It took even longer to finish the kitchen than we thought it would. All Friday, then a bit of Saturday. Luke and I took off in my car for Hamilton late Saturday afternoon. Cole and the others were going to make sure everything was ready.

I changed gear, ready to slow for the turn onto Swamp Road.

“What tipped you off?” I asked Luke.

“About what?” Luke looked out the window and checked for traffic. “Nothing coming.”

“Laura.” I’m curious. I really thought no one had any idea except Jess’s dad.

We’d gone another kilometre or so before he answered. “A guess. Didn’t know for certain until right now. I was at your place before Isabelle was born, and Laura was helping you with something. Jess was somewhere, and you and Laura looked pretty cosy.” Luke stared out the window. “You two still cosy?”

I shook my head. “Got sprung.”

“Who by? Jess is still around.”

“Jess’s dad.”

“Fuck, that would have been fun.”

“Yeah, fun.”

Luke checked his watch. “We should get there with minutes to spare.”

Then he runs his hand through his hair. “How did my life get so boring? I’m going to marry a girl I went to school with, take over Dad’s business and live in the town I grew up in. And I’ll probably come over here to play the same stuff every Saturday night until I’m dead. I think I’ll bugger off.”

I can understand feeling like that. I snort again. “One installation goes wrong, and you’re ready to chuck it all in?”

Luke grinned and shrugged.

“Where’s Tara from?” I ask.

“She works in town. She’s a hairdresser.”

“How did you meet her?”

“Went to get my hair cut.”

“Does she know you’re engaged?” Luke gave me a get real look. “Or that you’ve slept with pretty much everyone we went to school with?”

Luke nodded. “She knows that bit. Chantelle told her.”

“Chantelle?”

“That girl with the red hair?”

“Yeah, the one that did your hair. She told Tara about Tessa too. Chantelle’s got a big mouth. Tara took some convincing that I’m a one-woman man now.”

“Aren’t you staying with Tessa tonight?”

Luke wiggled his hand in a maybe, maybe not gesture. “I might come home with you. I can’t decide. When I’m with Tessa, I like her the best. When I’m with Tara, she’s the one.”

I gave a snort. “You’re going to get in the shit.”

“Like you did?”

I shrugged.

We are on the outskirts of Hamilton now. Luke sighed. “Be this or that. Choose this girl or that one. Why can’t I have it all?”

I didn’t comment. I turned off Cobham Drive and headed for the pub.

Then Luke asked, “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Don’t you wish things were different?”

“No. I’ve got everything I want.”

“Bullshit.”

“Seriously. If I’ve got Jess and Isabelle in my life, it’s all good.”

Luke snorted. “Yeah, right. Did you practice saying that in front of the mirror? Remember, I sing the lyrics you write.”

No answer to that.

We arrived at the pub. The parking lot was packed, and we could see people going in and out of the entrance doors. Inside looked packed too. I hauled the two guitars and the violin off the backseat. I handed a guitar to Luke.

“How late are we?”

“Just cutting it fine.”

We headed for the service door.

Cole was in the side room.

“Where are Adam and Noah?” Luke looked around the room. Everything we use on stage was gone, so it was probably all set up ready to go.

Cole nodded his head at the main bar. “In there, still setting up. We’ve lost the cord to the one of the amps.” He looked around the mess of stacked chairs, spare tables and old signage, spotted the cord on the top of a stainless serving trolley. “I was starting to wonder if you two were going to make it.”

“Did you have a chance to do a sound check?”

Cole showed him the lead from the amp. “You’re kidding, right? We’ll just have to hope everyone’s had enough to drink they can’t tell the difference.”

On stage Luke held the microphone and waited for me to plug in the violin. He turned and spoke to Noah.

“Ready?” The main body of the bar had been dimmed, and I could only see the faces of the kids close to the stage. Further out, it was all moving shadows and dim shapes.

Luke got a nod from Noah then checked Adam, Cole and I were set.

The crowd roared. We have fans. The Saturday night crowd had doubled, then trebled, then doubled again in the last couple of months.

Luke lifted the microphone as the haunting ascent of the violin introduced “Stardust”. We still lead in with “Stardust”. It seemed to be what everyone expected. His voice came in under the wail of the violin then soared over the music. Everything else dropped away, and we became the performance. I could feel the crowd engage as Luke’s voice wrapped around them. He made the sound rise over their heads and then draw in close and intimate.

God, I loved it. My voice and Adam’s came in under Luke’s, and he drew back. Then the keyboard took over. It all worked like magic, and we pulled the audience into our world.

After an hour we took a break. We sat in the side room in amongst the junk. Bottles of beer and water had appeared. Harry looked after us pretty well now. His takings on a Saturday night must have quadrupled over the last few months.

“You get whatever you needed to do done?” Cole took the cap off a beer and handed the bottle to Luke. I went for the water. I still had to drive home. I was still being good.

“Yep, all finished. Who’s here?” Luke waved his beer at the main hall.

“Tessa and a few hangers on.” Cole perched on a table and crossed his boots. “There’s a party at the flat after the pub closes.”

“Which one are you with at the moment?” asked Luke.

“Amy.”

“The new flatmate?” I asked.

Cole shrugged. “Yeah, she seems nice.” I remember thinking how the hell does Cole do it? Milly left nearly two years ago, and Cole has gone back to moving seamlessly from one girl to the next without causing any resentment like he used to when we were at school. He must do something right.