Page 95 of Doc Rock
“Night, guys,”Mai shouted after them. Then tried to rifle through her bag for her glasses, but couldn’t as Ford still had hold of her hand. He tugged her closer to him and reached over, pulling the itchy wig off her head, which made her sigh with relief.
“You look better as a blonde.”Ford's husky growl had her knees trembling.
“Thanks,” she whispered back.
“Sie—”
“Hey, Ford.”A voice called from the pub door, and Ford turned them, so he was between her and the person calling his name, hiding her from view while she wasn’t wearing a wig.
“Yeah, mate.”Ford dropped into his public persona; his voice sounded different, more guarded than when he spoke to her.
“Sorry, I didn’t introduce myself earlier. My name’s Ray, I own the Railway Tavern.”
“Nice to meet you, Ray.”Ford reached out to shake the hand of the man who was now standing right in front of him.
“I wanted to thank you for playing.”
“It wasnothing, mate,”Ford said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
“It wasn’t nothing to me. It’s a struggle to keep the pub open. The town isn’t huge, and for every good night that it’s full, we’ll have another night that it’s empty. Each month, the bills only seem togetbigger, and we scrape by. You’ve only been offthe stage a few minutes, and my bar staff are telling me that the Railway Tavern is starting to trend on social media, which they’re telling me is a good thing. You being here is publicity that I can’tgetfor myself. I wanted you toknowI appreciate it.”
While Ray was speaking, Mai took the opportunity to dig through her handbag for her glasses, sighing with relief when shecouldseeagain.
She kept herself partially hidden by Ford, and let her hair fall over her eyes, watching the interaction between the small town pub landlord and the world-famous musician with interest.
“Like I say,it wasa pleasure, mate.”Ford hesitated and cocked his head to one side, a posture Mai remembered from all those years ago. He was coming up with a plan.“What’s your quietest day of the week?”
Ray sighed. “At the moment, most days, apart from the pub quiz and the weekend.”
Ford glanced over his shoulder at her.“What evenings are you free next week?”
Maiinstantly knewwhere this was going, and a smile spread across her face.“Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evening.”She was on-call Wednesday and Friday, much to her annoyance, as she would miss the pub quiz.
“So, Tuesday night. I’m going to play. Sie’s going to accompany me.”He reached back and grabbed her hand again, squeezing it.“That’s okay with you?”
She gave an answering nod, hope spreading through her chest, even as the heat radiated up her arm from his touch.
“You’re going to sell tickets for however much you want. Pack the place out. Sell them food and drink. It’ll keep the wolves from the door for another few months.”Ford gave Mai’s hand a little squeeze.
“What would your cut be?”Ray asked quietly.
“Nothing, mate.”
“But—”
Ford cut the older man off.“I grew up in a small town. You lose the pub, and you lose the heart of the community. If me playing for a couple of hours can help stop that. I’ll bethere.”
“I don’t… shit, mate. I don’tknowwhat to say.” Tears welled in the other man's eyes as he scrubbed at them. This was huge for the Railway Tavern.
“I’ve got one condition,”Mai said.
Ford turned to her, surprise visible on his face, and she gave him a reassuring smile.
“I need to buy twenty tickets.”Mai thought about all the money she’d just come into. The first thing she was going to do was pay for her pub quiz team to come and hear Ford sing.
A rush of fear shot through her as she remembered she was playing too, but Ford’s warm palm grounded her, and she realisedit wastime to make herself whole again.
She was Sie Harrington. She had been a rock star.
