CHAPTER THREE

I met Cate in the bar of the Hub restaurant at the Ramada. The smile of welcome as she saw me was flattering, as was the kiss she gave me. From what I had heard, air kissing either side of the cheek was ‘de rigueur’ for celebrities. Not so for Cate, her lips actually made contact with my cheek. “It’s so good to see you Jack. I feel as if it has been a long time since we met in Devon.”

“It’s good to see you too, Cate.” I replied. “How do you like Derby?”

“I haven’t seen any of it. The car met me at Derby station and the next moment I was here. I could have walked it in five minutes. This whole area seems to be new.”

“It has been derelict for years. Many years ago it was the Midland Railway steam locomotive works. Now it is all new development. The Derby County football stadium is just down the road.”

“Ouch stadiums, thank God I am not playing that. I remember playing at Wembley once. I was support for a rock band that had three hits, played Wembley then vanished into obscurity. Their sound system was rubbish. You get echoes in a stadium and my last phrase was coming back to me as I sang the next. The group got confused and at one point I was singing with no accompaniment. What a night that was. Never again!”

I went to the bar and ordered some drinks, we sat down in the rather over-large club chairs and toasted each other. “Have you been busy since we met?” I asked Cate.

“So, so.” She answered. “I have done gigs in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and then back down to Bristol, Reading and Guildford. Have you been busy?”

“Yes. Funnily I was up in Newcastle for a couple of days. Then I had a week in Belgium going through new product with the Mills I represent. During the summer months I am not so busy, come September I will have quite a lot of new designs to show as the manufacturers get ready for the Furniture Show.”
A waiter came over and asked us if we would like to move into the dining room. It was the right time as the bar was becoming crowded and I could see people looking at Cate with querulous expressions. I knew what was going through their minds. Was she who they thought she could be? Alternatively, was it someone who looked like her a lot. Cate ignored the looks, I supposed she was used to it. We followed the waiter and he showed us to the table Cate had booked.