Chapter 19

After the announcements, the four of them sat at a table with marker pens. At their right was the store manager to ensure that all products being signed had a correct sales receipt. The line moved slowly, with them learning to answer the questions with enough information but not so much as to slow down the line. They sat and signed and talked until lunch, when the manager asked that the guests be given some time to get refreshments.

They were taken to the store out the back, with a table set up with sandwiches and nibbles. The four took turns in the store toilet, washed their hands and stood while grazing on the food. The manager thanked them for attending and being so friendly to the customers. It wasn’t long before they were back at the table, signing and talking until about three when the line had petered out. The camera crew took that opportunity to film an interview with them, the man from the BBC asking the questions, mentioning the upcoming Messiah and the likely broadcast next Christmas season.

When the store closed, Clive took Jacob out of the store, followed by a middle-aged lady. The others had a look at the shop products, with Willow buying a copy of a Chopin set of etudes that she wanted to learn. They were given the left-over CDs and DVDs to take back to the school for sale through the website. Howard Bamborough laughed when they were given the box.

“I doubt that these will even reach the school office. I can see most of them being bought by the teachers or the others in the orchestra. I’m sure that we will be able to order more or have links to the label and the BBC on the site. We do get a small fee for every time those sites are accessed through our website, whether anything is bought or not.”

The girls took one of each for themselves, and a set for Jacob. The vehicle arrived and Clive came back with Jacob and the lady, who gave Jacob a hug and the girls a smile as she left. Clive thanked them for coming and was pleasantly surprised at how few discs were left. They all got into the vehicle, giving Jacob his set of discs. Clive put his head in and wished them a good trip home, and that the launch next week may not be so civil and orderly as this one.

They made good time home, and Willow was dropped off at home with her case and bag. She said that she would see the others later and went in as the vehicle went up the road. Wendy was home.

“How did it go, darling?”

“It was good. I almost got cramp from signing so many times. I have a copy of our latest CD, and one each of the BBC films of our last two Coventry concerts. I believe that the school will be paid a cut of every CD, and a percentage of the BBC sales. I’m having a shower, then we can head to the club for the sing-along.”

Later, they walked, arm in arm, to the club. Gina and Maisie arrived, followed by Jacob with Racheal. Brent came in with his mother a few minutes later. They had an early dinner as patrons came in and went through to Studio Two. When the four friends went through, the drum kit was out, the two keyboards were up, along with three of the amps and the PA. What was different was a big TV screen that was on a frame at the back of the stage. They made sure that everything was good and started playing the tunes and songs that helped the food go down. They played some Carpenters and some ‘Journey’ and then took a break.

Malcolm went up on stage as they left, turning the TV on.

“Ladies and gentlemen. You are about to see something very special. These four talented musicians are part of the Summer Rose band, as you know. A couple of weeks ago, they were in the main studio at Abbey Road, recording their new album. Tonight, we’re giving them a rest and showing you two single tracks and two album DVDs that they recorded. Hit it, Ashley.”

He stepped down from the stage as the screen lit up, showing the band in the studio. A lot of the diners sang along with ‘Money’, and then sat, enthralled as the rest of the music continued. The four of them sat with their families as the two live concerts played through. This was Summer Rose that most had never heard before. There was applause when the last credits of the Kansas finished. Willow got up and went up on the stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. You have just seen two albums. The ‘Homegrown’ one will be launched in London next weekend. The Kansas set will be on sale from then until sold out. We expect that most will sell at our concerts, which begin in two weeks from tonight, at the Nottingham Forest football ground. As you could see from the list at the end of that DVD, we’re at Derby midweek, Leicester the following weekend. We get a week at home and then play at the Coventry City ground the following weekend, Manchester City mid-week, Liverpool on the weekend, Leeds mid-week, Sheffield the next weekend. We then go south for shows in Southampton mid-week and wind up the tour at the Arsenal ground the following weekend. The shows will have G-Force, who many have seen here, and Rick Sacks and the Hikers. Both bands have already received Gold Records for their new albums. It will be a good show, and every performance will have a huge amount donated to a charity in each city. I hope to see you there.”

Malcolm told them that he would put the equipment away. Racheal had a few words with Willow, thanking her for taking the party thing to the likely solution. Willow said goodnight to her and her friends, telling them that she would see them Sunday evening at the birthday party, and walked home with her mother.

On Sunday morning, they joined the other villagers in the church and listened to Jim playing. Willow and Gina spoke to him afterwards.

“How are you enjoying playing the hymns, Jim?”

“It’s good. I like it playing the intro and outro set, it’s soothing.”

“We feel the same. Playing rock music is exciting, but doodling Bach can settle the nerves. Are you looking forward to the shows?”

“Hell, yes! We’ve been getting together in the evenings, writing more that Zara can sing. She makes us sound better. Are you going to the party tonight?”

“We are. It will be interesting to see what they’ve done with the barns. I believe that you’re playing a dinner dance next week?”

“We are. I know that the Belgrade shows were a big thing then, but these upcoming shows are going to be make or break. A couple of the guys want to drop out and chase the money, and the rest of us want to finish our education. Zara and Geoff just want to get married and have kids, although her mother has other ideas.”

They went into the club, but Willow didn’t stay long. She and Wendy had lunch at home and enjoyed some bonding time, catching up on each other’s activities, considering that Willow had been away so much lately.

They started getting ready for the birthday party about four and were close to ready when Ashley got home. They had a light tea, knowing that tonight would be mainly cake and barbeque. They took Wendy’s car up to the farm, parking alongside others.

They followed the noise to the other barn, to find that the party was in full swing. Willow found Jacob, gave him a kiss and a birthday card.

“Thank you, my love. No gift?”

“What do you get a man who has everything? Besides, you have me by your side, what more do you want? In reality, I haven’t had time to go to a shop in weeks.”

“That’s all right, just joking. Come and dance, we have a DJ tonight. Rick is ritually burning good meat out back, so there should be charred protein ready later.”

They danced and ate, danced some more and talked to friends. Around nine, Willow told him that she needed some fresh air, and they went outside. It was still light, and they walked away from the barn.

“You still haven’t shown me your living quarters.”

Jacob looked around. Seeing nobody watching, he took her to the front of the modified barn, and opened the door to let them in. He turned on a light switch and the room was bathed in a soft orange light.

“There are no windows, so I leave this on during the night, so I don’t bump into things if I need to move around.”

“I like it. It has a seductive atmosphere to it.”

“Do you feel seduced?”

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him more passionately than ever before.

“You know. When I heard that you may have lost your virginity and never remembered a thing, I was sad for you. I wondered what I could do to make it better, and I could only think of one thing. Can you guess what that one thing could be, my love?”

He grinned and led her into another room, where a big bed waited for them. She had a zip-fronted dress, so it only took a moment before it was on the floor, followed in double quick time by his trousers. Willow knelt and pulled his underpants down, releasing his stiffening member. She gave it a kiss and a lick and stood up again as he peeled her panties down. With her on her back, on the bed, he pulled her bra straps aside to nuzzle her breasts and then she guided him to where she wanted him to be.

All the times that she had dilated was nothing compared to what she felt now. When he entered her, she was glad that she had lubed before coming out. They made love with no sign that it was the first time for both of them, reaching the peak of ecstasy together. When they had calmed down, they kissed gently.

“Happy birthday, darling Jacob. That’s something we can both remember. I’d better use your toilet and we should get back to the party before they send out a search party.”

They cleaned up and redressed, then went back to the party, in time to join the queue for more sausages and chops. There were four cakes, all shaped like guitars, and all different flavours. They guzzled with the rest of the crowd, sang ‘Happy Birthday’ four times, and then the DJ started playing slow songs. As they danced, just swaying to the music, Jacob whispered in her ear.

“I love you, Willow Rose. I had a crush on you in school, well before that New Years Eve. When we kissed, I thought I had gone to heaven, but it was just the lower level. Tonight, has been heaven.”

“I love you, Jacob Epstein. I’ve grown to love you over the last six months. Tonight, you made me a complete woman, your woman. There is only one problem that I can see.”

“What’s that, my love?”

“Just that it may be a while before we can make love again. This has been wonderful, but I don’t think that you could have a birthday party every week.”

“We’ll just have to remember tonight until then.”

‘Oh, I will, my love, I will.”

When the party wound up, they kissed before Willow left with her parents. On the short drive home, she could see her mother glancing at her in the rear-vision mirror. At home, she hugged her parents and went upstairs to cleanse and use the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror and then sat on the toilet to use a squeeze bottle to wash her vagina, as instructed by the doctor. She really should report that she had full sensitivity down there, just to make her doctor happy.

In the morning, she was having an early breakfast when her mother asked her if she had a good time at the party.

“I had a lovely time, Mum. I must have hogged Jacob, but it was a good chance to be together for the evening, seeing that we can’t go on dates.”

“Is he a good kisser?”

“You know a girl doesn’t kiss and tell, Mum.”

“There was a period that I didn’t see you.”

“We went outside for a private cuddle and talked about the future.”

“When you came back, you looked like a girl who had been given a present, rather than a future. Take it carefully, my darling, you’re still only young, even if you are so adult.”

“I will, Mum. Thank you for being so understanding. I feel much more certain that we have a future together. The tour will be the thing that will show us if we can withstand a lot of tension.”

“That tour worries me. I just hope that the crowds turn up. It seems such a big gamble. It’s all been good so far but attracting so many people seems impossible.”

“I know, Mum. All we can do is do enough that those who are there have a good time. It’s the organisers who are taking the gamble. They’re the ones with the experience and access to the buying trends. ‘Homegrown’ will be on the market for a week before we’re on stage. Sales will show us if it’s all worth it.”

On Monday, they started the revision week. There was a pile of DVDs in the lunchroom for sale. They were all Volume One from the BBC. Dianne gave Willow the USB.

“That just blew our minds, Willow. It was hard to think that there was this fabulous band and they’re all school friends.”

Willow turned to Gina.

“I’ve just had a thought, friend.”

“Just the one?”

“I have a partner lanyard, and so do you. Both our actual partners are in the band, so I wondered if we could set up an arrangement where we each take one of the orchestra with us to a concert. We’re at ten places, so can take twenty of them. If we get a second show anywhere, we can take more. What do you think?”

“I’ll have my Mum at the Coventry show, but otherwise, why waste good tickets. Dianne, can you put together a roster. You’ll need to be picked up by mid-morning to get on the vehicle with us. They’re seven seaters, so we’ll be all right if Jacob doesn’t bring anyone.”

Jacob leaned over.

“Racheal is going with Rick, so there’s nobody I’ll be taking. I suppose that I could have asked my cousins, but that’s not possible now.”

“We could always ask Sebastian to get a minibus, then we can take more. We can ask him this afternoon and get back to you tomorrow. It will be nice to have some extra friendly faces with us.”

On the way home, they asked Sebastian about the plan, and he laughed.

“Already ahead of you there. The company has acquired three twenty-seaters for us to use. We’re taking partners too, some of our fellow workers and office staff have been spoken to. We’ll have plenty of room for an extra three on our bus. If I have an address in Coventry to pick up, we can do that on the way to the northern venues.”

Tuesday, Gina played in the chapel. Reg thanked the girls for the passes. At lunch, they told Dianne about the bigger bus, and that their driver was prepared to pick up at a site in Coventry. Willow went over to the other band members and told them about what they were planning, and that there would be minibuses used. By Wednesday afternoon, the pick-up venue had been decided as the car park of the Cathedral, as it was central, and parents could park there into the early hours. Willow told her parents about the plan, and they decided that they would make up a party as well. One show they would pick up two from Wendy’s work, the next show two from Ashley’s work would come to the house to join them.

Wednesday evening, the choir worked with Sally with the seven Soprano airs, plus one duet with Margaret. It would make things much easier when they had the full orchestra. By Thursday, they had a full list of partners for all the northern shows, with another list if there were second shows. Dianne had asked around the second year, her sister had canvassed the third year, and Zara had spoken to the fourth years to go with members of G-Force.

Friday was the last day of revision and seemed to drag. The band was getting excited about the launch on the weekend. Willow was getting worried that the next week would be an anticlimax. She checked her laptop when she got home and saw that Wilhelm had sent a spreadsheet of Summer Love accounts. With last month’s input, and this month’s input, they had over a million and a quarter in the account, with expected outlays for the building renovation expected to be somewhat close to a million. There had been some outlays, mainly the work needed on both properties to bring them up to modern standards.

Jill had sent an email to tell them that the Coventry show was now starting to fill a second night. That was a welcome shock, seeing that the first show was three weeks away. There was a second email from Jill to Jacob, with Willow cc’ed. It told them that the investigator had been to Birmingham and, given the likely girl and her address, had spoken to pharmacists in the local area with a picture, confirming that the girl had bought a pregnancy test kit some six weeks earlier, and a month before the party. The investigator had also spoken to the school, who had to report the administration of a date rape drug to the local police station.

The local police hadn’t done anything yet, as no official complaint had been made. They did give her the details of the station closest to where the girl lived, and the investigator had spoken to their Chief Superintendent. That station was going to arrest the girl on suspicion of extorsion and seize her phone to check if there were any pictures, and if any of them had been sent somewhere else. If nothing else, it would frighten her off and tell her parents that their daughter was pregnant. The raid was this weekend, so there should be some news next week.

Willow had her roller case ready, with enough for two nights away and an afternoon in Hyde Park. She had packed the outfit that she had worn in the video. When the coach arrived, she allowed Max to store her case and climbed on board to join a very boisterous group. She went and sat next to Jacob, noting that Brent had his arm around Gina a couple of seats in front. On the way, they sang some of their own songs, sometimes with different words, and were very happy. They were happier when Sebastian turned the radio up to hear ‘Dummy Spitter’ loud and clear, with the announcer telling the world that this was the first single of a much rockier ‘Summer Rose’ and from an album to be launched at the Rough Trade record store the next day. The all had a cheer.

At the hotel, they were treated like royalty, having now stayed there for a few times. They took their cases to the rooms and then went down to the dining room for a late dinner. Gina and Willow were sharing again and hung their outfits and cleansed for bed. They laid in bed, with the light out, and talked quietly. Gina said that she was seriously thinking about having sex with Brent, so Willow just told her to make sure he had a condom to use.

“You’re not shocked?”

“Why should I be, friend? Girls and boys are having sex at a much younger age these days. As long as you take precautions, and don’t flaunt it, I see no harm in it.”

The next morning, they discovered that Brent and Jacob were sharing a room. Willow looked at Gina and winked. Gina blushed, and then smiled. After they had eaten, Jill joined them and told them that there was already a queue at Rough Trade, so they would start a bit earlier. They went to freshen up and the boarded the coach, with Jill showing Sebastian the way.

When they arrived at the shop in Dray Walk, there was quite a crowd, as well as two police cars, the four policemen standing by the door. Sebastian pulled up with the coach door and the shop door directly opposite. Jill got out and spoke to the policemen. Max got out to guard the coach door. The police sergeant called out.

“Now, listen up. The band will leave the coach and enter the store. Give them a few minutes and the store will open for you. We’ll be here for a while to make sure that you’re orderly. Hear that – orderly! I’ve been told that the band is staying until there’s none of you left, or the CDs have all gone.”

There was some laughter and then the shop door opened, and Jill beckoned for them to leave the coach. There was noise as each of them left the coach, with their names being called to look to the camera, with a few calls from girls saying that they loved the guys, and a couple of guys telling the girls that they were adored.

Max had a huge grin on his face as he helped them to step down to the pavement. When they were all inside, he got back into the coach and sat in front. Sebastian looked at him.

“Why the big smile, Max.”

“Well, there were pictures taken of every member of the band as they were getting out. Guess what? Every picture will have me holding their hands! Unless I get airbrushed out, that is.”

Laughing, Sebastian gave the policeman a wave, and backed up to leave the way he had come, to spend a lazy day in London, on full pay. Not for the first time, he whispered ‘I love this job’. The policeman made sure he had enough room to manoeuvre and waved them off.

Inside the store, the band were taken through to the back, where there was a small stage with a microphone and a keyboard. Clive was there already.

“Good morning. The keyboard is there to give some ambience, unless someone wants to play it. We have a table either side, one will have five of the band and the other six. Sort yourselves out as who sits where. Once you’ve done that, we have these life-size pictures to go behind you, so that everyone knows which one they’re speaking to, although, from what I just heard, that’s not a problem.”

They conferred, and Gina sat in the middle of the five seats, with Brent beside her, and Roy, Edward and Nancy. Willow and Jacob sat in the middle of the other table, Herb and Victor beside her side, and Bryan and Vivienne beside Jacob.

When Willow had a chance to look around, she saw that the access to the tables was from a single aisle, where a shop assistant stood with a register and a three big piles of disc cases. The exit was from the other end of the tables, with another assistant standing to make sure nobody tried to come in that way.

The first people in the line were the four policemen, with a set of discs each. When they had all been signed, the four put their booty behind their stab-vests and went to the door to make sure the entry of the customers was orderly, as ordered. Clive watched and laughed.

“This is going down much better than I expected. It’s human nature, but once that lot outside have formed a line, anyone else will just join it. Pens at the ready, here comes the first customers.”

Marianne Gregory © 2025