‘Then I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other people who will,’ Mollie said firmly. ‘I know you’re lukewarm at best about moving back in with your friend, Marieke, but this way, you wouldn’t have to be there all the time. What do you say?’
Bella was torn between wanting to thank Mollie and give her a bollocking for trying to interfere. In the end, she opted for a thank you. At least it would give her an escape route from Marieke and Gerard’s love nest, and when Noah and his brothers finally sold Jack’s place, she’d have somewhere else to go.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘You’re on. What percentage are you going to take for the referrals?’
Mollie raised an eyebrow. ‘I hadn’t thought. What do you think is reasonable?’
In the end, they settled on a 10 per cent commission, which made Bella feel better about letting Mollie sort out her job and her living arrangements. She left Purrfect Paws that afternoon feeling a little more optimistic about her future.
58
‘No more heartbreak, no, no moooooooore!’
Bella ended with a flourish and tossed her hair back from her face in a gesture she’d done on tour a hundred times. It always took her a moment to come back to earth after a set, and even when it was just a couple of songs, to make sure the equipment was sound and the backing tracks on point, it felt so good to be singing again.
Enthusiastic applause cushioned her landing, and she grinned broadly to see not only Jason, but Paddy and Jen all whooping and showing their appreciation.
‘That was epic, Bels.’ Jason bounded up onto the small stage area that he and Paddy had erected earlier and gave her a hug. ‘You’ll bring the house down tomorrow.’
‘Thanks, Jase.’ Ordinarily, she’d baulk at a hug, but the adrenaline was flowing and she needed the reassurance. Knowing Jason was going to be there on Saturday to share the limelight felt comforting. He was a great performer, and he made her feel less rusty and out of the loop.
‘Seriously, Bella, I don’t know why you ever walked away from music, with pipes like that.’
Bella shook her head. ‘Wrong time, wrong place, wrong image. But playing here to a crowd of people I know? That I can do.’ She stepped off the stage and accepted a pint of lager from Jen, who also came bearing snacks.
‘Thought I’d try these out on you two before the gig,’ Jen beamed. ‘What do you reckon?’
‘Perfect.’ Jason spoke through a mouthful of miniature roast beef and Yorkshire pudding canapé. ‘Charge a tenner a plate and you’ll double the take.’
Jen laughed. ‘Not sure I’d get away with that, but I’ll see what I can do.’
‘So we’ll do our acoustic version of “Heartbreaker” at the midpoint, I’ll do my thing for a couple of songs and then you can end with your OG version of the song – it’ll make a great finale.’ Jason was bubbling over with infectious excitement.
‘Steady on, Jase,’ Bella laughed. ‘You’ve been performing in the pub every month for a nearly a year now. Why is Saturday evening any different?’
Jason looked sheepish. ‘Well, the thing is… um, I wasn’t quite sure when the right moment would be to tell you, but…’
‘Spit it out, Jason.’
‘I uploaded my version of “Heartbreaker” to TikTok about a week ago.’
‘And?’
‘And some business in London, I think it might have been an estate agent or something, used a sample of your original version as the soundtrack for one of their promo vids. A producer’s put them together, done a remix, and all three versions have been going viral for the past week.’
‘What?’ Bella spat out the mouthful of her pint. ‘Why the fuck didn’t you tell me earlier?’
Jason edged away from her, for fear of being in the firing line for more projectile lager. ‘Because I wasn’t quite sure how you’d react.’
‘When you say “viral”, what exactly do you mean?’
‘Er.’ Jason shuffled on the spot. ‘You’d better see for yourself.’ He passed Bella his phone. With trembling hands, Bella looked at the view count for Jason’s version of her song, which stood at a more than respectable forty thousand. Then she clicked on the remixed version, which had a similar number. Pausing, not sure how she’d react if her version was lower, she clicked on her original version.
‘What the actual fuck?’
Jason nodded. ‘I know.’
‘But… how?’
