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‘I do. But you know I would have you stay for ever if I could.’
Sophie smiled. ‘I know.’
‘Will you come back for breakfast tomorrow? I’m making my speciality pancakes.’
‘Not another culinary experiment.’ Sophie groaned, hiding her head dramatically in her hand.
‘I’ll have you know,’ he said, tilting her chin up, ‘that my pancakes are particularly good and you’ll eat your words once you’ve tasted them!’ He kissed her again and thoughts of why Liam’s pancakes were a bad idea disappeared.
‘OK, I’ll come back in the morning for breakfast,’ she agreed.
Liam took her hand and Sophie smiled.
‘I’d better get home.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
One week until Christmas
Term was finally coming to an end. Sophie only had to make it through three more days until the end of Wednesday, but there was a lot to fit in within that short amount of time, not least the final concert rehearsal on Tuesday night, which Sophie was beginning to fret about.
‘It’s not that I’m worried about the concert,’ she said to Kate as they sat writing Christmas cards to the children in their classes. ‘Oh God! It is, actually. Ugh!’ She groaned. ‘What have I got myself into?’
Outside, children were racing around as they burnt off energy after their lunch. The screams and giggles filtered through the cracks in the windows. Kate looked over to see what was going on, but Tom was out there on duty again and all looked to be in order.
‘You had to do it, though. Once Lulu was out of the picture, it was the only way to save the concert,’ Kate said. She slipped the top of the envelope inside itself to avoid licking it closed.
‘I know,’ Sophie replied, doing the same to one of hers and putting it in the pile that had built up on the table. ‘But I don’t have to like it,’ she added.
Kate smiled at her across the table.
‘Have you seen Lulu recently?’ Sophie asked.
‘No, why? Is she OK?’
‘She really is,’ Sophie said, thinking back to how agile she’d appeared when she’d visited last week. ‘I went to see her the other day, and she’s not using sticks or anything. She seemed fine.’
‘That’s odd,’ Kate said, finishing another card and adding it to the pile.
‘Mmm.’ Sophie stopped what she was doing for a moment and regarded Kate.
Kate put down her pen and looked at Sophie. ‘What? Do you really think Lulu would pretend to have a fall and give up a solo just so you could do it?’ She laughed.
Kate was right. That didn’t sound very much like Lulu at all. She would never give up the opportunity to perform. But still …
‘I suppose not.’ Sophie went back to writing her cards.
‘I think, secretly, you’re quite enjoying it,’ Kate said.
Sophie thought about it and realised Kate was right. Somewhere deep inside her she really did want to do the concert and was pleased that Liam had asked her, even if it was sort of by default because of Lulu’s absence. The thought that anyone believed in her singing ability – especially Liam – was an incentive.
‘All right. You’ve got a point. But I’m still feeling anxious and until it’s over, I fully intend to blame you and Lulu! Liam would never have known what my singing was like if you and Lulu hadn’t forced me into auditioning,’ she said, sliding another card over to write.
‘You didn’t have to,’ Kate said.
Sophie was about to protest when a crescendo of noise from outside made them both look up.
‘Do you think we should …?’ Kate asked.
