Chapter 11
The curtains in Lily’s bedroom opened wide, letting the early morning light illuminate the ceiling’s fading glow-in-the-dark stars. She woke with a start, as though she had forgotten something and then she remembered the night before.
The events of the night replayed in her mind like a movie dream as she lay there, gazing at the familiar plaster cracks.
Jessica had sung after her and it seemed as though she was she was furious with Lily for going first. Jessica sang a song from the musical Waitress , which was pleasant, but she had a thin voice, cracking a little and without any passion or emotion, and Lily wondered if Jessica’s voice would make the week-long run of the big musical.
It was a musically sound voice but she needed some good voice lessons to let the sound come out, and some decent performance advice, she thought, but it wasn’t her job to help Jessica.
However, she was very beautiful, Lily thought – more Audrey Hepburn in the movie than Julie Andrews, the original Eliza on West End, but the interpretation was missing the heart and soul that Eliza Doolittle required.
Lily couldn’t help but think of Julie missing out on the film role to Audrey because Audrey was considered more beautiful.
After she had sung, Nick had a little furrowed brow and his applause seemed more muted than enthusiastic for Jessica’s performance, and then a few auditions later, Nick sang his piece.
Lily closed her eyes and let his tenor voice wash over her. As he passionately sang ‘On the Street Where You Live’, Lily had felt a chill run up her arms. His comments resounded throughout the entire hall, causing Lily to forget she was in a village town hall and not in a theatre in London.
He was so good he could have been on stage professionally, she had thought to herself as he’d finished the song.
After everyone sang, they had more tea and cake and a chat, but Lily noticed Jessica only spoke to Sheila, while occasionally shooting poisonous looks at Nick and Lily.
Nick had driven her home and they hadn’t talked about Jessica because she didn’t want to know. That was one night and it showed her that her voice still worked, that Les Mis was an anomaly, and that was more of a relief than she could express.
‘You up, dear?’ She heard Gran’s stick knock on her bedroom door.
‘I am now,’ she said to herself and got out of bed and opened the door.
Gran was dressed in her blue floral robe.
‘I’ll have a shower, and then we can have breakfast and talk about last night. How was Nick?’ Gran said, a sparkle in her eye. ‘Did he serenade you?’ She clutched the front of her robe as though in love.
Lily couldn’t help but laugh at Gran’s cheek.
‘Gran, don’t be smart with me, young lady. He’s just a new friend while I’m here.’
‘Get a brew on and tell me everything,’ Gran said as she shuffled to the bathroom.
‘Do you want a hand?’ she asked but Gran waved her away.
‘No, I’m fine thank you very much,’ she said. ‘If I can’t bathe myself, then I will know it’s time to call for my maker to take me the big stage in the sky.’
Lily pulled on a sweater over her nightgown and slipped on a pair of thick socks and padded downstairs. It was still fresh for late May and she hoped the sun would come soon and warm up for summer.
She set about making tea and toast as Mr Mistoffelees came sauntering downstairs and sat on the back of the sofa.
‘I suppose you’ll be wanting breakfast also,’ she said to the cat who looked at her expectantly.
She sang a few lines from the song last night and thankfully her voice was back.
‘That was a scare wasn’t it?’ she said to the cat who flicked his tail at her.
She fed the cat and made herself some tea and drank it with the back door open as she looked at the garden and a small blackbird busy digging for worms.
‘Close the door – it’s freezing,’ said Gran as she came down the stairs.
Lily did as she was told and got Gran a mug for her tea and settled her in her chair at the little table.
‘So how was it? Did your voice come back?’ Gran asked, always straight to the point.
While holding the hot mug in her hands, Lily slid into the chair across from her. She said slowly, thinking before she spoke. ‘It was… unexpected.’ Her lips curved into a smile. ‘I sang, Gran,’ she said. ‘My voice sounded better than ever.’
With a wide grin that emphasised her fine lines, Gran’s face softened. ‘I’m so pleased, Lil. Now tell me everything. Was the horrendous Sheila Trotter there?’
‘Gran, you can’t call her horrendous.’
‘I can call her horrendous and I just did,’ Gran said firmly as she sipped her tea.
Her hand had a slight tremor, Lily noticed, and she thought she should mention it to Nick.
‘I’ve known her for years, jumped-up wannabe politician with her ridiculous red hair.
You know it’s dyed. She tried to run for council for the area, wanted to bring a McDonald’s into the region. Not bloody likely.’
‘I never knew this,’ Lily said. ‘Good gossip though. Jasper’s dog, Bernadette, everyone described it as Cujo – the evillest dog in the world – but it liked me.
Gave me a little lick. It hates Sheila, apparently bit her and gave her a floppy thumb,’ she said as Mr Mistoffelees came and rubbed up against her legs.
‘I won’t even ask what that means, you and your slang.’ Violet shook her head. ‘So tell me all – what happened at the audition? Are you the new Eliza?’
From Nick’s encouragement to the tsunami of applause that she had experienced, Lily told Gran everything that happened the night before and then she got to Jessica.
‘Who is Jessica?’
‘Sheila’s niece, who used to date Nick. She came swanning in.
She’s very beautiful. She auditioned. Sheila seemed to think she was their Eliza.
She was weird with me, as though she knew me but I’ve never met her.
She was kind of fixated on Nick and me throughout the auditions but there’s nothing happening there.
I don’t know what she’s so paranoid about. ’
Gran gave a dismissive sniff. ‘She can sense the chemistry.’
‘Gran, there is no chemistry.’
‘And I’m about to turn twenty-five. Go on,’ Gran said.
‘The looming issue is… Jess, she’s… well, she’s not making it easy. She has some sort of weird vibe about her. I think she would make this really awkward for me if I do it, which I probably won’t,’ she said.
Gran let out a laugh. ‘That brings back memories. Have I ever mentioned Beatrice Hawthorne to you?’
Lily shook her head.
‘When I was first in the am dram society, before I was even engaged, Beatrice was the star of our local theatre group.’
She paused and raised an eyebrow at Lily.
‘Well, she was talented and so beautiful, stunning in fact, and she was well aware of it. I was no great beauty but I did have stage presence and was helpful and kind and had a lot of energy. Beatrice seemed to suck the energy out of a room. She made every scene about herself, and would always try and pull focus when she was on stage, even if it wasn’t her line. ’
Lily made a face. She had seen her fair share of that before.
Granny’s eyes gleamed. ‘So that summer we were doing A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Beatrice was irate because I was cast as Hermia. She was determined to play the part. She tried everything to get rid of me, cajoling the director, bad-mouthing me to everyone.’
‘So what did you do?’ Lily leaned forward and asked.
‘She was cast as Titania, which was perfect for her. She was so beautiful but she wasn’t happy.
She wanted a lead. So at first, I did my best to make her happy.
I tried to befriend her and make things right, like offer to run lines and give her compliments and applaud her performance as Titania in rehearsals, but it didn’t work.
She was mad and she was making my rehearsals so awful that I began to get stressed and anxious before they even began. ’
Lily nodded as Gran went on.
‘Then the dress rehearsal came and Beatrice “accidentally”,’ she said using quotation marks with her hands, ‘tripped me up backstage and I badly wrenched my ankle.’
‘Oh my God, that’s terrible.’ Lily gasped. ‘What did you do?’
‘I did the show, with a walking stick,’ she said and she glanced at the walking frame, ‘although I could have used that also.’ She laughed.
‘And I incorporated it into the character and everyone gave me a standing ovation and Beatrice was so furious, she left the society and joined a new one over in Stoketon.’
Lily laughed uproariously at the outcome.
‘So I have to wait for Jessica to maim me or hope she goes away in a huff for her to leave me alone?’
‘My point is, don’t give up because she doesn’t like you or want to even get to know you. Stand your ground,’ Gran said. ‘Now tell me more about Nick. Did he have a good voice?’
Lily smiled and hugged herself for a moment. ‘Nick has a lovely voice. I’d love to hear him sing Marius from Les Mis . He would be perfect.’
Gran raising an eyebrow at Lily who laughed. ‘Perhaps he might be what the doctor ordered for you?’
‘Don’t try and set me up with your nurse, Gran. I’m only here for the summer.’
‘The summer? You said only a month.’ Gran clapped her hands.
‘Is that okay?’ Lily asked. ‘I mean I don’t want to overstay my welcome.’
‘Is that okay?’ Gran beamed. ‘It’s excellent news. We can have a wonderful last summer.’
‘Last summer?’ Lily asked, but before Gran could answer the doorbell rang.
Lily went to the door and there was Nick in his nursing shirt and pants, carrying his bag and with a shower chair and another walking frame.
‘Morning, Violet; morning, Lily,’ he said with his eye catching hers, and she felt those silly butterflies rise in her stomach again.
‘Oh, I didn’t know you were here today,’ Lily said, aware of how she was dressed and wishing she didn’t look like she had slept in a charity bin.
‘I’m supposed to be here tomorrow but I thought I’d drop these off,’ he said, ‘to help make Violet’s daily living easier.’