After a while Tom urged, ‘You sing the melody now!’ then he put in the harmonies.

When they’d finished Jez bowed his head, so moved was he. Looking up, he saw his son’s anxious expression and said quickly, ‘You’re good, really good. Surely you know that?’

Tom blushed and let out a sigh of relief. ‘You looked as if you were upset.’

‘I was moved to tears because my son, my only son, has inherited my musical ability.’

‘I’m OK. I don’t make mistakes with the chords or anything, and I can hit the right note, but I’m not in your league.’

‘You’re more than competent.’ Jez left it at that for now, realising that his son was embarrassed and not used to receiving compliments about his music. He turned the attention to Hayley instead. ‘Even my granddaughter was up dancing – and in time to the music.’

‘She loves to dance and sing.’ Tom lowered his voice, ‘Trouble is, Gail always said my playing gave her a headache, so we could only do it when she was out. All she wanted was to keep them quiet.’

Hayley began tugging Jez’s arm. ‘Play some more, Granddad! Play “Dancing Queen”.’

‘It’s one of her favourites,’ Tom said apologetically. ‘She’s a real ABBA fan.’

‘I like their music too. It’s brilliantly arranged, with memorable melodies and rich harmonies.’ Jez struck up the well-known tune, his son joining in, and Hayley started dancing again, head wagging, arms waving.

When it was over, Jez said wonderingly, ‘I’ve seen TV children’s shows where the littlies are up and dancing, but I’ve never been involved in it before. It’s marvellous to see them enjoying the music.’ He looked back at his son. ‘You will accept the guitar, won’t you? I know it’s going to a good home and my only condition is that you’ll play with me.’

Tom blew his nose and picked the instrument up again, saying gruffly, ‘Any time you can stand it.’

Jez hid his puzzlement at this remark. His son played well, had a great voice and a perfect sense of rhythm. Why did he seem to think he was no good?

Was it his wife who’d done that to him or his mother? Whoever it was had been cruel. Denying someone who had the gift access to music was cruel. His son’s wife went even further down in Jez’s estimation, and so did Mary.

What could Tom do in the music industry with a little encouragement? It would be interesting to find out.

He smiled as another thought occurred to him. At the very least, this session had signalled which of Jez’s enterprises Tom might be most suited to: his record company. It never hurt to know about what went on in the industry. It wasn’t a big company and it was very picky about what it produced, but it was well respected.

That night was the first time Andi worked at the club. She’d said she had things to do, couldn’t start straight away, feeling jittery about it. She’d nearly not turned up, but shortage of money had driven her to it.