Page 49 of Love Me Till Wednesday

As Lisa marched into the makeup room Nick was getting out of the chair. He turned around to look at her. For a moment, it was just like the first time she’d locked eyes with him in Jack’s Bar. Her heart skipped a beat.Oh god, don’t start that nonsense now. Remember this is the man who walked out on you without having the decency to say goodbye.

‘I want a word with you,’ Lisa said. ‘Privately. Now.’

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get any words out, the assistant floor manager bounced in, all smiles and a clipboard, failing to pick up on the icy atmosphere. ‘Oh, Mr Nixon, you're ready. That's great. We need you in the studio ASAP.’

Nick looked like he didn't know who to deal with first. He finally found his voice. ‘Can we talk later?’ he suggested to Lisa.

No bloody way was that happening. If she didn’t talk to him before they were interviewed it could be disastrous. ‘No. This absolutely won’t wait.’

Cheery, bouncy woman’s expression clouded over. ‘Mr Nixon is busy. You shouldn’t even be in here.’

Lisa glared at her, but the woman was already shepherding Nick out of the room.

‘Afterwards, yeah?’ he said, looking back over his shoulder at her.

‘Just don't mention anything about Jim,’ Lisa yelled after him.

The last thing she saw was a very puzzled-looking Nick.

Lisa headed back to the big dressing room. The rest of the band were still there.

Jim looked up at her. ‘Did you speak to him?’

‘Not properly. I only had a chance to tell him not to mention you.’

Jim sank back into the sofa, looking deflated. Lisa squeezed in next to him and gave him a hug. ‘He probably won't even recognise you.‘

Ed snorted. ‘Fat chance of that. You look just like your dad. Even if he doesn’t notice that everyone else will.’

Pete glared at him. ‘That is not helpful at this point, Edward.’

‘Well, it’s true. It’ll be all over the tabloids by Saturday. Possibly even tomorrow if someone in the audience tips them off. Good publicity, though.’

Jim had his head in his hands. ‘Perhaps I shouldn’t go on. I’ll stay here.’

Pete shook his head. ‘They’ve already recorded our performance. You’re right up there at the front with your mum and Ed. You can’t just disappear afterwards. It’ll just lead to more questions.’

Lisa tried to reassure Jim. ‘Pete’s right, darling. Nick’s too much of a professional to make a fuss on camera. Andy won’t draw attention to it either.’ As soon as she said that sherealised Andy might see this as a potential scoop for his show. ‘He won’t, will he?’ she asked Pete.

‘No! Of course not.’

But she knew Pete well enough to know he wasn’t 100% confident about that.

28

Nick was sitting on the end of the long blue sofa. The audience clapped as Lisa and the rest of the Sapphire Stars pretended to finish their song. He guessed they’d recorded it earlier. One of the problems of being an A-lister was that everyone assumed your time was so precious you didn’t want to be delayed by other people’s performances, which wasn’t true, especially today because he’d really like to see Lisa sing in person again.

He felt his heart beat faster as he watched Lisa leave the stage and head towards the interview area.

Surely she was going to be professional on camera. She was unlikely to come across well if she challenged him in front of an audience about whatever it was that had infuriated her earlier. He put a fixed smile on his face to hide his inner turmoil as she got nearer to him. She was concentrating on Andy, who’d stepped forward to greet her. She didn’t even grace Nick with a brief glance. He watched Andy embrace her like they were old friends.

And now it was Nick's turn. Should he say something? No, he was mic’ed up, and she’d been so adamant about needing to speak to him that she was hardly going to disappear afterwards. He put his arms around her. Oh god, she was still using the same perfume. For a second, it was like they wereback in her flat, hugging one another after they'd been apart for just a few hours, not decades. No one else had ever made him feel like this. He resisted the urge to bury his face in her hair and squeeze her tightly. Right now, he’d forgive her for all the hurt and anguish she’d caused him just to spend another night in her arms. The feel of her pulling away dragged him back to the present. They locked eyes, only for a brief moment, but he still felt that connection.Get a grip, Nixon.

He forced himself to let go. He went through the motions of greeting the rest of the band with a laddish shake of the hand and a slap on the arm. Pete, Tez, then Ed.

‘A quick beer later?’ Ed whispered.

Typical Ed. It was like they’d last seen one another 30 minutes ago, not 30 years ago. Nick smiled and nodded.

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