by Meg Buchanan
He headed for the entrance door.
Rose walked slowly towards the mall. There were probably other people on the street with her, but she didn’t notice them.
She couldn’t believe it. Luke was thinking of leaving. And what was worse, he’d only told her because she’d found the photos and he couldn’t avoid it. And on Sunday night she’d cooked dinner for him and waited for him to come home, but he’d been really late because he’d been making plans to go away and when she asked him about it he’d lied to her. He’d never lied to her before.
A little voice in the back of her mind said, ‘not as far as you know’.
She got to the pedestrian crossing and pushed the button. It was a busy street, constant traffic, so pushing the button probably did nothing.
She waited for the lights to change. Jilly had always told her she couldn’t trust Luke. That he was a sleaze. That when Jilly was at school with him, he’d slept with pretty much every girl in her class even though he was supposed to be going out with Tessa.
Jilly had blamed Tessa for letting him get away with it, but he still did it, and she still didn’t think Rose should trust him now.
The lights changed, and the little walking man appeared. The people around her started to cross the road and head for the mall. It took her a moment to realise she should do that too.
She followed them across the road. She’d always put Jilly’s dislike of Luke down to jealousy. Or maybe he’d offended her in some way in the past. She’d told Jilly that everyone grew up and that’s what Luke had done. He might have been a bit wild when he was young before she knew him, but now he had a job he took seriously, and he loved her.
She wandered down the steps between the planter boxes to the entrance of the mall. She could trust Luke. Jilly was wrong. And she’d always known he played with the band.
That’s why she never saw him at the weekends.
Maybe something like this was always going to happen. But he’d come back to her.
Whatever Jilly said, she trusted him. He was loving and caring, and when he looked at her, she could tell he loved her. Nobody could fake that.
Now she’d just look at a few shops and then have a cup of coffee. And he’d find her when his meeting finished like he did before, and everything would be fine. Wouldn’t it?
Chapter Eleven
Luke went through the doors and inside he found a big foyer with a desk along one side and a young girl sitting behind it doing something on a computer. A place to start.
The girl looked up and smiled. She was better looking than average.
“Luke Reilly,” he said. “Oliver Chapman is expecting me.”
The young girl pushed herself away from the desk and stood. “Hi, I’m Tiffany.” She smiled again and leaned across the stone top to shake his hand. “Mr Chapman said to take you to his office as soon as you arrived. Mr Smithson is there too. Are you having a meeting with him?”
He grinned. “I’ve no idea. I thought it would just be Chapman and me.” She led him out of the foyer and they walked along a passageway with soft grey carpet on the floor and plain white walls. “Who’s Smithson?”
Tiffany looked at him like she couldn’t believe the question. “You must know about him.”
Luke shook his head. The walls of the passageway were hung with framed gold discs and pictures of faces he’d only seen in magazines. That could be them one day.
Tiffany tapped on a door. “Mr Smithson is music festivals,” she whispered in awe. “If he’s come here to meet you…, well that just doesn’t happen.”
Chapman’s voice called come in. Tiffany opened the door.
Chapman was there with a couple of other men Luke didn’t recognise.
“Luke Reilly is here,” said Tiffany.
“Luke, come in. We’ve just been discussing you. Did you get time to get the photos done and record the tracks?”
“Yep.” He handed over the folder. It looked thin and not as swept up as it probably should have in this environment. But they could improve on it when they had time.
Chapman ignored the folder and turned to the other two men.
“This is Luke Reilly, gentlemen. Lead singer with Stadium.”
He introduced Luke to the men. Tom Smithson and Mike Hansen, and after handshaking all round and Tiffany had brought in another chair, they all sat down.
“How did you hear about Stadium?” Hansen asked Chapman.
“I read about them in one of those weekend supplements you get in the paper.” He touched the side of his laptop and the tray for the CD player slid out slowly. He leaned forward, opened the folder, pulled out the disc and held it up. “Is this what I think it is?”
Luke nodded. Chapman read the list of song titles Isaac had written on the front.
He looked over at the other men again. “I went to check them out during the weekend. I think they could be the answer to your problems.” He opened the cover, took the disc out, slipped it into the computer and gave the tray a tap so it closed. “They are every bit as good as the article said. But first,” said Chapman, “we’ll listen to a track, so you know what we’re offering.”
Luke was surprised. Chapman was talking as if they’d already signed with him.
With a few shifts of the mouse, Chapman was ready. “The first track is ‘Train Wreck’? That’s what first got Stadium noticed.” He looked up at Luke. “Is that right?”
“I’m not sure of the order. We chose the tracks, but Isaac put it together,” Luke admitted. “But yeah, ‘Train Wreck’, was the beginning of getting noticed.”
Chapman said to the other two. “Isaac Coleman writes most of their material.”
The violin wailed out. Luke wondered if the men knew enough about music to recognise how unique the sound was. Then the second violin came in, and finally his voice. It sounded good. Isaac had done a good job of cleaning the recording up.
After a couple of minutes Simpson made a cut signal with his hand. Maybe they didn’t like it.
He turned to Hansen. “What do you think?” he asked.
Smithson scratched his chin. “A good sound. Are the rest of the tracks like that?”
Luke shrugged. “They vary, but we use the same instruments.” He still couldn’t get a feel for what they thought.
“Do you have enough material to play for a couple of hours?”
This time he nodded.
“And experience?”
“We’ve been doing the pub gig where Oliver saw us for three years. Every weekend.”
“How many in Stadium?” Smithson asked.
“Five.”
“How old?” asked the other.
“We’re all twenty, or twenty-one.”
“Good, no problems with anyone underage.” Smithson scratched his chin again.
“Here are the publicity shots.’ Chapman had been leafing through the folder while the other two men talked to Luke.
The men studied the pictures in the folder. Each photo got looked at and then passed over to be studied again. When they came to the end the pictures went back into the folder.
“You got a file with these on?” Smithson asked Luke.
Luke nodded. “On my phone.”
Smithson looked at Hansen with raised eyebrows.
Hansen nodded then reached across and shook Luke’s hand. “If you want the work, we can use you,” he said. Then he looked at Chapman. “I presume you’re representing them?”
“Yes.” Chapman leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers behind his head. “You get the contract drawn up, and I’ll organise getting it signed. I can catch Mr Reilly up on the money we discussed, and the terms and conditions.”
“As part of the contract we’ll need the file with those on,” Smithson nodded at the pictures and computer. “We won’t have time to get our own done.” The two men stood. They looked ready to leave now the deal had been agreed.
Luke nodded again. They could have whatever they wanted if they were offering him the
gig.
“I can organise that,” said Chapman.
“We’ll get the office to send you the paperwork.” Hansen leaned across the desk to shake Chapman’s hand.
By then Chapman was standing too.
It was overwhelming. In four days he’d gone from looking at running his father’s business, living in the town he’d lived in all his life, married to either Tessa or Rose, to playing with Stadium in Australia and maybe the start of a whole new future.
Hansen turned to Luke. “Mr Reilly pleased to have you on board. It’ll be a pleasure working with you. We’ll see you in Cairns in ten days or so.”
Luke shook the hand. “We’ll be there.” Bloody hell. Ten days. His father was going to shit a chicken.
But he’d made the decision. He was going. The old man would have to deal with it. This was what he’d been dreaming of all his life. He wasn’t letting it slip through his fingers. It was too early for his father to retire anyway. He was only forty something.
After the two promoters had gone Chapman settled behind his desk again.
“You can all go in ten days?” he asked.
“I’ll make it work,” said Luke.
“Okay.” Oliver pulled open the top drawer of his desk. “First we’ll get you signed up with us. The others can do it electronically. With any luck, by this evening those two will have the contracts here, and we can sign them too. Can you hang around until I get them?”
“Yep. I’m not expected anywhere.”
“I’ll get Tiffany to prepare our contracts, and then you can sign both at the same time. I’ll ring you when everything’s ready. Usually the negotiation process isn’t so rushed. Bands are signed months ahead of the festival kicking off, not days.
He went back to Rose and found her in a café, an untouched cup of coffee in front of her.
She smiled up at him as he kissed her cheek and then sat at the table too.
“Did the meeting go well?” she asked.
He nodded. It had been better than he could have hoped.
“You’re really leaving?”
He nodded again.
“When?”
“In ten days.”
“Ten days?” The question came with a slow drawing in of breath that sounded like a sob. She was really upset.
“Hey.” He took her hand. “It doesn’t change anything. It’s just three months.” He was such an arse sometimes the way he’d say whatever to make things all right. He knew he’d do almost anything to make sure it was more than that. But he couldn’t stand seeing people upset, especially Rose.
It worked. Rose nodded and smiled through the tears. “Did Mr Chapman like the photos?” she asked.
Luke shrugged. “He never said.” He nodded at the cup on the table. “Are you drinking that coffee?”
Rose shook her head. “It’s gone cold.”
Luke stood up. “I need caffeine. I’ll get you a fresh one.”
He only had time to drink his coffee when he got the message that all the contracts were ready. This was getting more and more real. “I need to go back and pick up the paperwork,” he told Rose.
“Should I come with you?” she asked.
He thought about it for a moment. Oliver had met Tessa and knew they were engaged. It might be better if Rose didn’t meet him.
“No, wait here. It won’t take a moment. He’s leaving them at reception. When I get back, we’ll find something interesting to do then go out and celebrate.”
Luke took off back to the office. It was Oliver who met him. Luke found him standing at the desk talking to Tiffany. She tucked a pile of papers in an envelope, sealed it, then handed it over.
Oliver saw him come through the doors. “Luke perfect timing. I know this is all a bit hurried, but can you get everyone to sign the papers ASAP?”
“I can do that. When do you want them?”
“Tomorrow would be good. Email copies first, then post the paper ones back. That should keep us covered.” He gave the envelope to Luke.
“Okay.” He could swing that. He’d go back to Paeroa and get Isaac and Cole to sign tonight. Since it looked for real now, he was going to have to break the news to his parents too, then in the morning drive over to Hamilton and catch Noah and Adam before they headed off to class, or whatever you did when you were doing a master’s degree. That would give the dust time to settle before he got back.
Rose sat and nursed her coffee again without drinking it. Two wasted cups of coffee. If it happened at her café, she’d ask the customer if something was wrong.
And something was wrong. She wanted to trust Luke so much, but today it was getting harder and harder. He’d changed the subject so fast when she asked about the photos that time. And he really didn’t want her to come with him to meet Oliver Chapman. Why was that? Wouldn’t it be normal to introduce your girlfriend to your new agent?
And he’d had those pictures taken and lied about what he’d been doing, then acted like he didn’t want to talk about them. It would have been fun doing that photo shoot. And some of the photos were beautiful. Whoever he got to take them knew what he was doing. Or she. She didn’t even know that, and Luke liked to talk about things. But not this time.
She turned the second cup of coffee around on its saucer. And if what he said was true, Mr Chapman had approached them Saturday night. How would he have been able to get a professional photographer organised by Sunday? How would he know how to make that happen?
She slid her mind away from the idea he’d got Tessa to organise it. She knew Tessa flatted with Noah and Adam. She knew Luke stayed at their flat every weekend. Maybe Noah or Adam had got Tessa to organise it. Or maybe Jilly had a point. She’d been too trusting.
“Do you mind if we just go home now?” Rose asked when Luke got back to her.
“Don’t you want to go somewhere for dinner?” he asked.
Rose shook her head.
Luke seemed happy to go home. “Okay,” he said. “We’ll make an early night of it. We’ve got memories to make to keep us warm for three months.” And the promise in his smile made her feel loved all over again.
She was quiet all the way home. She didn’t know what to believe.
Chapter Twelve
Luke found Isaac at the house on his own when he got there.
“Is it happening?” he asked.
Luke nodded and held up the sheaf of papers. “I’ve got the contracts. It’s all drawn up ready to sign. Three months of work in Queensland and Oliver Chapman will represent us. Are you coming?”
Isaac shook his head. “I talked to Jess earlier. It’s too hard. She’s got a job. We’ve got a house. I can’t just swan off for three months and maybe longer. Your dad isn’t going to hold my job for me if it doesn’t work out, and I can’t leave Jess here on her own to cope with it all.”
“But it’s only three months.”
“Yeah. But it’s too hard. And that’s not what you’re hoping. You want it to be permanent.”
Yeah, Isaac was right. He wanted this to be the start of something. But it was Isaac writing the new stuff that had kicked this off.
“What about the song writing?” Luke asked. “Pretty much every number we do you’ve written.”
Isaac nodded. “I’ll keep writing and send you what I come up with.”
“It’s our big chance.”
“Yeah.” Isaac sighed. “And a couple of years ago I would have jumped at it. But now it doesn’t fit.”
“Okay.” Luke shut the folder. “If you change your mind, the offer will still be open.”
Isaac nodded.
At least if Isaac stayed, the old man would still have someone good to run the factory. “Did you get the stairs repaired?”
“Yeah. We had to make a new stringer and reinstall them. Those two fucked the job up completely.” Isaac went to the fridge. “Want a beer?”
“Yeah. Then I’ll go see Cole.” Luke took the beer off Isaac and opened it. “I’m going to tell Mum and Dad tonight
too. I’d keep my head down when Dad gets to work if I were you.”
“Are you coming into work tomorrow?” Isaac pulled out a chair and sat at the table.
Luke shook his head. “No, I’ll be on my way to Hamilton. I’ll get Adam’s and Noah’s signatures and then get the contracts back to Oliver Chapman before he changes his mind.”
Isaac laughed. “Is that likely?”
“It still all seems too good to be true.”
“It could be the beginning for you.” Isaac sounded envious. Maybe it wouldn’t take much to get him to come with them. He might give him time to think about it and then talk to him again. There must be some way he and Jess could work it out. People lived apart and stayed married.
He swallowed the last of the beer. “I’ll go see Cole and then it’s back to Rose.”
Isaac shook his head. “That’s the first time you’ve admitted there is a Rose. Does she know yet?”
Luke exhaled slowly, then nodded.
“How’s she taking it?”
“Not good.” She pretty much didn’t say anything on the way home from Auckland. But people lived apart and stayed in relationships. And maybe, with a little distance, he’d decide which relationship he wanted to be in.
He headed out to the Gaisford property. Cole was leading hand or whatever the second-in -charge at a pretraining stables was called. He even lived on the property now in the one of the cottages. He’d moved there because he needed to be on call, and work with the horses started early.
Cole answered the knock on the cottage door.
“How did it go with Chapman?” Cole looked like he’d just got out of the shower. Luke followed him through the lounge into the kitchen.
“Contract’s all ready to sign. Are you still in?”
Cole nodded. “It’s going to come as a shock to Tom. I think he sees me as a permanent fixture here. Maybe he’d hold the job for me for three months.”
“That’s confidence. I wasn’t thinking of this as a three-month working holiday. Or are you trying to keep a foot hold here in case Milly comes back?”
