Love Me Till Wednesday (Sapphire Stars #1)

15

15

Lisa walked upstairs in search of Rossetti’s The Day Dream , her favourite painting in the V&A. She consulted the map of the museum and walked through the maze of rooms until she spotted it hanging in its gilded frame. It looked brighter than she remembered.

As she stood pondering what the sitter had been thinking about while posing for her lover, Lisa became aware that someone was standing next to her. The reflection in the glass looked familiar.

‘She always reminds me of you,’ a deep voice said.

Lisa turned and smiled at Pete. ‘I don’t think my hair was ever that lush.’

‘It was.’ He smiled at her.

‘Not any more.’

‘None of us are the same as we were 30 years ago.’ He stepped forward and hugged her. It felt strange being in his arms again after all this time.

‘It’s good to see you,’ he said.

‘And you.’ Lisa pulled back and looked at him again. He looked older in the flesh than he had on the album cover. He must be thinking she’d aged too. ‘I thought we were meeting in the cafe?’ she said .

‘I caught an earlier train. I guessed I might find you here. You always loved that Rossetti.’

It was sweet of him to remember that. He seemed more like the old Pete - the one she’d known before all the band problems and arguments. ‘Unless you want to look at anything, shall we go and get some lunch?’ she suggested.

‘Yes. I’m parched,’ he said, heading for the doorway. ‘The trolley service wasn’t running on the train this morning. I haven’t had a drink since breakfast.’

‘Well, if you will live in the wilds of the north,’ Lisa said as they headed downstairs.

‘It’s beautiful up there and cheap. I thought you’d be sick of London by now.’

‘No. It’s home for me.‘

The cafe was heaving. They joined the queue for the food counter.

Lisa chose lasagne. Pete picked a salad.

‘Eating more healthily than you used to. Your wife must be a good influence,’ she said.

‘Hmm.’ He looked uncomfortable. ‘Ex-wife now.’

Talk about putting your foot in it, Lisa. ‘I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.’

‘No reason you should. Our marriage ran its course. The divorce was all finalised a couple of years ago.’ He sighed.

They arrived at the till. Lisa noticed Pete checking the notes in his wallet. There weren’t that many in there. ‘I’ll get this,’ she offered. ‘You came all the way down here to see me. It’s the least I can do.’

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘One of the reasons I grew tired of London - everything’s so damned expensive.’

‘But I thought you had plenty of work down here.’ That’s what the sleeve notes on his album had implied.

‘Yeah, but I kept getting session work for all these new young bands, and it was wearing, you know. Constant bickering, and then they just wanted to go out and get high all night. Were we ever that irritating?’

‘Probably,’ she said, remembering the endless arguments at the end.

‘Then I met Becky and finally fell in love. Sorry,’ he added.

‘It’s ok. We were just friends, really. Perhaps with a few benefits thrown in.’

Why did you say that? Don’t start flirting with him. He might get the wrong idea.

He grinned back at her. ‘More than a few. Anyway, Becky’s from Cumbria. When she got pregnant, she didn’t want to bring up the twins in London, so we moved to Keswick, near her folks.’

‘And you’re still there?’ Lisa asked him as they headed for a vacant table in the corner of the cafe.

‘Yes. I stayed in the house. Becky ran off with a bloke she went to school with, so she lives with him in his big, rambling farmhouse. The kids live with her during the week. But they don’t seem that keen on living with me at weekends now they’re teenagers. Becky says they don’t spend much time with her either. They’re busy forming a band.’

‘I wonder who they got that from?’

‘My genes might have had something to do with it. They don’t sound too bad.’ He looked proud. ‘They’ve got a barn they rehearse in on the farm. A bit of an improvement to that tumbledown old warehouse in Digbeth we had to make do with.’

‘With the leaky roof and the rats.’

He laughed. ‘Amazing that we got anywhere. Are your kids showing any musical talent?’

‘Not like that. Sam has no interest in playing music. Elise had a brief flirtation with a violin but we all agreed it was a lost cause. Jim still plays Jonny’s old bass for fun, though.’

‘Crying shame about Jonny. ’

‘Yes. Tragic.’ Jonny’s car had veered off the road into a tree. No other vehicles were involved. No one had a solid explanation why. It had been sobering burying her 49-year-old friend.

Pete looked thoughtful. ‘So now we’re on the subject of music, are you serious about singing again?’

Lisa nodded. ‘Yep - I miss it.’ She didn’t add how sore her throat had felt after singing several songs while she was getting ready this morning. She was going to have to put in some serious practice to get back to being able to sing for longer than one song.

‘And collaborating? I was a bit surprised by that part of your message.’

He didn’t seem keen, which was disappointing. ‘I wanted to grab your attention. Don’t feel you have to consider it seriously.’

‘I’d love to work with you again. I was always a better songwriter with your lyrics to inspire me. It’s not as much fun working on my own.’

He looked dejected again. Too dejected for someone who just felt challenged by working solo.

‘Is everything ok?’

‘Not exactly. Sorry, I wasn’t planning to bring this up today, but since you’ve asked. The uni I was lecturing at has to make cutbacks, so as of the end of August, I’m unemployed. I guessed it was coming last year, so I pinned my hopes on the new album being successful, but it’s been a waste of time financially so far. I need a new challenge that pays, but I’ve no idea what that is now.’

‘So we both need a career boost,’ Lisa said, moving a piece of lasagne around her place distractedly.

He looked puzzled. ‘You’re the sensible one with a conventional job. I thought you were doing ok. ’

‘I am, but I’m sick of it.’ She filled him in on the Greg situation. ‘So assuming the estate agents are right about the price, I’ll be able to afford to give up work for a while and try something new.‘

‘Or something old?’ he said

‘Yep. But it needs to pay because I’m not so minted I could survive for long without any income at all.’

Pete leant back in his chair and smiled. ‘It’s always good to have an incentive to make it work. When do we start?’