Page 7 of Love Me Till Wednesday

She went back to the track listing.Stop putting it off! You need to listen to it.Her inner voice was right. She put her earphones in and clicked on “Love Me Till Wednesday”. The first few bars were exactly as he’d written them 30 years ago - the distinctive haunting sound of the synthesiser and the opening drumbeat that mimicked a human heart pounding. Then the vocals came in. Lisa’s lyrics but Pete’s voice. She’d never envisaged it being a man’s song, but he sang it with feeling. She shut her eyes, and tears came from nowhere. No sobbing - just wet trails meandering down the contours of her cheeks.

‘Are you OK?’ Lisa felt a hand gently touch her arm.

She opened her eyes and saw a woman sitting opposite her.

Was she OK? She was surprised it had had such an emotional impact on her. She’d never have listened to it in public if she’d known.

She pressed stop on the music app. ‘I’m fine, thank you. It’s just a song that reminded me of someone from a long time ago.’

‘I have a song like that.’ The woman smiled sadly and offered her a small pack of tissues.

Lisa smiled at her, took her earphones out, and dried her tears with one of the tissues. There would be plenty of time tofinish listening to it this evening in the privacy of her own home. She wondered how singing it had made Pete feel. In her mind, it was inextricably linked to the end of their relationship. But that had turned out to be a relief for both of them. So why had she cried? Perhaps because it reminded her of everything that happened next.

The woman opposite looked like she wanted to talk more, but Lisa wasn’t in the mood to engage in conversation with anyone now. She returned the pack of tissues with another smile and a quick “Thank you” and then leaned against the window. The cool glass felt comforting against her forehead. She closed her eyes again, her mind wandering back to 1991.

Part Two

London 1991

7

Pete sat down in the chair next to Lisa and looked around the room. He folded his arms. ‘We’re sitting at the back. There’s no way we’ve won.’

‘Nothing like putting a positive spin on things,‘ she said.

‘Oh, come on. Look at this enormous room. If we win, they’ll have time to cut to an entire commercial break while we’re squeezing our way through the great and the good of the music industry to get to that stage.’

He had a point. And what was she thinking, anyway? There was no way an upstart band from Birmingham were going to win anything for what had only been their second single. Getting shortlisted for Best Song had been exciting, but winning the award was highly unlikely.

‘This time last year, we were playing sleazy pubs, and now look at us in the swankiest hotel in London.’ Bass player Jonny leaned back in his seat and downed half his pint in one go.

‘I’d prefer to be in the pub right now.’ Their drummer, Tez, looked uncomfortable in his rented dinner jacket. ‘I haven’t worn a tie since school,’ he said, running his fingers around the tight shirt collar. ‘Where’s our award in the running order because as soon as it’s done, I’m taking this bloody pointless scrap of material off.’

Lisa consulted the award ceremony brochure leaflet. ‘Last but one.’

‘Seriously? That’ll take forever.’

Dougie, their manager, lit up one of his enormous cigars. ‘Some bands would give their eye teeth to be sitting where you are now. And don’t forget it’s all thanks to me.’

‘And nothing to do with our songwriting skills,’ Lisa muttered under her breath.

Dougie glared and blew a large smoke ring in her direction.

They watched various famous groups and singers receive their awards until, nearly an hour later, the nominees for Best Song were read out.

Lisa squeezed Pete’s hand under the table, but he pulled it away. Perhaps he was as on edge as she was.

The host started speaking again. ‘And the winner is …’

Lisa closed her eyes and looked down at the tablecloth.

‘Love Me Till Wednesday.’

Shit! She didn’t hear the rest.

‘We won!’ Pete sounded as flabbergasted as she felt.

‘Time for a commercial break,’ Ed said, chuckling as he got out of his seat. ‘Come on, Lisa. I hope you know what to say.’

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