Myles had phoned Maggie to invite her to a jazz night in the Pavilion Theatre. Leo had hated jazz but she had always had a fondness for it and, taking a deep breath, Maggie had accepted. His voice had sounded hesitant on the phone and she knew it had taken courage for him to ask her out.
She had phoned Kitty, like a basket case, demanding her sister come over immediately to discuss if she was doing the right thing, and if she did go ahead and meet Myles Sweeney what she should wear!
Kitty was dieting for the wedding and had drunk three mugs of black coffee as they had talked the situation through.
‘You’re not agreeing to marry the man or have sex with him!’ her sister argued, putting everything in context. ‘You’re just friends who happen to be different sexes going along to a night in the theatre.’
Then Kitty had sat on the bed and watched as Maggie pulled on tops and skirts, suits and trousers, trying to decide what would suit for the occasion.
‘The black trousers, the cream shirt and your little cream jacket!’ her sister decided.
The day before the outing, racked with guilt, Maggie had almost cancelled, imagining the spectre of Leo haunting her as she sat down with Myles and tried to listen to the music, but after a night’s sleep she had decided that Leo would not have wanted her to be lonely and would certainly not have begrudged her a bit of male companionship.
Since Myles was collecting her at home she decided to tell Sarah so it wouldn’t be too much of a shock if she bumped into him on the doorstep.
‘Is that the lovely man you met at the spa?’
‘Yes,’ she gulped, feeling like a sixteen-year-old as Sarah took in her guilty expression. ‘Don’t say anything,’ she begged her daughter. ‘It’s simply two friends having a night out.’
The small theatre was packed but they had wonderful seats up near the front where they were able to see and hear perfectly as the musicians played their hearts out. They went through all the jazz classics with the sound of the bass and rhythm guitar getting everyone going and itching to dance or move in their seats. Myles’s large frame and feet were tapping to the music too.
They bumped into Fran and Liam during the break and Fran could barely disguise her surprise when Maggie introduced Myles. The four of them arranged to go for a drink in the pub across the street afterwards. Driving her home at midnight Myles revealed how much he had enjoyed the night and she had to agree with him. It felt good to be a sort of couple! They had sat chatting in the front of his Jaguar and she had simply held his hand when they said goodnight, arranging to meet up again the following week to try out a restaurant that they had both heard was great.