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‘That’s fine,’ Sophie said, keen to get on so she could remove herself from the situation. She felt socially awkward at the best of times, but this was something else entirely.
‘I’m sure we’ll sound fabulous,’ said Lulu, sharing a wink and a grin with Sophie.
Liam hid a smile and cleared his throat, shifting back into professional mode. ‘All right. Here goes. I’ll just do four bars at a time and you can sing it together afterwards.’
Liam played, his agile fingers deftly moving through the complex melody. Sophie stared at them while he played, willing her brain to remember the tune. He finished and looked up expectantly at Sophie and Lulu, then lifted his hand to signal that he was about to play it again.
Lulu sang with full gusto straight away, her beautiful voice filling the hall. It might have only been four bars, but she performed it as though she was singing ‘Jerusalem’ at the Last Night of the Proms.
Her arms folded, Sophie sang too, but much quieter; not that she’d have been any match for Lulu.
‘Sounding wonderful, ladies,’ Liam said. ‘Let’s try this next bit.’ He played again as they continued through the entire song. ‘Shall we sing it through?’ Liam asked when they’d finished. ‘I’ll play the soprano part too, so you can hear how it all fits together.’
‘I must just pop to the bathroom. Won’t be a moment.’ Lulu said it as though she’d sweep out with a flourish, but her ancient body meant that her movement across the hall was more of a shuffle.
‘Soph, I was thinking about the charity for the concert,’ Liam said after they’d watched Lulu go in silence.
‘Oh, yes?’
‘I heard everyone voted earlier for your mum’s charity, but, well, Nigel’s mum is pretty ill. It doesn’t look good. I thought maybe we could look into charities that support dementia care and split some of the fundraising between the two.’
‘It’s already been decided, sorry.’ She shrugged.
‘I think it would be a nice gesture for Nigel,’ Liam said, leaning his hands on his knees.
She didn’t know why, but she felt threatened by him, like he might swoop in and steal the concert from her. ‘It’s a lovely idea, really it is. I just think it’s all kind of sorted now.’ The thought of going back to the choir and explaining a change didn’t appeal. There would be questions and comments and those conversations had a habit of turning into a parish council meeting with everyone forgetting that they were actually there to sing.
‘Are you sure? I haven’t seen any flyers yet, so there would still be time to print the charities on there.’
The bloody flyers. It wasn’t her fault that Albert had messed them up at the printers. She took a deep breath. ‘I’ll think about it.’
Liam turned back to the piano and played through the song again while Sophie stood there, pretending to learn the notes without actually singing anything.
‘Shall we sing this through while we wait for Lulu to return?’
Sophie nodded. Singing solo in front of people was her worst nightmare, but confrontation topped that and she was pleased to change the subject. At least while she was singing, they wouldn’t be arguing or feel inclined to make small talk. Singing was safe.
‘Great. I’ll give you a bar in.’
He began to play.
Sophie’s palms were slick with sweat and she held the music up in front of her face. She hated the affliction of crippling fear that rose within her every time she had to sing alone. Part of a choir and she excelled, rejoicing in every moment. Single her out, and Sophie crumbled. In her head, she could sell out the Royal Albert Hall. But, also in her head, she accompanied her performances with adrenaline-filled dance routines. Everyone has a dream that stays a dream, and for Sophie, that was performing on stage alone. She took a breath and began to sing.
Applause came from behind her as she finished, and Sophie turned to see Lulu shuffling back across the hall.
‘That was fabulous!’ She rested her walking stick against the piano. ‘I knew you could sing, but you really have got a beautiful voice.’
Sophie’s eyes flickered briefly to Liam. His arms were folded, and he nodded his head in agreement, the beginning of a smile playing at the corner of his lips.
‘You should definitely think about auditioning for the solo next week. You’d be marvellous,’ Lulu said.
‘Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves,’ Sophie said. ‘There’s a lot of work to do with organising the concert and sorting out the charity stuff.’
She looked over pointedly at Liam, who was shuffling his piano music and pretending not to listen. He rested his hands on the piano keys once more.
‘Let’s carry on, shall we?’
Chapter Three
