Strictly My Husband: It's funny, it's romantic and it's got dancing - what's not to love! (28 page)

‘They aren’t as confident as you think, Jerry and Tom,’ she said. ‘I know they both come across that way, brimming full of it, like they could do anything. But they’re just like you and me really. I reckon everyone’s the same underneath. Exactly the same.’ She paused, looking straight at him as he got to the bottom of the ladder. ‘We all spend our lives trying desperately to say what we mean and hardly ever having the confidence to go through with it.’

The room had somehow gone really quiet and still. Will’s expression didn’t change. She had no idea whether he understood what she’d said. She held his gaze.

‘I think that’s pretty much how most people live their lives,’ she added.

Will hadn’t looked away. She couldn’t look away either.

‘You make life sound very depressing, when you put it like that,’ he said eventually.

‘It can be,’ said Hannah. She swallowed. She couldn’t believe what she was doing. She felt a bit faint.

‘Did you ever tell her?’ she asked.

He flinched but said nothing.

‘The woman you said you wanted,’ she continued. ‘Did you tell her?’

Will shook his head. She watched his Adam’s apple travel all the way up and down his neck.

‘You should just do it,’ she said quickly.

He blinked several times, swallowed and then took a step back.

‘We should really test these lights and these speakers,’ he said slowly, his brow furrowed.

‘I suppose so,’ she sighed.

‘Stay here,’ he said. ‘I’ll just go and try the music and . . . and flick some switches. Don’t move.’

Hannah gazed after him, rooted to the spot. She felt hot, then cold, then hot again as she watched him disappear behind Jerry’s bar and fiddle
with the state-of-the-art sound system. A song Hannah instantly recognised came on and all of a sudden she was plunged into total darkness.

‘It’s all right, don’t panic,’ she heard Will shout.

She wasn’t panicking. Sure, her heart was thumping really fast but she didn’t think that was panic.

Suddenly her face was illuminated by floating coloured lights as the disco spots Will had put up burst into life. The glitter ball above her head started to swirl, casting sparkles at her feet. She thought she might burst into tears.

And then there he was standing next to her, looking white as a sheet but with a determined look on his face. Hannah held her breath. What was she doing?

‘So we need to test these lights,’ he said, holding out his hand.

‘What do you mean?’

‘The only way to test disco lights is to dance underneath them, isn’t it?’ There was a slight quiver in his voice.

She allowed a small smile to touch the corner of her mouth. ‘But I don’t dance,’ she replied, and then instantly regretted it.

‘Neither do I,’ said Will. He took a step forward and delicately picked up her hand. She could feel the slight roughness of his tradesman’s fingers. Her smile extended to the both corners of her mouth.

He swayed gently and she found herself mirroring him. They danced like that, smiling at each other, with just their hands touching for most of the Ed Sheeran track. Their eyes roamed each other’s faces, searching, checking for reassurance that this was really happening. As Hannah sensed the tune rising to its conclusion she felt her heartbeat accelerate. Their dance was already coming to an end and still they had only touched with their hands. Dare she take it further, lose herself in the music just for a moment, try it and see what it felt like?

Yes, she thought, stepping forward at precisely the same moment as Will, who dropped her hands and folded his arms around her shoulders, drawing her into his chest. She sighed with relief as the cotton of his shirt pressed against her cheek, making her feel instantly at home. She slotted her feet in between his and they continued their soft swaying beneath the
sparkling glitter-ball lights. She could hear that the song was about to call time on their first dance. But would it be their last? Her breath caught in her throat at the thought of it. Panic gripped hold of her and she jerked her head up to look into Will’s eyes before the tune ended. She had to know whether this was their first or last dance.

She took one look in his eyes and knew the answer. There could only be one answer.

‘You are listening to Radio Cornerstone, and this is me, Colin Campbell, bringing the magic straight to your ears,’ boomed out of the speakers. Will and Hannah sprang apart at the surprise interruption but remained gazing at each other.

‘That was “Thinking Out Loud” from Ed Sheeran and hopefully it’s got you in the mood for our next guest, award-winning organic pig farmer, Mike Robson, who’s here in the studio with his prize-winning sausages and with his pigs. Yes, you heard me right, we have pigs live in the studio. Straight after all your local traffic news from Sandra Shephard.’

‘That fucker Mike Robson is always on the fucking radio,’ came a voice from the bottom of the stairs.

They turned in horror to see Jerry’s arms piled high with boxes, staggering towards the bar. How long had he been there?

‘And his sausages are shit.’ He dropped the boxes on the floor and then straightened up, stretching his back. ‘Hiya, Will, mate,’ he called over. ‘Where’s the number of that osteopath, love? I need some serious knuckles on my spine, if you know what I mean?’

Chapter Thirty-Two

Laura

The show was drawing to a close now and the entire cast was in the midst of delivering the Twisted Tango. Tom and Carly flicked and kicked their way through the complicated routine. They were so in tune with each other that Laura couldn’t help but admire their flawless synchronicity. Their faces were fixed and rigid as they expressed the intensity of the dance. Their bodies slipped and slid all over each other and Laura held her breath as the music built to a crescendo. This was it. This was the moment she had to see but couldn’t bear to watch.

Tom and Carly were alone at the front of the stage, the rest of the cast having lined up as a row of playing cards at the back, forming an impressive backdrop to the couple’s finest moment. Tom and Carly curled and swooped and bent around each other, casting striking shapes and patterns until the music ended with a dramatic flourish and the cards at the back of the stage tumbled over in perfect formation. The Mad Bad Hatter caught Malice up in his arms and swooped her on to his right shoulder in a triumphant final pose.

Laura could feel and hear the delight of the crowd behind her. They stamped their feet, clapped their hands and cheered and cheered while the performers held their final positions on stage.

Tom carefully slid Carly back down to the floor. Their eyes met as her feet made contact with the stage. They were nose to nose, oblivious as the cheers continued to echo around them. Tom grinned first, then Carly, and then they embraced, there on stage in front of hundreds of people. Tom buried his face in her neck and lifted her feet off the floor and swung her around before they fell apart and smiled from ear to ear at each other again.

Laura pulled her long coat around her and wrapped her arms protectively around her chest. The icy wind bit into her cheeks as she hurried away from the stage, pushing through the crowd of delighted theme-park goers, stamping their feet and cheering as the final curtain came down on
Malice in Wonderland
. She’d seen more than enough.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Tom

That was it. They’d done it. It was all over. One hand supported Carly’s legs on his shoulders whilst the other was stretched out to his side. He fixed his broad grin for a count of eight, trying to absorb the reaction as much as he could until he assisted Carly to the floor and they wrapped themselves around each other in pure joy. If he weren’t on the stage he would have fallen to the floor and sobbed his heart out, such was the emotion tearing through his body right now. Instead, he took Carly’s hand from around his neck and led her to the front of the stage where they took their bows, the roar of the audience ringing in his ears.

They rose back up again and Tom gave himself a moment to commit the scene to his mind. A sea of kids in scarves and hats on grown-ups’ shoulders bobbed up and down, smiling, laughing and cheering. A small army of theme-park staff stood at the back, wolf-whistling and waving, having been allowed by Phillip to come and see the final performance of the show. The rumours had spread that it was actually something Wonderland should be proud of, which caused quite a stir among the rest of the staff, who were mostly cynical when it came to on-park entertainment. Right at the very front Tom could see Jerry on the verge of a nervous breakdown: jumping up and down, whistling, stamping his feet, his face bright red with excitement. He paused to give Tom a thumbs up, then blew him a kiss. Christ, thought Tom, Jerry was getting all theatrical on him. He was so taking this producer thing too far. Then he stopped. Where was Laura? He’d been so pleased to see her sitting next to Jerry when he’d first stepped out on to stage. He’d flashed her a massive grin and then thrown himself into his performance. He was determined to go out with a bang. But now, he could only see Jerry. The seat where Laura had been sitting was empty. Where on earth had she gone? Tom spotted Phillip with a couple of suits from Head Office completing the front-row line-up. His heart sank. Phillip hadn’t mentioned anything about VIPs. He should have learnt from bringing them to the first show that it was a bad idea. One was whispering something in Phillip’s ear so Tom couldn’t see his face;
but he was clapping, Tom noticed. That had to be a good sign. Surely they couldn’t fail to be impressed by what had become the best show Tom had ever been involved with.

Every day it had improved. Every day Tom had made Amy sit in the audience and then give her opinion on the performance. In true Amy style she’d pulled no punches, but instead of shrugging his shoulders and not doing anything about it, Tom had done his best to fix the mistakes. Every day he made the cast come in early to listen to Amy’s review and they’d agreed on how they could improve things until eventually even the cast members were coming up with their own enhancements without being asked. The buzz in the dressing room was no longer about the stink of chip fat or the lack of mirrors, but about how they were going to top the previous night’s show. The cast had grown into a company who all wanted the same thing: to deliver the best possible show they could.

Tom and Carly stepped back and allowed everyone else to take their last bow in the limelight. Tom took his opportunity to look in the wings to check if Laura was waiting for him there but she was nowhere to be seen.

One last glance at the delighted crowd and he signalled for the tarot cards to start shuffling off the stage. The stage lights lowered and the security lights emerged on full beam to guide the guests back to the exit and their journey home.

The cast bounced off stage, whooping and hollering into the blackness of the wings and back out into the real world again. A world not dominated by rehearsals and performances and costumes and make-up, fuelled by nerves and adrenaline.

Usually, when the curtain closed on a theme-park season Tom experienced a feeling that can only be described as dullness edged in failure. Another year wasted delivering lacklustre entertainment with only the prospect of a few months’ planning another load of lacklustre entertainment for the following year to look forward to.

But there was no dullness this evening. He felt on top of the world, alive and happy. Really happy. A happiness that was bursting inside him and which he had to try his hardest to grab hold of because any minute he knew it would deflate leaving a shell of remembered joy.

He bounced into the dressing room, leapfrogged over Tweedledee who was undoing his shoelaces and leapt straight on to the steel bench.

‘Shut uuuuuuuuup,’ he shouted at the top of his voice above all the post-show hubbub. As if by magic Amy appeared and banged the bench very loudly with a frying pan. Everyone immediately shut up.

‘Thank you,’ he said, throwing his arms wide. ‘I just want to thank you all for the most amazing experience! I’ve dreamt of doing a show like this for so long and you guys made it happen.’ Jerry gave a loud cough at the back of the room. ‘And especially you, Jerry of Camberwells Construction. The best mate any man could have. A mate with tradesmen at his fingertips.’ Everyone laughed. ‘This happened because of you too, mate.’ Tom thought Jerry might burst with pride. He watched him cast his head round to make sure everyone knew exactly who Jerry Knight was. He looked back up at Tom and then took a step forward and Tom realised that Jerry was going to try and join him on his makeshift stage and possibly make a speech. He decided he had to wrap up quickly before Jerry could get to him but before he could do so Carly was hoisted up on to the workbench by Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

‘Just one minute,’ she said and grabbed an enormous bottle of champagne out of someone’s hands. ‘May I butt in?’ she asked, turning to put her hand on his arm. ‘Tom, on behalf of the entire cast of
Malice in Wonderland
, I would like to say that you have been bloody awesome.’ She threw an arm around him, raising the bottle of champagne in the air with her free hand. Everyone stamped their feet and cheered. Jerry stopped in his tracks, realising this wasn’t his moment.

‘
Malice in Wonderland
is a brilliant show,’ announced Carly. ‘We all did our best to fuck it up for you – well, actually Theo did his best to try and fuck it up for you,’ she continued as Theo turned bright red in his supporting-cast, tarot-card costume. ‘But the truth is, even though you perhaps didn’t always think so, there was no way it could fail. Your vision and creativity were far too strong for that. All we had to do was deliver it. And didn’t we do just that?’ she cried out to her appreciative audience.

The crowd roared and suddenly all the pots and pans in the place were pulled off the shelves and an impromptu conga line was formed, lids and spoons creating a rhythmic beat.

Carly turned and took Tom’s hand. ‘Shall we?’ she asked.

‘Don’t mind if I do.’ He grinned, and they sashayed around the workbench to the beat of kitchen-utensil music. When Carly nearly fell off, Tom grabbed her, pulling her in close.