For the Love of Music (Sixty Minute Romance) (8 page)

“So I am spending a
fortune here for ‘
I like you’
.” Ed was smiling.

“I’m being honest here;
I’m trying not to string you along.” Said Anne.

“No, no. I get that.
Honesty is about the only thing that I do understand. I would take you to the
other side of the world to hear you say once more ‘
I like you’
. So thank
you.”

“That’s completely
unnecessary, I like you. There I said it again.”

There was a cough that
interrupted their conversation. Felipe placed their coffees on the table.

“You talk together like
Maria and I do. It is very good.” Felipe had been eavesdropping.

“Thanks Felipe, can I have
the bill in a minute.” Asked Ed.

“Of course. I’ll do it
straightaway.” Felipe went off to prepare the bill. As they left, Maria
magically reappeared and saw them to their car.

“You have a new car, Ed!
But you are a very naughty boy for parking in the disabled place. I will tell
your mum of you.”

Anne looked across to Ed.
He shook his head.

“OK, I’ll be a good boy
next time.” Said Ed.

As they drove off Ed
explained to Anne that this was, in fact, only his second solo outing since his
return from Afghanistan. Up until now he had been with other people or at least
had a driver to take him around. Hardly anyone knew of his injuries.

“There was no point
upsetting them tonight. We had a good time didn’t we?”

“We did and I did. Thank
you Ed. The meal was amazing and you turned out to be good company.”

“Wow, you like me and you
think that I am good company. I must note that down in my smart phone.” Ed
teased.

“I know you think I’m
pushy and everything, so I’ll just post it out here in the car that I probably
will not kiss you good night when I get you home. I want to kiss you but I
probably won’t. Is that OK.” Ed was on good form.

“Well in that case I
probably won’t kiss you back. I think that it is highly unlikely.” Replied
Anne.

“I’m glad we sorted that
out.” Ed roared off from the next set of traffic lights like he was Jensen
Button or someone else on pole position. On the journey home, Anne asked
whether the Colonel was having a retirement do. Ed said that in the military
they weren’t the done thing because you were picking out one man against all
the others. Whether you were a Colonel or a squaddie, you both had a role to
play that was important. So you can be awarded medals, but a leaving party
wouldn’t be seen to be the right thing to do.

“That’s a pity, because he
is an exceptional man with a unique role.” Said Anne.

“I agree. Let me have a
think about it. I’ll see what the powers that be think about it.” They arrived
outside Anne’s house in the car.

“Well, thank you for
coming tonight. I’ve had a great time and I’m glad you like me. We have to do
this again very soon. Let me get your door this time.” Ed dropped out of his
seat and walked around the car to open Anne’s door.

“Goodnight Ed.” Anne
hugged him for a few seconds and gave him a short kiss on each cheek. She
turned and watched him drive away. He tooted the very loud horn on his car.
Anne went inside and started wondering what she was going to do. She knew now
that she more than liked Ed. She was in trouble.

Sandy had left an
answerphone message for Anne. It turned out that Paulo had been quite a lot
less than truthful with her about him changing his job. Sandy wanted her to
phone back even if it was late. So, even though Anne didn’t feel like it, she
picked up the phone and called Sandy.

Sandy was crying and was
quite incoherent. She spluttered out the basic facts about what Paulo had been
doing. When he told Sandy that he was lecturing in certain places for a week,
he was in fact going out on operations and putting himself in danger.

“Where is he now?” Asked
Anne.

“He’s watching a movie in
the other room. I told him to get out of my sight and that’s as far as he went.
He says he can’t understand why I am so upset. He only has a few more days of
frontline work left and that’s it. But how do I know if he is telling the
truth?”

“You don’t, that is the
problem. Of course, if he doesn’t have to do his lecturing anymore, then
theoretically, he will be home every night anyway.” Anne was trying to think
clearly and quickly but she had had a bit of a night herself.

“I suppose so. Why are men
so difficult? Paulo is perfect in so many ways; I do not understand why he lied
to me.” Sandy was calming down now.

“He lied to you because he
doesn’t want to lose you. Unfortunately for him, meeting Giorgio at the
hospital meant that you found out what he was up to.” Anne thought this might
be true. She hoped it was for Sandy’s sake. After ten minutes of talking round
in circles Sandy remembered about Anne’s date. Anne talked through the evening
she had spent with Ed and ended with her confessing that she did have feelings
for him.

“I knew it, just by the
amount of times you kept talking about him!” Sandy made it sound like she had
won a quiz game. After another twenty minutes Sandy and Anne wished each other
good luck and they hung up. Anne looked at the clock in her kitchen. She had
been home over an hour. She made herself a cup of hot chocolate and went to
bed.

After sleeping solidly for
seven hours her alarm went off and she had that weird experience, where the
previous day flashes through your mind in about ten seconds. Anne was trying to
decide whether it had been a good day or a bad day.

“The jury is taking a long
time out on this one.” Anne said out loud to herself. She still wasn’t sure
what to think, but she knew that she was falling for Ed.

There was a ring at the
front door. Anne assumed it would be the postman but it was a delivery man
holding a huge bouquet of flowers. The note read.
‘Today is Saturday,
Everyone goes out on Saturday. See you very soon. Ed’.

Anne thought the note was
a bit cryptic but then Ed was sometimes like that. The flowers were
magnificent. Anne didn’t know an Iris from a Dahlia, but she loved the bouquet
of flowers. She found her biggest vase and arranged the flowers as best she
could. She had some cereal for breakfast and started thinking about getting
ready for the rest of the day. She had to do some shopping for food and things
but nothing else was planned. The bell rang a second time about forty minutes
after the flowers had arrived. She opened the door to see Ed standing there
with a small wrapped present in his hands.

“Did you get the flowers?”
Asked Ed.

“Yes I did, they are
lovely, thanks. What are you doing here?” Asked Anne.

“I knew the note was too
cryptic. I’ve come to take you out for the day, if that’s OK.” Ed was
positively glowing with anticipation.

Anne always prided herself
on the fact that she was a spontaneous type of person, someone who could change
her plans very easily. This was proving not to be the case on this particular
Saturday morning. Just as Ed’s offer was sinking in, the phone rang. “You’ll
have to come in for a moment Ed.” Said Anne.

She answered the phone to
hear Sandy’s voice on the other end. She had had a bad night and things were
still not resolved with Paulo. Ed sat down on a kitchen stool while Anne was on
the phone.

“Paulo has popped out to
the gym for an hour. What am I going to do?”

“Can you hold the line a
minute Sandy, I’ve got someone here.” Asked Anne.

“Oh, OK.”

“Ed I’ve got Sandy on the
phone here, it could take a while.” Anne was not sure what to do with Ed.

“It’s OK, shall I go and
hide in the lounge?”

“If you don’t mind,
thanks.” Anne had too much on her mind.

Ed got up and went and
made himself at home on the sofa in the lounge. He found the remote controls
and switched on the TV. He settled down to watch Saturday Kitchen.

“OK, Ed’s in the lounge.
He just turned up.”

“Oh. Is it alright to talk
now?”

“Yes, it will give me time
to think.” With so much going on, Anne definitely needed time to think.

Sandy and Anne talked for
a good ten minutes about Paulo and what to do about him. A mobile went off in
the lounge and Ed started talking on his phone.  Anne found this even more
distracting but sat and listened as best she could to Sandy for another ten
minutes. Then the lounge door opened and Ed startled Anne by saying.

“Let me talk to her. It
will save us all a lot of time”

Anne was so surprised she
just handed the phone over.

“Hi Sandy, do you remember
me, I’m Ed.”

Sandy said that she knew
who he was.

“I have just spent ages on
my mobile in Anne’s lounge talking with Paulo. He phoned me up to ask me what
to do about you. He doesn’t want to lose you. So he is coming back home to you now
to talk it out. He’ll be there any minute.”

“Oh. Oh - what shall I
do?” Asked Sandy.

“Talk to him, hear him
out.” Said Ed.

“But he has lied to me.”
Said Sandy.

“He’s a dumb guy. I know
for a fact that he is stopping operations at work any day now. Now go kiss and
make up. He’s crazy about you.” Ed passed the phone back to Anne who was
looking on in astonishment. He had a
‘job done’
look on his face.

“Hello Sandy?”

“Paulo has just come back.
I’ll call you later.” Sandy put the phone down.

Anne looked across to Ed
who was looking her up and down very closely.

“Love the Disney Pyjamas.
Very sexy.” Said Ed.

Anne screamed and ran out
of the room to get herself ready. An hour later she was washed and dressed and
ready to face the world. The world today involved Ed, who was somehow in her
house and watching her television. By the time Anne reappeared, he was watching
football on Sky Sports.

“Can we start again
please?” Asked Anne.

“I’m fine with that,
although I was having a great time before.” Ed replied.

They made a filter coffee
pot and sat down in front of the television. Ed realised after a few minutes
that it would be a good idea to turn it off.

“I’m sorry Anne. I
couldn’t wait to see you again after last night. I’ll go once I’ve had this
coffee.”

“I like my life to be
planned and in order. I can’t just jump from one plan for a day to another. I
think that I am easy going and can take things as they come, but in your case
this is not true.”

“Well, I’m glad I am a
special case.” Replied Ed. He was hoping he hadn’t messed up completely.

“Well you are a special
case and because of that I am going to take a chance. I need to go shopping for
a few things and then I’m free for the rest of the day. So we’ll go somewhere
and do something together. Is that OK with you?”

“That sounds great.” Ed
was very relieved.

They went down to the
local food store, collected some emergency supplies, and went back to Anne’s
house. On their return, Anne saw the little wrapped present that Ed had brought
with him earlier.

“What’s that? Is it for me?”
She asked.

“Well it is for you, but I
am still not sure whether to give it to you.” Replied Ed.

“Well I will be the person
to decide that one.” Anne rapidly opened the small packet to find a computer CD
disc inside.

“What is this?” Asked
Anne.

“It’s some music and stuff
I have written in the last couple of months, since we started playing music
together. I’ve been up all last night finishing it off.”

“Don’t you sleep?” Asked Anne.

“Not always. I keep waking
up in the night thinking that I’m back in a hut in Afghanistan with my leg
blown away."

Anne dropped her head
wishing she hadn’t asked.

“Don’t worry about it. It
meant that I could finish this CD for you. It’s a bit personal so I hope you
can cope with it.”

Anne took a deep breath.
The highs and lows of Ed’s life were hard for her to take in her stride.

“You write your own music?
You never told me that you could do that!” This was something of a revelation
to Anne. She had never been able to write her own music. She had to have it in
front of her and then she could play. Writing songs and music was on another
level completely.

“Well I haven’t written
any since… well let’s just say I haven’t written any for a few years. I hope
you like it. I wrote it all for you.” Ed was beginning to wonder if it was a
bit too soon for this but Anne was all over the CD and went straight to her stereo
to  put it on. The first piece was an instrumental based on a simple bass and
guitar loop. The second track was an upbeat number with a full band sound.

“How do you make these
tracks?” Asked Anne.

“I do it on my computer
with special music software. It has been my main occupation for the last month.
 Anyway, you can listen to the rest later. Shall we go out?”