‘Okay, then,’ Tom replied, looking at her steadily. His grey-blue eyes seemed to blaze in the semi-darkness of the bar. Then he took her right hand and held it in his left, weaving his fingers through hers as Jack made his way back to them.
Jack handed Rachel a glass of cava, then extended his hand to Tom.
‘Nice to meet you,’ he said. ‘I’m Jack.’
It was almost as if he expected some sort of reaction; like he thought Tom would wince or turn suddenly pale when he realised who he was meeting. Tom looked blank, as if he’d never even heard of him.
Rachel felt like laughing, and was also morbidly satisfied to note that Jack stood a good three inches shorter than Tom – who took full advantage of the height difference when he leaned forward to greet him.
‘Tom,’ he said. ‘Nice to meet you too. You’re a colleague of Rachel’s.’
It was a statement rather than a question, and it didn’t entertain the possibility that there could be – or everhadbeen – anything more between Rachel and Jack.
Rachel was impressed. Tom, whose default setting was affable, sunny and smiling, was suddenly ice-cold. His poker face was outstanding.
Annoyance flashed on Jack’s face, so briefly that Rachel would have missed it if she’d blinked. He smoothed out his features, then took several deep pulls on his bottle of beer.
After a few more minutes of stilted, awkward conversation, Rachel, Tom and Jack drifted over towards the stage. Someone was hitting all the high notes in a heartfelt rendition of ‘Somebody to Love’ by Queen, and when she got close enough to make out his face, Rachel was astonished to discover it was Theo.
Kemi, Ella and Ella’s boyfriend whooped and cheered as Theo finished, triumphantly belting out the final ‘tooooooooooooo looooooooove’ and bowing as he made way for the next performer.
Greg was up now, singing ‘Your Song’. What he lacked in melody he made up for with feeling, swaggering up and down the stage and imbuing every word he sang with high emotion.
Kemi and Ella had found Jack, pulling him into a conversation he looked desperate to escape. He looked over at Rachel pleadingly, clearly appealing for assistance. She shrugged at him and tried not to laugh. Tom was holding her hand again.
Rachel felt eyes on her and looked up to realise they were Anna’s. There was a crease between her pale-blonde eyebrows. She glanced at Tom, then back to Rachel, then at their entwined fingers. She turned to talk to Will.
He’d apparently taken the news of Rachel and Tom’s fake date far better than Anna had, electing not to ask questions but instead concentrate on enjoying the evening. If Anna had hoped Will might talk his friend out of what she’d called ‘this ridiculous pretence’, she was sure to be disappointed. According to Tom, the sum total of his reaction had been, ‘Bit weird, but okay.’
As Greg left the stage, the karaoke compère began reviewing his list of would-be performers.
Tom tucked Rachel’s hair behind her left ear, then whispered into it: ‘Don’t freak out, but you’re next.’
‘What?!’
‘Rach, we have to stopthemfrom singing again, at least until we’ve had a few more drinks.’ He indicated Anna and Will. ‘Come on, we both know nobody in here deserves to suffer through their version of “I Know Him So Well”. Consider this your civic duty. Also, you’re the birthday girl: you need to have your moment in the spotlight.’
Rachel was smiling nervously, still unconvinced.
‘Okaaaaay, do we have Rachel ready to sing?’ the compère asked through the microphone, his eyes sweeping the room.
‘If you don’t,they will,’ Tom breathed in her ear. Then he twisted around a few degrees to look at her, his face stony and serious – as if they were in an action film and she was the only person who could defuse the bomb.
‘Oh, fine!’ she laughed.Sod it. How bad could it be?
Rachel waved her arm above her head to make her presence known, then pushed to the front of the crowd and climbed up to take the stage.
The band struck up and she recognised the song immediately: ‘Valerie’, as performed by Amy Winehouse. Being up there was less scary than she’d expected. The lights that illuminated the band and stage shone so bright in her eyes that she could barely see the people watching her. It was freeing, and before long she was fully absorbed in her own performance – strutting and shimmying as she sang, reacting to the cheers of the audience.
Then it was over, and Tom was helping her down off the raised platform.
‘That wasace,’ he said, gathering Rachel into a bear hug. She wasn’t sure whether the embrace was real or for show, but she leaned into it anyway.
Some while and several drinks later, Rachel found herself chatting to Will. Anna was telling Greg and Carlos a story that kept cracking them both up, and Tom had disappeared – maybe to the bar.
‘Having a good night, Rach?’ Will asked, slinging an arm around her shoulder.
‘Definitely,’ she said. ‘But sorry if this whole …thingis a bit weird.’
