Page 52 of Play Our Song

“We’re going to be late if we don’t get a move on,” Jules said. “Come on, I’ll race you.”

Sophie rolled her eyes as Jules started running toward the village hall. She sped up a little, but not too much. She was still trying to take in everything that had happened. She’d gone from depressed to drunk to locked in a barn to under arrest to having a ‘state of the relationship’ talk literally overnight.

Her father wasn’t pleased with her, it went without saying. She’d had a stern lecture and warnings to stay away from McKeefe’s and not to get involved with the police. And it had been all she could do to stop Gio filing some kind of police harassment report he was so sure that Sophie was being targeted because of her name.

It was all worth it, though. Worth it because as she approached the village hall, she could feel the tickling fingers of anticipation on her spine. Her stomach flipped, her blood started to pound, and she was going to see Tilly at any minute.

Jules was already in through the front door, shedding her jacket as Sophie went in herself. She got three steps inside before someone slid out of the shadows. She jumped, startled, then smiled. “Oh, it’s you.”

“Sorry, have we met?” Tilly said innocently.

“Ye—wait, what?”

“I’m Tilly Ware, I’m the new constable up at the police station,” said Tilly, holding out a hand.

Sophie stared at it uncertainly.

“Do-over,” Tilly hissed.

“Oh, right,” said Sophie, catching on. She grinned wider. “I’m Sophie Farmer. I’m an accountant and receptionist at a garage down the street that is occasionally suspected of not being on the right side of the law. Even if it is.”

Tilly grinned back. “That should about cover introductions, then.” She cleared her throat. “You are very attractive Sophie.”

“Um, thank you, you too.”

Another grin. “I was wondering if perhaps you wouldn’t like to go out for a drink sometime?”

Sophie laughed. “Alright, alright, point made. I would love not to have a drink with you.”

Tilly stepped in, her hand sliding into the curve of Sophie’s waist. In the hall, they could hear Billy start to call things to order. “I’d like to do a lot more than not take you for a drink,” Tilly whispered.

The hairs on Sophie’s neck stood on end. She shivered, a delightful heat pooling between her legs. She let one of her hands stray to Tilly’s chest, felt her breath, felt the warmth of her. Then Tilly’s head was tilting and Sophie’s breath was coming faster. Their lips brushed and Billy shouted from the hall.

“Oh Christ,” Tilly said. She stepped back. “Okay, time to sing.”

It took Sophie a second to catch her breath again after losing it so suddenly. Tilly’s eyes were dark with desire, her lips already swelling. For an instant, Sophie was about to suggest that they just leave. Go anywhere. Outside, a hotel, not that there was a hotel in Whitebridge. Or perhaps the garage. There was that big storage shed out back. There were no windows there, perhaps…

“We’ll have time,” Tilly said. “Let’s do this properly. Come on, in we go.”

ACROSS THE PIANO Sophie could watch Tilly as they sang, the whole choir together. It was a simple carol, and she didn’t have to concentrate too hard. Giving her all the time she needed to drink Tilly in.

Her golden curls, her blue eyes, the way her nose wrinkled a little as she sang. And Sophie’s heart was singing too. There was definitely something here, and even though it had only been a couple of weeks, she knew it was something special.

Something that could turn into something even better.

There were big feelings here, ones that she was afraid of, but that she couldn’t deny. Tilly’s had been the first face she’d thought of when she woke up, and she was so deep into thinking about her right now, she didn’t care if the whole damn hall caught fire.

She could imagine, if she let herself, waking up next to her. Eating opposite her. Holding hands and shopping and doing all the banal everyday things that made up a life with her.

The only thing she couldn’t factor into the picture was her family. She dreaded to think what her father would say when he found out, and Gio would be just as bad if not worse. And then what? Because as much as she could imagine her life with Tilly in it, she couldn’t imagine one without her family there.

Yes, they irritated her, yes, they ruined things sometimes, but they were hers, an indelible part of her. She was achingly aware that at some point she might be forced to choose. And she could hardly bear to think about it.

The song came to an end. “Alright, alright,” Billy said, clapping her hands together. “Not bad. You’ve got the sheet music to everything now, there’ll be nothing else new. The concert is set for the second Saturday in December, which gives us less than four weeks to prepare everything. Now, let me hear my soloists, up to the front.”

Sophie walked up to the piano and felt Tilly come up behind her, close enough that they were touching, close enough that Sophie’s blood started to pound in her veins again. They patiently waited their turn, with Sophie leaning back into Tilly, feeling the support of her body.

Heat started to creep around her core. One of Tilly’s hands was on her waist again, hidden from the others by their position. Sophie’s breath came faster. She closed her eyes, took as deep a breath as she could, and stepped away. She glanced up at Tilly, who was grinning. “Not here,” she mouthed.

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