Page 84 of And Then There Was You
“What do you think of the music?” her dad said, swiveling his piano seat toward John.Oh no, he was going rogue.
“I like it. Is it an original composition?” John asked.
“Yes, for amusical,” her dad said, emphasizing the word as though John might not know what a musical was. John looked around at the others. They were all staring at him a little too intently.
“Okay then,” he said, visibly unnerved. “Let’s lay it down.”
Chloe should have stopped the session, removed her disguise, explained everything like a normal person. But she opted for the less embarrassing path, which was to do nothing. She dinged her triangle at random intervals for all four of John’s songs that the band had rehearsed. Then they thanked the studio, took the USB stick they were presented with, and left.
Back in the van, the atmosphere was muted. Chloe yanked off her disguise.
“I’m sorry I dragged you all here for nothing,” she said.
“Nothing?” said Hamish, eyes wide with delight. “I just gotto play my drums in arealrecording studio on Abbey Road. I loved every minute of it.” The others nodded in agreement, while still managing to look suitably disappointed for Chloe.
“Didn’t quite go as planned, then,” her father said.
“No,” she said, folding the beanie in her hand.
“Go, talk to him,” her dad said gently. “You don’t need to hide behind all this, love. It was a nice idea, but maybe how you tell him isn’t important. You just need to tell him.”
“What if he says no, what if—” Chloe lifted her eyes to the sky.
“Then he says no. Better to have asked and heard no than never to have asked at all.”
So, Chloe got out of the van, waved the others off, went back to the studio, and knocked on the door.
They hadn’t used their whole hour, so she hoped John wouldn’t be tied up with another session yet. She asked for him at the desk, and when he appeared in reception, his eyebrows lifted in surprise, but his eyes lit up, telling her he was glad to see her. She saw in his expression such a kaleidoscope of emotion, she wondered again at how he was able to hold so much feeling all at once.
“What are you doing here?” he asked.
“Sorry for showing up at your work,” she said, biting her lip. “Do you have five minutes?”
“Sure,” he said. “Let’s walk out.”
They took Richard with them and wandered out onto Abbey Road, dodging a group of male American tourists who were trying to re-create the famous Beatles crosswalk photo.
“How many people have you seen doing that?” she asked John.
“A day, or ever?” he said, smiling warmly.
The street was lined with large town houses and leafy trees.Richard seemed to know which way he wanted to go, tugging John left down the pavement.
“That’s great they let you take your dog to work,” Chloe said.
“He’s a support dog,” John said, taking his glasses off and tucking them into a pocket. But then he shook his head, as though catching this sidestep into small talk. “Chloe, what’s going on?”
“Funny story,” she said with a nervous laugh. “That last session you recorded, that was me, with my dad and his friends. I was on the triangle.”
He blinked in bemusement. “Wait, what? That was you? Why?”
“The music we were recording, it was part of the score you wrote, fromBack to Brideshead.” He still looked bemused, so she kept talking. “You were hurt that all that work you did came to nothing, that the music was only ever played once. It was supposed to be a romantic gesture.” She paused, laughing at herself now. “But then you didn’t even recognize the music, so it kind of ruined my grand plan.”
“I thought it sounded familiar,” he said, beaming. “Were you wearing a fake beard?”
She covered her face with her hands. “Maybe the Imp was better at surprises than me.”
John stopped walking and she turned to face him.
