“Let’s find out.” He stood up and picked up his empty bottle. “Thank you. For doing this, I mean. I owe you.”
“You’d better wait to hear me play before you thank me.” She suddenly realised what she’d committed herself to and her stomach quaked a little. “Are there lots of people in there?”
“It’s busy enough. Why? Are you about to suffer from stage fright?”
“I might. Maybe I shouldn’t have—”
“Too late. No backing out now. You made a commitment and letting me down would jar with your sense of duty.”
“That’s probably true.” She held out her glass. “But if I’m going to play in public, I’ll take that second glass of wine.”
He took the glass from her. “Coming right up. Playing the piano in a bar and a second glass of wine. Two firsts in one evening.”
She followed him into the pub, wondering why on earth she’d volunteered for this.
She sat down at the piano, trying to pretend she was alone in her mother’s drawing room.
“Hey, Tris, you have a new pianist?” A man with a wide smile and an even wider gut beamed at her. “She’s a lot better looking than Ray. Can she play?”
“Why don’t you listen and find out?” Tristan handed her a brimming glass of wine. “You’re allowed to put it on top of the piano.”
“Oh, I would never—” But he’d already put it there and walked away before she could ask him what he thought she should play first.
She took a massive gulp of wine and decided it was probably best to dive in. And when they booed her out of the pub she’d take that walk she’d planned earlier. And obviously she’d never be able to show her face in the place again.
She started with Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag,” and wondered from the sudden silence around her if that had been a mistake, but then feet started tapping and there were a couple of whoops from behind her. She played more piano rags, then moved from that to a couple of Irish jigs that had people dancing, and then shifted to a couple of folk songs to give everyone a breather.
When she finally took a break the applause echoed round the old pub.
Embarrassed and pleased in equal measure, she drank the wine Tristan had left her. She’d intended to sip it slowly, but they were encouraging her to play more so she gulped the wine down faster than she should have done and started playing again.
She’d emptied her glass, but when she looked at it again itwas full and she realised Tristan must have brought her a replacement at some point.
When she finally stopped playing her head was spinning and her ears were ringing.
Everyone cheered and clapped and she felt a rush of pleasure.
“When you said you’d step in for Ray I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t that.” Tristan leaned on the piano and smiled at her. “You’re a revelation. If you ever want to leave the hotel business, you can have a job here.”
“Why are they cheering and clapping?”
“Because you’re brilliant?”
“Me?” She assumed he was joking, or being polite to get her to play some more, then realised he wasn’t smiling. He meant it.
Brilliant.
No one ever told her she was brilliant, even when she’d strained every muscle to earn that level of approval. It had never come. Until now.
Someone she didn’t know and would probably never again meet slapped her on the shoulders.
“That was great. Amazing.”
She couldfeeltheir delight and approval. It was like a drug. It made her whole body buzz. “They liked what I played.”
“Why so surprised?”
“People don’t usually—I’m not used to—” It was dizzying, hearing people applaud and whoop loudly as a gesture of appreciation for something she’d done.
