Page 50 of Never Too Late
She had to wait a few seconds while he formulated his reply. ‘Because I didn’t want you to think I was still behaving like the old me.’
‘You’re telling me you’re no longer the old you?’
‘I’d like to think so.’
‘So would I.’ She came close to asking him why, in that case, he had been kissing the fingers of some woman – his accompanist or another random woman – in Sanremo, but she stifled the impulse. To do so would risk turning this conversation into what her mother had described as a scene, and the telephone was the wrong medium for one of those. Instead, she decided to get back onto safer ground.
‘Where are you now? Didn’t you say you were off to Eastern Europe?’
‘I’m due in Prague in two days’ time but I’m in Milan at the moment, desperately looking for a new accompanist.’
Steph’s ears pricked up. ‘Why, what happened to the old one? What was her name…?’
‘Anna Maria – she’s gone to live in Boston with her partner. I’m afraid I’ve lost her.’
‘Had you been together long?’ As an accompanist or more? Mind you, reference to a ‘partner’ was interesting…
‘Three years. It’s been a long time. She knew my work so well, and we were very close.’
Steph couldn’t restrain a little prod. ‘When you say, “very close”, how close?’
To her surprise, he laughed. ‘As close as I could be to somebody whose partner’s called Virginia.’
The penny dropped. ‘Ah, I see.’ If he was telling the truth about his accompanist’s sexuality, this let him off the hook – assuming she had been the woman Willow claimed to have seen. ‘And she’s already left for the States?’
‘A couple of weeks ago now. We had our last meal together in Sanremo after the concert, and she and Virginia flew out two days later.’
Steph’s mind was racing. It would appear that he was innocent of any wrongdoing – at least as far as Sanremo was concerned – and this meant she was guilty of misjudging him. She felt simultaneously ashamed and excited. Might this mean…? To give herself time to think, she asked him how he was doing in his search for a replacement accompanist, and he asked her how the recording was going. They chatted for several minutes before he came up with a suggestion.
‘My concert in Prague’s on Thursday night. I was wondering about coming over to London after it in the hope that you and I could meet up.’
‘Bugger!’ Steph was quick to explain her outburst. ‘Sorry, Rob, but we’re all flying across to LA on Thursday. There’s a big showbiz party on Friday night and then we’re supposedly going to be staying in America for weeks and weeks.’
‘Bugger, indeed.’ There was a pause while he rethought things. ‘Are you likely to be back for the third of November?’
‘As far as I know, I think so. Sol and Zach are talking about us being in the States for all of October so we should be back at the end of the month, but I can check. Why do you ask?’
‘I’m playing at the Royal Albert Hall on November the third and I could stay on in London for a few days if you’re going to be about. I’d really like to see you.’
‘And I’d really like to see you, too.’ Steph knew she had no hesitation. ‘And if I can get tickets to the concert, I’d love to come. I’ll check with Sol as soon as we get to LA and let you know whether I’ll be back in time.’
‘I can send you tickets to the concert. I’d be delighted if you were there. What address should I use?’
‘Send them to Mum’s house. I’ll stay with her when I’m back in London.’
She dictated the address to him and then they chatted a bit more, but by the time he rang off she was feeling seriously disappointed that she wouldn’t see him for a full month. Once again she found herself confronted with the problems created by her new job. Although the media interest was causing her grief, she was very keen to make a go of it and help make the new version of Royalty as famous as the old one. On the other hand, every day she spent with the band was another day away from Rob and the more she thought of him, the more she wished there was some way they could be together.
But there wasn’t.
Chapter 23
They flew first class to California and to Steph it all felt surreal. Here she was, the same person who little more than a month earlier had been saving up to take her mum to see a Shakespeare play in Stratford-upon-Avon, and yet now money was no object, and she was being fêted like real royalty. Keith and the others looked much more relaxed, but of course they had much more experience of this sort of luxury than she did. Faye and the other two wives flew out with them for Friday’s gala party but wouldn’t be accompanying them on what sounded like an exhausting tour of the continent over the course of the next four weeks. During this time the band would be meeting members of the press and TV, doing countless interviews, and shooting the videos to accompany the new album. The first of these was to be shot somewhere in the heart of the Colorado Desert and the other in the Everglades of Florida. Although Steph was looking forward to seeing the sights, the prospect of being bitten by a rattlesnake or an alligator was nothing compared to the thought that Sol’s ‘people’ might try to get her to strip to her bikini again.
They were greeted at LAX by a noisy crowd of fans and although Steph had managed to grab a few hours’ sleep on the plane, she was feeling tired and confused as they were escorted through immigration and out into the warm California air. The clock in the Arrival area told her it was seven o’clock in the evening, but her body was telling her it was the middle of the night. They were ferried in a limo to the legendary Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard, where she almost bumped into none other than Tom Cruise as she walked in. Her eyes opened wide in amazement and stayed that way as she was led to a suite twice the size of Ethan’s flat, and this was for her sole use. By this time the lack of sleep was catching up with her, so she refused the offer of food and decided to crash out.
Although she woke a few times during the night, she slept remarkably well and was wide awake at eight o’clock when the phone in the room started ringing. It was Keith, telling her to order breakfast in her room and to be ready for a meeting with Sol and the team at ten. He was sounding remarkably perky for an almost sixty-year-old.
The limo was waiting out front at nine thirty and Steph found that Keith was already inside, checking his watch fretfully. ‘Hi, Steph, sleep well?’
