Page 6 of What Would Dolly Do?

I nod and take another sip of scalding coffee. It makes me cough. While I try to recover, Robbie’s brain is working through the rest of the scenario.

‘So he’s framed you? Got you to take stuff, made sure you’re captured on video and then called the cops?’

I nod slowly. It is the only explanation I’ve got.

‘He told me his dad hadn’t kept the shop insurance up to date and while he was sorting it out we needed to be very careful about how much of the really expensive stock we kept on the premises.

He said if I could hold onto it for a while it would be the best thing.

He said it would only be for a few days while he sorted the policy. ’

‘So you shoved it all under your bed?’

‘Well I don’t have a handy jewellery safe I keep for emergencies!’

I didn’t mean to snap and could see why he thought it was a bit daft but I’d stood for a long while in the flat the day I came home with my bag bulging with expensive jewellery wondering what to do with it all.

There was always a chance someone could break in.

It was unlikely in a third-floor flat but certainly not impossible.

There had also been times Mum and Dad had ‘surprised me’ with a trip back to Edinburgh and so I wanted to put the stuff safely out of sight.

I’d been trusted to keep it all safe and I was just trying to do that in the best way I could.

‘But why? Why would Guy Grayson frame you?’

I shook my head. I was still trying to figure that out, although I had a nagging suspicion it could have something to do with me rejecting his clumsy advances. I didn’t really want to admit that to myself, let alone tell Robbie.

Robbie asked if he could make himself a sandwich.

The guy is always hungry. I told him to help himself and while he foraged in the fridge he started yakking on about his move to Peterborough.

I think his plan was to change the subject to distract me but I couldn’t really hear him properly …

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve moaned about him only ever starting a conversation with me once he’s left a room.

What’s all that about? Why start speaking from the next room, why not try talking when we are together?

Maddening. The other thing that was hampering communication was that he now also had a mouthful of my wafer-thin ham.

‘What?’ I eventually barked. He was really trying my patience. My shredded nerves had run my reserves low, but I could have sworn I just heard him say the whole thing could be off?

He reappeared in the living room, just visible behind a plate piled high with what looked like the entire contents of my fridge. ‘It looks like I’m gonna have to stay in Edinburgh after all.’

He had my attention now and I waited for my heart to leap at this unexpected turn of events.

Our Dolly & Kenny show could carry on. Would that mean the Becky & Robbie show would too?

But my heart didn’t leap or skip, not even a flutter.

Robbie looked crestfallen and I just felt sorry for him.

He was a mate after all. A good friend, as he’d just proved by instantly disbelieving I was any sort of criminal.

We should have stuck to being mates, falling into bed had been a daft idea in the first place and I realised I now just wanted us to be friends and stay friends.

I felt bad for him, he’d been so excited about managing a bigger place, making a new start, he clearly thought climbing up the beery brewery ladder was where his future lay. What had happened to scupper his plans?

Between mouthfuls of a triple-decker ham, cheese and beetroot sandwich he explained the situation.

Sonny’s Bar had been taken over just last year by a husband and wife called Simon and Gill Drummond who’d decided to invest some unexpected lottery winnings on a clutch of venues in different parts of the country.

Simon and Gill’s hearts were in the right place but they were blessed with more enthusiasm than expertise.

Their vision was to establish a small chain that laid on entertainment as well as beer, wine, spirits, cocktails and soft drinks.

Create clubs that offered music, comedy and theatrical culture alongside the drinking culture.

The idea was a good one, I thought. As a performer I wanted to see more venues opening their doors to musicians, bands and stand-up comedians.

It was hard to get a start in showbusiness these days.

Yes, you could launch yourself on social media, even create your own YouTube channel to share your jokes or your songs or whatever your ‘act’ might be but, in my opinion, it was no substitute for honing your craft in front of a live audience.

When I was little my parents had a country-music act they performed on a regular club circuit.

I spent my childhood and teens watching talented people work a live room.

Done well, the buzz for both performer and audience was like nothing else in the world.

I’d love to see that sort of circuit come back.

I was distracted from Robbie’s lengthy backstory as I recalled childhood memories of schlepping round clubs, village halls, and arts centres watching Mum and Dad, The Moonshine Duo, perform night after night.

Once I reached double figures they let me join in on a couple of numbers until eventually we became The Moonshine Trio.

Good times, until my teenage inhibitions kicked in.

Robbie was now saying something about Lanzarote. I wasn’t clear on how we’d got from Peterborough to Lanzarote.

‘Sorry, what?’ I focused back on Robbie and his half-eaten sandwich and half-explained story. He sighed and wound back a little.

‘Simon and Gill see me as a safe pair of hands. We tick over nicely here at Sonny’s Bar.

Figures are on the up and I’ve built up the customer base, so they wanted me to move to the new venue in Peterborough and do the same there.

They had someone lined up to take over from me so I could move to the new place and get it up to scratch.

It would have been a big challenge but if I’d done well there I could have had a manager role over the whole Drummond empire. ’

I could see how crestfallen Robbie was. ‘So what’s gone wrong?’ I asked.

‘They had my replacement here all lined up but he’s been offered a job in Lanzarote instead.

Can’t blame him, I suppose, but now he’s pulled out they’ve had second thoughts about moving me.

They reckon it’s easier to re-recruit for the Peterborough position and leave me where I am.

I had some great ideas for the new place though. They loved ‘em.’

Robbie took a large, savage bite of sandwich as though he was tearing a strip off the Lanzarote-bound guy who’d scuppered his promotion.

An idea sprang into my head and was out of my mouth before I could stop it. ‘I’ll do it!’ I said.

Robbie gawked at me with his mouth open and a half-chewed sandwich on display. I have to admit I have never found him less attractive.

‘You don’t even know where Peterborough is!’ Robbie spluttered.

I suppressed my revulsion and irritation at Robbie getting the wrong end of the stick and pressed on with the vision that was forming in my mind.

‘I know Sonny’s almost as well as you, I’ve spent enough time there after all.

I worked in bars loads when I was younger.

I know how to pull a pint and mix a cocktail, and I’ve got lots of fresh ideas too.

I love the idea of making it a venue for performers too, the kind of gig that’s welcoming for artists and the audience, and I know lots about all that.

Sonny’s needs to be a real magnet for the arty crowd, we need to build a community that sees the place as its home – both the talent and the audience.

The stage might only be tiny but it could be used far more than it is right now: we could have regular comedy spots as well as music nights?

How about a free-and-easy night every month, too, where people can just have a go at singing, playing music or telling jokes … proper talent show stuff?’

I was babbling now but as my mouth sped off my brain was catching up with more and more ideas for Sonny’s.

The place had always been close to my heart.

For some reason I suddenly had a vision of how great a hang-out it could be, a real little gem in the underbelly of Edinburgh and all these random thoughts were just bursting out of me.

‘You should go to Peterborough like you planned, you’re obviously dying for a fresh start and I can’t say I blame you. I think it’s what we both need.’

Robbie was still trying to swallow down his sandwich and say something but I took the opportunity to say what had become blindingly obvious to me in the last few minutes.

‘We’re mates, Robbie, we should never have tried to be anything else.

Let’s not pretend either of us are heartbroken.

You’ve just proved what a good friend you really are, let’s keep all that and forget about trying to be anything else to each other.

Go to Peterborough, make a big success of the new place, and maybe Sonny’s Bar is the answer to my prayers right now.

Even after I prove my innocence I can’t go back to Grayson’s so it looks like I’m definitely going to need a new job! ’

It was a strong argument. I was making a lot of sense, even Robbie had to admit it.

He swallowed down his food and started to run through all the pros and cons of my idea.

There weren’t many cons, if I could convince his bosses to give me a chance.

And Robbie was happy to help me prepare a pitch, give me all the info I would need.

He even offered to be on the end of a phone to give me any support I needed once I got started.

If my lightbulb moment worked out, he could go to Peterborough, Sonny’s would get an enthusiastic new manager and I wouldn’t ever have to face creepy Guy Grayson again. Result.