Nothing New for Sophie Drew: a heart-warming romantic comedy

by Katey Lovell

  “No, I’d like to come.”

  “You don’t have to say that to be polite. I understand if you’re meeting other people, or if you’re washing your hair…”

  “Max.” I held up my hand to halt him. “I’d love to come for a drink with you. I’m going to Tawna and Johnny’s later, but as long as I only stay at the pub for an hour or so I’ll have plenty of time.”

  “If you’re sure?”

  “I’m positive.”

  “Great. We’re meeting down here.” He pointed down a side street towards a pub I’d walked past hundreds of times but never been inside, and as we walked, he told me about the people we’d be meeting up with. “There’s Iain, Oz and Archie. They’re the guys in the band that were playing that night at the pub? I roadie for them from time to time, and Oz’s girlfriend usually comes along when she finishes work. They’re a good bunch, I promise.”

  “I can’t imagine you’d be friends with anyone unless they were dead nice. Although I’ve got to say, I thought the one with all the tattoos looked a bit intense.”

  “Archie? He’s a softie. The tattoos and eyeliner make him look tough, but it’s all part of a stage persona. The band’s his life. He really wants to make a go of the whole music thing.”

  “They were good. That last song I heard before I left, the one with the long guitar solo, was great.”

  The haunting riff had kept catching me unawares, playing on a loop somewhere in the back of my mind.

  “It’s not bad, is it?” he said, shyly adding, “I helped write that one. I’m not in the band, but I hang out with them when they’re writing, sometimes.”

  “You’ve got a talent.”

  “Thanks, but I only play guitar for fun. I’m a roadie, not a rock star. Oz on the other hand… he’s one of life’s hopeless dreamers.”

  When we reached the pub, Max held the door open to let me enter first. The inside was much smarter than the peeling whitewashed exterior suggested, with high wooden tables flanked by barstools around the edge of the room and an island bar at the centre.

  The pub was quiet for a Friday, presumably due to its off-the-beaten-track location. I spotted Max’s friends sat at a table near the window and a fleeting flash of anxiety that they’d hate me for imposing on their night out washed over me.

  When the tall skinny man with cropped golden hair who I recognised as the lead singer in the band stood to greet me and, with a humongous smile, introduced himself as Iain, my fears slid away. Archie moved his jacket from an otherwise-empty stool and invited me to sit with them and Max asked what I wanted to drink.

  They were good company, and their friendly banter suggested they’d known each other a long time. The conversation flowed as they invited my opinion on everything from storylines in the soaps to current affairs. Time ran away from me, and only when my phone vibrated in my pocket did I realise I hadn’t rung Tawna and let her know my plans had changed.

  Hurriedly clicking the green “accept call” button, I made my way out of the pub to a quiet small back courtyard.

  “Tawna, hi.”

  “Where the hell are you?” she hissed. I could picture her expression. I’d seen it a million times before when things hadn’t been going her way.

  “I’m so sorry,” I gushed. “I meant to phone to let you know I’d be a bit late, but it sort of slipped my mind.”

  “Are you ill?”

  There was concern in her tone and for a moment I considered lying, telling her I thought a migraine was coming on, but in the end I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It didn’t feel right.

  “I’m fine. I ran into Max in town and I’ve gone for a few quick drinks with him and his friends.”

  “Right.”

  An uncomfortable pause let me know she was silently seething. I awaited the inevitable onslaught, but when it never came it was left to me to break the silence.

  “I’ll be on my way when I finish my drink, promise. I’ll be with you in twenty minutes, half an hour tops.”

  “Okay,” Tawna conceded with a sigh of resignation. “But hurry up. I’ve been cooking all afternoon and I don’t want the food to spoil. Everyone’s asking where you are.”

  “Twenty minutes,” I repeated, thinking I’d far prefer to spend the night in the pub with Max and his friends than go and face Tawna’s wrath. She’d always been good at keeping hold of grudges. She’d still not forgiven Leanne Dixon for breaking her Tamagotchi back in primary school, bringing it up every time we bumped into her.

  “I’ll see you then,” she said, before brusquely hanging up.

  “All right?” Max asked, as I re-entered the pub. “I got you another drink in.” He slid a glass of wine across the table towards me.

  “I’ve got to go.” I gave him an apologetic look. “That was Tawna, wondering why I hadn’t turned up yet. She didn’t sound happy.”

  “I hope you put the blame on Max,” Iain joked. “He’s the one who led you astray.”

  “Guilty as charged.” Max held up his hands. “Sure I can’t persuade you to stay for one more?” He looked at the glass of wine. “Seeing as it’s already waiting for you?”

  I wanted to say yes. I really, really wanted to say yes. But the words that came out of my mouth were, “I can’t. I should have been there half an hour ago.”

  I reluctantly gathered my belongings, slung my bag over my shoulder and draped my coat over the hook of my arm. It wasn’t as though I needed to wear it; it was a mild evening, and the bus stop was close by.

  “See you soon though, yeah? Give me a call or a text?” He looked apprehensive as he took a business card out of his wallet and handed it to me. My fingers tingled at the contact, and the charge was still buzzing through me as I pushed the card into my coat pocket for safe keeping.

  “I will,” I said with a nod before smiling at Iain, Oz, Archie and Oz’s girlfriend, Isla. “And it’s been lovely to meet you all. Enjoy the rest of your night, yeah?”

  There was a spring in my step as I walked out of the pub. Fingering the rectangular card in my pocket as I made my way towards Percy Street bus station, all I could think about was how soon I could text Max without coming across as desperate.

  Chapter 16

  Building up the courage to knock on Tawna’s door was even tougher than it had been the day of the dress shopping fallout. I knew she’d be mad at me, and when she opened the door my suspicions were confirmed.

  She looked so cheesed off. “Seriously? You ditched me for him and didn’t even have the courtesy to ring? I’m hurt, Soph, really hurt.”

  “I thought you’d be happy I’m socialising,” I replied, knowing I sounded churlish. “You’re the one who said I was turning into a recluse.”

  “That’s why we invited you in the first place, to get you out of the house, because you never seem to want to go out in town with me and Eve these days. If it hadn’t been Johnny’s birthday last week, I wouldn’t have seen you then either.”

  “That’s not true…”

  “It seems that way to me,” Tawna said haughtily. “And what am I supposed to say to Darius? He’s been here for almost an hour already waiting for you to arrive.”

  I froze, despite the warm air of the evening.

  “Darius? What’s he doing here?”

  Since Johnny’s party I’d had tightenings in my chest when I thought of him and what he was asking of me, and not of the pleasant variety this time.

  She folded her arms across her chest. “He needs to be surrounded by people he knows and trusts right now. He’s vulnerable. I’m doing you both a favour here.”

  There wasn’t an ounce of shame in her voice. What right did she think she had to try to push me and Darius back together?

  After the lovely evening I’d had with Max and his friends, I was fuming at her meddling. “It’s not your place to set us up. This is real life, not Blind bloody Date.” I was so close to telling her about mine and Darius’s recent conversations. “Why do you always think you know what’s best f
or me? I’m a big girl, I can make my own decisions, and I don’t want to see him right now.”

  “Please, Soph,” she begged, widening her eyes until she looked like bloody Bambi. “Come in and have a drink and a chat. It’s only a dinner party.”

  I shook my head. “You should have told me he was here.”

  “But then you’d never have come. When he tried to talk to you at Johnny’s party you literally ran out on him.”

  “Exactly! That should tell you everything you need to know! I can’t say it any plainer than this – I’m not coming in.”

  She shrugged, and I realised there was no point arguing on her doorstep. This was just the latest in a long line of things that Tawna did without fully thinking them through.

  I turned to leave before I said something I might later regret, either about the money predicament or Tawna herself.

  “What am I going to tell Darius?” she called after me. I was already halfway down the drive.

  “Say whatever you want, I don’t care.” I was shouting, but it didn’t really matter. No one was going to hear me from Tawna and Johnny’s sprawling garden which could do a good job of masquerading as a country estate. “And for fuck’s sake, stop interfering in my life!”

  I upped my pace to a run, furious at Tawna’s audacity. How dare she lull me to her dinner party under false pretences? How dare she?

  I pulled my phone from my pocket to call the only person who’d understand how frustrating Tawna’s insistence that she knew best was.

  Eve answered on the second ring and only when she suggested meeting the following day because she couldn’t make head nor tail of my incoherent rantings did I finally begin to calm down. Good old Eve. At least I could rely on her.

  “Hiya.”

  Eve bundled me into a hug and I was overwhelmed by how grateful I was to have her to lean on. The combination of stress and lack of sleep had left me overwrought, and I fought back my tears by burying my head into the scratchy fabric of her jacket.

  When she’d suggested meeting at the small, squat, ugly building from the 1960s that doubled as our local library I’d been less than impressed. I’d got so used to walking straight into Waterstone’s and buying the books I wanted that when I thought of libraries I imagined falling-apart paperbacks smelling of stale cigarette smoke and librarians dressed in tweed.

  It had been years since I borrowed anything. Could library memberships lapse? I didn’t even know if the plastic card they’d given me was buried in amongst all the crap I carried around in my wallet anymore. I’d probably chucked it to make room for another coffee shop loyalty card.

  “Thanks for meeting me. I really needed to talk to someone who’d understand.”

  “You’ve been there for me, and you know I’ll always be here for you,” she said, “and I didn’t have anything planned today other than returning these.”

  She pointed at the stuffed tote bag slung over her shoulder. The natural cotton strap strained at the seams under the weight of the contents.

  “You weren’t wrong when you said you had a few books to return.”

  “Oh, you know how it is… you go in for one book and come out with a dozen.” She smiled an embarrassed smile as we entered the foyer.

  “I’m not exactly a regular here,” I confessed.

  Eve stared blankly, as though I was speaking a foreign language. “But you should be! Libraries have been closing all over the city – if we don’t use them, we’ll lose them.”

  “I don’t read as much as you.” Understatement of the century.

  “Even if you only borrow one book every three weeks it shows the demand is there, plus they loan out DVDs too. And they’ve got computers, free for members to use.”

  “I don’t need computers. I’ve got the laptop at home, and I only use that for Netflix.”

  She gave me a pithy look as she placed her books into the mouth-like space of the scanning machine before stacking them neatly onto a trolley ready for reshelving.

  “I’m going to be a while,” she said, “I’ve reservations to collect and there’s a biochemistry book I was hoping to find too. It’s supposed to be groundbreaking.”

  Her enthusiasm made me smile. “Don’t worry, you take your time. I’ll browse.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Meet you out the front in fifteen minutes, and then we can go for coffee? Then you’ll have my full attention and you can tell me all about Tawna and her meddling.”

  I nodded, before heading to the fiction section. Eve might be all about facts, but for me reading was about escapism. The books I’d enjoyed most were set in exotic places far away from Newcastle – I’d loved The Beach, and The Island, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. A hot-pink spine grabbed my attention, the swirling script of the title written in a bold, bright yellow. It stood out from the others on the shelf and I silently applauded the cover designer’s choices. The title rang a bell, and I wondered if it was the book Anna told me she’d enjoyed on the plane journey back to Austria after my birthday party.

  Using my index finger, I pulled the book out from where it was wedged and turned to the back cover to read the blurb. It was about a woman who left her husband to run a vineyard in France, and just so happened to fall in love with a handsome sommelier. How convenient. The cover boasted a quote from a bestselling author which piqued my interest all the more.

  I flicked to the first page and started to read. The style was light and breezy, the protagonist a sassy, strong woman ready to embrace her dreams. I gobbled up the first chapter without realising it, keen to find out more about this fictional character’s journey. I was still lost within the book’s pages when Eve tapped me on the shoulder, dragging me abruptly back to reality.

  “Found something you like the look of?”

  “It’s okay.” I moved to put the book back in the space on the shelf.

  “Take it out, if you’re enjoying it. Nothing beats a bit of escapist bedtime reading.” Eve’s arms were laden with books, mainly thick academic tomes. They didn’t look like the type of reads to wind down with after a stressful day at work to me.

  “I’m not sure I’ve got my library card. And even if I have, I don’t know if it’s still valid.”

  “You can borrow it on my card if not. I’m not up to my limit on loans.”

  I pulled the book back down from the shelf, the thought of following the character’s progress giving me pleasure.

  “That’s great, thank you.”

  I tucked the book under my arm to retrieve my purse, willing my underused library card to be hidden between my debit card and my Tesco Clubcard. When I saw the distinctive black plastic peeking out I nearly whooped with delight. The book was coming home with me.

  Eve and I scanned our books (her selection taking significantly longer to process than my lone loan) and made our way back through the foyer, plastered with posters for playgroups and yoga classes, local history groups and farmer’s markets. A flyer near the door caught my eye.

  “Look at that!” I exclaimed, my voice squeaking with excitement. “They’re doing a showing of Dirty Dancing!”

  Eve, Tawna and I must have watched that film every day the summer after we sat our GCSEs. We’d quote back the classic lines about corners and watermelons, but act smug and superior when we knew the less famous lines verbatim too. We’d all fallen head over heels in love with Patrick Swayze, and although we’d worked our way through his back catalogue none of his other roles had got us as worked up as red-hot dance instructor Johnny Castle. Patrick was the only celebrity who’d ever given my main man Milo a run for his money.

  Eve moved closer to the poster to read the small print. “‘Film night, free to attend, bring your dancing shoes,’” she quoted.

  “Sounds good. We should come.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, it could be a laugh. And as it’s free we can always leave early if it’s a bit crap, which it won’t be, because Patrick Swayze
on a big screen could never be anything less than perfection.”

  “You’re right, we should do it as a hen do for Tawna, it’s two weeks before the wedding. Let’s put our names down at the desk,” she said eagerly, making her way back into the library.

  I didn’t want Eve to know how tight things were money-wise, but the freebie factor had clinched the deal. After so long paying for everything with the credit card without a thought for the cost, staying within my means was a difficult adjustment. I needed to get the pile of Marie Kondo-ed clothes I planned to sell listed on eBay, and fast. The more I read about interest rates on credit cards, the more of an idiot I felt for becoming so reliant on it in the first place.

  When Eve had registered our interest in the screening we headed out, strolling past the small run of shops – a bakery, a pharmacy, a convenience store – before stopping outside Pam’s Café. It wasn’t the smartest establishment, being an out-of-town greasy spoon, but it was cheap and cheery; the eponymous Pam a bubbly lady with a personality large enough to rival her expansive bosoms. Pam’s was an institution in these parts, her legendary fry-ups the perfect way to tackle a hangover, and at a price that didn’t break the bank. Saturday mornings were her busiest time. Peering through the window I spotted a free table in the centre of the room. Not the best seat in the house, but it’d do.

  “I need to tell you exactly what Tawna’s done this time. Even you won’t be able to believe her gall.”

  “Whatever she’s done it can’t be as bad as when she pretended her Nana had died to get out of going on a date,” Eve stated, referring to the time Tawna had had a sudden change of heart about a boy she’d been dating (and he had been a boy, because she’d been a girl. Admittedly, the case in question was fourteen years ago when we were in Year 11, but it remained the unscrupulous act which cropped up in conversation every time Tawna overstepped the mark, which was fairly frequently).

  “It’s not far off.” My shoulders tensed as I replayed the conversation, my anger reigniting. “She invited me for tea under false pretences. Made out like she wanted my company when really it was a ploy to get me and Darius to spend time together. And she had the nerve to make out I was the bad guy for turning up late!”