Page 127 of Doc Rock
“Nice to meet you. I’m still going to have to ask you to wait outside.”
Ford’s eyes met Mai’s, twinkling with merriment.
Oh no. He was about to let them be kicked out of the pub.
SheknewFord. He would happily spend an hour out the front chatting to people who arrived early and signing everything they wanted.
Mai sighed deeply.“I’ve got a marker in my handbag.”She now always carried one around, as it seemed to be a daily occurrence that Ford was asked to sign something.
“Fantastic, my dear wife. Shall we head out?”Ford grabbed her hand.
“Do we have to?”Mai huffed. Theycouldliterally just tell the woman they were in Midnight Thunder and pull a photo up on their phones if she didn’t believe them.
“Come on.”He bounced on the spot.“It’ll be fun.”
“Fine.”She rolled her eyes and let him tug her out of the bathroom and into the main part of the pub.“We can go back to the staff room.”Mai pointed to the door as they passed. The door behind which Scotty, Joel and Donnie were sitting.
“Where’s the fun in that!”Ford kept tugging her, now determined that he was going walkabout out the front of the pub.
“I’m coming back inside in time to eat my burger, though,”Mai grumbled.
“Iknowbetter than to let yougethungry. I do not enjoy hangry Sie,”he chuckled as he opened the door of the pub and slipped out past their security team, who were standing guard.
“Ford?”One of the men questioned.
Mai rolled her eyes at the giant man guarding the door.“He’s going walkabout. No point in stopping him.”
They both shrugged. They were getting used to the fact that Ford liked to wander around meeting the fans before and after the shows. At first, they used togetstressed, but they’d realised that most of the small towns were pretty safe, so they let Ford do what he wanted.
It wasn’t even twenty seconds when the first person realised Ford wasthere, and he began chatting to the fans, signing things and taking selfies with them. He even phoned a few people’s mums.
Mai stood back, watching him and shaking her head. He was born to perform. She didn’tknowwhat his life would have turned out like if he’d left the band for her. She couldn’t help but thinkit wouldhave been pretty miserable.
“Sie. Can Igeta photo with you?”A girl who couldn’t have been more than twelve asked her.
“Sure.”Mai bent down to the young girl’s level.
She was getting more used to these requests, but they still surprised her. She’d spent so many years hiding;it wasshocking to be seen.
“I play guitar,”the young girl said shyly.
“That’s fantastic. Acoustic or electric?”Mai asked.
“Electric.”
Mai grinned. She loved girls getting into music.“Brilliant. What’s your favourite song to play?”
“Summer days,”she replied with a tiny smile.
“Yeah. Mine too. I wrote that song with Ford when we were seventeen. I love it.”Every time she played the song, she was transported back to the day they wrote it.
“I want to be just like you when I grow up,”the girl blurted.
“A musician?” Mai asked.
The young girl shook her head.“Nope. I want to be a doctor.”
Mai blinked in surprise; she hadn’t expected that answer.
