Page 22 of What Would Dolly Do?

A bolt of panic shot through me on hearing her say that.

I hadn’t thought further than trying to write a song, as an experiment, a sort of test to see if I could do anything that could ever be compared to composing.

I hadn’t thought about anyone else hearing it, judging it, even Laura who in the few hours I’d been in her company I’d decided was one of the loveliest people I had ever met.

Would I want Laura to hear those songs? Would I ever want to share that raw emotion with anyone?

Before I could respond Tom cut into the conversation with a remark about my old boss, Guy. ‘You should write a song about that crazy old boss of yours,’ he said, then for Laura’s benefit added, ‘This was a guy who was so obsessed with Rebecca he got her arrested and tried to get her sent to jail!’

Both Laura and Ferg were gripped by this revelation but I tried to moderate the tone. ‘He wasn’t obsessed with me, it was just a misunderstanding.’

Tom almost choked on his chilli at that.

‘Sorry, Rebecca honey, I don’t wanna speak out of turn but it’s quite clear that this Guy guy was obsessed.

The fact ya didn’t immediately fall under his spell and do …

whatever it was he wanted y’all to do … is the most likely explanation for why he set the cops on you.

He couldn’t take rejection and so wanted his revenge. ’

I shook my head and tried to protest but Tom simply put down his fork and said, ‘I’m not in any way defending him, honey, but I can easily imagine he was so into you he got completely carried away and that’s why he lost his cool.

I know ya don’t even realise it but y’all could easily have that effect on a man.

’ He carried on tucking into his chilli after that, oblivious to the impact his words were having in the room.

From the corner of my eye I saw Ferg and Laura shoot each other a meaningful look as I swallowed a mouthful of chilli and tried to decide how on earth to respond, but Tom looked up again and carried on, ‘I might be joinin’ the dots all wrong but I very much doubt what happened at the jewellery store was just a mistake or a misunderstanding.

It sounds to me like “Gruesome Guy” as ya called him was either obsessed, or jealous, or had some huge grudge against you. ’

I said nothing but then Laura asked me quietly, ‘D’you think that’s what happened, Rebecca?’

As though I was watching a movie, I allowed some key scenes from Grayson’s Jewellers to replay in my mind.

It had started with several conversations with Guy where I’d been left feeling weird and uncomfortable.

At the time I’d put that down to his arrogant, transatlantic way of talking, deciding something somewhere was getting lost in translation.

But then came the times he’d brushed up against me behind the counter, made some rude remarks about the space being too small for the both of us, which made me feel like a baby hippopotamus at the time but all the while he had been pressing himself against me.

I’d manoeuvred myself out of reach as quickly as possible and then pretended that nothing had really happened.

I’d pretended so well I must have convinced myself.

That had only worked for a while though.

Eventually he had made it pretty clear that he wanted to add certain other duties to my job description.

It didn’t feel like polite dinner conversation to point that out too explicitly.

‘He was often creepy, but I didn’t give him any encouragement,’ I said.

‘Of course you didn’t.’ Laura shot back her response instinctively.

‘He said and did things in a way that meant, if I’d flown off the handle at what he was suggesting, answered him back or complained to anyone else, I know he would have accused me of over-reacting,’ I said.

‘Yes, that’s the way they do it,’ Laura said with feeling.

Tom was looking at me as though he couldn’t quite decide what to say next and Ferg was busy examining every spoonful of chilli in forensic detail before putting it into his mouth but Laura’s eyes were filled with care and understanding.

‘Rebecca, you know as well as I do a bloke like that will have an ego the size of a planet but it can be exploded by the smallest of knockbacks. He would have been pushing his luck, seeing how far you would let him go. It sounds like you managed to close him down tactfully but he would still have registered that as rejection. And he won’t have liked that. ’

Laura was right, I knew it. How disgraceful that simply by not taking any nonsense a woman could incur the wrath of a man who was so arrogant he thought he could act in any way he wanted and get away with it.

Sure, he practically owned the place – but he didn’t own me.

I thought back to a series of interactions where I had stood my ground with Guy and realised that me making it clear I wasn’t interested in his sexual advances must have made him furious.

Clearly, he’d taken rejection badly. It explained a lot.

Although it didn’t in any way excuse it.

‘I’m not sure a song called “Gruesome Guy” is gonna be a chart topper,’ I tried to break the mood with a joke but I didn’t really want to keep thinking about Guy and how my time at Grayson’s had come to a bitter end.

Tom picked up on my attempt at a change of tone.

‘The real question we need answered right now …’ he paused for dramatic effect, ‘is do ya have anything urgent ya need to get back to the city for or are y’all able to stay over for the night?

’ He raised an eyebrow in a way that caused my tummy to flip, and Laura and Ferg immediately started reassuring me that I would be very welcome to stay and we could work again tomorrow in the studio if that was what I wanted.

‘Of course, you must stay,’ Laura said. ‘We’ve not had the chance to get to know each other much today but maybe I can prise you away from these two for a bit tomorrow?’

That sounded good to me. I sensed Laura was someone who I could really get along with and it was wonderful to feel so welcomed in this colourful, comfortable home.

Talking about gruesome Guy had only reinforced how lovely it felt to be away from him and Grayson’s, and in this chaotic, musical, happy home.

It was crazy how quickly I felt at ease with all of them.

Crazy but cool. That sort of thing didn’t happen to me too often and I certainly didn’t want to cut the experience short.

With the knowledge that my emergency overnight essentials were in my bag I seized the moment.

‘Well … the club doesn’t open on Mondays so I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to stick around a bit longer,’ I smiled in response to the enthusiastic nods from around the table.

Their vibe was relaxed and a bit bohemian.

These guys weren’t going to worry if I was wearing the same jeans and t-shirt in the morning so I decided to relax into that too.

I had another night with Tom and another day of songwriting ahead of me. The excitement I felt for both were doing more for my mood, confidence and happiness than a change of outfit ever could. I was surrounded by warmth, laughter and music … what more could I possibly need ?