Page 44 of Never Too Late
‘She looks great, Pop.’ The first to answer was Zach, and Steph filed away the fact that this indicated he was Sol’s son. Immediately afterwards, the other suit replied.
‘Perfect. The more women the better these days.’
Steph began to feel slightly resentful of the way these men were discussing her as if she wasn’t here. She came close to retorting that what counted was her ability to play the keyboards, but she managed to restrain herself. Apart from anything else, these were the people who had supposedly come to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse. Further conjecture was interrupted by a cold wet nose nudging her thigh and a hand brushing her shoulder. She turned to see Rob and his dog standing there and she very nearly threw herself into his arms but the presence of Solomon and his team, not to mention her ex-boyfriend, restricted her to a beaming smile.
‘Hi, Rob, welcome back.’
He gave her a smile in return and did the round of the room, shaking hands with Sol and the suits and kissing his mother on the cheeks, but he didn’t kiss Steph. His father, still sounding very upbeat, greeted him with an invitation. ‘Have you heard that Steph’s going to join the band? We’re performing all the new numbers tomorrow morning for Sol. Maybe you might feel like dropping by as well to listen to our new stuff. We’d all value your opinion.’
‘Of course.’ Rob sounded eager. ‘I’m dying to hear what the new Royalty sounds like, particularly now it boasts a woman in the line-up.’ He shot Steph a grin. ‘I’ll definitely be there.’
Donatella surpassed herself at dinner. As a starter she served lightly grilled scallops accompanied by homemade Russian salad and a tomato, mozzarella and basil salad. She followed this with homemade lasagne and then sumptuous cold lobster halves and massive T-bone steaks grilled by Cesare on the barbecue. Keith had dug out some wonderful wines from his cellar and Solomon went into raptures about everything. By the time they reached the exquisite panna cotta topped with caramelised wild blueberries, Steph was just about ready to burst, and a look around the table told her that they all had thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
For her part, the enjoyment wasn’t just due to the excellent food. Rob had taken a seat beside her with his dog stretched over both sets of feet and they had talked almost nonstop. The first thing he had asked had been whether she had heard anything from the hospital and when she shook her head, he was quick to reassure her that bad news tended to travel faster than good. She shot him a grateful smile but knew she would continue to worry all the same. He told her all about the three different concerts he had done, and she told him about the progress the band had made with the new album and the time passed all too quickly. Every now and then she glanced across the table towards Ethan and was pleased to see his attention directed almost exclusively at the men from Hollywood. Any fears she might have been harbouring that her interest in Rob might have grated with him appeared to have been unfounded. It looked as though he had moved on, just as she had, and she was relieved to see it.
The Americans were weary after their transatlantic flight – albeit accomplished in the luxury of a private jet – and when they went off to bed Rob also got up and took his leave. Steph would dearly have liked to at least walk with him to his house but as he had the car here at the villa, she just waved goodbye to him and his dog and watched them drive off. Still, she told herself, tomorrow was Friday and in all likelihood she and the rest of the band would be leaving for London the following day, so it was probably just as well if she didn’t get to spend much time with him as this would only increase the hurt when the final parting took place.
Chapter 20
The email from the hospital arrived just before eleven next morning and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. Steph and the others were midway through their live performance of the new numbers under the watchful eyes and attentive ears of Sol and his team, with Faye, Lottie, Tara and Rob sitting at the back of the studio, looking on. Steph had been feeling scared stiff at the start but had gradually relaxed as she got into it. When the phone in her shorts pocket started to vibrate to announce the arrival of an email she was completely thrown for a few moments, and she could hardly wait for the end of the song so she could peek at the sender ID. When she saw who it was from she looked desperately across at Keith, but he was busy talking to Sol. She swung her head around and managed to catch Faye’s eye. Whether it was intuition or sixth sense, Faye immediately realised what was happening and before Steph could say anything, Faye stood up.
‘Would you guys mind if we take five? I urgently need to speak to Cesare, otherwise we won’t have anything to eat for lunch. Besides, I could murder a coffee.’
Steph glimpsed a look of annoyance on Keith’s face, which disappeared almost immediately as he must have read something in his wife’s expression. He pulled off his headphones, set down his guitar and stood up. ‘Good idea to take a little break. I need to stretch my legs. I’m not getting any younger.’
Sol grinned and stood up in his turn. ‘Sounds good to me and I’d love another coffee, but before we all split up I just have to tell you guys that I’m loving what I’m hearing. Royalty is gonna go platinum yet again, I can feel it.’ He glanced over at his ‘people’. ‘Am I right or am I right?’
‘You’re right.’ The harmony was perfect and if Steph hadn’t been so worried she could almost have laughed.
As it was, she headed for the door and ran down the path to the beach, pulling out her phone as she did so. She leant back against her favourite rock and opened the email, her hands sticky with nervous tension as she read it through. It was written in sober medical language, and she made a point of reading every word right up to the end. When she finally finished, she slowly and deliberately set the phone down on the rock beside her before bursting into a flood of tears which she was quite unable to staunch. Seconds later she heard the crunch of steps on the sand and felt a comforting arm stretch around her shoulders. She looked up to find Faye standing beside her with an expression of such compassion on her face, it only made her sob all the more. Mutely, she handed the phone to the former nurse to read while she did her best to regain some sort of control. Less than a minute later she received a hearty hug and a kiss on the cheek from Faye.
‘See? I told you it would be fine. All good,no further action required. What more could you ask for?’
Steph nodded a few times, pulled out a tissue and blew her nose, wiped her eyes and finally regained the power of speech. ‘Thank you, Faye. I’m sorry, I just flipped. It was the waiting…’
‘I know, dear. The waiting’s the worst. But at least you now know that you’ve got nothing to worry about. You can concentrate on enjoying the rest of your life.’ She gave Steph another kiss on the cheek and stepped back. ‘And now I’d better go and see the others. That invention of mine about lunch was all I could think of on the spur of the moment, but it was ridiculous. Donatella’s been planning all the meals for days. Still, it did the trick and gave you a chance to read your email. Come up when you feel like it. By the way, is it all right with you if I tell the others it was good news? Lottie was only talking about you this morning.’
‘Of course, and thank you again. Now I’d better give my mum a call. Tell Keith I’ll be back as quickly as I can.’
‘Take your time. He’ll understand. We all will.’
A couple of minutes later, after an emotional talk with her mum, Steph was just putting her phone back in her pocket when she had another visitor – or two if she included the dog. It was Rob, and on his face was the broadest beaming smile. He came running across the sand towards her and to her surprise and delight he swept her into his arms and hugged her so tightly she almost stopped breathing for a few seconds. She was vaguely aware of the dog jumping up on his back legs to paw her thighs in solidarity. When Rob finally released his grip on her, he took hold of both her hands and looked down at her from close range, the smile still on his face.
‘Mum just gave me the news. I’m so pleased. I’ve been worried for you.’
She wiped her eyes with the now very damp tissue and smiled back at him. ‘I’ve been worried for me too, but it’s all right. Thanks for your support.’ She glanced down at the dog, who was pressed tightly against her leg. ‘And thank you, Waldorf.’ In spite of her resolve to keep Rob at arm’s length, she couldn’t help reaching up with her hands to pull him down until she could kiss him, properly, on the lips. It wasn’t a long kiss, but she knew the memory of it would linger with her forever.
No sooner had she done so than her brain reminded her that she would be off to London in the next forty-eight hours and that would be that. As she transferred her attention to the Labrador to give herself time to recover, she reflected that although one hurdle might have been cleared, the other hurdle still remained that she was about to embark on a new career as a rock star and that would potentially take her all over the world and away from this man. But for now, she didn’t care. She raised her eyes from the dog and saw Rob with an expression on his face that was hard to read – part surprise, part what might have been regret. He waved vaguely in the direction of his house on the cliff top.
‘I’d better go. I’m taking Waldorf home for a snooze, so he doesn’t get in Donatella’s way as she gets lunch ready. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.’ And he left.
Knowing she needed to get back to the studio, Steph made a very quick call to Sky to give her the good news while walking back. Inevitably, Sky asked how things were progressing with Rob and Steph ended up recounting what had just happened. ‘I kissed him, I mean kissed him properly on the lips, and he ran away.’
‘So…?’ Sky sounded as if she was grinning on the other end of the line.
‘So I presume it means I overstepped the mark. He just thinks of me as a friend, but I went and screwed things up.’
‘Of course you didn’t. Listen, Steph, there’s something you need to understand about my brother. For years now he’s been hooking up with a never-ending succession of women and earning himself a reputation as a Lothario. Of course he fancies you – any man would – but the very fact that he hasn’t been hitting on you shows how serious about you he is.’
