sande set they had been working on. So, Friday’s concert came, and the girls
were in the van travelling to Guildford, before Anne gave any thought to what
she would say to Ed.

“Is your man coming to see
you tonight?” Asked Gail.

“He is not my man.”
Replied Anne rather tetchily.

“Well, I think he is
gorgeous, a real catch. The way you two play together is fantastic.” Gail was
persistent if nothing else.

“He has only got one leg.
He is still recovering mentally from what he went through in Afghanistan. He
has a real attitude problem and he is very pushy.” Anne replied.

“OK, have it your way.” Smiled
Gail.

There was only a twenty
minutes time slot for them to set up. Fortunately, the PA man was the same one as
last week and he had sorted out most of the levels from his notes on their
previous performance. He would have to make the finer adjustments in the first
few songs.

The Kovergirls played
through the first set and then came off for a twenty minute break. Anne
couldn’t help looking out for Ed. She drank her coffee and expected a message
from him anytime. She became so preoccupied with Ed’s nonappearance, that she
forgot to change outfits for the second set. Carlos held them back for two
minutes while she threw on her outfit.

“She’s got a man on her mind.”
Explained Gail to Carlos.

Anne scowled and finished
her hairdo. The second set went well and the new solo songs went down a storm.
There was no time for encores as the lead act was ready to go on as soon as
they finished.

“That was great; I loved
you singing
‘Chasing Pavements’
.” Naze said to Gail. Naze had become
more committed to the Kovergirls over the last two months. She had only missed
one rehearsal and had agreed with Carlos that she was now the official bass
player. This was probably due to Carlos’s ultimatum that she would be dropped
if she didn’t turn up. Naze loved the recent upturn in the band’s fortunes and
she loved the attention she was getting from the audience.

“I like the new songs. We
were getting a bit stuck with just old classics.” Gail voiced what Anne thought
about the songs they covered. It was much better having a complete mix of new
and old songs.

“I have news. You are good
girls, I have news.” Carlos came rushing in red faced and looking jubilant.

“You are booked for the
main stage at the Replay Festival in six weeks’ time. Well done, well done.”

The girls all squealed and
jumped around the changing room. Kate and Narinda even hugged Carlos. The
Replay Festival was a chance to play to thousands of fans. It was a showcase
festival for cover bands. Achieving main stage was pretty much as far as you
could go, as a covers band in the UK.

In all the celebration, no
one had noticed that Colonel Hatch had entered the changing room. He was not
dressed in his usual military uniform. He looked very uncomfortable and solemn.
One by one they turned to look at him.

“What is it Colonel?” Anne
asked knowing immediately that something was very wrong.

“Can you come with me Miss
Richardson, would you mind?” He asked.

“Of course, I’ll just get
my things together.” Anne wanted to know everything but she couldn’t ask with
Carlos and the girls there. She didn’t change out of her high heeled black
boots and her sequined blouse as she could see that the Colonel was in a hurry.
She waited until they were in the car to hear what had happened.

“Ed has been asking for
you. He was taken to hospital yesterday after he reacted extremely badly to
some new medication he was prescribed two days ago.”