Chapter Thirteen
T illy showed up thirty minutes early, as requested. Well, twenty-nine minutes, to be precise. She’d just been walking toward the village hall when she’d seen a car parked on double yellow lines. The lines were protecting a fire exit, so she wasn’t prepared to play around.
She’d spent a couple of minutes writing a ticket and then dealing with an irate takeout delivery person, so she had to run into the hall and arrived one minute late and sweating.
Sophie was already there.
Tilly had to catch her breath before she could even look at her properly. For god’s sake, she told herself, she’s an attractive woman. Get over it, you can’t go into cardiac arrest every time you see someone pretty.
An attractive woman that wasn’t interested.
She finally managed to take a full breath.
“Not dying then?” Billy asked from behind the piano.
“Not quite,” said Tilly.
“Right,” Billy sniffed. “Enough with the mystery, then. You two are good. I liked what you did last rehearsal, you can buckle down and learn things, you can read music.”
“Actually, I can’t,” Sophie said.
Billy waved a hand. “One of you can, that’s enough. So here’s what I need. Ditch that last solo. I want a new one.”
“You… what?” asked Sophie.
“A new solo,” Tilly said, feeling rather pleased. She’d enjoyed the last one, but it had been quite easy. She thrived on a challenge.
“Right. I’d given up hope of including this in the concert, but with you two, I think we might just get away with it.” Billy handed them both a sheet of music. “The Coventry Carol, you know it, I’m sure.” She played a few notes.
“Yes,” Tilly said. “Yes, this looks good.” It was infinitely harder than the last one, longer too.
“I can’t do this,” Sophie said. She was looking ashen.
“Of course you can,” said Billy. “You’ve got a good voice.”
“Yeah, but… but I can’t read the music and it’s long and… And I can’t.”
“The constable over here will help, won’t you?” Billy said.
Tilly was about to agree, then something stopped her. Did she really want to do this? It would mean spending time with Sophie outside of regular rehearsals. It would mean spending time away from her investigation. Could she spare that time? Did she want to be around someone so uninterested in her?
“Um, I don’t know. If Sophie can’t do it, then…”
“You don’t think I can either?” Sophie wailed.
“I didn’t say that,” said Tilly, though she had said exactly that. “I meant if you think you can’t do it, then maybe we shouldn’t.”
“Claptrap,” Billy barked. “Here, we’ve got time. Let’s do the first line together, all three of us. Get a feel for it before you decide. Tilly, this is your part.” She played a simple ten-note melody. “And Sophie, this is yours, same thing, just a tad lower.” She played again. “You know the tune. It should start off simple enough.”
Tilly took a breath, then nodded. “Ready.”
Billy gave them both a starting note.
A moment later the beautiful, lulling first line of the carol rang through the empty hall. It was too short, and so lovely that it hung in the air over them. When Tilly turned to Sophie, she saw that she looked like she was in shock.
“Easy,” Tilly said.
“Perfect,” Billy said.
“Wow,” Sophie said.
“That’s settled then,” said Billy. “The two of you can work on that together, I assume?”
And it had been so beautiful that Tilly couldn’t help but say yes.
“Sophie?” asked Billy.
Sophie hesitated, then nodded. “If Tilly will help.”
“I’ll help,” Tilly said.
“Good,” said Billy. “Right, get out of my way for ten minutes so that I can prepare the rest of the rehearsal. Off out into the entrance hall or something. Learn your words. I need a bit of time before everyone else floods in.”
Tilly grabbed her jacket and went out, thinking that she’d get some fresh air, have a look around, see if she could spot anything else while she was here. A police officer never slept, her father always said.
Not literally, of course. But a police officer was never really off duty, especially in a small town like this. She stepped out into the cool of the evening, letting the door close behind her, turning only when she heard a muffled sound.
When she looked back, Sophie was pushing the door open again and rubbing her nose. “You just closed that door on me,” she said.
“Unintentionally,” said Tilly.
“It still hurt.”
“But I didn’t mean to.”
Sophie rubbed her nose again and then sighed. She closed her eyes for a moment, appeared to come to some kind of decision, then opened them. “Can we talk for a minute?”
Tilly looked out toward the road where any number of bad parking jobs and out-of-date tax stickers and the like awaited her. A myriad of tickets to write. Then she turned back to Sophie, her dark hair loose over her shoulders, her nose still a little red, her eyes dark and serious.
“Fine,” Tilly said with a sigh. “Just for a minute.”
???
It had taken everything Sophie had to run after Tilly like that.
After a lot of thought, she’d come to the conclusion that perhaps, just perhaps, there were reasons other than her brother and father that stopped her from dating so much.
The thing was, it was easier to live her life the way it was. She might not be happy, she might not be fulfilled, but she was comfortable. There was no angst, no drama. And alright, she might blame Gio for ruining her date with Katie, but, and here was the thing, Sophie wasn’t entirely sure that she’d have called Katie for a second date as it was.
Sure, a first date, a bit of fun, something unofficial perhaps. But a second date? That would make things serious and serious was scary.
Which meant that even though Sophie was chasing after Tilly just at the moment, she wasn’t completely sure why she was doing it. It would be easier not to. It would be easier to let things go. Even if they did have to sing together.
But, and here was the thing, Tilly did deserve an explanation. She’d had her feelings hurt, and that was unacceptable, Sophie decided. That was just not okay. And then a door had hit her in the face and Sophie had had more than her feelings hurt.
She touched her nose again gently, experimentally.
“Are you going to talk, or are you just going to rub at your nose?” asked Tilly, somewhat sharply.
Sophie swallowed. “Fine. Yes. Talk. I just…” Her stomach felt weird and watery. “I just wanted to say that I didn’t mean no.”
“You didn’t mean no,” Tilly said slowly.
“Yes. Right. I mean the other day. I didn’t mean no. Except I sort of did. I mean, it’s complicated.” Shouldn’t have started this, she said to herself. She was screwing it up big time.
Tilly frowned. “So you didn’t mean no, but you did mean no?”
“Yes,” said Sophie.
Tilly thought about this for a second. They were standing just in front of the village hall, under the large light, and it shone orange on Tilly’s curls. “I think we might have to talk for more than a minute,” she said finally. “I don’t really know what’s going on.”
Sophie swallowed. “Um, yeah. Okay. Here’s the thing. The other night you asked me if I wanted to go for a drink with you at the pub and I said no. What I meant was ‘no, I don’t want a drink with you at the pub.’”
“Lovely,” Tilly said. “That clears everything up. It helps so much to hear it a second time in more detail.” She turned as if to leave, and Sophie clutched her arm.
“Not at the pub,” she repeated. “But maybe something else? I don’t know.”
“You don’t drink?” Tilly asked, eyes widening a bit.
“I do,” qualified Sophie. “But…” She sighed and looked at the ground. “I’m really making a mess of this.”
“You are,” agreed Tilly. But her voice was softer, kinder. “You could try telling me why you said no. That might help?”
Sophie took a deep breath. “The thing is,” she said. “The thing is… my family, my brother, my father, they’re a bit… protective.” She saw a look of shock pass over Tilly’s face. “No, nothing terrible. They don’t stop me going out or anything, but they do… they interfere.”
“Ah,” Tilly said.
“And if we went to the pub, and it was all full of my brother and his friends, then probably we wouldn’t have a great time.”
Tilly’s face was looking clearer now. She was smiling a little. “Okay, I see,” she said. She took a step in. “I can understand that.”
For a second, Sophie was caught up in her eyes, the way the light sparkled in them. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings or anything. I wanted to explain before, but you wouldn’t let me.”
“I thought you were just trying to let me down a bit easier,” Tilly said.
The light really was sparkling in those blue eyes. And Tilly’s lips were just right there in front of her own. If she leaned in just a little, she’d be able to kiss them. Sophie’s heart hammered hard in her chest.
She made the tiniest of movements.
A car turned into the street.
She tilted her head.
The car drove into her field of vision. She could see the familiar shape of the headlights over Tilly’s shoulder.
She took a step back just as Gio drove past.
“I’m sorry,” she said again.
“You don’t—” began Tilly.
But a chattering group of people had rounded the corner, Jules among them. “Hey, Soph,” Jules shouted.
Sophie waved at her, and when she turned back, Tilly had gone back inside.