The Piano Man Project Page 0,20

the end of her pencil. ‘Mmm. What did I miss?’

‘Lucille just suggested trying to raise the funds to buy the home from the current owners. It’s a long shot, but put it down as an idea anyway.’

A long shot was something of an understatement. ‘Anyone know any lottery winners?’ Honey said as she scribbled on the list. Unsurprisingly, five heads shook around the table.

‘Thought not.’

‘I think Old Don’s son works for the local rag though,’ Billy piped up. ‘He’d be a good one to start with.’ Old Don was one of the home’s most senior residents and his son, in his sixties himself, was a regular visitor. Honey nodded. ‘Will you speak to him, Billy? Maybe ask him to swing by the shop for a chat when he’s here next?’

Billy nodded. ‘Consider it done, my angel.’

‘Anything else, anyone? Any other business?’ Honey said, mostly because it was the thing people seemed to say to conclude meetings on the television. Tash raised her hand.

‘Yes, me please, Miss Jones. What are you wearing for your date with Deano tomorrow night?’

Honey frowned. ‘Tash!’

Nell clapped her hands gleefully. ‘Ooh, Tash told me about this. Your first pianist. I wonder what he’ll be like.’

‘I can play the piano,’ Billy chimed in helpfully, and Honey felt Nell start to laugh under her breath beside her. Lucille and Mimi cast a knowing glance at each other, and then laid a hand each on Billy’s arm.

‘Not this tune you can’t, darling,’ Mimi murmured theatrically as Honey cringed into her chair. If anyone attempted to explain the whole piano man thing to Billy, she was going to die on the spot. How had it happened that almost everyone she knew had become aware of her sexual issue? Hell, it wasn’t even an issue to her anymore, not half as much as it was to everyone else, anyway. Even Hal had seemed incredulous. Hal. What in God’s name had possessed her to tell him about it all? He seemed to transmit tell-me-the-truth vibes through his solid front door like some kind of weird telepathist.

Honey pushed her chair back, signalling the end of the conversation before anyone could say anything more about the issue. Billy helped Lucille and Mimi to their feet, and then offered them each an elbow to escort them out of the back door and across the lawn to the home. The ladies blew kisses at Honey, Tash and Nell as they moved into the doorway and watched them go.

‘Christ, I hope we’re like them when we get to that age,’ Tash said.

Honey laughed fondly. ‘Let’s grow old together disgracefully, girls.’

‘Deffo,’ Tash said, pulling a bottle of red wine from her bag with a grin. ‘Time for a quick one?’

Honey reached for the glass cupboard, but Nell picked up her bag instead.

‘I can’t tonight, ladies, sorry. I need to get home.’

‘You sure Simon can’t hold the fort for just a little longer?’ Honey’s fingers lingered hopefully on the third glass.

‘Umm. It’s not that … we’ve kind of made plans for the evening.’

Both Honey and Tash turned to look at Nell; there had been a strange inflection to her words.

‘It’s not your anniversary, is it?’ Honey was sure it was too early in the year for that.

‘And it’s not your birthday …’ Tash added, raising her eyebrows at Nell. ‘What’s going on, Nellie?’

Pink spots appeared in Nell’s cheeks and she shrugged lightly. ‘Nothing really,’ she murmured. ‘We just fancied a bit of an early night.’ She glanced down at her shiny shoes and then back up again with wide, almost innocent eyes.

‘An early night?’ Tash said slowly. ‘As in you and Simon have already made plans to get down and dirty tonight? Simon’s just gone up in my estimation.’

Honey sloshed wine into a glass and thrust it into Nell’s hands, sensing from Nell’s coyness that there was something juicier to this story. ‘A very quick one,’ she muttered, pouring wine into the other glasses and handing one to Nell.

‘What gives, Nell?’ Tash wheedled as they all perched around the table with their glasses in their hands. Nell sat tight-lipped and looked slowly from Honey to Tash and then back again, and after a moment she reached for her big leather satchel and flipped it open. Honey strongly suspected that they were about to see a positive pregnancy test. Nell had gone all glowy and excitable. She was very, very wrong. Nell didn’t pull a pregnancy test from her bag. She pulled out a metallic vibrator instead. Both Tash and