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Liam counted her in and played again. This time Sophie came in but pitched her first note wrong. Liam stopped playing.
‘God! Sorry.’ Sophie hid her face behind her hands. It was too embarrassing for words.
‘Look,’ Liam said, standing to face her. He put a hand on her arm.
Sophie tried not to flinch.
‘If I didn’t think you could do it, I wouldn’t have asked.’
‘But you didn’t ask,’ Sophie said. ‘You gave the solo to Lulu. I’m just here now by default.’
‘That’s a good point. But I’m going to ignore it,’ Liam said, his face breaking into that full lopsided grin that made Sophie smile. ‘You can do this.’
A moment passed between them. Sophie could smell his aftershave and see the flecks of gold in his eyes. She wanted to reach out and run a hand through his curls. She wanted to close the space between them.
‘All right. Let’s go again,’ she said, taking a deep breath.
‘Why don’t you close your eyes?’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘Close your eyes. Pretend I’m not here,’ Liam suggested. ‘That way, you won’t feel embarrassed. Pretend you’re singing in the shower or the car or something.’
Sophie did as he’d suggested. But instead of feeling more confident, it worried her more not being able to see his face or reaction. She took some deep breaths and opened her eyes again. She could do this. She didn’t need any gimmicks or strategies. She knew she could sing this song. She’d been singing it in the shower for weeks.
This time, when Liam began to play, Sophie sang. She started quietly but confidently, her voice strong and even. The slight vibrato on the long notes brought something more to the melody. It was going well, and she began to relax.
Sophie closed her eyes as she reached for the final top note, but missed it, her voice breaking at the pivotal moment. A silence followed as Sophie gave herself a second to recover from the embarrassment. Liam stopped playing.
‘Wow,’ Liam said. ‘That was amazing. For a first rehearsal that was outstanding. It was supposed to be a sing-through but you’ve already got it, you know that?’
Sophie opened her eyes and looked down to where Liam was sitting at the piano.
‘It was horrible. I missed the last note, and that’s really all anyone is coming to hear.’
‘Don’t be so hard on yourself. It was just a run-through, Soph. You didn’t hit the top note because you’re nervous. The rest was beautiful.’
‘You have to say that,’ Sophie said. ‘Because you need me!’
‘Not true,’ Liam said, flipping the pages of his music back to the beginning again. ‘Well, a little bit true, but I’d have said it anyway.’
‘Hmm,’ Sophie said. She wasn’t convinced.
‘Right, let’s do it again. But this time, let’s try to add in some nuance. Like this bit here.’ He pointed at some of the notes on the page. ‘Let’s leave this bit slightly quieter, so that when you reach this note, you can really go for it. Happy to run this section again and try it?’ he asked, showing her what he meant on the music.
Sophie nodded, took another swig of her drink, and held one of her clammy hands in the other while Liam played the intro again. She felt dizzy as he got to where she was supposed to open her mouth and sing. She joined in late and fumbled her way through the bit Liam had directed her in, stopping halfway through.
‘Sorry.’
‘Let’s do it again, shall we?’ He pointed to the same bars on the sheet music.
But Sophie didn’t think she could take the shame. She knew her face was red with embarrassment and her heart was racing so fast she was struggling to catch her breath. She was mortified that she couldn’t just sing the song like he was asking her to. What was she thinking? There was no way she could ever do a solo. She’d been kidding herself.
‘I’m sorry, Liam.’ She grabbed her coat and bag from the chair. ‘I can’t do this.’
‘Soph, wait.’
She heard him push the piano stool back and stand.
