The Rock'n'Roll Romance Box Set (Pam Howes Rock'n'Roll Romance Series) (89 page)

  
‘I don’t really know,’
Roy
replied lamely. ‘I met Livvy, got her
pregnant and Sam doesn’t wanna know me.’

  
‘Well - congratulations, I
suppose, on the sprog, anyway,’ Phil replied. ‘But I’m sorry to hear about you
and Sammy, I really am. I thought you’d have had enough traumas this year with
losing your lad.’

  
Roy
shrugged. ‘These things happen, Phil. What
about you and Laura?’

  
‘Divorced,’ Phil replied. ‘I got
married again but that didn’t work out either. We split up three months ago.
That’s why I need to work again, and as soon as possible. I’ve got mega
commitments. Two exes and six kids!’

  
‘Fucking hell!’ It was Eddie’s
turn to splutter into his lager. ‘How did
that
happen?’
      

  
‘You mean no one’s ever
explained the facts of life to you, Ed?’ Phil said. He took a sip of lager.
‘Laura and I had two girls after the twins, and then like
Roy
, I had an affair. I was half living with Jo
and half with Laura ’til Laura slung me out. I’ve got two girls with Jo. So
there you go, that’s six last time I did a head count. Big commitment, believe
you me.’

  
‘To some bloody tune,’ Eddie
agreed. ‘So, you’re a single man again?’

  
‘And newly vasectomised,’ Phil said.
‘So I’m raring to go.’

  
Roy
grimaced. ‘That sounds painful. What about
you, and Cathy, Carl? Do you plan on having kids?’
  

  
Carl smiled shyly. ‘We’d like
them, but it just hasn’t happened.’

  
‘Oh well, plenty of time,’
Roy
replied.

  
‘Not really,’ Carl replied,
blushing as red as his carroty hair. ‘Cathy’s got problems.
 
Time’s running out, so I got her a dog
instead.’

  
‘Very wise,’ Tim said kindly.
‘Less trouble all round if you ask me.’

  
‘It would have been nice to find
that out for ourselves, but Jon co
mes
to see Cathy occasionally and that keeps her
happy.’

  
‘She’s always had a soft spot
for Angie’s lad,’ Tim said.

  
‘Hey, doesn’t Ed get a mention
here,’ Phil said, ‘Jon’s
his
boy, too.’
   

  
‘Well, of course,’ Carl
stuttered and picked up his pint.

  
Eddie, sensing Carl’s discomfort
over the touchy subject, quickly changed tact. ‘How old are your kids with your
second wife, Phil?’

  
‘Three and two,’ he replied.

  
‘So Jo’s a few years younger
than you?’

  
‘No, Ed, same age. Forty-one
now, like me.’

  
‘Why did you split up?’ Eddie
asked curiously.
   

  
‘She accused me of being a
womaniser,’ Phil said. ‘Can you believe that?’
  

  
The others laughed bawdily. Phil
had been the biggest womaniser on the planet when
The Raiders
were in their heyday.
   

  
‘How old’s
your
new bird,
Roy
?’ Phil asked.

  
‘Twenty-two,’ Roy replied
sheepishly.

  
‘Bloody hell!’ Phil’s glass hit
the table with a thud.

  
‘I know, I know. I’m old enough
to be her father.’

  
‘No, mate, it’s not that. I envy
you. Has she got a friend?’ Phil grinned wickedly.

  
‘Right, enough about our
problems, let’s get down to some serious business.’ Eddie tried to bring order
to the meeting as the others nodded. ‘We’re in agreement that re-launching the
band is what we all want. So we need a plan of action. I suggest we get
together on Friday at my place and have a session, see how we sound these days.
Me and Roy have written some new stuff we can try and we’ll jam some of the
oldies. I’ll give Frank Ja
mes
a
call tomorrow and let him know our plans.’

  
‘Is Frank still in the
business?’ Phil asked of their old agent and manager.

  
‘He is,’
Roy
said. ‘Are you under any contracts you can’t
get out of, Carl?’

  
‘No, free as a bird at the
moment,’ Carl replied.

 
‘And you are, Phil, obviously.’

  
‘I’m all yours.’

  
‘I’ll have to get a new bass and
amp to be going on with,’ Tim said. ‘All my stuff’s on its way with the
shipping company, but it’ll be another week or two. I’ve got a brilliant
fretless bass; the sound’s rich and deep.’

  
‘Fantastic,’
Roy
said. ‘I love a fretless bass. We’ll nip to
Flanagan and Grey’s tomorrow then and pick up some gear.’

  
‘Actually, Sean would probably
loan you the stuff,’ Eddie said. ‘Seems daft buying new gear when you’ve got
umpteen guitars on the way. I’ll call him in the morning.’
     

  
They continued drinking and
making plans for the next few hours until the landlord threw them out just
after
midnight
.
 

***

CHAPTER THIRTY

 
‘Who were saying that to?’ Eddie spoke quietly as he watched Jess replace
the receiver, a smile playing on her face.

  
‘Oh, Dad, you made me jump,’ she
said, colour rushing to her cheeks. ‘In answer to your nosy question, that was
my big brother. We always say “I love you”, it’s what brothers and sisters do.’

  
‘Is it? I wouldn’t know, I never
had any,’ he said yawning. He sat down at the kitchen table. ‘Make me a black
coffee, Jess, I feel knackered.’

  
‘Hung over, more like,’ Jess
said. ‘You’ve got bloodshot eyes. Good night, was it? Get everything sorted
with the lads?’

  
‘We did,’ he replied, lighting
his first cigarette of the day. ‘But I feel terrible. Never again. Lager gives
me horrendous hangovers.’

  
‘You shouldn’t have drunk so
much then, should you?’ Jess showed no sympathy for her dad’s self-inflicted
ills as she spooned coffee granules into two mugs.

  
‘To be honest, I didn’t realise
how
much we’d drunk until Phil offered
to get in his second round, which would have made it ten pints each. So we
stuck at nine and I struggled with that.’

  
‘How
is
Phil? I haven’t seen him for years. What’s he been doing since
you disbanded?’

  
‘Getting married, twice,
and
he’s fathered six kids to boot,’ he
replied as Jess pushed a mug of strong black coffee across the kitchen table.

  
‘Six! Wow, that’s some
responsibility.’

  
‘He’s desperate to work. Needs
money badly. He’s just split from his second wife, so he’s got massive
financial commitments. He’s had to move back home with his old mum, can’t even
afford to rent a flat.’

  
‘What’s he done with all the
money he made with
The Raiders
?’

  
‘All gone! Phil was a big
spender, generous to a T where women were concerned. Roy and I got the lion’s
share, because we’re the songwriters. Tim wrote a few and he’s had a fair bit
of success in the States, so he’s pretty comfortable. Carl works constantly of
course, so he’s also financially stable. But Phil, well he hasn’t done anything
except spend and breed, it would appear.
   

  
‘He still owns a couple of nice
houses in the area,’ he continued. ‘Laura, you remember her, redhead, had
twins, well she lives in Apple Tree House with four kids, and his other ex, Jo
is in the second house with two more. Phil’s only other possessions are his
guitars and a fairly clapped out Merc.’

  
‘Poor Phil! So he’s starting
again from scratch?’

  
‘He is. We’re meeting here
tomorrow, so you can pass on your sympathy then, seeing as you’re not giving me
any for my bad head.’

  
She laughed. ‘What are your
plans for today, Dad?’

  
‘I’m gonna give Sean a call in a
minute. See if he’ll loan Tim a bass and amp from the store. Then we’ll collect
them. Do you want to come with us?’

  
‘Yeah, I’ll take a quick shower
while you ring him.’

  
‘Okay,’ he nodded and took a
long drink of coffee.

  
‘By the way, Dad, that call from
Jon was to say
Perry’s Dream
is on
Top of the Pops tonight and also that F&G’s have sold out of the single.’

  
‘Excellent! It’ll be number one
next week with a bit of luck. We’ll watch TV tonight then. Don’t let me
forget.’

  
‘I won’t. I want an eyeful of Ja
mes
Perry for myself!’ she replied over her
shoulder.

  
Eddie smiled. Jess was showing
definite signs of improvement. After last Friday’s hysteria attack she seemed
so much calmer and relaxed. On Sunday at Sammy’s she’d appeared on top of the
world. She and Jon had laughed and joked with Jason and Jules. It had been good
to see them all smiling again, but he hoped Jess wasn’t blocking her pain and
grief by denying herself a reasonable mourning period. He stood up and
stretched as Lennon whimpered and butted his leg. ‘Want your breakfast? Come on
then, old son.’

***

Roy
hadn’t told Livvy he was going into town
today and he was lounging against the wall in the instruments department when
she arrived back from lunch.

  
‘Hi, Babe,’ he greeted her.
   

  
‘What are
you
doing here?’ She walked towards him, clutching a Kendal’s
carrier bag.

  
‘Thought I’d surprise you. Come
and say hello to Tim.’ He placed his arm around her shoulders and led her to a
tall man with long blonde hair. ‘Tim, meet Livvy.’

  
Tim spun round, eyes widening as
he took in Livvy’s beauty, her tumbling blonde curls and big blue eyes. ‘Well
hello, Livvy, it’s nice to meet you at last. Congratulations, by the way.’

  
‘Thank you, Tim.’ She shook his
outstretched hand. ‘It’s nice to meet you, too. I’ve heard such a lot about you
from
Roy
.’

  
‘All good, I hope.’

  
‘Oh absolutely,’ she nodded.
‘I’d better go upstairs and do some work.’ She held up the carrier bag. ‘I got
us some lovely china mugs for the flat,
Roy
.’

  
‘Tell me how much I owe you
later.’
Roy
bent to kiss her. ‘See you soon.’ He stared
after her, smiling.

  
Tim, Sean and Eddie looked at
one another eyebrows raised.

  
‘Very nice,
Roy
,’ Tim nodded his approval. ‘Very nice
indeed.’

  
‘She is,’ he replied proudly.
‘She does wonders for my dented ego,’ he added quietly.

  
‘Right, Tim, which one do you
fancy?’ Eddie turned his mind back to the more pressing subject of choosing a
bass.

  
‘Hmmm,’ Tim frowned and
scratched his chin. ‘The Fender Precision, I think. It sounds fine. I’ll take
that
Marshall
amp as well, Sean.’

  
Sean nodded. ‘I’ll throw in a
couple of extra leads and some strings. Just make sure me and Tina get front
row seats for the first gig.’

  
‘It goes without saying,’ Tim
said. ‘I really appreciate this.’

 
 
‘Think nothing of it. Right, let’s go upstairs, have a coffee then I’ll
help you load up. I presume you’re in the Jeep, Ed?’
  

  
‘Yeah, I’ll bring it round to
the loading bay when we’re ready to go.’

***

Livvy was alone behind the counter.

  
‘Where’s Jon and Jess?’ Sean
asked her.

  
Livvy nodded towards the
staffroom door. ‘They’re making coffee for everyone.’

  
‘I’ll go and hurry them along,’
Sean said. He tapped on the door. Jon and Jess sprang guiltily apart as he
slipped into the room, closing the door behind him. ‘It’s a bloody good job
it’s me and not your dad.’
 

  
‘Sorry, Sean,’ Jon apologised,
hanging his head as Jess blushed furiously.

  
‘Be careful, you two. You’re
playing a very dangerous game. Have you finished brewing?’

  
‘We’ll be out in a minute,’ Jess
said.

  
Sean nodded and left them to it.

***

  
‘Sean wasn’t very pleased then.’
Jess stared at the door. ‘You don’t suppose he’ll say anything to Dad?’

  
‘No, he won’t,’ Jon reassured
her. ‘I’m sorry, Jess, that was my fault. Can’t keep my bloody hands off you.
When are Mum and Dad going out again, have they said?’

  
‘Tomorrow night, I think. I’ll
ask Dad in a minute. We can always go back to the barn.’

  
His face lit up. ‘Okay. If they
don’t go out tomorrow, we will. Right, let’s take the tray through. Get the
door for me.’

***

‘Coffee on the house, this brings back memories,’ Tim said, a faraway
look in his eyes. ‘But not in this shop of course. I mean the old Pickford
branch. Oh, happy days, when our cares were few and our needs were simple.’

  
Roy
sighed. ‘Weren’t they just? I often think
about those ti
mes
. Ten Woodies, the latest records and meeting
Sammy, Pat and Jane after school.’

  
‘And you, lusting after Sammy,
determined to drag her off to
Norman
’s Woods,’ Tim laughed. He suddenly
remembered Livvy standing behind the counter. ‘Sorry, Livvy,’ he apologised. ‘I
didn’t think.’

  
‘It’s all right, Tim, everyone
has history,’ she replied coolly. ‘
Some
more than others!’

  
‘That’s because some of us are
older,’ Tim quipped in an effort to lighten the mood.

  
‘Dad, are you and Mum off out
tomorrow night?’ Jon said, tactfully changing the subject.

  
‘Yeah, why, is there a problem
with you babysitting, or something?’

  
‘No. Jess and I said we’d go out
with Jason if you were staying home, that’s all.’
 

  
‘Well if you don’t mind, we’re
out for a meal. Is that right, Tim?’

  
Tim nodded. ‘Yep, Jason and
Jules are actually babysitting for us tomorrow. Stu’s booked a table for
eight-thirty. I’m not sure where, you’ll have to check with Sammy.’ Out of the
corner of his eye, Tim saw
Roy
’s jaw tighten.

  
‘So, who else is going?’
Roy
asked.

  
‘Just the six of us, I believe,’
Tim replied.

  
Roy
’s eyes grew dark and he gripped the edge of
the counter until his knuckles were white. ‘Six of you?’ He looked at Eddie.
‘Is Sammy seeing Stuart?’

  
Eddie shook his head. ‘Not in
the way
you
mean. They’re just good
friends.’

  
‘Don’t give me that just good
friend’s load of bollocks! He’s always fancied Sam;
you
know that. Has she been out with him, apart from that so-called
business meeting last week?’

  
Eddie sighed and looked at Tim
for support.

  
‘Well - has she?’
Roy
demanded.

  
‘He took her out for a meal on
Monday night,
Roy
, that’s all. Just a meal, don’t get upset about it.’

  
‘And it never entered your head
to tell me?’
Roy
exclaimed. ‘My wife goes out with another man and my best mate says
nothing!’

  
‘
Roy
, stop it, you’re upsetting Livvy.’ As Eddie
looked at Livvy’s stricken face, she fled into the staffroom, slamming the door
behind her.

  
‘Now look what you’ve done,’
Sean raised his voice. ‘If you can’t handle Sammy seeing Stuart you should have
thought twice before you screwed Livvy again.’ He followed her into the
staffroom.
   

  
Roy
shook his head. ‘Shit! I’m sorry; I can’t
deal with this at the moment. I’m going back to my flat. I’ll jump in a cab and
I’ll talk to you and Tim later, Ed.’

  
He shot off down the stairs,
leaving the others staring after him.

  
‘He still loves Sammy,’ Jess
stated. ‘He looked really hurt and upset just then.’

  
‘He
does
still love Sammy and
she
still loves him. But there’s
Livvy and the baby to consider, too. Think how she must be feeling right now,’
Eddie replied.
  

  
‘And now
Roy
knows a little of how Sammy must also feel,’
Tim said.

  
Sean strolled out of the
staffroom shaking his head. ‘Fucking hell, I feel like I’m walking on bloody
eggshells. She heard what I said to
Roy
about him screwing her. I’ve just been told
in no uncertain terms that
Roy
made love to her, he didn’t screw her!’

  
Tim rolled his eyes heavenward.
‘Well whatever she wants to call it, the end result was the same. Bingo! For
Christ’s sake, this is a good start to our Raiders reunion.’