Different Circles

I read the letter; they had provided me with first-class rail tickets and suggested that I make my way to the Four Seasons Hotel in Park Lane for 3 pm, where they'd arranged a room and refreshments. I would be collected by car at 5.30 pm and taken to the venue where Abigail would meet me.

I showed the letter to Yvonne, "Oh wow." She took a step back and curtsied, "Doctor Kirstie Hunter, biologist and friend of royalty."

I slapped her gently, "Faith is not royalty and I barely know her."

"Well, she likes you." She grinned as she walked away, "If you need a companion, I'm free."

Only one concern now, what was I going to wear? Maybe I needed to phone Abigail for some hints.

Another gig

It was just after 2 pm when took a taxi from the station to the hotel where the doorman rescued my holdall, almost offended that I should try to carry it myself, and he escorted me to the reception desk. I gave my name and without fuss, a key card was handed to a porter who showed me my room. The room was large and luxurious. Before leaving the man pointed out the bottle of champagne chilling in an ice bucket and offered to pour me a glass, which I accepted.

There was an envelope next to the ice bucket, it contained a note from Abigail and advised me that a spa treatment had been arranged for me at 3 pm. After chilling for a while, I headed to the spa where I was offered a variety of services. I settled for a hot stone treatment, which I loved. That was followed by my hair and nails being done. By the time I got back to my room, I was feeling chilled and gorgeous. I'd lashed out on a lovely blue, knee-length figure-hugging dress. It looked worth every penny I'd paid for it, quite a few pennies. It was smart, but not overly dressy, just as Abigail had suggested.

My glass of bubbly was disturbed by the phone to tell me that my car was ready. I slipped on a jacket, checked my clutch bag and took the last swallow of champagne. I was surprised to find that the driver was a female, I shouldn't have been surprised, why shouldn't the driver be female, but I was and she was rather gorgeous, smartly dressed in a trouser suit, shirt and tie. "I'm Nicole, Ma'am. There's some champagne in the chiller box under the armrest, the bottle is open, help yourself. It should take us forty-five minutes if the traffic is kind to us. Sit back and enjoy."

"Thank you." I poured another drink before remarking that this was all new to me.

"So, you don't usually travel by limo?" Nicole asked.

"No, this is a first, but I like it."

"I don't want to be nosey, but as Faith Shadow is playing the O2 tonight, they are paying for this ride and she's staying at your hotel, I assume that you're a friend of hers?"

"I've met her twice, the first time through a mutual friend a couple of weeks ago and the following day at her gig in my home town. I already had a ticket before I knew her and she invited me backstage after the gig. I never expected to hear from her again."

"I've driven her a couple of times, and may well be doing so again later tonight. She's nice, down to earth and not full of herself like some of the people I drive for."

"How long have you been doing this? Driving, I mean?"

"It's paying my way through university; I'm doing a masters in biology."

I burst out laughing and almost spilt my wine. I saw Nicole looking at me in the mirror. She was clearly puzzled and raised an eyebrow. "I'm a biologist too, genetic research."

"Wow..." her brows knitted together, "Wait, Doctor Kirstie Hunter by any chance?"

"Yes, you've heard of me?" I was surprised.

"I read one of your papers, genetic markers in giraffe. Fascinating stuff."

The conversation flowed and I was sad that I wasn't sitting upfront to make the conversation easier. Time had flown by so I was surprised when we pulled up at the stage door of the O2 arena. Nicole got out and opened the door. "Nice to meet you, enjoy your evening, Ma'am."

"It's Kirstie, and thank you for the ride and conversation."

*****

I was shown into a large room where there were already a few people gathered and most had glasses of something in hand. I took another glass of champagne and a couple of people spoke to me, but I was standing alone when an attractive woman in her twenties approached. "Hi, you have to be Kirstie, I'm Abigail, very nice to meet you."

"Hello, nice to meet you as well. How did you know me?"

"Well, I was expecting you, Faith has described you and I Googled you, so it wasn't hard. Faith will be doing a soundcheck in a few minutes and we're all going to watch, then back here for some food before she goes on stage. I doubt if she'll have much chance to chat until after the gig."

Abigail introduced me to a few people and I chatted away. It was a very mixed bag of people and the conversation was mostly about Faith's music. The soundcheck was interesting, lots of fiddling with volume, musicians checking that they could hear and then they made a few lighting changes. Faith was dressed casually, without makeup and despite that, she looked wonderful. At one point during a lull in the activity, she smiled and gave me a little wave.

Faith appeared when we were eating and eventually, she came over to me. "Faith, thank you for this, it's a real treat and I feel very privileged. I'm looking forward to the gig."

"Kirstie, you're really kind. I loved the day we spent together and thought you might like this. Please enjoy this evening and I hope that we get the chance to chat later." She disappeared, obviously lots of her guests wanted her attention. I just felt lucky to be there.

We watched the gig from some seats near the stage which also had plenty of room for standing and dancing. I danced a lot next to a couple of other women guests who were in their mid-twenties. I clapped sang and cheered like a maniac. Not only did Faith perform her own music but she included a selection of other peoples, Elton John, Adele, Whitney and Taylor Swift, which made for a wide range.

I sank a cold bottle of water to replace all the fluid I'd lost and chatted with the girls I'd danced with. They were related to one of the promoters and impressed that I was a guest of Faith herself.

Faith spent time with every one of her guests and it took time before she reached me. "Sorry, I've neglected you and we need to leave soon but we can head back to the hotel together and chat when we get there."

After saying many goodbyes, Faith was eventually able to get away and we jumped into the limo being driven by Nicole, with Abigail. We chatted about the gig and sipped even more bubbly before we reached the hotel.

I expected to head to my own room but as Abigail said goodnight, Faith escorted me to her suite and ordered a pot of tea from room service. "Is tea okay or would you like something else?"

"Tea would be nice, I've never had so much champagne in one day and a clear head would be good. Thanks for inviting me, it's been an incredible experience and everything you organised has been wonderful."

"As I said, I loved spending the day with you and all of this is just how it is. After a while, it all gets a bit normal and that's not me. Now that tour is done, I want to change things going forward, lower tempo, fewer lights, much more chilled. I want to write more as well."

We talked for another hour until I started yawning, I kissed Faith's cheek, thanked her and headed to my room. I lay in bed thinking about her. She was so nice, quite beautiful and I'd enjoyed every minute that I'd spent with her. I'd love to be friends; I'd love to spend time kissing her but I was a fool to even imagine that was possible because it wasn't. I did fall asleep with a smile.

A surprise visit

I was in my office late on Friday afternoon after a long, frustrating week and I was looking forward to going home and putting my feet up when the phone rang. "Hi, Kirstie Hunter."

"Hello there, what are you up to?"

"What? Who is this?" I didn't recognise the caller.

"I knew that you'd have forgotten me, it's Faith."

I was stunned surprised to be speaking to her again. "Faith, what's up? I'm surprised to hear from you."

"Do you have plans for this evening?"

"Putting my feet up and drinking wine. Why?"

"I'd like to take you for dinner. I could pick you up at, say six-thirty, but I'd need your home address or I could meet you somewhere."

"What?"

"Didn't you understand me?"

"Yes, I don't know." I was confused and a little shocked.

"Dinner this evening?"

"Okay."

"Text me your address and I'll see you then; smart casual, okay?" She hung up and I sent her my address, totally baffled.

*****

I heard a car pull up and left the house. Faith was standing by the door of a taxi. "Hi, Kirstie." She kissed my cheek and we got in the back seat.

"What's this all about? I'm in shock."

"Hey, I can't take my newest friend out to dinner?"

"I didn't expect to..."

"Hear from me again. I know, you said that, but here I am. I like you and thought this might be fun." I was stunned into silence. Faith talked about her week and I let her. The car pulled up outside a place I'd never heard of, set into a cavern near to the castle. The sign showed that it had two Michelin stars, which impressed me.

A few minutes later we were sitting opposite each other in a secluded booth and a waiter brought a bottle of wine that must have been pre-ordered. I ignored the menu, sipped the rather lovely white wine and said, "Faith, it is nice to see you, very nice, but why all the element of surprise, what are you doing here? This all seems odd, weird?"

"I happened to be up here, decided that I wanted to see you again and treat you to a meal, I like you I thought we might be friends."

I smiled, it seemed odd, but maybe more would come out as the evening progressed and the prospect of a nice meal with a woman I liked, well, who was I to refuse. "I like you as well and have enjoyed your company, but we have different lives and you don't live anywhere near here, do you? Where do you live?"

"I live near Henley on Thames, to the west of London. I have a house that looks onto the river, it has a small studio where I can practice, write and do some basic recording. A couple of my staff work from there during the day and I have a housekeeper who lives in a small cottage, which used to be a gatehouse. It is a little bit larger than your place."

"You see we don't have much in common, except maybe cricket. My cottage was where my grandparents lived and when I came back here to study after I left Australia. I lived with grandad and he left it to me when he died. That caused all sorts of bad blood, my mother thought it should be hers and demanded that I sell it."

"That's not good. How did you sort that out?"

"She was horrible, but grandad had foreseen that possibility and so he did things to negate it. It was all done through his solicitor and she didn't have a leg to stand on. He left me some money as well and a nice letter, telling me how much he loved me, how he was pleased that I'd chosen to live with him during the last years of his life. He suggested that I use the money to modernise the place, something that he didn't feel he could do. That's what I did, it's clean and very modern inside, but cute and traditional outside. I love it and know that I'd be happy there for the rest of my life."

"I know that you said you had a strained relationship with your parents. How are things?"

I sighed, but I'd kept all of this buttoned up for a long time and now it felt like the right time to let some of it out. "I haven't spoken to my father for seven years and my mother only once since grandad went five years ago. That last conversation was unpleasant, she called me a pervert."

"Why did she call you a pervert?"

"In my last year at school I told her that I liked girls, she went.... Well, she didn't approve, neither did my father and that's when I decided to come back to England and study at Oxford. I stayed with grandad when I wasn't at university. Then lived with him when I studied for my Masters and Doctorate here and through that got my present job, well I was deputy until my boss left and I took over a couple of years ago, as Research Director."

"That seems tough, they ought to be very proud of you. You've published papers and all sorts."

"I don't know, they've never acknowledged that, only my preferences, of which they disapprove. Have you been stalking me or Googling me?"

"I confess that I have looked you up but...." She paused, "do you remember the driver, Nicole?"

"Yes, she's studying biology as well."

"She told me a lot about you, more than Google did. Obviously, she knows your work. She said Hi."

"Funny, I looked her up as well and I know her supervisor, we studied together. I haven't spoken to Alison, but I do know that Nicole is working in an area that has links with most of my work."

"We really should order some food." For the next few minutes, all conversation was about the fare, before we placed our orders.

Faith talked about her latest project, a new album and producing some work for a singer I'd never heard of. I talked about something that I was working on and struggled to explain it in simple terms so she'd understand.

The food was some of the best I'd ever eaten and the chef/patron stopped by to speak to us.

"He does know who you are, but he's too polite to say so. You do know that don't you?"

"Yes, but at some point, before we leave, he'll ask for a photo for his celebrity wall, wait and see."

During a lull in the conversation and whilst Faith was in the bathroom, I wondered why she was here, what was this about. She was straight, she must be or she would have said otherwise and I'd seen photos of her out and about with lots of guys. I admitted to myself that I fancied her but...."

Faith got back just as our coffees arrived. I could stand this no longer, "Faith why are you here, in the city, here with me? What's going on?"

She looked down and muttered, "You are direct, aren't you?"

"Well?"

"I like you, okay. Actually, it's more than that, I like you, you're gorgeous, smart and I fancy you. How's that?"

I took another sip of coffee and realised that my hand was shaking and I knew that my brain had paused. Gorgeous? Fancy me? "Why are you in the city, what for?"

"I don't have any reason to be here, except to see you."

I was stunned now, but that didn't stop me from spitting out my reply, "You came here just to see me? Please explain, this is..." I didn't have the words to finish so there was a silence for half a cup of coffee and during that time she stared at the tablecloth looking bashful.

"I think you're wonderful Faith. But we move in different worlds, different circles, I'd love to be your friend, even at a distance but... you're straight, aren't you?" I blurted out the last bit, far harder than I meant to.

The silence that followed was only broken when she waved the waiter over to order more coffee and a brandy, which I declined.

"No, I'm not, not straight. I'm a lesbian and you're one of about a dozen people who know that fact. Almost half of those are former lovers or partners and my fame etc was part of the problem. My father and brother know, my manager, an executive at the record label and Abigail, maybe my former PA. That's it."

"Wow." Lame, but I was stunned and had nothing else to say. Faith filled in the silence.

"I decided a long time ago, after much soul searching that it might affect my popularity and it seemed better not to say anything, so I didn't, but I've been living a lie and I suppose that I've been lucky it hasn't come out. I made the decision a year ago that after the tour that's just finished, I wanted to do different things, a fresh direction musically and play smaller venues only when I felt like it. I knew that it wouldn't matter that much if things came out, if my being gay came out, I'd adapt if need be and cope."

"Okay." I didn't have anything else to say, but I was sure that she did and what that might be scared me.

"Then I went to watch a cricket match and my world changed, I met you. I didn't say anything because I was scared, but when you came to the gig in London, I was sure that I was right. I came here tonight to test the waters. It was always possible that I wouldn't tell you any of this but..."

I was convinced she was about to cry. I reached across the table to touch her hand and felt a charge as we connected. 'Damn' I thought.

"Kirstie, I like you, no I fancy you. That's not right, if I'm being totally honest and I am, I think that I may be in love with you."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"You're beautiful, smart, funny, good company and independent. All of the people I've had a relationship with have all wanted something from me, fame, money, a leg up. I was always suspicious that it wasn't just me. I've had lots of guys interested, some who you'd know if I named them, but I wasn't interested and I suspected some of their motives too. If you were interested in me, it would be for me, Faith Shadlow, not a pop star."

"Shadlow, is that your real surname?" She nodded. "You dropped the L and became Shadow. I see how that worked."

"So..." she looked up in expectation. I sat there deep in thought.

"The truth is, Faith, I think you are amazing, talented, very beautiful and good company. I'd love to be your friend, but we move in different...., we live a couple of hours apart. I do fancy you; I have since we met but your revelations have taken the wind from my sails. I don't know how this is going to work and I'm not jumping into bed with you, as much as that appeals to me, I think we need to 'date' and see where it goes."

She smiled at me, she looked happy for the first time since we'd finished eating. "Hi, I'm Faith Shadlow, a humble songwriter, nice to meet you."

I laughed. "Hi, nice to meet you too."

At that, the patron came over and as predicted asked for a photo which Faith agreed to provide with a smile.

We caught a taxi back to my home and when we pulled up, I turned to her, "You can come in for a drink, coffee, whatever but that's all and you're not staying. Is that okay?"

"More than okay. Lead the way."

I went to get some drinks and left Faith standing in the lounge. She was staring at my photographs when I returned and handed her another brandy. "You haven't spoken to them for years, but you have their photo?" She pointed to one of them

"They are my parents," I shrugged and pointed at another picture, "That's my grandparents."

"There are a few of your grandad."

"Yes, I was closer to him than anyone else and I was the apple of his eye."

"And here at the back is the photo of the wedding. They were a striking couple and you look so cute." I blushed and went to sit down. "I love this place, you've done a great job in here, I love it."

"I'm guessing it's a little smaller than your home."

"Just a little." She wrinkled her nose which was just precious. She joined me on the sofa.

When she left, half an hour later, I suddenly felt alone and missed her already. I climbed into bed and stared upwards. Faith was gorgeous, it now seemed that she wasn't straight and she fancied me, wanted to date me. I struggled to believe that it was all true but it excited me, I liked her, no she turned me on and it had been a while since anyone had done that. I half regretted not asking her to stay, but it had been a sensible decision. Damn, sometimes being sensible isn't such a good thing. I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

*****

We spoke on the phone every night, she said that she'd be there on Friday evening and that she'd booked a room. Sure enough, six-thirty arrived and so did Faith, in her car to take me to dinner. We kissed and it affected me, turned me on, then the engine throbbed as well when we drove off. "I like your car and the engine sounds powerful, what is it?"