Page 29 of Everything After (Everything Trilogy)
ALFIE
Delilah chose “Crocodile Rock”, the fast-paced Elton John song to play for her student spotlight piece. We messed around with it until she made it her own and the pure joy on her face reminded me of the times when I’d played my guitar for the sheer pleasure of it.
“Amazing,” I praised once she’d nailed the arrangement and closed the piano lid. My stomach rumbled and I wasn’t ready to spend the night alone just yet. “That deserves food. Neither of us have eaten. What say Oscar takes us to a little pizza place I know, and we grab a bite to eat?”
Delilah looked hesitant and I shook my head, immediately understanding that she’d figured dining with me would be against college rules or I’d be expecting a reward in kind from her.
“Oh, it’s perfectly above board. I’m not on the staff this time around. I’m just volunteering my services here and there, to a couple of students Derek thinks would benefit from my experience.”
A smile curved her lips, and she immediately relaxed. “Well in that case, I’m hardly likely to turn down having dinner with a hot, famous rock star.”
I chuckled and held up my wedding ring. “When I said dinner, that’s all I meant. Not that you’re not a beautiful girl,” I added to soften the blow, should she have had other ideas about my innocent invitation.
“Am I allowed to change first?”
I briefly checked her out and shrugged. Her dress sense was nothing like my wife’s.
As a student, Lily had always looked stunning and had a great sense of style.
I supposed being brought up in London with the fashion scene all around her had helped her with that.
Delilah had that country girl look and was dressed in a plaid shirt and mismatched pants.
“You look fine as you are. Where we are going isn’t fancy. ”
“All the same…” she trailed off, stood and gestured toward her baggy, brightly-colored pants. “These are my pajama pants.”
I laughed. “You know, Delilah, I thought maybe you’d gotten dressed in the dark. If you dress in front of me like you don’t give a fuck what I think, I have a feeling you’re going to be a great rock star one day.”
It took all of five minutes of being seated in the pizza restaurant before someone took our picture and what had been an innocent dinner with my mentee, had turned into a newsworthy story.
“Fuck. Ignore them,” I said of the paparazzi glaring through the restaurant window as I glanced up at the server who had come to take our order. “What do you like on your pizza.”
“Anything with extra cheese,” she replied, smiling.
Flashbulbs continued at the window until I asked the server to sit us at a table nearer the back, away from a street view. Oscar went out to push them back as we did this, and I could only imagine the headlines in the tabloids to the decision I’d made once we’d done this.
I was used to the stories that the paparazzi spun about me and some woman. They always hinted at scandal, but they had contained just enough mundane details that it kept them on the right side of a libel suit.
“Is it always like this?” Delilah asked. Her brows furrowed in concern.
I automatically reached over and placed a reassuring hand on hers. Realizing what I’d done, I whipped it back and stuck it under the table. “Sorry, fuck, I was just concerned for you,” I muttered. “Damn, this was a bad idea, I should have just ordered pizzas and had them delivered to the studio.”
Delilah smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “This is an innocent dinner, right?” I nodded. “Then we should give them a show,” she said throwing back her head and her mouth wide like she was pretending to laugh at something I’d said.
My phone buzzed in my jacket pocket. I pulled it out and saw it was Drew. “Excuse me for a minute,” I said, answering his call.
“What the hell are you doing? Elle just came in screaming at me that you’ve left Lily so that you can have an affair,” he muttered.
“Huh?” I huffed, confused. “What are you talking about?”
“She had a news alert on her phone that you’re out wining and dining some model-type girl.”
“Delilah isn’t a model, she’s a musician.”
“So you don’t deny it? Elle thinks you’re having some kind of mid-life crisis.”
Of all the things I could have said. The first words out of my mouth should have been to deny that there was anything amiss about our dinner. “Look, she’s a student at college. Derek asked me to mentor her. Neither of us had eaten all day, and I offered for her to come to dinner.”
“Not cool, dude. You should be fixing your marriage. This isn’t the time to be playing the Good Samaritan. I suggest you get your head on straight and figure out how to mend your marriage with your pregnant wife.”
“Your pregnant wife is your responsibility,” I replied.
“I’m not talking about my wife—I’m talking about Lily.”
My mind emptied of every thought in my head as I shot to my feet in shock. And it was only when his clarification sank in that I remembered to suck in a breath. “What did you say?” I whispered. I glanced down at the innocent student in front of me, who stared back at me with alarm on her face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“What do you mean, what did I say?” Drew yelled, sounding irritated.
“About Lily, what did you just say?” I was met by silence until I prompted Drew again. “What did you say, Drew?”
“Fuck,” he whispered. “You don’t know, do you? She didn’t tell you?” he asked. His question carried a note of incredulity, pity and an apology in his tone. “I’m sorry that you’ve heard it from me first. Go home and talk to her. Lily’s pregnant.”