Page 29 of The First Chord

He sighed heavily. “We’ll see about that because—”

He was interrupted by his phone ringing some disco sounding tune. “Shit that’s Beau. Sorry.”

As he slipped off the barstool to take the call, I sent a quick text to Amelie telling her that I was okay and that I’d call her later. First off, I had to sort the bloody car thing out with Ronnie, because I had a feeling he wasn’t going to let it go. I decided to get a start on it by checking out some used car websites. I’d starred a couple when Ronnie came back. It had to be said, he didn’t look happy.

“What’s wrong? Please tell me it isn’t Jimmy.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s Belle.”

My heart lurched because I knew that she was pregnant. “Is it the baby?”

“Yes, but it’s okay. Well sort of. She’s been put on bed rest as she’s been bleeding. Elliot took her to the hospital this morning.”

“The baby is going to be okay, though?”

“They’re pretty sure she is. That was the one positive, they found out they’re having a little girl.” He ran a hand down his face and groaned. “They must be fucking petrified.”

“If you want to go to the hospital, I’ll be fine.”

“No, they’re just having a quiet day. Elliot has got her in some private hospital with silver service for dinner. No, I need to speak to Ali and Destiny.”

“About the tour?”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Elliot wants to delay the restart by a couple of weeks. She’s on bed rest for two weeks at least, so of course he wants to be with her. I’m surprised he’s not asked us to cancel until she gives birth, but I’m guessing Belle has something to do with that.”

“Is there anything I can do?” I took his hand and gave it a squeeze, hoping he knew that I was there for him.

“There is one thing,” he said, with a thin-lipped smile. “But you’re not going to like it.”

“What?” I frowned.

“Let me buy you a car.”

I groaned and sat back down readying myself for a long argument, yet at the same time feeling something that I knew I shouldn’t.

CHAPTER15

RONNIE

As well as being beautiful, Amber Fox was stubborn. Stubborn and independent. I was not allowed to buy her a car. No matter how much I’d argued and cajoled, she’d said no, many times and in various ways. The least that she’d conceded to was me contacting an old school friend of mine, Ryan, who owned a new and used car sale room. What she didn’t know was that I offered to write off the loan I’d given Ryan to start up his business if he found her ‘an amazing deal’. Hence, in a couple of days Amber would be the proud owner of a year-old car with less than ten thousand miles on the clock. All for the price that she could easily afford. Ryan made up some excuse about her being his two thousandth customer so got a massive discount. I think she believed him, the fact that it was Maisie, his top saleswoman, who’d dealt with her helped.

“Hey, Ronnie.” Simone held out her arms for a hug. “How are you doing?”

“Hiya, love, I’m okay.” I cuddled her tightly, a wave of fatigue sweeping over me. It had been a long day with an early start, seeing as I’d barely slept after picking Amber up. I couldn’t stop thinking about what might have happened if she hadn’t had my number in her phone.

The tiny little woman in my arms pulled away and moved over to Beau. His face glowed as she reached up on tiptoes to drop a quick kiss to his lips.

“Cuppa?” she asked.

“Please, gorgeous.”

“Ronnie, do you want tea or coffee?”

“Tea please, Simmy.”

She gave us both a huge smile and then disappeared, Beau’s eyes following her every step.

“You know you should just put a damn ring on that girl’s finger,” I sighed, getting myself comfy on their huge sofa.

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