Epilogue
Mai
Mai stood in front of the mirror in the pub toilet, carefully touching up her makeup and making sure the raccoon eyeliner was to her liking.
She spoke over her shoulder to Ford. “I don’t know why you insisted on following me to the ladies’ toilet.” Turning back to the mirror, she examined the eyeliner behind her glasses.
He grinned, and Mai could see his reflection.
“No one’s here yet. No one cares if I’m in the girls’ toilets.” Ford stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her waist, and leaned his head on her shoulder.
Mai huffed a sigh. “You know that makes it really difficult to put on makeup.”
“Yup.” He kissed the side of her neck.
“You’re so annoying.”
“And you love it. You love me.” His eyes rose to meet hers in the mirror, and she couldn’t stop staring at him, a grin tugging at the corner of her lips.
The last six months had been the best of her life. He’d moved into her house the night of the show in the Railway Tavern and hadn’t left since.
“I still can’t believe that Donnie agreed to this.” Mai shook her head and grabbed her lipstick, reapplying it after Ford kissed it off her when he first arrived in the bathroom.
Ford shrugged. “To be honest. I can’t either. I thought he was going to have a stroke when I suggested it.”
After their first pub concert, they went to see the landlord of the Railway Tavern, who told them that the money they earned that night and the publicity—which led to an uptick in customers—meant he now had a year’s buffer of cash, rather than the few weeks he’d had before.
It made Ford think about all the small pubs they’d played in when they first started out, and what it did to a town if they lost their pub.
He suggested that, after all their success and all the money they already possessed, it was now time to give a little bit back.
He wanted Midnight Thunder to tour Australia, but he didn’t want to go to any arenas.
He wanted to go to country pubs, play a few nights for no charge—except for a burger for each of the band members—with the pub selling their own tickets to the locals.
No scalpers, no fans paying hundreds of dollars, just whatever the pub landlord felt was fair.
Once Donnie agreed to the plan, he ran with it, setting multiple people at his agency onto the task of finding the pubs for Midnight Thunder to play in.
Each landlord was contacted individually and offered a Midnight Thunder concert. A fair few hung up, thinking they were being pranked. Then either Ford, Joel or Scotty would head out on a trip to the pub, persuade them it wasn’t a prank and lay the offer out on the table.
While there was no way that Mai wanted to do an arena show with the band, she decided to do the pub shows.
For the first few, she FaceTimed Gloria, who, true to her word, began to act like—she wouldn’t say another mother, as she only had one, and had lost her—an aunt, who loved her unconditionally.
Encouraging her to do the show if she wanted to, but always reminding her that she didn’t have to do it, she had a choice.
And now Mai found that each of the pub shows she played, her stage fright was a little less than the time before. And every time she looked at Ford, the choice to stand and play became a little easier. She would follow him everywhere, even onto a stage.
Okay, nearly everywhere, she still wasn’t doing an arena show.
Now she wasn’t going to lie, living with Ford hadn’t been smooth sailing. She loved the man to the ends of the earth, but she hadn’t lived with another man since she’d left Ford, and things back then were very different compared to how she lived her life now.
She didn’t have much stuff and liked things ordered and put away in the places they belonged. Ford was more chaotic, having spent so long living a pampered life, where people were paid to pick up after him and sort everything out so he could concentrate on his music.
It drove her scatty.
Then they had the ‘underpants’ problem. Where she was driven to frustration when she’d picked up the sixth-millionth pair of underpants off her bathroom floor, from right next to the wash basket.
And pointed out, yet again, that it was easier to put them in the laundry than leave them close to the laundry basket.
Ford would apologise, claiming it wouldn’t happen again, until it did. He finally got the hint when he woke up with a pair of his own undies placed carefully on his head, and Mai standing beside the bed with a face like thunder.
Funnily enough, after that, Ford managed to use the laundry basket every time, and Mai hadn’t needed to shout at him again.
Mai was sad the day they moved out of her tiny first home and into a property with some land, and more importantly, a gate. But even she’d had to admit that having the press and the fans knowing exactly where they lived hadn’t been great, and they’d had to hire security to discourage them.
The door to the toilets banged open, making Mai jump and smudge her eyeliner.
“Dammit,” she swore, and grabbed a tissue to try and clean up the mess.
“Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to startle you.” A voice with a strong Aussie twang came from behind her. “Oy, mate. This is the ladies. You can’t be in here. Is he bothering you, love?” Concern flooded the other woman’s tone.
“I told him that,” Mai said as she dealt with the smudge.
“Is he bothering you?” The other woman asked again.
Mai turned to face her and smiled at the glare the lady gave Ford. “No. He’s actually my husband.”
“Oh, shit. That’s okay, you had me worried. How did you guys get in here? The pub’s closed for a Midnight Thunder concert tonight.”
“Not a music fan?” Ford asked sardonically.
“Not really. I’ve heard of them, but couldn’t pick them out of a lineup, and don’t know much of their music. Sorry to do this to you guys, but you’ll have to wait outside with the rest of the customers.”
Ford stepped forward with his hand out. “I’m Ford, and this is Sie.”
The other woman took his hand and shook it, but no recognition sparked in her eyes. She wasn’t kidding about not knowing anything about music.
“Nice to meet you. I’m still going to have to ask you to wait outside.”
Ford’s eyes met Mai’s, twinkling with merriment.
Oh no. He was about to let them be kicked out of the pub.
She knew Ford. He would happily spend an hour out the front chatting to people who arrived early and signing everything they wanted.
Mai sighed deeply. “I’ve got a marker in my handbag.” She now always carried one around, as it seemed to be a daily occurrence that Ford was asked to sign something.
“Fantastic, my dear wife. Shall we head out?” Ford grabbed her hand.
“Do we have to?” Mai huffed. They could literally just tell the woman they were in Midnight Thunder and pull a photo up on their phones if she didn’t believe them.
“Come on.” He bounced on the spot. “It’ll be fun.”
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes and let him tug her out of the bathroom and into the main part of the pub. “We can go back to the staff room.” Mai pointed to the door as they passed. The door behind which Scotty, Joel and Donnie were sitting.
“Where’s the fun in that!” Ford kept tugging her, now determined that he was going walkabout out the front of the pub.
“I’m coming back inside in time to eat my burger, though,” Mai grumbled.
“I know better than to let you get hungry. I do not enjoy hangry Sie,” he chuckled as he opened the door of the pub and slipped out past their security team, who were standing guard.
“Ford?” One of the men questioned.
Mai rolled her eyes at the giant man guarding the door. “He’s going walkabout. No point in stopping him.”
They both shrugged. They were getting used to the fact that Ford liked to wander around meeting the fans before and after the shows. At first, they used to get stressed, but they’d realised that most of the small towns were pretty safe, so they let Ford do what he wanted.
It wasn’t even twenty seconds when the first person realised Ford was there, and he began chatting to the fans, signing things and taking selfies with them. He even phoned a few people’s mums.
Mai stood back, watching him and shaking her head. He was born to perform. She didn’t know what his life would have turned out like if he’d left the band for her. She couldn’t help but think it would have been pretty miserable.
“Sie. Can I get a photo with you?” A girl who couldn’t have been more than twelve asked her.
“Sure.” Mai bent down to the young girl’s level.
She was getting more used to these requests, but they still surprised her. She’d spent so many years hiding; it was shocking to be seen.
“I play guitar,” the young girl said shyly.
“That’s fantastic. Acoustic or electric?” Mai asked.
“Electric.”
Mai grinned. She loved girls getting into music. “Brilliant. What’s your favourite song to play?”
“Summer days,” she replied with a tiny smile.
“Yeah. Mine too. I wrote that song with Ford when we were seventeen. I love it.” Every time she played the song, she was transported back to the day they wrote it.
“I want to be just like you when I grow up,” the girl blurted.
“A musician?” Mai asked.
The young girl shook her head. “Nope. I want to be a doctor.”
Mai blinked in surprise; she hadn’t expected that answer.
A woman who must have been the little girl’s mum, as they looked so similar, said, “Once she found out that you played guitar and were a doctor. That was it for her. You’re now her favourite person.”
“Oh.” Mai was speechless.
She didn’t hear Ford come up behind her until he spoke, “You should. That’s a great ambition to have.” He slung his arm around her shoulder. “Did you know that Sie only does this between her real job in the hospital? She was there yesterday and saved a baby’s life,” he said proudly.
Mai blushed. He loved telling people about her job and how much good it did in the world.
It was so bizarre to her. People were desperate to hear about the wonderful life of a rock star, and half the time, Ford would be trying to tell them about her instead.
Donnie stuck his head out the door of the pub at that moment, yelling to the pair of them, “Your food’s ready.”
“I’m so sorry. We need to eat before the show,” Mai apologised to the little girl. “May I give you a hug?”
“Sure!” The little girl threw herself into Mai’s arms and squeezed her tightly.
“Work hard on your dreams. When you’re a doctor, come and find me.” Mai patted the girl’s back.
“I will!” she exclaimed. “I can’t wait to hear you play.” Mai could feel her vibrating with excitement.
“I’m so pleased. We’ll dedicate a song to you. What’s your name?”
“Elanor.”
“Well, Elanor. I expect one day to meet you in a hospital.”
“You will,” Elanor said with such confidence that Mai couldn’t help but chuckle.
“And now I have to go,” Mai said gently, but Elanor didn’t let go until her mum intervened.
“Come on, sweetheart, let Sie go and eat.”
Elanor gave her one last squeeze, then released her.
Mai grinned down at her. “See you soon.”
“Bye, Sie.” Elanor waved as Ford took possession of his wife again, pulling her into his side.
“We’ll see you all soon!” Ford gave the crowd a final wave and swaggered into the pub, with Mai tucked under his arm.
Once they were back in the cool air conditioning, he stopped walking and pulled Mai into an embrace.
“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I love you, Maisie Jones.”
Mai grinned up at him. She tore them apart and would be forever grateful to the circumstances that brought them back together.
“I love you, Graham Ford.”