Page 24 of Wild Tonic
“Neither did I.” Clem drained the first of her wine glasses and started on the second. Nagging thoughts filled her head about what Dean had said. She couldn’t ignore them. “Nate, who’s Edie Spencer-Newman? Is she an ex of yours?”
She thought she saw Nate flinch at the mention of Edie’s name.
He looked down at the table, drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair. “No. She wasn’t an ex of mine. She was with Alik for a while. And then our former bassist Billy at the same time as Alik.”
“Oh, right.” Clem wondered why someone who’d cheated on her boyfriend was such a concern for her mother.
“Why do you want to know?”
“Supposedly my mother is concerned that I’m going to end up like this Edie if I carry on seeing you.”
“If you’re thinking of sleeping with Richey, then let me tell you Eva will kill you.” Nate gave a hollow laugh. “And he’s gotten over his demons these days.”
“I wouldn’t do that! Eva was the only one who stuck up for me last night. Don’t judge me on someone else’s behaviour.” Clem was still no clearer as to her mother’s worries. “I realised Edie was onPretty Rich Thingsfor a while.”
“That’s right. Maybe if she’d stuck to that, then…”
“What? Can you just tell me, Nate? How can I understand if you don’t tell me what happened?”
Nate swigged his pint. “You want all the gory details? Well, here it is. Edie and Alik met at a house party and started seeing each other. It was all fine at the beginning, he followed her around a bit, going to parties, club openings, that sort of thing, much like you’re doing. The band were just starting to get noticed and it gave us some good, if unwanted, publicity. Then Edie got involved with Billy and they started seeing each other behind Alik’s back. And it was onmywedding day that Billy smashed his car into a tree and killed himself.” He stopped and Clem reached for his hand, but he pulled it out of her way. “Edie survived and found out she was pregnant. She told Alik the baby was his, but he found out that she’d been lying at one of her midwife appointments. And in the meantime, Edie had been spreading shit about Caro’s past when she got together with Alik.” He stopped talking, alternately taking deep breaths and long drinks.
“Nate, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.” At least the story went some way to explaining why Marika had kicked off to Dean. She thought about what he’d said. “Wait, do you think I’m like Edie?”
His eyes glittered back at her, radiating unspoken emotion. After a couple of moments, Nate shook his head. “You’re nothing like her, Clem, you’re totally different. Hard-working, passionate about what you do. You might be young, but you’ve got your head screwed on and I don’t think you see me as arm candy, unlike Alik appeared to be.”
“Oh, you’re definitely arm candy,” said Clem, the corner of her mouth turning up. “And thank you, it’s nice to hear.”
They fell silent, each sipping on their drinks, thinking about what had been said.
“What happened to Edie then?” asked Clem.
Nate shrugged. “No idea. Last I heard she’d moved to the country and was doing something with a kids clothing store.” He drained the last of his drink. “Christ, that got heavy. I thought we were going to have fun tonight? After all, I’m going in to the studio tomorrow.”
“Can I see while you’re there? I’m going to miss you.” Clem was glad to change the subject. All the apparent negativity around her and Nate’s relationship was beginning to wear her down.
“I’m not going to prison!” Nate laughed. “It does depend on how we get on. If we’re in the zone, then no-one leaves the room, we barely eat or sleep. Or shower for that matter. Things can get a bit smelly.” Nate wrinkled his nose. “I know that Richey’s got some great new stuff he wants to try out.”
“How does it all work then? Do you create stuff before you go and then put it all together?” Clem shifted in her seat to get more comfortable. She really wanted to know how they did it.
“Depends really. Alik and I have been working on lyrics and music since, well, forever really. If we’re both in the same zone when we’re creating something, it just happens.” The corner of his mouth quirked up. “Though I’m not sure that’s going to be quite so easy this time.” He looked down into his pint. “We’re not exactly on the best of terms right now.”
“Why?” Clem had a nagging feeling that she knew the answer to that already. If Marika and Dean were having doubts, then it made sense that other people would be too.
It took a couple of moments before Nate replied. “He’s not exactly happy about me seeing you.”
And there it was. Another dissenter.
Clem needed to know how Nate felt before she got herself in too deep. They had only seen each other a couple of times, though Clem knew she’d already fallen hard. If he didn’t feel the same way, they may as well call it quits now before anyone got hurt.
“What about you? Are you happy?” she asked before her courage deserted her.
As his lips descended onto hers, it told her everything she needed to know.
Chapter Sixteen
Nate thought he had died and gone to heaven.
The guitar studio at The Blacker Lodge was basically porn. Fenders, Les Pauls, a vintage semi-acoustic and—to Richey’s utter delight—a shiny new Rickenbacker. Nate almost felt disloyal to his trusty Gretsch.
