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Sophie took the teapot and poured herself a drink. ‘Thanks.’
‘What did she hound you about this time?’
‘Flyers, skiving off school, moving to Cranswell …’ Sophie trailed off to signal the list could go on for ever.
‘Makes you sound like a teenager.’ Kate laughed and rubbed her belly.
‘I know,’ Sophie said, relaxing with a sip of her tea. She shuffled down into the sofa a bit more and made herself comfortable. ‘I can’t do anything right. I just want her to be proud of me for something. Something where I haven’t failed, and it doesn’t go catastrophically wrong. Even falling into the brook was entirely my fault, it seems.’
Kate snorted. ‘Sophie, you are a successful adult with a good job and a flat of your own. You’ve not failed at anything.’
Sophie tilted her head. ‘I suppose.’
‘You’re not talking about Jordan again, are you?’ Kate asked, surprising Sophie.
‘No. Maybe.’ Sophie struggled to find the words. ‘That whole thing messed me up pretty badly,’ she said finally.
‘But none of it was your fault,’ Kate said. ‘Besides, Liam likes you now.’ She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.
‘Kate,’ Sophie warned.
‘Even if you freaked out, he still likes you. He can’t just turn that off.’ Kate’s reasoning did kind of make sense.
‘True.’ Sophie smiled at the thought of Liam having some sort of feelings for her. The truth was, she liked him too and as time went by, she regretted running out on him more and more.
‘It’s not over, you know,’ Kate said, almost reading her thoughts. ‘You can still salvage something.’
‘I don’t know. Maybe. At the very least, I need to apologise.’
‘And rehearsal tonight will be the perfect opportunity for you to do that.’
‘It will,’ Sophie said, already worrying about just how awkward that might be.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sophie wasn’t surprised to hear that Kate had overdone it being on her feet all day in London. She passed on dinner at the pub and went home for a nap instead. At least she’d not bailed on rehearsal completely. For Sophie, it meant heading back to the flat after school and stressing over what to wear again. The town hall was so cold that she rarely removed her coat anyway, but Liam would be there, and she couldn’t help but care. She didn’t know if she’d apologise to him; she didn’t really know if she’d even talk to him – or him to her. From experience, it was likely she’d avoid him all evening – anything to sidestep an awkward conversation.
She ran the straighteners over her hair, brushed her teeth and put on her favourite light blue jeans and a festive yet subtle jumper. Looking in the mirror, she liked what she saw. She just hoped that if there was anything left to salvage, Liam would too.
‘Ready for this?’ Kate said when they met outside the town hall. She squeezed Sophie’s hand.
‘As I’ll ever be.’ She hung back as Kate led the way into the building.
‘Come on. You’ve got this.’ Kate reached back and grabbed Sophie’s hand, dragging her into the hall and choosing seats for them towards the back. Sophie appreciated the gesture, which of course Kate had intuitively known to make.
They arrived just as rehearsal was starting. Sophie felt her cheeks colour when she clocked Liam across the room. She looked away as he looked in her direction, and Kate squeezed her hand again.
‘You’ve got this,’ she repeated under her breath.
‘Right,’ Liam said, bringing the choir to attention. The hubbub of the group petered out into mumbles before, eventually, they were quiet enough for him to say something else. Sophie’s heart was thumping. She was convinced that everyone else in the room could hear it too. She slouched a little lower in the chair and folded her arms, picking at the fabric of her jumper at the same time.
‘I thought we could begin with “White Christmas”,’ Liam said. Sophie took a shaky breath. Surely he wasn’t going to make her sing in front of everyone? He knew she wasn’t ready. They’d talked about it.
‘Our new last-minute soloist will be singing the first verse. The idea is that the rest of the choir and the audience join in after that. It’ll be the finale of the concert. Let’s run the choir’s section first.’
Sophie’s mouth hung open. The ominous ‘first’ convinced her he was about to ask her to sing. How dare he?
The choir stood around her and Sophie joined them, her arms folded across her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, she was aware Kate was looking at her. She avoided eye contact until Liam began to play the accompaniment on the piano and everyone sang. One of Sophie’s legs refused to stop shaking.
