I hugged Mum as Justin presented his gift to my father – a wooden box with a very nice bottle of Chablis inside. Dad slid up the lid to inspect the contents, then replaced it. ‘Don’t know much about wine,’ he said gruffly, ‘but that looks like an all right drop.’
Lo appeared at the top of the stairs, then skipped down them before elbowing me in the ribs and grinning. ‘Not bad,’ she muttered, so only I could hear. ‘And look at you …Nobody told me we were dressing up fancy.’ She took in the expertly tailored charcoal dress I’d worn at Justin’s suggestion, another prize from our shopping trip the day before.
Mum had gone all out with the roast dinner. The stuffing had sausage meat as well as the mix out of the packet, and she’d made the Yorkshires herself. (Aunt Bessie is not a woman who is allowed to darken our door.) Justin raised his eyebrows. ‘Yorkshire puddings with chicken?’ he said. ‘What a wonderful idea!’ I could tell he thought it a little odd, and I suppose it was, but I’d never really thought about it. Mum’s yorkies are just so good, we always have them with every roast, even if it’s not beef.
Justin went about making a good impression as we began to eat. He told them a little about his family, then moved swiftly on to his work, starting with a few funny, self-deprecating anecdotes about his early days as a choreographer that left Mum looking wide-eyed and Dad chuckling so hard he almost spat out his gravy.
Lo didn’t say much, which was unusual for her. I could feel her beady eyes on me more often than I saw them on Justin. Eventually, she leaned into me and asked, ‘What are you doing with your knife and fork?’
‘Eating,’ I replied, not looking up from my plate.
Lo snorted softly. ‘I think you’ve been spending far too much time in fancypants restaurants.’
I kept cutting my meat, fork balanced perfectly in my left hand, and my knife held properly in my right. Lo wasn’t wrong. Ihadbeen spending more time in ‘fancypants’ restaurants in the two months since I’d met Justin. On one occasion, he’d noticed my discomfort when I wasn’t sure which fork to use or what to do when I needed to spit out a bone,so he’d been teaching me proper table manners and etiquette. If I aspired to be part of his world, these were skills I needed to learn.
As Mum brought out the apple crumble, complete with ‘proper’ custard, Dad leaned back in his chair, folded his arms over his chest and looked at Justin. ‘So, how exactly did you two meet? Lil said she was up in London, but she’s been a bit cagey about the details.’
My stomach clenched. I still hadn’t told Mum and Dad about the busking, and I realised I probably should have broached the subject before now.
Justin shot me an encouraging look. ‘I was walking through Covent Garden, minding my own business, and there she was – playing her violin in the middle of the street, sounding like an angel.’
Mum dropped her spoon in her bowl, and the handle sank below the surface of the custard. ‘You were playing? In front of people?’
I tucked my bottom lip under my teeth and nodded.
‘It was the most exquisite sound I’ve ever heard. Your daughter has a unique talent, you know. She really needs to make the most of it.’
Dad straightened in his seat, his eyes ablaze. ‘That’s exactly what we’ve been telling her!’
‘Well, you’re right,’ Justin added. ‘I don’t think a gift like that should be wasted.’
My mum’s face fell. I knew what she was thinking – I’d already flushed that chance down the toilet.
Justin, who I’d discovered was very good at reading people,noticed her expression and turned to me. ‘You have told them about the job, haven’t you?’
‘She said some bloke has offered her some money to play for him,’ Dad said. ‘Is that what you’re talking about?’
I sighed inwardly. I’d explained about Felix and the dance show, but I didn’t think they’d really understood. For some reason, if I wasn’t sitting in the middle of an orchestra, they didn’t see it as real performing.
‘We’ve been searching high and low for the right musician – the rightartist– to play this piece,’ Justin said smoothly, squeezing my knee under the table. ‘We needed somebody exceptional, and we think we’ve found her.’
He went on to explain just how big of a deal this was going to be, just how much it was going to put me in front of people who would appreciate me. Mum’s expression softened as he talked, and Dad’s went from bemused to completely enraptured. Justin had them eating out of his hand completely.
‘Why didn’t you tell us all this?’ Dad asked.
My shoulders sagged. I could have told them they just hadn’t listened when I’d said the same thing, but where would that get me? And, at that moment, my parents were looking at me like they believed I could be something again, and I wasn’t about to do anything to spoil that.
Dad got that look on his face he always got when he had something important to get off his chest. ‘Well, Justin, I have to say, I’m a man who doesn’t mince my words, and I was a bit narked when you were late today, and I wasn’t sure about you being a good bit older than our Lili, but I have to say I’m really happy she has you in her life. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for her.We’re really grateful, aren’t we, Sandra?’
Justin beamed at them radiantly. ‘Thank you. I do believe I have a knack for searching out young talent and helping it develop.’
It was lovely knowing they liked Justin and hearing them talk about me this way, but I couldn’t help feeling that my parents were showering adoration on the wrong person, at least partially. Yes, I was also really grateful to Justin for everything he was doing for me and, of course, I thought he was amazing too, but what about me? I was the one who actually played the flipping violin.
Chapter Eighteen
Now.
THE FOLLOWING AFTERNOON, Ben headed through a tongue-and-groove door in the corner of the kitchen and up a short and narrow winding staircase that led up to Norina’s storage space.
