Love Me Till Wednesday (Sapphire Stars #1)

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Late Thursday afternoon went like clockwork. Ed and Tez arrived at Lisa’s on time. They loaded their gear into the hearse outside Lisa’s house, much to the interest of the neighbours. And despite the heavy rush hour traffic, they made it across London to the studio much faster than the satnav predicted. Jim had phoned to say he was on his way.

‘I told you this hearse was a great idea,’ Ed said as he pulled out in front of someone else who’d flashed their headlights to let him into the traffic. ‘You wouldn’t get this level of consideration in a Ford Transit.’

‘You’re unloading your own gear?’ The security guy who greeted them at the rear of the building said.

‘Yeah. Is that a problem?’

‘Nah. It’s just unusual, that’s all.’

‘I told you we should have hired a roadie. We look like a bunch of amateurs.,’ Ed whispered to Lisa. ‘Dave down the pub would have done it for ￡30.’

‘Do people still go down the pub?’

‘Dave does. He’s the barman.’

Lisa rolled her eyes. ‘You spent the budget on a new amp, remember? We can’t keep shelling out money left, right and centre. ’

The security guard was still giving them a funny look. ‘Didn’t you lot used to be famous?’

‘A while back, yeah.’ Lisa said. She could guess where this was going.

‘Oh, I remember,’ he chuckled, ‘You’re the bint that fell off the stage that time. Classic.’

Spot on, Lisa. Was it too much to ask to have someone remember their music? ‘I think you’ll find I fell on the stage rather than off it.’ Lisa said, bashing the corner of a guitar case on his foot.

‘Steady on, girl. That hurt.’

‘It won’t be your foot next time,’ Lisa muttered as they walked inside.

They setup on the small stage in the far right of the studio, away from the interview area.

The security guard appeared as they were finishing up. ‘There’s a bloke at the door claiming to be your bass player. James somebody. I was a bit suspicious as he looks successful.’ He cackled at his own joke.

‘Yes, he is ours, thanks,’ Lisa snapped, wishing she could think of a witty response to take the guard down a peg or two.

‘I’ll send him in then.’

A few minutes later Jim joined them in the large dressing room the men were using. ‘I’ve just been given some career advice,’ he said. ‘Apparently, I look too talented to hang around with you bunch of losers.’

‘Was it our jovial security guard by any chance?’ Lisa asked.

Jim nodded. ‘Are we ready to go then?’

‘As ready as we’ll ever be,’ Tez said, putting his feet up on the table.

Lisa started pacing. ‘Remind me why we said we’d do this again. ’

‘Cos we’re fucking amazing, and we deserve another crack at fame and fortune,’ Ed piped up. ‘And I’ve got to see two kids through uni.’

There was a knock on the dressing room door. A woman with a headset stuck her head around the door. ‘We’re ready for you.’

‘But the band play at the end of the show?’ Tez said.

‘We like to get the music sorted before the rest of the interviewees arrive. We don’t keep the stars hanging around that way,’ she said.

Tez scowled. ‘But it’s alright for us to hang around while they get ready.’

She gave him a withering look and turned to Pete. ‘If you could come out now that would be most appreciated.’

‘At least we know where we are in the pecking order,’ Tez muttered.

Five minutes later, The Sapphire Stars were all in position on stage for the first time in thirty years, ready to perform.

The studio lights were down. Lisa could only see a few faces on the front row of the audience. The twenty or so rows behind were lost in the darkness. She held on to the microphone stand tightly hoping it would stop her swaying. Deep breaths. Remain calm. You’ve done this plenty of times before.

Ed played the opening chords to Love Me Till Wednesday. Lisa started singing right on cue. This felt fine. Just like it had the first time in that karaoke bar a few weeks ago. It was all going to be ok.

Three minutes and 50 seconds later, she stopped singing, and the audience broke into a rapturous round of applause. It felt like they meant it. Lisa turned to smile at the rest of the band. They’d done it. Pete was grinning from ear to ear. Jim looked relieved.

‘Great stuff, guys,’ the assistant floor manager said. ‘When we’re ready for your interview, we’ll have you standing in this position again so it looks like you’ve just finished your performance. Then you can walk over to the sofa to be interviewed.’

‘All of us?’ Jim asked.

‘Yes, all of you. Lisa first. It doesn’t matter what order the rest of you are in.’ She put her finger to the earpiece in her right ear, looking like she was listening intently.

‘Mr Nixon is about to arrive, so you won’t have much longer to wait,’ she said.

Lisa froze.

‘Nick Nixon?’ Pete asked.

‘Yes. We’re honoured to have him. He doesn’t do many interviews these days. He’s going to be talking about his new fitness book.’

Lisa glanced across at Jim, who looked like he’d seen a ghost.

‘Is there a problem?’ the assistant floor manager asked.

‘No,’ Lisa said. ‘Everything’s fine.’ Why was Nick here now? After all these years. No one moved.

‘So if you could head back to your dressing rooms, please.’ She had the look of someone who might whip out a cattle prod if they didn’t shift soon.

‘We’re on our way,’ Lisa said.

They trooped out of the studio and along the corridor, Lisa leading the way back to the dressing room, wondering how the hell this was going to pan out. Jim trailed behind, lost in his own thoughts.

Ed broke the silence. ‘What’s up, folks? You look like aliens have landed and are threatening to blow up the planet.’

‘Jim’s never even met Nick before,’ Lisa said.

‘Oh shit. I didn’t think of that.’

Pete looked worried. ‘You’re not going to challenge Nick about Jim on screen, are you? ’

‘Of course not. I’m not airing my dirty washing in public. But I’m going to challenge him afterwards.’ Lisa looked at her son. ‘Assuming you want me to say something?’

Jim just nodded, still in a daze.

Pete still looked on edge. ‘We need to think carefully about how we handle this.’

Tez, always the most emotionally intelligent of them all, chipped in. ‘Surely that’s Jim and Lisa’s business. Not ours. Do you and Jim want some peace and quiet to discuss it?’

‘No, it’s alright,’ Jim said. ‘He’s not interested in me anyway.’

‘You don’t know. He hasn’t got another son,’ Lisa said. ‘He always said he wanted a big family.’

Jim shook his head. ‘No, he’s definitely not bothered.’

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Because I’ve had several attempts at contacting him and he’s never got back to me.’

Why had Jim never mentioned that before? ‘When?’

‘When Sophie was born. It made me think about being a father and growing up without one. I emailed his agent. I never heard anything. But I figured it could have ended up in spam, so I wrote a letter. Still nothing. I even hung around the stage door for a couple of nights when he was doing that play on Broadway, but he blanked me.’

Jim had gone on a work trip to New York a couple of years ago. Lisa had thought it was odd at the time but now it made sense.

‘Why didn’t you say?’

‘I thought you’d be upset that he was being an arsehole.’

‘Too bloody right I would. It’s one thing abandoning me when he was young, but …’ Lisa was too livid to finish the sentence.

‘What’s the point?’ Jim said. ‘You getting furious with him won’t solve anything. He’s got his wonderful life in America. He’s never been interested enough to ask after me in all my 32 years.’

‘Because we can’t sit on that sofa with your mother in this mood,’ Pete said.

No, they couldn’t. Lisa was in complete agreement with that statement. ‘I’m going to have it out with him before we get to that point. It’s one thing treating me like shit, but I won’t have him do that to our son. When did she say he was arriving?’

‘Any minute now,’ Tez said.

Right on cue, Lisa heard voices and footsteps out in the corridor.

‘Sounds as if he’s got a whole entourage,’ Tez said.

She shouldn’t be surprised. He’d have a publicist and a security guy, at least.

‘How are you going to get him alone?’ Pete asked.

Lisa had a bright idea. ‘He’ll be in makeup in a minute. I’ll collar him there.’