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Kate looked at him, then back at Sophie, who adjusted her music again to hide her face from the MD’s view. Kate, for once, appeared to be speechless, but was clearly enjoying the moment, judging by her smile.
‘Right. Let’s make a start,’ said the man. The choir shuffled and quietened until there was silence. He had an instant command of the room.
Sophie felt a pang of envy at his cool exterior.
‘Good evening, everyone. My name is Liam. Nigel asked me to step in tonight – he’s had to rush up north to stay with his elderly mother. I think I’ll be with you until the concert itself, which is exciting. I’m sure we all wish Mrs Calder well, though.’
Sophie watched, open-mouthed, as the choir seemed to collectively welcome Liam into the fold without question, nodding that they too wished Nigel’s elderly mother all the best.
There was too much to process. What was Nigel playing at? And why had he left this Liam to tell everyone his whereabouts? Sophie grimaced at the thought of everyone else wondering why she hadn’t known this was happening. How was she supposed to organise a charity concert if nobody communicated anything to her? She pulled her phone out to see if she’d missed a call or a text from Nigel. But there was nothing – the background of Sophie and Kate with wine glasses the size of their heads usually made her smile, but instead she winced. Not to mention the fact that only a week ago, she’d been sitting across the table from Liam with a bunch of helium balloons bobbing between them. She felt a fresh wave of embarrassment warm her face.
Liam continued. ‘Nigel said that you’ve had the music for a couple of weeks, but tonight’s the night he planned to start rehearsing properly for the concert. So, shall we begin by singing them through? Take your parts if you can, but otherwise the melody is fine to get us warmed up. Shall we stand?’
As Liam raised his arms with the baton in his hand, the choir stood as a group. Sophie joined them, standing a little slower, glancing around to see that no one was questioning Liam’s appearance. And that Liam hadn’t spotted her. She sighed heavily. She supposed they’d have to talk eventually – they were in effect organising a concert together at this point – but a few more moments of preparation wouldn’t go amiss.
The choir’s first sing-through was a discordant mess. Sophie sang along, but inside she was panicking. Did Liam even know what he was doing? It was more like a carol shout than a concert of beautifully sung hymns and Christmas songs. She’d said no to organising the last concert for fear of things not going as planned, and she didn’t want anything to go wrong on her watch. Liam hadn’t bothered teaching them any of the parts or the harmonies. He’d not even gone through the notes in the melody. He’d simply assumed that everyone in the room would know each of the song choices. She had to admit, they were fairly well-known hymns and carols, but even so, she was concerned at Liam’s apparent lack of musical understanding.
Relieved when it was break time, Sophie hurried up to collect two teas in polystyrene cups for her and Kate, ducking and diving through the crowd to avoid Liam. Greg provided the breaktime beverages, utilising his skills and retired equipment from the coffee shop.
‘There you go, Sophie, love. Just as you like it.’ He passed the two cups through the hatch from the kitchen, a slight tremble in his hand causing one cup to spill a little. ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ he said, reaching for a cloth and wiping the surface.
‘Thanks, Greg.’ Sophie turned and stopped abruptly when she found her face buried in the muscular torso of the new musical director.
‘Woah!’ Liam said, stepping back. His hands came up in defence. ‘Careful. Are you OK?’
Sophie cleared her throat. ‘Sorry.’
‘Sophie, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, that’s me,’ she said eventually, taking a couple of steps towards Kate and the comfort of their seats. ‘And you’re Liam.’
‘I’m Liam,’ he repeated with a nervous smile.
Ah, so he remembered their horrible date too. He was just choosing to ignore it. Sophie would obviously follow his lead.
‘Sorry I barged you. I’m just taking this over to my friend.’ She indicated Kate, who, at their glances in her direction, gave a little wave.
‘Nigel told me you’re running the show,’ Liam said before she could run away. He ran his hand through those curls again.
‘He didn’t tell me you were.’ It sounded unkind, but she’d been surprised by his arrival.
‘He told me to apologise. It was all a bit sudden, really.’
‘Is everything OK?’ She felt bad now. It was genuinely odd that Nigel would disappear like that. He’d been musical director for the choir for years now, certainly longer than Sophie had been living in the town.
‘His mum took ill overnight and his dad told him he needed to get up there quickly. I don’t think it’s looking very good.’ He swayed on his heels, hands in his pockets like he couldn’t keep still. Was this conversation as awkward for him as it was for her?
Sophie tried to focus on what he was saying and not relive their awful date, or concentrate on his endearing, lopsided smile. With nothing else to say, she took a sip of her tea. It scalded her instantly. She felt compelled to fill the silence.
‘Well, Nigel’s right. I am organising the concert this year, so if you need me to talk over anything or go through the songs or whatever, just let me know, I guess.’
Why couldn’t she form sentences?
‘I think I’ll be OK,’ he said. He flashed that smile again and stepped over to the hatch where Greg was waiting to pass him a tea.
Across the hall, Kate was miming for Sophie to hurry up. She looked back at Liam to see him busy charming Lulu, and sat back down.
‘That didn’t look like a fun conversation,’ Kate said, taking her tea from Sophie and drinking it instantly. ‘Well, not for you, anyway. I enjoyed it immensely.’
