Page 30 of The Last Love Song
‘Something very ladylike. I’m going to be working on the perfumery counter in Swan and Edgar’s.’
‘Isn’t that a match company?’ He sat himself on the flat’s one threadbare chair.
‘No, eejit,’ Sorcha giggled, relaxing a little. ‘It’s a grand department store in Piccadilly Circus. Oh, Con, say you’re pleased?’
‘Come here.’ Con patted his knee.
Sorcha walked over to him and sat down, winding her arms round his neck.
‘I think,’ he said as he kissed her neck, ‘that I can’t think’ – he kissed her shoulder – ‘until I’ve made love to you.’
Afterwards, they lay on the narrow bed, limbs entwined. ‘So, my precious princess has to go and earn a crust for her useless article of a lover. I never thought it would come to this.’ Con stroked the silken skin of Sorcha’s inner thigh.
‘It won’t be for long. Something will turn up for you, I’m sure.’
‘Well, as a matter of fact, something happened to me today.’
‘What? A good something?’
‘Could be.’
Sorcha’s eyes lit up. ‘Tell me, Con.’
‘I’ve met a man who says he’s a member of a group. Their bass player has just left. He heard me busking, took me for a beer and asked me to go along to some pub in Camden Town tomorrow night to try out.’
‘As what?’
‘Their bass player.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘You don’t sound very excited.’
‘I’m sorry. I just thought you wanted your own group. A bass player?’ Sorcha wrinkled her nose. ‘You’re worth more than that.’
‘And you’re worth more than flogging perfumes to fat,wealthy women.’ Con sprang out of bed and searched in his jeans for his tin of tobacco and cigarette papers.
‘I’m glad for you, Con, really. I just always imagined you would be fronting the band.’
‘Sorcha, we both imagined a lot of things that haven’t happened since we got here. Anyway, I’ve just decided not to do it. I’ll be much better off looking for steady work as a labourer.’ Con lit his roll-up and sucked on it morosely.
‘No, I didn’t mean it like that. Of course it’s a start. Of course I’m pleased. Tell me about them. What kind of music do they play?’
Con shrugged. ‘Modern rocky stuff. They do covers and some of their own songs.’
‘Are they well known?’
‘I’ve never heard of them,’ he grinned. ‘But ’twould be a start.’
‘Con, it’s grand news. You must go tomorrow night.’
‘I’ll be thinking about it,’ he said eventually. ‘Now, how about some of that bacon?’
The Queen Victoria pub on Camden High Street was noisy and very smoky. There was an eclectic mix of drinkers, from old men sitting round a table playing cards to the young, brightly coloured mob huddled down at one end of the bar watching the band set up their gear on the small dais.
‘Hey,’ whispered Sorcha as they stood a few yards away, ‘looks as though they have a following. That’s something.’
Con did not reply. He was watching the scene with interest.
