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‘Oh dear,’ Greg said. ‘I’d offer you mine, but I’ve not driven it for years. The old eyesight’s been playing up for a while now.’ He lifted his spectacles and wiggled them as if to demonstrate his point.
‘Oh, Greg.’ Sophie smiled and squeezed his arm. ‘Have you seen Lulu?’
Sophie was aware that the seat next to hers was empty, and she hadn’t heard Lulu yet, which was odd, because if you hadn’t seen her, you could normally hear her. She looked around the room at everyone settling into their positions, ready for rehearsal to begin, but Lulu was nowhere in sight. Come to think of it, now she was looking, neither was Kate. Sophie felt a flash of relief and then an instant wave of guilt that she was pleased with her friend’s absence.
Liam came in with his music stand, songbooks and other paraphernalia, and dumped them on the ground by the music cupboard before wheeling out the piano. He looked like he’d walked to get to rehearsal too and had carried with him rather too many things. Once the piano was in place, he fussed with them, opening up the music stand and sorting out music books.
‘Evening, everyone,’ Liam said once the noise had died down. He rolled up the sleeves of his burgundy jumper and pushed his dark curls back off his face. Looking a little ruffled, he flicked through one of the music books. ‘Soph, are we OK to get started?’
She nodded.
‘Excellent. Let’s begin with a warmup, shall we?’ He looked around the room and smiled. Sophie caught his eye and glanced down at her music, her heart giving a little lurch. She felt his gaze linger on her, and she tried to shake all thoughts of him out of her head. Absent-mindedly, she plaited the fringe on her scarf.
Greg pulled on the shoulder of Sophie’s sweater, bringing her suddenly out of her daydream, only to realise that everyone else was standing and singing ‘1,2,3,4,5’ to the tune of ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ as a warmup. She stood slowly, in an attempt to stop Liam from noticing she’d missed the beginning – but of course he did.
When they’d finished, everyone sat down again and flicked through their music to find the first song. A low mêlée of chatter rippled around the room.
‘So,’ Liam said. ‘We’ve got a bit of a problem.’ He placed his hand on the back of his neck and pulled it forward, stopping to play with his ear.
At his words, Sophie snapped up to look at him. Silence descended on the rest of the group too, eager to hear what he had to say.
‘What is it?’ Greg asked, when Liam wasn’t as forthcoming as he’d have liked.
‘Unfortunately, our Hollywood star has had a fall and spent the last couple of days in hospital. She’s fine,’ he added quickly as the choir murmured their concern. ‘But the doctor doesn’t think she’ll be able to do the solo, or even be in the concert at all.’
There was a collective gasp from the choir as they looked to each other for answers, or comfort, or something. This was a huge blow. Lulu’s voice held the choir together. Without her, Sophie was loath to admit, they were just a group of misfits who got together for a bit of a singsong once a week. Sophie bit the corner of her nail while she worried about what they would do. Why hadn’t Lulu phoned her?
‘It’s OK, though,’ Liam said, louder now over the chatter. The panic died down. ‘I’ve got a plan.’ He winked dramatically, and a group of the elderly sopranos giggled together. ‘So, for now,’ he continued, ‘we’re going to do an hour of chorus bits and then, Soph, if you don’t mind, I’d like you to stay for a while longer so we can work out what to do next. Is that OK with you?’
‘Of course,’ she said, pleased that Liam recognised she was organising the concert and that he’d need her help. She ignored the butterflies that were rousing from their sleep, keen to spend more time in Liam’s presence.
‘Excellent. Right, everyone, turn to page twenty-two.’ Everyone shuffled through their music and Liam cued them to sing.
Hang on a minute. The solution didn’t include Sophie singing a solo, did it? Surely not. She swallowed anxiously and dismissed the notion, her voice suddenly wobbly and unable to hold a tune.
The hour flew by as Sophie knew it would. By the time they had run the Christmas numbers, Sophie was convinced that Liam was going to ask her to do the solo. Part of her wished Kate was there and that they were talking. She’d know what the solution was. Or at least she’d help her find a willing victim – sorry, volunteer – to take Lulu’s place. Instead, she spent the coffee break attempting to talk various people into it. She started by sowing the seed of an idea, but after ten minutes began asking fellow choristers outright. By the end of the coffee break, people were actively avoiding her as word spread of her mission.
‘I’ll see you on Friday,’ Greg said as he packed up his music and put on his coat. ‘We’ve got mint choc chip hot chocolate as a special and I’ll throw in a candy cane biscuit too,’ he added with a wink, leaving quickly to dodge Sophie before she could ask him to get involved as well.
‘Sounds delicious,’ Sophie said with a sigh. She knew what was coming.
Taking Greg’s chair from where he’d left it, she piled it on top of the others, sliding a tower of them to the edge of the town hall to clear the room before everyone left.
All too soon, the hall was empty of people, but to Sophie, it felt fuller than it had ever done before.
‘Are you OK?’ Liam asked, leaning on the edge of the piano.
‘Is Lulu all right? I’m surprised she didn’t phone me.’
‘She asked me to let you know, but the number didn’t work. I must have written it down wrong.’ He looked away when he realised he was vaguely referencing their date, where Sophie had given him her number in the first place.
‘Oh, right,’ Sophie said, equally embarrassed. She’d given him a fake number, and he’d tried to use it. A nervous laugh threatened to bubble up and out of her mouth. ‘So, when you asked me to stay behind earlier, it sounded like you had a plan,’ she said, changing the subject to avoid addressing the mysterious phone number situation. She sat on one of the chairs that had been left out, and Liam settled himself down on the piano stool.
‘I have,’ he said, avoiding Sophie’s eye contact and tidying his piano music on the stand instead.
‘Care to share?’ Sophie asked when he’d not answered for a moment.
‘How would you feel taking the solo?’ He stopped what he was doing and looked up at her.
