Chapter 18

Silks was not at first sight an impressive vista, in fact from the outside it was a quite run down looking industrial building. A short covered walkway led down the side of the building until you got to a pair of smoked glass doors. As soon as you walk through the doors and into the impressive foyer you would realise that this was no factory or warehouse. A tall blond girl was behind a reception desk, she smiled as we approached.

I knew that Wishes looked stunning in her new dress and she told me that I looked fantastic, yet it was still a shock to me to see the expression on her face, raw desire was the best way to describe it.

“Hi, I’m Cindy, can I help you at all?” As she spoke she was eyeing both Wishes and myself in a way that I was certainly not used too.

I guess Wishes must have thought that the look was directed at me because she moved closer to me and slipped her arm around my waist. As she flashed me an adoring look I could see Cindy’s shoulders drop slightly, I felt kind of sorry for her, Wishes was drop dead gorgeous and would attract anyone, I felt so proud that she had chosen to be there with me.

“Hi we’re guests of Sally and Daphne, are they around?” Wishes asked her. Cindy didn’t answer at first, I suddenly realised that it wasn’t Wishes that Cindy was focused on but me! I was stunned, I mean I knew this new body was pretty but I was nothing next to Wishes’ beauty. I was so struck by this revelation that I didn’t hear Cindy’s reply. I was only aware that Wishes had taken my arm possessively and was leading me into the club.

The first impression of the club for me was that it was huge, the room was most of the floor area of the large warehouse with a long bar running to the right of the entrance and small U shaped seating areas running to the left and down the short walls of the club. The far wall held a reasonably large stage filling maybe a third of the long wall. The second thing that hit me was the band, they were very good or rather they seemed to be very good as individual musicians but didn’t seem to be quite together as a band at times.

Making our way over to the bar we ordered drinks, I was only drinking coke because I was driving and Wishes decided to stick with a soft drink as well. We found a table quite near the dance floor and set our drinks down before heading out onto the floor to dance. Fortunately for me the band were mainly playing soft blues numbers, I may have led quite a simple life before as Graham but the blues has long been one of my favourite musical styles. We danced closely but not touching much as the music didn’t really lend itself to that kind of dancing.

We danced a couple of songs then sat for a while talking quietly and getting used to the atmosphere of the club. I have to say I was surprised by the way that Wishes was handling herself and our relationship in public. I know all this was very new to her but she seemed to take everything in her stride without fear or embarrassment. I think when she resolved to never deny our relationship again she meant it wholeheartedly. For myself I was also surprised by how comfortable I was with our casual, and sometimes slightly more intimate contact in public. Graham was a quiet shy introverted man, one not overly given to casual contact and kisses in public, but Linda! Linda seemed like a totally different person, she held hands with her lover and kissed her in public and seemed to relish displaying her love for Wishes. I had a wonderful new life to lead and I’d be damned if I was going to wait and steal kisses in private. I was going to make the most of this second chance at happiness.

The band took a break for a while and like most of the patrons we recharged our glasses while they were away. When the band came back on stage the mystery of why the band didn’t quite sound “together” was explained. The lead singer introduced the bass player as being a new friend of theirs who was helping out covering since their bass player had left recently. She went on to say that when the girl, Jenny, had first played with them she had blown them away with a song and they wanted her to play it for us now.

I must admit I perked up and listened, I could tell she was very good from the earlier set and was interested to hear what she was going to play.

It was an old Duane Eddy tune, from some American TV show in the sixties I think. I listened with interest as this young lady played “Peter Gunn”, the arrangement was different, a bit more modern I guess with a lot more keyboards than there was in the original number. They were very good and Wishes and I joined in with a standing ovation for them.

After the girl had acknowledged the applause the band moved on to slower music. I had to lead wishes out onto the floor for this!

To hold Wishes close to me with her head on my shoulder as we moved around the dance floor was heaven. I would lean forward and kiss the top of her head from time to time and could feel her smile as she delivered a small kiss to my shoulder. From time to time her head would raise up and we would exchange a soft kiss, then it would be me nestling my head into Wishes shoulder as she held me lovingly.

After a couple of songs I could sense someone watching me and looked up to see the bass player was staring at us.

I could see this look of, I don’t know, longing I guess. It wasn’t the kind of look that we got from Cindy at the door who looked like she wanted to jump on us in the reception area. I think it was more wanting what we seemed to have, a closeness that I know I had never felt before.

After locking eyes with the girl for a moment or two I laid my head back down and we moved to the music.

When we got back to our table Daphne was there to say hello.

“Hi Linda, ‘Chez, are you having a good time?” She asked.