Page 20 of The Second Ending
She planned to stay for a short time, have a cup of terrible tea and a stale brownie, chat for a few moments, and then slip out. There wasn’t really any reason to hang around, and no one was joining her. Her parents never came to her concerts, probably didn’t even know about them, and Liora was busy with some family function that involved wine, fried food, and a lot of noisy kids. As for Sebastian, he had regretfully announced he wasunable to attend because of the conference he had been involved with, which had its big event that same evening.
And so, it was just her.
Come, sing, leave.
The story of her life.
Still, the singing part was her joy, and the choir was in top form.
‘Messiah’ was a piece they all knew well, and could concentrate on the nuances and details that elevate the notes to a higher plane. The soloists, too, were in excellent form, and the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ brought the audience to their feet. It was a concert to be proud of.
“Great job!” Elise found Ashleigh in the corner where she had her coat. “That went really well, didn’t it? You’re always such a strong singer, Ash. I don’t know where we’d be without you. This is Will.”
Elise introduced the tall man who trailed silently behind her. Her friend looked a bit out of place, but Elise’s radiant smile could have lit the room. “Coming to the party? I’ll be there for a few minutes, but I’m not staying for the gift exchange. Not my thing. Oh, look, there’s Gordon. Will, I want you to meet him.” She grabbed the tall man’s hand and dragged him away, leaving Ashleigh by herself.
Nothing to do now but put on her coat and disappear.
“It was wonderful.”
Ashleigh knew that voice well. Marcus! It was the first time they’d spoken in person since her last concert. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face.
“What are you doing here? I mean… What a nice surprise! I didn’t expect anyone to come.”
“I can leave…” Marcus teased. He looked good. His beard was neatly trimmed, and the dark blue suit he wore under his woollen winter coat suited him. He wore suits to work, to theirmeetings, but she was surprised to see how comfortable he looked in one now, on his own time. He’d seldom worn a suit back then. But, of course, they were just students. He’d changed in more ways than were on the surface.
“No, don’t be silly. I’m happy to see you. There’s a party,” she began. “Coffee and treats, and probably some wine, if you look hard enough. I wasn’t going to stay for long, but…”
Suddenly his manner changed, and he seemed shy, or uncertain. He shuffled his feet for a moment and then cleared his throat.
“Look, Ash, I was.. That is… do you…?”
Anything he might have said was cut short by Randall’s warm voice.
“Ashleigh! I’ve been looking for you. Brava. Terrific concert. I have something to talk to you about. I—” He stopped, having just noticed Marcus standing there by the wall. “Oh, terribly sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt. I’ll call you.”
“No, no,” Marcus interrupted, lips pursed. “I just came to give my congratulations. You have your talk. I’ll see you around, Ash.” He leaned forward, gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, and without another word, turned around and left the room.
Whatever had that been about?
But Randall was almost buzzing with enthusiasm, and Ashleigh didn’t have a moment to think about her former partner.
“Let’s step outside for a moment where it’s a bit quieter. Ah, that’s better. You know we’re singing Mozart’s ‘Coronation Mass’ in the spring, right?”
Ashleigh nodded with a smile. “It’s one of my favourite pieces. The opening soprano solo is sublime, and the tempo changes in the final movement always get my heart racing.”
Randall’s grin grew wider. “I’m thrilled to hear you say that. I have a proposal. We’ve engaged professional soloists for theperformances, but we need rehearsal soloists, to sing those parts so the choir is used to how it all fits together.” Another nod. It was a common practice. “Will you sing the mezzo soprano part?”
Now she blinked in surprise. “Me? But that’s really an alto part, and I’m not a soloist…”
“The part is often sung by a mezzo, and you’ve got the range and the depth of tone. And you could be a soloist, you know that. Just think about it. But I do hope you’ll do it. I can get you the music tomorrow, so you’ll have lots of time to prepare.”
“Surely one of the altos could do it. Elise—”
“Elise is a fabulous choir singer, and you’re right. Her voice is lovely. But it’s more suited to jazz and musical theatre. You’ve got opera training. Just think about it, okay. I’ll call you next week. We can talk about it more, if you like. It’s only for the rehearsals. Ah! There’s Taylor. He’s been working on this gift exchange with Emma. Gotta go. Thanks, Ash!” And with a friendly touch to her shoulder he was gone, off to revel in his musical triumph before his choir.
The solo part… could she do it?
Once upon a time, she would have leapt at the chance. Once upon a time, she’d dreamed of a career on the stage. But that was years ago, before life had worn her down. She had a lifetime’s experience of not quite living up to expectations and a track record of late of really bad decisions. Letting her family break her and Marcus up was the worst of them all.
