Page 117 of Rock Out Together
We reached the bar when Kate called out, asking this ‘Ted’ to make an appearance. A man in his thirties poked his head out from an office door off to the side of the bar, frowning when he saw us all stood there. He slipped out of the office, closing the door behind him before making his way over. Giving us a once-over, he addressed Kate first while keeping us in his line of vision.
“How may I help, Kate? Is everything alright?”
She glanced over in my direction before answering him.
“Yes, everything’s fine. This is the band you hired for Saturday night, Midnight Kiss. They wanted to speak with you,” she announced, stepping to the side so the gentleman could take over. His face brightened instantly when he realised who we were. Beaming at us, he held out a hand and shook our hands as he introduced himself.
“Oh, how lovely to meet you! You guys are rock gods right now. I’m Ted Castle, I believe you used to work with my father,” he greeted us warmly. Ted Castle. I remembered him vaguely, stuck in the office working on the accounts. Hmph. At least he seemed friendlier than his dad. Old Mr Castle was a curmudgeon at the best of times, only just tolerating us because we brought in the crowds and the money. He’d also been the one to tell me that Kate had left town forgood. I glanced curiously at her, wondering if she’d actually left or if Mr Castle had lied to me.
Benny cleared his throat, reminding me that I needed to speak. I smiled at the man in front of me.
“Yes, yes we did,” I replied. “He let us play here regularly so it’s going to be a real treat to come back to where we first began.”
From the way Ted Castle’s eyes twinkled, I had obviously said the right thing. He gestured dismissively to Kate.
“You can go now. Thanks for fetching me.”
Kate smiled awkwardly at us, her eyes on my face as she turned to leave but I reached out, grabbing a hold of her arm.
“No, wait!” I burst out, panic flaring up that I might not see her again. Kate stopped, peeking up at me beneath her long lashes, fear plain to see on her face. I let go of her arm as if it were on fire.
“S-sorry,” I stuttered, “I didn’t mean to grab you. What time do you finish?”
“Six,” came the short reply.
“Ok, well I’m going to come back and see you at six. Alright? We need to talk,” I told her, holding her gaze until I saw her give in. She nodded her head once, then turned and walked away. When my attention returned to Ted Castle, I could see he was surprised by my actions but like a smart man, he didn’t ask any questions.
Instead, he invited us to join him at a table over near the window so that we could discuss the set up for the upcoming shows. Our manager had booked us in at the Sweet Dreams venue for at least four of our gigs over the summer so itwould be good to get everything straightened out in advance.
Every so often, I glanced in the direction that Kate had gone but I didn’t see her again. I smirked when I realised she was hiding from us.
‘You won’t be able to hide from me later, Kate.’
two
. . .
Kate
“Oh God,what are they doing here?”
I paced in the staff room, wearing a small line into the carpet as I moved from one end of the room to the other, nervous energy bouncing off me in waves. I could see Gina, one of our servers, watching me out of the corner of my eye. She seemed hesitant, unsure of whether to speak to me or not.
“Sorry Gina, I’m ok. Just…freaking out,” I informed her. Because that’s what was happening. I was freaking out. Iknewthey’d be back, Iknewthey were booked in to play at Sweet Dreams but I’d arranged it so that my days off would always be on the days they played. Why were they here?! Gina took a step towards me.
“Yeah, I can see that. Is everything alright? Can I get you anything?” she asked, keeping her distance even though she’d moved closer. I shook my head.
“No it’s ok. Thanks. You carry on working. I’m going to work in the office for a bit, just call me if anyone needs me,” I told her, attempting to calm myself down and appear professional once more. Gina just acknowledged me with a nod of her head and left, leaving me to my whirling thoughts alone.
I made my way into the adjacent office that was mine, where I usually worked on accounts or advertising plans or anything else that was required for the business. Old Mr Castle had been kind to me back in the day, so I had always worked at the restaurant out of loyalty to him. When he’d retired and Ted took over, I stayed on, working my way up to the manager position which allowed me some freedom for what I needed to do.
I sank down into my chair and dropped my head into my hands. Breathing in deeply, I tried to calm the butterflies that were beating inside of me like a drum. Luke had requested to see me when I finished work and going by the determination on his face when he said it, I knew he wasn’t about to just go away. I was going to have to face this. Yes, I did the cowardly thing years ago when I left, but I was going to bring the band down and Luke would’ve concentrated on what was happening to me instead of his career and I couldn’t get in the way of that. So I’d stepped aside, hiding so they could move on without me. I’d mourned my future with them at the time. I’d mourned it then pulled up my big girl pants and got on with my life. I couldn’t live in the past, especially when I didn’t know how much time I would have.
The phone rang, pulling me back to the here and now. I answered it, dealing with the enquiry on the other end thengot on with some work. I threw myself into the work, conscious of the ticking clock. Ted popped his head in once to check on me, most likely puzzled by my strange behaviour but I didn’t explain. Just told him I was busy.
At five minutes to six, there was a knock at the office door and Gina popped her head inside.
“There’s a man called Luke here to see you, Kate.”
