Chapter 14

In the office, they were joined by Clive.

“Hello, Willow. This show in Coventry, have you any idea of the details?”

“It will be the same staging that we used on the tour. It is intended to run for three nights, so you’re looking at a total crowd of around a hundred and eighty thousand. I did hear that they’re charging a hundred and fifty a ticket, which should bring in twenty-seven million. At a rough estimate, with a million off for staging and costs, and the club taking ten percent, that will leave twenty-three point four million. I don’t know what we’re being paid, or if there’s any left over for guests. I’ll need to talk to the organisers once I know the line-up. Have you managed to get anyone else to join us on stage? It should be televised.”

“We have a few. Zara is really keen to be on stage with you, and there are three of the guys that you’ve met at the awards party. Lee James and Cliff Jensen, you know. The other is Ken Stroll, the latest winner of the TV show. Is that enough?”

“If we give them three or four songs, each, that’s a good hour, so, yes, that would be great. Is it possible for them to come to Coventry to rehearse with the orchestra? We work after school on Thursdays. They can stay at the Britannia, and I can organise a car for them. We’ll need a list of their songs, and any score that’s available.”

“The thing is that Zara and two of the guys will have new albums out, around the same time as yours. They will be in your studio during the March week we have booked. They all have pre-recorded backing tracks from the orchestra at Abbey Road and we’re using your studio to get the vision and sound right for the DVDs. They will be there on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, with the Friday set aside for any emergencies. Can you organise to see them in the studio?”

“I’ll need to speak to the Head, but I’m sure that she’ll give me the afternoons to see them, possibly taking Mister Bamborough with me. With a line-up like this, the school orchestra will be famous.”

“I’ll give you the names and dates for recording. If you talk to them directly, it will be good when you call them on stage as friends. Can you find out who are doing the filming, and if they need a marketing ally?”

“Will do. Are you happy with how you’re being treated at the studio?”

“Oh, yes. It will be nice if you can hold the pricing for a while, though.”

“It’s making money, and I’ll hold it as long as I can. We’ve bought another business that we’re expanding. It’s a design studio that does work for several industries, and my father was asked to take it over. By the middle of the year, we should have about forty employees and turning over close to fifteen million a year.”

“You’ve said that you’re taking a break from singing, is it to be hands on with the businesses?”

“No. I’m going to enrol in a Bachelor of Science of Business Administration. That way I can use my money to make money and sing when I want to. I don’t want to be tied down like my friends. Zara is into nightclub work, Vivienne wants to be in opera, Gina is now playing piano as a soloist with various orchestras. They’re being typecast. I’ll be living in the apartment while I’m studying, so won’t be far away.”

She had one more thing to do while she was in London, so, next day, she called on her limo service to take her to Royal Holloway to submit her application papers for the course that started in November. Terry assured her that she would be accepted, but it would be much later in the year before she had official confirmation.

She had taken her laptop with her to London, so sent emails off to the studio, asking Sarah to let her know when the label’s singers were in the studio by a text; and one to her contact at the football club, asking for an appointment on Friday to discuss the big show. She sent one other, to Garry, asking him if he could make time for a meeting. Much as she would have liked to stay to the end of the week, she got the limo service to pick her up the next day and take her home.

She had the Thursday to get herself ready for the appointment and talked her mother into driving her BMW to the football ground. When they were shown into the right office, the man who had bid on the band, so long ago, rose to shake hands.

“Welcome back, Willow and Wendy. What can I do for you? I hope that you’re not here to pull out of the show.”

“No sir. Just the opposite. I had a meeting with my label on Monday, and I now have one female singer and three males from their stable to join us on stage. We can advertise as an evening with VivWillow and Friends. Three of them will have albums out by then, and the other is a TV show winner. We intend to have them rehearse with the orchestra at the school so that it should be a good presentation.”

“Wow! I didn’t expect that! I suppose that they would like some payment?”

“That would be appreciated, thank you for offering.”

“Look, I’m prepared to pay them ten thousand a show, and put them up at the Britannia. You and Vivienne will get twenty thousand a show, and the orchestra will get fifty thousand a show to share between them. That will still leave just under twenty million for the charity, plus the profits from the merchandise.”

“That’s very generous of you. Now, I’ve been asked to find out about the filming. Who is doing it, and do they have a distribution channel?”

“The TV channel pulled out, and there’s a team in Birmingham who are going to film and record. We’ll have a similar system to the last time with fixed cameras and the team be doing roving shots of the crowds. I’ll have to ask them about what they’re doing with it. If your label wants to issue it, then I’m sure they’ll want to talk. With what you’re talking about with the extra stars, it would make a good DVD for Christmas presents.”

Willow gave him a suggested stage layout, with a screen that went across the back of the stage and down the side, so they could have the guests appear from the wings. She didn’t tell him that there was another idea forming in her head, which depended on what the other singers agreed to.

On the way home, with Wendy driving, Willow’s phone rang. She looked at the name and answered on speaker.

“Hello, handsome.”

“Hello, beautiful. I got your email and have to tell you that there’s a condition before I can meet you.”

“Oh, yes. And what might that be?”

“That any discussion we have will be over a table in a restaurant, where I’ve taken you for dinner.”

“Are you telling me that you want a date?”

“That’s it in a nutshell, sweetness. I owe you one for giving me the opportunity to play with Rocks.”

“Just a thank you, then?”

“Actually, I hoped it would be more than that. We seemed to have been spinning around the world and bumping into each other. I was wondering if those kisses were just friendly. How about I pick you up on Saturday, around five. There’s a place I’d like to take you to.”

“When do you plan to bring me home? My phone is on speaker and my mother has a grin.”

“I was thinking around the same time the next day. Is that a problem. Wendy?”

“Not from me, Garry. Just treat my girl right.”

Willow gave him the Rising Lane address and they ended the call.

“It’s all right with you, Mum?”

“Come on, love. You’ve stayed in hotels around the world with boys. We know that you were serious with Jacob at the birthday party. Garry is a nice boy, a good friend, and has been in love with you since that first show you did. It was the age difference that made him stay away, but you’re going to be seventeen in a couple of months. Him being two years older becomes less of a problem as you get around twenty. Take a big bag with a good nightie and your supplies. Even a skirt and top for the morning.”

The next day, Willow spent a long time preparing for her date. This wasn’t some clandestine hour in a hotel. This would be a proper date, with a handsome man, followed by a full night at wherever he took her, possibly followed by more sex in the morning. She felt as if she was preparing to be a ritual offering, and realised that, with Garry, she was looking forward to it.

When Garry drove into the property, he was welcomed in and given a drink before he carried Willow’s big bag out to the car.

“What’s in here, sweetness, the kitchen sink?”

“Only if there isn’t one where you’re taking me. I will need flats when I’ve taken these heels off.”

“You won’t be doing that for a few hours.”

“Is there dancing?”

“Not unless I put one of your CDs in the machine.”

“But I will get fed?”

“Oh, yes. We have a table booked at the Dial House, in Bourton. It’s about thirty-five miles south.”

“Into the Cotswolds, then. I’ve been to Bourton, when I was much younger. I got lost in the Dragonfly Maze and they had to send someone in to find me.”

“You grew up down that way, didn’t you?”

“Yes, we had a cottage, and I was at school in Clifton before coming to Coventry.”

“I’ve bought a house next to the main road, at Whiteshoots Hill.”

“If my memory isn’t playing tricks, they were big farmhouse types, in Cotswolds Stone. Is that where we’re staying the night?”

“That depends on what you want to talk to me about, my sweet.”

“It doesn’t matter what we talk about. I hope that you have one of my later CDs. I’m told that it makes women horny, and I wondered if it would work on me, without a keyboard in front of me.”

He laughed.

“Here I am, wondering if you like me, and then you tell me that you’re happy to sleep with me.”

“You were the first guy to hug me for the right reason, Garry. You’ve held a place in my heart since then. It’s only the age gap that’s kept us apart. I’ve had two, short-term relationships, one with benefits, but only on tour. I’m no femme fatal, but I do know what I like, and that’s love, not lust. I do have to come clean on one thing before we go any further. I can’t have children. After that first show, I was in hospital having two growths taken from my groin, with a follow-up operation sometime later to remove more bad stuff.”

“That’s sad, sweet. It makes no difference to me. I’m an only child and have no desire to have a lot of toddlers. You’re so good with the younger ones, though.”

“That’s been a surprise to me, as well. It must have been inside me all the time but has only come out in the last few years.”

They travelled in a companionable silence until they arrived at Bourton. He parked at the Dial Inn, and they went in. They were shown to a table and ordered drinks. Willow asked for a dry white and Garry had a beer. They sipped at the drinks, with Willow determined that hers would last her as long as they were here.

“Now, sweet thing. What do you want to talk about?”

“What are you and the Rocks doing in the last weeks of June?”

“At the moment, we’re still on a writing break, but most of them are scattered around the globe with their wives and soaking up the sun.”

“I have been given the task to put on a show in Coventry, in the football ground, on the same stage that we played there for the charity shows. It will be the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The seating will be similar, but the admission price is a lot higher. It’s for charity, again, but they’re willing to pay ten grand a show for guests. It was originally planned as an evening with VivWillow, but I’ve spoken to Clive. We’ll be adding Lee James and Cliff Jensen, who you’ve already played with, plus Ken Stroll, a new star. Zara is also keen to be with us. I’m wondering if you, and the Rocks, might like to add your talent.”

“This will be with an orchestra?”

“Yes. We will have the Blue Coat Seniors. That leads me to the little tricks I want to play.”

Their entrée was served as he sat back and thought about things. When they had cleaned their plates, he picked up his drink and grinned.”

“All right. Trick number one?”

“You remember the boys kit, the blue shirt and black trousers?”

“I do.”

“Well. I would like you and the boys to be embedded in the orchestra in that kit, so you don’t stand out. You can do the electric accompaniment to the rest of us throughout the show. When we call out Mac to sing, you’ll all be there, in place.”

He laughed.

“You’ve never had much to do with the band, have you?”

“You mean that they won’t do it?”

“I mean that it would be one of the things that would ensure that they will be there. They all have a love of the absurd. What else?”

“Towards the end of the show, we’ll have Zara on stage, to sing some of her songs. She will be in a white dress, and, by that time, Vivienne will have changed into white. The last song that they sing, as a duet, will be ‘Wishing You Were Here For Me’, from the Phantom. As they finish, they will be some way apart. We move to the orchestra blasting out the theme for Phantom, and then Lee comes out to sing ‘Music of the Night’. Cliff or Ken come out from the other side with the second stanza, followed by the other for the third, and then Mac for the fourth. So, we have two trios, one each side of the stage, the girls in white and the men in white tie and tails, and with the half masks on. By this time, we have smoke covering the stage. They finish that song in the usual way, with the girls taking turns to sing on order. Then the orchestra moves back into the Phantom theme, with you and the boys adding frantic guitar. They sing that song, and it builds up towards the crescendo, with each phantom singing “I am the Phantom of the Opera’, in turn. The ultimate few seconds is them all singing “We are the Phantoms”, as the music stops dead, and the stage goes black as thunderclaps and bangers go off.”

He looked in her eyes and chuckled.

“You really are an artistic director, aren’t you? But why the Phantom?”

“We have Lee, who played four seasons. He can help out with the detail. The thing is, that this is neutral ground. We don’t favour anyone on stage with the finale. It has the whole line-up right there at the end, with the orchestra in full voice. I haven’t been able to think of anything that comes close to creating a memorable finish.”

“I loved you for your talent from the first day we met. Since then, I’ve seen you grow into a formidable leader. Working with you on ‘Laptop’ was total bliss, and turned out to be something that changed me, fundamentally. I’ve heard it said that we musicians sometimes hide behind out instruments, but that show had me out there as myself, for the first time. It gave me the ability to be one of the Rocks, who are characters who play music. There were times, on our tour, where I was Ego on bass guitar, and I fitted the over-the-top lifestyle of the others. But, deep down, I’m still the Garry that overcame his shyness to hug the young girl who captured my heart as a fourteen-year-old.”

She put her hand on his and smiled.

“That was lovely, my darling. But we’re still going to dance before bed, even if it’s only a few minutes. I’ll hold you to your promise.”

They finished their meal in comfortable chat. Willow finished her wine and declined dessert, so Garry settled up and they went out to the car, where they kissed for several minutes before getting in and going a few hundred yards to his house. She giggled as he picked her up to carry her across the threshold. He carried her bag to the bedroom as she turned on his music system and selected the album that had affected other women. When he came back, she hit the ‘play’ button and put her arms around his neck.

“This is as far as I lead, my love. From now on, I’m yours.”

They danced, entwined, and kissed at times. At around the fourth track she whispered in his ear.

“It does work on me, lover. I can feel your prick against me and I’m getting wet, This is about the time we turn the album off, and you turn me on.”

They went to the bedroom and undressed each other, kissing when they were naked, and then he picked her up again and laid her on the bed. That evening was a revelation for both of them. Garry hadn’t had a lot of experience with women, just a few groupies with the band, and this was with Willow, a girl who knew the younger Garry and was giving herself to him. For Willow, it was unlike anything that Jacob had been, This was a boy who wanted to explore her body, to please her, to make her feel wanted in every way.

They did sleep, and Willow woke up early and took Garry’s hand off her breast to pad out to the bathroom, taking her bag and douche bottle with her. She hadn’t lubed, the night before, and hadn’t needed to. She gave her face a wipe, to remove any make-up that remained, and delved into her bag for her black nightie, Back in the bedroom, he had one eye open and a morning glory too good to pass up. She kissed and stroked it until he pulled her back on the bed and made love to her.

Afterwards, she laid with her head on his chest as he rubbed her breast.

“Willow, my love. Will you marry me?”

“Of course I will, my darling. You will have to treat me nice, like last night, for the rest of our lives.”

“That’s the easy part, my love. It will be balancing our careers that may be a bit harder.”

“The show in Coventry is my last. After that, I’m living in London and going to University for a Bachelor of Business Administration. That will take three years.”

“Don’t you need ‘A’ levels before you can do that?”

“I did a Certificate course for a year, on top of school and the tour in Australia. It gave me direct acceptance for the higher course, without needing the other results.”

“So, you’ll be just twenty-one with a degree?”

“That’s right. Is that a problem?”

“No, it’s just more about you that’s amazing. What are you going to do after that?”

“Shouldn’t that be ‘what are we going to do’, or have you second thoughts already?”

He laughed and rolled her off him to give her a kiss.

“Sorry about that, it still hadn’t sunk in that you said yes. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be back.”

She grinned as she watched him go towards the bathroom. When he came back, he got back into bed and she snuggled beside him, head on his shoulder.

“How come you bought this place?”

“It fitted the need. It’s close to the road.”

“You can say that! The last truck that came by almost shook the foundations.”

“It’s close enough to Bristol and Birmingham if I need an international flight, and there’s a few within a few miles if I want to charter something for closer destinations. Rendcome is pretty close, and you can go up on a biplane.”

“Don’t you mean, in a biplane?”

“No. You get strapped into a harness on the top wing and get taken up, on the biplane.”

“That sounds mad. If they give a certificate, it would be something to add to my Dad’s ‘Wall of Fame’ He collects all my non-musical awards. He even framed my membership of the ‘ton-up’ club.”

“How did you get that?”

“There’s a place north of Leicester where you get to drive a hot car. I drove one like my own BMW and did a hundred and twenty in both directions on a runway. They have all sorts there. That was after I met you and the band at the studio. My instructor was so happy with his signed shirt, he took me there afterwards.”

“So, when do you get your licence?”

“After May twentieth, when I turn seventeen.”

“You said that you’ll be living in London. Have you bought a place?”

“I have a whole building. Ground floor is a restaurant, upstairs are two apartments, both owned by lecturers from the Uni of London. Above them are our two apartments, both two floors, with a second bedroom and sitting room in the attic. I’ve taken one for me, and the other is my parents. That’s where you joined us for the TV interview.”

“I thought that you were staying with the others, not that you owned the whole lot. What about the studio?”

“All mine, now, which is why I’ve been able to make the changes and turn it into a commercial venture. The only project that we still own, as a syndicate, is the shopping centre. We paid twenty-five and are ploughing another fifteen into for updating. It’s too big for the others to mess with, but I reckon that we’ll get to get a good profit if we do sell.”

“And you have your nice house. That looks cosy but elegant”

“That’s the idea. With Dad now the CEO of his own design studio, and the chosen candidate to replace the existing MP, it needed to have exactly that vibe, should we host the media. It’s also a lot bigger than the one in Stoneleigh. What about you, Garry? You must have done well with G-Force for the couple of years they played. Being a Toxic Rocker doesn’t pay peanuts, either. This place wouldn’t have put much of a dent into that.”

“You’re right. The thing is that I’m not sure what to do. I left school after the exams and didn’t go any further. I don’t need to find a job, but I’m floating, waiting for something to give me direction. Like you, my love. How about we get showered and dressed and go down to Bristol to wander a market. They tell me that Windmill Hill is good.”

They showered and dressed. Willow had the skirt and top she had packed, along with more sensible shoes. He cooked them a breakfast, and she washed up after. Leaving the plates to dry, they went out to his car and drove south to Bristol. There were no jewellers open on a Sunday, but there were stalls at the Windmill Hill that sold flashy rings, and they bought one as a token.

Marianne Gregory © 2025