Page 38 of Best Summer Ever

I’d had a reply from Mum.

‘Yes,’ I told him. ‘Just my mum checking in.’

‘That’s nice.’

‘Does yours check in with you?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘not all that often, but I’m not great at keeping in touch with her either.’

He didn’t seem to want to extend the talk about his family, which was fine because I didn’t want to spend the day discussing mine either.

‘Have you thought anymore about performing in the pub again?’ I asked, to change the subject. ‘George seemed keen.’

Josh looked at me and cocked his head.

‘And when exactly would I have had time in the last few hours to think about that?’ he asked with a wicked grin. ‘I’ve been somewhat occupied since I hung up my guitar last night, haven’t I?’

‘Oh, yes,’ I consented as I crossed the room, draped my arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips. ‘So you have.’

There wasn’t a muscle in my body that wasn’t feeling the impact of the last few hours now, but as Josh kissed me back and I pressed myself even closer to him, I knew I was more than willing to put them through their paces again.

‘And you’ve done wonders for supporting Anglo–American relations in those hours,’ I said between kisses.

‘Is that right?’

‘It is.’

‘In that case,’ he said, lifting me off my feet in one smooth movement, ‘let’s keep the momentum going, shall we?’

When Josh later turned on some music in the cottage, I couldn’t suppress the desire to track back to the subject of his playing in the pub.

‘I still can’t believe how surprised you looked by everyone’s reaction last night,’ I told him. ‘Your performance was flawless so it was never going to be received by anything other than rapturous applause.’

Josh didn’t appear convinced.

‘Why do you look like you still can’t believe it happened?’ I asked him.

‘Because I can’t, I suppose,’ he simply said, as he joined me on the sofa and I draped my bare feet over his lap.

I was wearing one of his T-shirts and felt relieved I still had time to go home ahead of my next shift in the pub. It wouldn’t stem any gossip if I was seen wearing the dress I had on last night, especially as I knew, thanks to my conversation with Penny, how minutely Josh and I were being scrutinised.

‘But why not?’ I probed.

‘Because,’ Josh sighed, returning to the topic of family, ‘in the past, my love of music and the desire I once had to play professionally didn’t go down well with my father. My love of music was sidelined by him as a frivolous pastime, a total waste of time and effort.’

My eyes widened in surprise.

‘A waste of time,’ I echoed, thinking that was the last way I would have described Josh’s obvious talent.

‘Yes,’ Josh said. ‘You see, my father has a hatred of anything creative being taken up professionally. He considers it too much of a risk. He’s only interested in making money from high-earning, straightforward careers, guaranteed investments and business opportunities.’

‘I see,’ I said.

I already knew I wouldn’t like Josh’s dad and that he was nothing like him. Laurence, however, was cut from a very similar materialistic cloth. Not that I was entertaining thoughts about him, but the similarity with Josh’s dad had struck a chord and he’d annoyingly popped into my head.

‘When I was growing up,’ Josh continued, ‘I wanted to be a musician. I was obsessed with learning to play the guitar and practised for hours on end…’

‘But your father didn’t encourage you?’