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‘Hi, I’m Arlo.’
‘Hi, Valentina.’
He grinned. ‘His friend from back home. He’s—’ but Arlo was interrupted by Jay swearing loudly and throwing his phone down on the table beside him. Jay paced the floor, running his hands through his hair.
Arlo nodded to Valentina, before calling out to Jay, ‘Come on, mate. Shall we crack out the good stuff?’
Jay gave his bandmate a wan smile but nodded and came over. ‘Yeah, go on.’
Arlo went over to the little table and started rootling around in the cool bag and Valentina worried what the drummer was going to produce. What was “the good stuff” he alluded to? Could it be a mountain of cocaine on a tray? Joints laid out in a giant Jenga tower formation? Valentina felt uneasy. Leanne’s interest, however, had been piqued and she looked on expectantly.
Arlo held up a round, spruce wood container. ‘Vacherin Mont d’Or. Best cheese there is. It’s the end of the season and this will be the last for a few months. And…’ he delved back into the bag and pulled out two bottles of wine, ‘…delicious paired with an aged Auslese Riesling.’
‘Anything else in there?’ Leanne asked.
Alro peered back inside the bag. ‘We’ve also got some lovely goat’s cheese, Roquefort and cheddar with jalapeno peppers through it. Ooh, and a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. And these.’ He put some throat sweets, paracetamol and a packet of waterproof plasters on the table.
‘That’s your rider?’ Leanne asked.
Valentina could tell her friend was disappointed.
Arlo looked at the wine bottle’s label. ‘Yup, nice wine and cheese makes us happy.’
‘It’s about the only thing we can agree on now,’ Si said, coming over.
Valentina saw Micky wave a joint at Leanne and she nodded eagerly and followed him out of the fire-exit door.
While the others got glasses and someone produced a crusty baguette on which Arlo spooned the gooey cheese, Valentina went over to Jay.
‘Is everything okay?’
He waved her concern away. ‘Yeah, just a few issues. That was Astrid, my wife, well, ex-wife. We separated a couple of months ago, and I’m now trying to get the divorce moved on.’
‘I’m sorry, I had no idea you’d split up.’ Valentina knew Jay was married; she’d read about the Las Vegas ceremony, following their whirlwind romance.
‘We’ve tried to keep the separation out of the press.’
‘It’s because Astrid and Astrid’s father want a reconciliation,’ Cole said.
‘They might, but I don’t,’ Jay said firmly.
‘Well, we all know the press only hear what Roman d’Arcy wants them to hear. I did warn you at the time there would be issues getting caught up with his daughter, given that he’s on our record label’s board,’ Cole said.
Jay sighed. ‘I know.’
‘And there are—’
‘Just fuck off, Cole, no one asked for your input,’ Si snarled.
‘I’m just saying, there was always going to be ramifications if something went wrong with your relationship.’
‘Why do you always have to be a bloody know-it-all? You want a chufty badge or something?’ Si stood up and walked over menacingly toward Cole, who stood his ground.
Arlo moved between them, placing a hand on each man’s chest. ‘Come on, guys, cool off.’
‘I’m going for a smoke,’ Si said through gritted teeth before marching out through the fire exit.
‘I’m going to get more plates,’ said Cole, who left, leaving Valentina, Jay and Arlo.
