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Chapter Two
‘Right, so we’ll finish there,’ Liam said, placing his baton carefully down on the music stand and putting his hands into his back pockets.
They’d finally added in the harmonies for two of the songs after the coffee break, and Sophie was relieved that they were beginning to sound all right. She dared to hope that in six weeks’ time, they might be concert-ready.
‘Before you go, I wonder whether any of the sopranos might consider staying for a moment and learning the alto line. I was concerned listening then that we sound a bit thin in the middle.’ Liam paused and looked around for a moment. ‘Any takers?’
Rocking back and forth on his heels, he waited, but no one volunteered.
Eventually Lulu raised her hand. ‘I can sing anything.’ She stood, even though no one had asked her to. Sophie half expected her to bow and wait for her rapturous applause.
‘Great, thanks, Lulu,’ he said, clasping his hands as if he was praying that other volunteers may follow.
Sophie felt herself slipping lower into her chair. There was absolutely no way that …
‘Sophie? Would you be able to help us out?’ Liam asked, as everyone in the choir looked in her direction.
She knew her cheeks were a lovely shade of pink.
‘I don’t know … I don’t think …’ She fumbled about for an excuse but knew that for the sake of the concert and the choir, she’d have to agree. She looked around in the hope someone else might have volunteered, but all eyes were on her. ‘All right.’
‘Great. Thanks, Soph.’
It was the first time anyone had called her Soph since secondary school, and she flinched for a moment at its unfamiliarity.
‘Two should be fine, but if anyone else changes their mind’ – he indicated the front two rows of the choir – ‘we’ve got plenty of sopranos, so it wouldn’t hurt to switch a few of you.’
Kate readied herself to leave. ‘Who am I going to follow now when we’re singing?’
‘I couldn’t let Lulu be the only volunteer. Besides, it’s in my best interests for this concert to go well.’
Kate tutted. ‘I’m actually going to have to learn my notes now.’
‘Kate, we’re sopranos. We sing the melody!’
‘Good point. Well, looks like you’re staying.’ She said it with a mischievous wiggle of the eyebrows.
‘Yes, it does, doesn’t it?’ Sophie felt the anxiety settle in the pit of her stomach.
‘I guess I’ll see you at school tomorrow for all the gossip.’ She bent down to retrieve her bag from the ground.
Sophie picked it up for her so that she didn’t end up in a heap on the floor. ‘Here.’ She passed it to Kate. ‘I will see you tomorrow, but there will be no gossip. Didn’t you hear my story?’ She grimaced.
‘I just meant the gossip about how the alto rehearsal goes, Soph.’ Kate smiled at her and turned to leave the hall, waving her hand in the air as she went.
Sophie growled under her breath and tidied the room, moving the chairs back into piles at the side of the hall. Stalling, she worked her way over to the piano, where Liam and Lulu were waiting. Lulu was singing scales.
Sophie reminded herself she was only here because having another alto was important to make the music sound good. And the music needed to sound good for the concert to be a success. It certainly wasn’t for any other reason, and it definitely wasn’t to help the handsome new musical director.
‘Come and stand next to me, honey,’ Lulu said, draping an arm around Sophie’s shoulders. ‘How are the kiddies at school?’
‘They’re great – very excited about Christmas.’ She enjoyed the snuggle next to Lulu’s extremely fluffy jumper. The hairs floated about as Lulu moved and tickled Sophie’s nose.
‘Right, I won’t keep you long, ladies,’ Liam said, rolling up his sleeves and sitting on the piano stool.
Sophie’s gaze flickered to his tanned forearms, then met Liam’s eyes as she forced herself to look down at the music. She was confused that even without the red wine, Liam did something odd to her insides – infuriating as he was.
‘I just thought if we bash through the notes, you could maybe sing them next rehearsal and we can just see how it sounds. I know it’s tricky unlearning something to relearn it, but stop me at any point and we can make sure you’ve got it. Does that sound OK?’
