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Liam popped his head up from where he had been unpacking things from his bag on the floor. He put the music on the piano and stood to signal he was waiting for quiet. The choir settled down. Sophie was pretty sure the entire hall could sense his slightly fractious demeanour this evening. She definitely could from where she was sitting. It was coming off him in waves.
‘Right, let’s get going,’ Liam said brusquely. ‘I’d like to start with the group numbers. Let’s stand up.’ He certainly was frosty this evening. Everyone stood up, looking at each other to try to work out why their MD was angry. He played the introduction a little faster than normal, and they sang through each of the songs.
‘That sounds good,’ he said robotically when they’d finished their repertoire. ‘Sophie.’ He used her full name, she noticed. ‘Can you come out front so that we can do “White Christmas”?’ he asked, without looking at her.
She had sort of expected this, but took a moment or two to stand up and make her way forward, a half-smile plastered on her face for the benefit of the choir.
‘Don’t mess it up, Sophie,’ whispered Albert, grimacing. ‘He might throw his baton at you.’
Sophie smiled weakly. She made her way out of the middle of the group of chairs and stood next to Liam and the piano.
‘Not here,’ Liam said.
Greg looked up at the sharpness of his comment.
‘You can stand over there.’ He pointed to what would be centre stage. ‘You should know the words by now.’
Sophie’s eyes bristled with the feeling of impending tears, but they were of anger and embarrassment rather than sadness. Liam was being an idiot. And he looked it in front of the assembled choir, who were whispering and fidgeting nervously in their seats.
As Liam played the introduction, for once, she didn’t feel too nervous. Her preoccupation with Liam’s mood helped her to forget what she was about to do, and she sang her verse through perfectly. The room was silent. She suddenly felt very powerful and after the whole choir joined in to finish, she glanced over at Liam, who was looking at her in such a way that her stomach finally did the flip she’d been expecting from it earlier.
Afterwards, of course, he made her sing the solo too, which she nailed and the room erupted into applause when she’d finished. She only hoped that she could carry it off on the evening of the concert. There was so much riding on it.
‘Drink?’ Kate asked, as they put their coats back on at the end of the rehearsal.
‘God, yes!’ Sophie said. She glanced in Liam’s direction, caught him looking over at her, and continued to gather her belongings.
She had almost managed to sweep out the door before he had time to come over and say something, but not quite.
‘Soph?’
She stopped and turned to speak to him, her whole body stiff with anger. Kate waited by the door.
‘What is it, Liam?’ She hugged her arms around her body, her body language not quite matching up to her assertive tone.
‘We need to talk about the end of the solo,’ he said, surprising her.
‘I don’t want to talk about the end of the solo,’ Sophie said. ‘It was fine.’
‘I just think if we changed the note slightly, there’d be less pressure on you to hit it. I know it’s been worrying you.’
Sophie shook her head. ‘Don’t pretend like you’re doing me a favour. You don’t get to be nice to me any more.’
‘Look.’ Liam put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground for a moment. ‘Maybe one of us should take a step back from the concert.’
‘What?’ That wasn’t what she was expecting.
‘After what happened, I just don’t know if we can work together.’
Sophie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She’d been cold because she wanted him to realise he’d made a mistake with her; she hadn’t wanted him to step away from the concert completely. It was too important. Her mother was counting on her.
‘I’m not giving up this concert. I’ve worked too hard, and it means too much.’ Sophie heard herself speak and was surprised at how serious she sounded. ‘You should know that.’
‘Fine,’ he said dejectedly. ‘Then I guess I’ll have to be the one who pulls out.’ He turned away, and Sophie watched as he pushed the piano back into the music cupboard and gathered his belongings. ‘Bye,’ he said, when he passed her to leave the hall.
Kate held her hand up in a small wave as he left. ‘Did that just happen?’
Sophie nodded. ‘I think it did.’ She scrunched her face up and held the back of her neck with her hands. ‘What am I going to do?’
