Friday Oct 18

Shopping was on the agenda Friday morning. Clive said he had some things to take care of, so he didn’t join them. They headed to the shopping district in Valletta and the ladies found more gifts and souvenirs. Trixie and Barb bought some swimsuits and cover ups and found a nice spot for lunch where they talked about the party.

“I don’t want to do anything else today. Maybe we have to nap so we can stay awake late.”

“Yes, let’s go home. I might just take a nap beside the pool.”

They were still chatting when they got back to the villa. “I could use some more coffee.”

“How about I make a nice pot of tea?”

“That’s a better idea, thanks Bobbie.”

They had tea and sugar cookies and then began getting ready.

Bobbie got out of her shower, blew out her hair and began rifling through her closet. She chose a dark denim, light weight, pair of capri pants and a burgundy tunic-style shirt because she didn’t want to look too dressy. She walked out to the lounge. “What do you think; when I add jewellery and stuff, is this party wear?”

Trixie came out of her room with a teal coloured, slinky, knitted silk tee-shirt dress. “Maybe if you wear my spangley gold flats, add this gold leather belt and wear some gold earrings and stuff.”

Barb came out of her room wearing a tiered sundress with a little lace bolero. She was wearing driver style shoes and had a matching leather clutch.

Bobbie hugged Trixie. “That looks nice Barb, lets go get our makeup and jewellery on.”

They were all ready and there was a knock on the door. Clive looked very much like a body guard. He was dressed in black with a black ball cap.

“We’ll take my car, please come this way ladies.”

The twilight was fading and the almost full moon was coming up in the eastern sky. They drove along the coast and were quietly looking out the window and Clive pulled into a big circular driveway. The villa was smaller than the one they were staying at. Clive pulled up to the door. “You can get out here and I’ll go park and then hang around until you’re ready to go home.”

They stepped into a great space that had one whole wall of windows that folded open to a big pool deck and about 40 people were milling around inside and out. Tate saw them coming in and came over. “Hi Bobbie, I’m so glad you could come. Grab something to drink and join me over here were I’ve rigged up a little stage and some basic sound gear. We’ll sing a couple songs and I’ll have something to use for my album pitch.”

“OK Tate, lets get this party started.”

Bobbie found some water and went to join Tate. He had a couple guitars in the corner and pointed to a twelve string so Bobbie picked it up and began to tune it. A few minutes later she was done. Trixie and Barb were sitting on a sofa close buy and Bobbie chatted with them until Tate was ready. There was one guy with a camera leaning against the wall and Tate did a little sound check.

Tate stepped up to the mike. “Hello and welcome everyone. I’m so glad you could all come. I’d like to introduce my friend Bobbie who made some remarkable acoustic arrangements of some of my songs and is here now to help me share them with you.”

Bobbie walked over, plugged in the twelve string and began to play the iconic intro to Tate’s biggest song and the room went quiet. All nervousness fell away and they sang three Tate band songs, sharing the microphone and changing guitars occasionally.

They wrapped it up and Bobbie started mingling. Trixie told her that she and Tate sounded really good and Barb came over, holding her phone. “Look Bobbie, Tate’s people just uploaded one of the songs it’s getting views already.”

“That’s cool, I would think they would want to edit it or something but he did record us to drum up some publicity.”

Tate came up behind her. “Lovey, we don’t need to touch those songs. It was exactly what I wanted. We’re putting them up on the internet as a test and if it goes the way I think, the new album is in the bag. Now, are you sure you don’t want to be on my album.”

Tate had his arm loosely around Bobbies waist. “Well Tate, I might help produce your album if you came back to Crow Harbour and gave our buddy Johnny’s studio a try. It’s a beautiful place to record. To really make the record popular, like I said before, you need a high-profile female singer.” She edged away from him a little.

Tate pretended to pout. “I suppose you’re right about that lovey; I just thought we shared a vibe.”

“We sound really good together but I’m sure you sound good with a lot of singers.”

Tate bowed and moved away. Trixie laughed. “Old Tate was going to try something with you, I think. You really don’t want to be on his record?”

“No Trixie, I really idolized Tate but I don’t want to be a groupie or his backup singer. Actually, singing with him is enough for me.”

Tate came back for his acoustic guitar. “Hey ladies, grab a drink and come join us buy the pool we’re going to have an off-camera jam session. Bobbie, you can bring a guitar if you want and join us.”

“That sound fun Tate.” Trixie went over to the bar and got the wine they brought and Bobbie grabbed a guitar and they headed out to the fire pit at the back of the pool.”

Someone was playing bongos and they chatted and sang and roasted marshmallows. Tate was snuggling up to a younger lady wearing a swimsuit; he must have shared a vibe with her too. Thought Bobbie. She was glad she swore off guys and she was reminded of the old saying; never meet your idols.

Clive joined them and sat just behind Bobbie. Towards the end of the evening, he leaned forward. “Is your party almost ready to leave?”

Barb was just back from the washroom and Trixie stood up. Bobbie went over and hugged Tate and thanked him for the party.”

Tate stood up. “Thank you Bobbie and I’ll be in touch.”

Clive left and Bobbie, Barb and Trixie made their way to the front door. There, Clive picked them up. They were quiet in the car. Bobbie had her phone and was reading the comments on the videos Tate posted. She looked at her hashtag and saw the black widow was still trending and decided to link the music videos. She put her phone away, not wanting to think about that stuff anymore.

Clive was driving and they were starting to go down the seep coastal road. They picked up speed and they all looked at Clive, who seemed agitated. “The brakes aren’t working; I need to find a run off and use the emergency brake.” Moments later he swerved and yanked up the emergency brake and they spun in the gravel of a side road. When the car stopped, they all stayed silent.

Trixie who was in the front seat looked at Clive. “That was too close, good thinking Clive. We could have gone off this cliff into the ocean.”

Clive nodded. “Maybe that was the idea.”

Clive drove the rest of the way home slowly, in a low gear, with his hazard lights on.