Page 21 of Never Too Late
She stood there for a full minute before making up her mind. Ethan was no longer her boyfriend and so, technically, what he did in his free time was up to him. Similarly, Denver meant nothing to her so she couldn’t care less what he did. What did concern her was the possibility of Keith finding out that Ethan had been dabbling in drugs. If that were to come to Keith’s ears, from what Sky had said that would mark the expulsion of Ethan from the villa and the end of this contract. And that, she felt sure, could scupper her chances of accompanying Royalty on their new album, and that would be a crying shame. She gave him her sternest look.
‘Two things: please make sure you steer clear of any drugs while you’re here, and please ask Denver to tell his lady friend he was with you last night before she decides she’s going to assault me with a deadly weapon.’
In return he nodded his head and then dropped his eyes once again. She hoped the message had got through but knew it was time to change the subject. Glancing up at the clock on the wall she saw that it was half past nine already so she adopted a businesslike tone.
‘What’s the plan for today? When do we get a chance to play Ben’s new number to Keith and Johnny?’
Ethan looked up, the relief visible on his face, like a schoolboy who had escaped detention even though he’d misbehaved in class. ‘Cesare came down a few minutes ago to say Keith will be delayed but Johnny will be here any minute now.’ He let his eyes run over his crumpled clothes as if noticing them for the first time. ‘Listen, I need a coffee followed by a shower and a change. Will you look after Johnny for a bit? Play him Ben’s new number. See what he thinks of it.’
Steph nodded approvingly and he left. Barely ten minutes later Johnny appeared at the door with his wife alongside him.
‘Hi, Steph. Tara wanted to come and take a look. All right with you?’
‘Absolutely. Do come in. Ethan and I’ve got something you might like to hear. See what you think.’ She waited until they sat down on a couple of stools and then she pulled up Ben’s piece and played it to them, keeping a close eye on the two of them as they listened to it. Tara started beaming within a few seconds of first hearing Ben’s voice and the smile never left her face. Beside her, Johnny looked stunned, as if he could hardly believe his ears. When it came to the end, Tara was the first to react.
‘Wonderful, amazing, such a beautiful song!’ She turned to her husband. ‘What did you think, sweetie?’
‘I never thought I’d see the day…’ Johnny was sounding unusually emotional. ‘Ben singing and playing again, it’s like a dream. And the words… Did you hear the words: all that pain and grief stuff? I almost burst into tears.’ He looked across at Steph. ‘I don’t know how you did it, but you’re a miracle worker. The next step, of course, is to see whether he feels like singing and playing along with us. I tell you this: Keith’s going to be over the moon when he hears this.’
Keith was indeed delighted when he heard it a bit later on. His reaction wasn’t dissimilar to Johnny’s and Steph actually caught sight of what might have been tears in the corners of his eyes. After congratulating her and a freshly showered and changed Ethan on getting Ben to open up like this, Keith came up with a fascinating suggestion.
‘Why don’t we try and join in? Ethan, would it work if we were to improvise some backing and some harmony? Could you then mix the tracks together and turn this into the first of the born-again Royalty numbers?’
Steph glanced at Ethan and saw the excitement on his face. This was exactly the sort of thing he was so good at. Over the next hours he took Keith and Johnny through the piece over and over again, listening to their interventions, accepting some, rejecting others, suggesting changes until it was time for Steph to add the keyboard track. She had been preparing this in her head and it appeared to be well received. Keith offered little more than a few suggestions and didn’t demonstrate any signs of bossiness. Ethan got her to change some of it, but before long he declared himself satisfied.
‘This is going to be great. I can feel it.’ He looked across at Keith, Johnny and Tara. ‘Why don’t you guys go off and have a coffee while Steph and I work a bit of magic? Give us an hour or so, all right?’
The result was remarkable and when Keith and Johnny came back and heard it, they looked and sounded ecstatic; so much so that Keith hurried back to the villa and reappeared with Faye and Tara in tow so that they could listen when Ethan played it again. The reaction of the two ladies mirrored that of their husbands.
‘That’s one of the best things Royalty’s ever done.’ Faye sounded quite overcome and was openly crying. ‘I just love it. It’s so, so sad but it’s beautiful.’
Her husband stretched a comforting arm around her shoulder. ‘Let’s just hope Ben feels the same way when he hears it.’
Chapter 10
When Steph emerged from the studio at just after midday, she was delighted to see that the sky was clearing rapidly and much of it was blue again, just punctuated with big fluffy white clouds. She knew she had a bit of time before lunch, so she decided to go for a short walk. First, however, she checked her phone, but there was no email from the hospital. They had told her she should be getting the result of her mammogram any day now and she dreaded the thought of finding out that she might have cancer. Here she was, thinking of her future career, her future life, and it could all be turned on its head if the lump turned out to be malignant. A cold shiver ran down her spine. One of her dad’s favourite sayings had been that the most important thing in life was good health – and look what had happened to him.
After the storm the air was a little cooler and amazingly clear, so she did her best to put her fears aside and set off up the path in the direction of Robert’s house, determined to see if she could get a view of what lay around the corner of the next promontory. She deliberately avoided going too close to where he lived. She knew nothing could or should happen between the two of them, and she didn’t want to run the risk of being tempted – although his apparent indifference towards her made any approach by him unlikely. When she reached the track that linked his house to the main road, she hurried across it into the bushes again. As she followed the winding path, she skirted around the dry-stone wall that marked the boundary of his property. Olive trees within prevented her from getting a clear view of the whole house, but the glimpses she got revealed a lovely ancient building, redolent with character.
She walked along the path through clumps of pines and areas of sun-scorched scrub, climbing slowly until she reached a vantage point on the top of a high cliff from where she could look straight down onto the rocks below and the sea still flecked with foam after the storm. From here she had a fine view over three or four more rocky inlets and then the coast arcing away southwards into Tuscany. She wondered once again if she would have time to take a trip to Florence to see the statue of David or to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. Ethan had never been keen on history or art but now that they were no longer together, there was no reason she shouldn’t jump on a train by herself with a clear conscience.
Of course, there was still a slight question mark in her mind over the future of their relationship. In his gentler moments she still felt some affection for him, but the mood swings that turned him into a bear with a sore head had the opposite effect. Not knowing from one moment to the next what sort of reaction she was going to get from him certainly offered her little incentive to revive the relationship, but the question mark still hung in the air. The other uncertainty was the question of drugs. In spite of his denial, could it be that he had been doing drugs and she hadn’t realised? It was an unsettling thought.
There was a treat in store for her when she retraced her steps along the path. Just as she was passing Robert’s house his violin struck up with what she immediately recognised as Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. As before, the playing was divine and she would happily have hidden herself away behind one of the clumps of bright yellow broom blossoms to listen in silent appreciation, but a glance at her watch told her it was lunchtime. Reluctantly she pressed on down the path onto the beach and up to the villa, the plaintive notes of the violin and thoughts of the man wielding the bow gradually fading behind her.
Lunch was once more served outside on the terrace and today Donatella had laid out a cold buffet around a whole big fish on a platter, cooked and de-boned and then covered with scores of thin slices of cucumber to make it look like scales. She gave the name of the white-fleshed fish in Italian, but Steph had no idea of the translation into English. Irrespective of its name, the taste was exceptional. Accompanied by a variety of mixed salads, one of them a combination of tiny boiled potatoes, hardboiled eggs, black olives and spicy prawns in homemade mayonnaise, it was a real feast. Although she had been trying to avoid drinking wine at lunchtime, Steph allowed herself a glass of the excellent local white and, in spite of her fractious relationship with Ethan, Willow’s dire threats, and the trepidation about the scan results, she felt herself relaxing in the warm Italian sunshine. Whether this new-found peace had anything to do with the violin music she had just heard was something she chose not to debate.
She helped herself to a plate of food and took a seat at a table with Sky and Tom, suitably distanced from Willow who was deep in conversation with Denver at the other end of the terrace. As Steph started eating, she saw Ethan approach Denver’s table and sit down with them. Hopefully over the course of the meal he and Denver would be able to explain to Willow what had taken place last night and reassure her that Steph herself had not been involved. Steph certainly hoped so. She had no desire to find herself on the receiving end of another violent verbal attack or worse. Willow might be small, but Steph didn’t want to find out how well she could handle herself in a fight.
‘So, Steph, how did this morning’s recording session go?’
Sky’s voice roused her from her thoughts. Taking a quick look around to check that Ben and Lottie weren’t within earshot, she gave them a big smile. ‘It went better than any of us hoped.’ She gave them a quick summary of how Keith and Johnny had taken Ben’s new number and added their own tracks to the mix. ‘It sounds amazing: vintage Royalty but with a poignant, emotional feel. I was almost in tears.’
‘Has Ben heard what they’ve done to it yet?’ Sky also cast a wary eye towards the neighbouring table.
‘Nope. Your dad’s trying to decide when the best time to spring it on him is going to be.’
‘Just make sure you take your time with Ben. He’s still very fragile.’ It was so unusual to hear normally taciturn Tom speak that Steph was momentarily stumped.
