by Meg Buchanan
But seeing her walk through the door and smile when she saw him didn’t have the same breath-taking effect on him it used to. And she never stopped. He’d known all that when he started going out with her when she was fourteen and he was fifteen.
Last night he was pretty sure he’d disappointed her when he told her coming with him or not was her choice. But it was. In six years he’d got used to her. Not sick of her. He didn’t want to hurt her, but he wasn’t going to give up the chance of a lifetime for her either just because she’d just got the job she’d been working towards for three years. He wasn’t staying.
Anyway, they’d keep in touch. Skype and holidays helped. It was only a three-hour flight to Australia.
Adam picked up his knife and fork and attacked the pancakes.
“But just for three months work?” He still sounded cautious.
“Do you want a lifetime guarantee?” Luke put his knife and fork down on his plate and leaned his elbows on the table. “Just agree to try it for a year. You can all come back and pick up where you left off if it doesn’t work out.”
He could see them wavering.
“Okay, I’m in,” Cole said.
“Me too.” Noah banged the table with his palms. “Professors go on sabbatical. Students must be able to too. What about you, Isaac?”
Isaac shook his head. “I’d need to talk to Jess.”
“But are you keen?”
Isaac nodded.
“Let’s see what we are getting into first. It could all just be hot air,” said Adam.
Luke nodded. Adam could be right. But God, he hoped it wasn’t.
Tessa heard her phone ding. Hopefully that was Dominic. Now Luke had talked them round, he’d want to get on with everything. She picked up her phone and read the text. Dominic had sorted out the photo shoot. She knew he’d come through, even on a Sunday.
She looked up from the text and found Luke watching her expectantly. He really wanted this thing with Oliver Chapman to happen and she’d help make sure it did. But last night when she pointed out she wouldn’t go with him, he’d accepted it with a shrug. Said it was her choice. She wasn’t sure what that meant.
“So?” Luke asked.
“You’ve got half an hour to get down to the studio at Munro. Dominic says he’s got the key and cleared it with the boss. He says he can do the head shots straight away and then some stuff around town if you want that.”
“Okay, how long will it take?”
“An hour, maybe two. It depends how cooperative you are.”
“Where’s the studio?”
“Dinsdale.”
Luke checked the time on his phone. “If we go after we’ve eaten, we can be back by lunchtime. That gives us time to pick out a few tracks for Mr Chapman before we have to head home.”
She studied the five of them. They’d already showered and shaved and done their hair to come out to breakfast, and none of them really embraced scruffy as an everyday look, but she liked the way they used to dress when they were younger. Okay, it was a pretty goth look, but at least they made an effort.
“What about makeup and a bit of styling?” she asked.
Luke snorted. “Chapman didn’t say anything about changing our look.”
“What look?” Tessa asked. Maybe that was a bit unfair.
“We’re musicians not models,” said Luke.
“Even models look better with a bit of makeup.” None of them were ugly, but everything helped.
“Not me.” Cole refused point blank like he always had. It was Luke and Isaac who had really embraced the look when they were younger. But even they weren’t having any of it today.
“This is us,” said Noah. “Take it or leave it.”
Chapter Six
They waited outside the Munro building around the back in the carpark. It just looked like an old warehouse, but inside that building everything Tessa ever wanted to be part of was there. Dominic said he’d meet them at the back door. She texted him to tell them they were all there. Dana and Keira weren’t being left out of a photoshoot. Jess would have enjoyed it too.
After a few minutes she heard boots on the staircase, the studios where the photographers worked were upstairs, then a key in the lock, and the door opened.
Luke and the others hadn’t met Dom before, so she introduced them. Dominic knew all about Stadium. She’d met him when she was doing her internship at Munro. He was one of the photographers. He was a couple of years older than she was and made it clear he liked her.
“Come on up.” Dominic held the door open and they all trooped through. “Up the stairs and the first door on the left. I’ve got things ready, so we can start straight away.”
She didn’t think Dom had seen Stadium perform. When she’d invited him to come to the pub one night, he’d said his thing was the visual, and music did nothing for him. But she suspected he just didn’t want to meet her boyfriend. She felt a bit guilty about using him this way.
The people she’d worked with here would be at home, and they were part of the dream. But even without them here, the rolls of beautiful fabrics, the big tables where the pattern makers worked, the half-dressed mannequins, the machines where the samples were sewn together, were some of the dream too.
She wanted to be part of the fashion world. Not as a model. She’d tried that, and it had been fun, but she wanted to be part of the creative process. To design and make the clothes, not just wear them.
In the studio Tessa, Keira and Dana settled on a few stools that were scattered around, and Dominic studied the five guys then turned back to Tess.
“Are you any good with makeup?” he asked her.
“Bloody hell,” said Cole.
Dominic turned back to him. “I take photos, I don’t work magic, so if you want good photos we’ll try a little enhancement first. I don’t want to spend all night photoshopping.”
About two hours later, Luke helped Cole drag the drum kit into place. “How did we get ourselves talked into this?” asked Cole. Dominic had turned out to be an artiste of the worst sort. He knew what he wanted, and he talked until he got it.
“He’s good,” Tessa had insisted when they’d put up some resistance. “Go with it. You could finish up with something amazing.”
So, they’d gone with it, and Dominic had taken a million photos so far that he wouldn’t show to anyone. Then he’d come up with the idea of them playing in the pub. It was the middle of Sunday morning, so there was no crowd, no lights, nothing, just silence, emptiness and the smell of bodies and stale alcohol. But Dominic had insisted they needed action shots, and the sleaziness of the old pub in the daylight would make a great background.
Luke had given in and rung Harry to see if he’d let them use the stage. Harry hadn’t minded. He was used to them wanting to practice on a Sunday.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said. “Just set the alarm before you leave.” So here they were, setting up the stage in the gloomy morning light as if they were going to do a performance.
Noah plugged in the amps. “Might as well make it look real,” he said. Anyway, Dominic wanted them to really be playing something.
“We’ll get better shots if you aren’t thinking about posing and are just doing what you normally do,” he said.
Luke stood back and checked they had the drums in the right place.
“Will that work?” he asked Cole.
Cole nodded, sat behind the drums and picked up the drumsticks.
“It’ll do. The sooner we get this over, the sooner we can go home.” Cole really hadn’t been into this. Didn’t matter. Surly suited him.
Isaac and Adam had the guitars and violins set up. The mic stand was where it should be. They were ready to go.
Tessa and Dominic stood about half way down the empty bar room watching them. The patterned carpet and fake wood grain walls looked terrible in this light. The shafts of morning sun came through the high narrow windows almost horizontal. Dominic had pulled the curtains over the entranc
e doors but left the ones on the windows drawn back. He’d been frantically taking photos of their every move since they arrived.
Luke stood at the edge of the stage. “What now?” he asked.
“Just do it the way you normally would. I like the way the light doesn’t quite hit the stage. We should get a good effect.”
“You’re the boss.” Luke picked up the mic and turned back to the others. “What do you want to do?”
Isaac shrugged. “‘Train Wreck’?”
“Okay.” He checked with Cole, Adam and Noah. They nodded. It might be bloody hard to perform though. It wasn’t like the atmosphere in the pub was inspiring.
Noah tucked the violin under his chin. Tessa had talked him into the coat and hat he sometimes wore on stage. Luke guessed it made Noah look the part. He looked ghostly in the strange light Dominic wanted.
He drew the bow across the strings and the note wailed out across the empty bar. Isaac came in under it. When they got to his part, he growled the lyrics into the mic. Slowly the surroundings faded away and the music took over. They played ‘Train Wreck’ to the end forgetting about the camera and what this was all about.
At the end he lowered the mic and saw Dominic studying the viewfinder screen.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Luke asked him.
Dominic nodded. “Yeah, come and look at this one.”
Luke put the mic back on the stand, went to edge of the stage and vaulted down to join Tessa and Dom. The others followed him.
Dom handed him the camera. He looked at the small screen mostly taken up by Noah playing the violin. The image was small and shadowy with the rest of them just shaped, but the way the light hit Noah’s face, framed by the brim of the hat, the shot looked magic. The expression on his face was serious musician caught up in the music. Luke handed the camera to Noah.
“Bloody hell.” Noah passed it to Cole. Cole looked at the screen, exhaled then passed the camera on to Adam.
Adam handed the it back to Dominic. ‘That’s brilliant.”
“Yeah, that’s the shot I was going for.” Dominic took the camera back. “There’s a few others just about as good, but that one is going to make me famous. Its way up there with the monsoon girl.”
“So, is that it?” asked Luke. They still needed time to pick the tracks for the demo.
“Yep,” said Dominic. He started packing his gear away. I’ll take these home, clean them up a bit, pick out the best and send them to you. “Where do you want me to send them.”
“What’s best?
“Email.” Dominic slung his bag over his shoulder.
“I’ll send the address to your phone.”
“Okay. Tessa has my number.”
Tessa hugged him. “Thanks for doing this for us.”
“Anything for you, Miss Butler,” Dominic said with a grin.
Luke stuck out his hand. He might have to be careful. If he did leave Tessa here alone, it didn’t look like she’d be alone for long.
“Yeah, thanks,” he said. “It was good of you to give up your Sunday.”
Dominic shook his hand. “You’ll get the bill.” Though from the way Dominic had been looking at Tessa all morning, this hadn’t been about the money for him.
At the flat, Isaac fired up the laptop, and they all sat around in the lounge listening to the different tracks. They had plenty of material to choose from.
“How many tracks to you think we’ll need?” asked Isaac.
“Eight or nine. Just make it like a normal CD,” said Noah. He’d dropped Dana off at home. Keira and Tessa were making sandwiches in the kitchen for all of them.
The photo session had taken more than the hour Tessa had predicted, and it was late in the afternoon now. Luke wanted to get these sorted, so he could go home and get on with his real life because none of this felt real yet.
“Just use all the new material,” suggested Noah. “That’s the stuff that makes us different from everyone else.”
“And ‘Stardust’.” Tessa arrived in the lounge with a plate full of sandwiches.
Keira followed behind with a tray of mugs. She handed the coffees around then sat on the floor and leaned against Cole’s legs.
He stroked her hair while they listened to the tracks recorded last night. “If we used ‘Stardust’ it would have to be an old recording. We’d already done it last night when Chapman spoke to us.”
Luke took a sandwich Tessa offered and looked around at the others. Finally, they were taking this seriously.
The lounge got dark, and they’d had to turn on the lights.
Luke stood up. It was getting late. “I think we’ve got enough for whoever Chapman’s trying to impress. Can you get that onto a flash-drive by the morning?” he asked Isaac.
Isaac nodded and shut down the laptop. “No problem. Now we’d better get home. Jess is going to be wondering where I am.” He’d already packed his stuff up. The roll bag was sitting beside the door with Cole’s.
“I’ll throw my stuff together.” Luke went to Tessa’s room.
She followed him and sat on the bed. “You could be gone in two weeks.” She turned the engagement ring around on her finger like she did sometimes.
“Yeah.” He zipped up the bag and went and sat beside her. “We can still make time for each other. It won’t change anything.”
“Except we’ll never see each other.”
He kissed her gently. “We’ll make it work.”
“But we’ve never been apart.”
Of course, they’d been apart. They were apart all week and had been for the last three years.
“There’s always phone sex.” He grinned at her.
She laughed. “No. Even if I set it on vibrate, my phone’s not the right shape.”
It took him a moment to work out what she meant, then he laughed too. “That’s disgusting, Tess.” He stood up and grabbed his bag. “I’ll let you know what happens.”
“Okay. See you Friday night.” She brushed her lips against his. “This is an amazing opportunity, Luke. I really am happy for you.”
Chapter Seven
Just on midnight, he opened Rose’s bedroom door. The moonlight flickered through the curtains and outlined the shape of her under the bedclothes.
She turned over a little. “Is that you Luke?” she asked, her voice thick with sleep.
“Yeah.”
“You’re a lot later than you said.”
“We had to sort out a few things before we came home.”
“Have you had dinner?” He heard that sleepy quality to her voice.
“Yeah, we had fish and chips.” He pulled his clothes off, dropped them on the floor, then slipped into bed behind her.
He slowly crumpled up the nightgown she had on, so he could feel the warmth of her body against his. She wore flowing nightgowns of the finest cotton, almost like spiderwebs, to bed.
That was fine. He got to remove them. But tonight, he just slid the gown up to her waist and stroked the curve of her hip. He loved the softness of her, the way she curved where he didn’t. She was that perfect combination of petite and slim but everything soft and full.
Not tall and coltish like Tessa was, with limbs nearly as long as his.
“Did you have a good weekend?” he asked.
Rose turned over in his arms. “Busy. Yesterday morning we ran out of muffins before morning tea. I had to mind the shop while Jilly made more. We were so busy all day.”
He brushed the hair off her face, hair as dark and sleek as Tessa’s was honey coloured and curly.
He rested his chin on her hair. “You would have made good money.”
Rose nodded against his chest. His hand ran up her stomach under the gossamer nightgown to her breasts. Full and beautiful.
She snuggled closer and kissed him again. “I couldn’t wait up any longer,” she murmured. “I figured you’d turn up eventually.” She even tasted of sleep and comfort. “Do you want to make love?” she asked drowsily.
&nb
sp; “No, turn over. I’ll curl up around you. I want to sleep too.” Must be getting old turning down sex.
He curled up closer to Rose. He could feel sleep tugging at his body. All round it had been a huge weekend. A bottle of tequila Friday night. Tessa had eventually run out of things she wanted to watch him doing, and that whole night was one drunken blur. But one thing stood out, Tessa had been amazing.
Then Oliver Chapman and his offer. As for today, they’d just gone from one thing to the next, frantic to make it happen.
He’d get the photos printed off and into an album as soon as he had them. And Isaac said he would finish off the tracks they’d chosen for this demo Chapman wanted. He’d have electronic copies of both ready too, but it sounded like Chapman wanted physical copies, so he’d do it. Tessa had sent him the video of a couple of minutes of Saturday night’s performance. He’d have that as back up.
If he handled things right, tomorrow could be life changing. A series of music festivals in Queensland. Three months of solid work, and then more in the pipeline Chapman had said. Until they’re established. First, he needed to turn his brain off and get some sleep.
Rose snuggled back into him and seemed to go to sleep instantly.
He liked Rose’s way of doing things. It was peaceful.
Next morning, he woke up to the sound of his phone. Rose rolled over and went to pick it up, but he got to it first. And lucky because when he checked the screen the caller was Tessa. He waited until the phone finished ringing, then put it back on the bedside table. She’d just assume he was in the shower. He’d call her back later to see what she wanted.
“Who was that?” asked Rose, her hair all messed up around her face like a dark halo and her vivid green eyes with a black ring around the iris looked at him sleepily.
“Something about work. They can leave a message.” He turned over, so he could hold her. It had been her eyes he’d noticed about her first. She was pretty, but her eyes were stunning. For a few months he’d flirted with her when he went into her café to get something for lunch.