Black Girls and Bad Boys: Changing his Tune (15 page)

Noah grinned at her and came over for a long, lingering kiss before
he started to get dressed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” It was still hard to talk. In more ways than one.

“I love you, Angie.” He stroked her cheek with his knuckles and a
happy glow permeated her entire body.

“I love you too.” She wanted to say it a million times.

Taking her hand, he got her up on her feet. “Come on.” He opened the
door.

“What about the fans?” There’d be a queue of them waiting for
autographs at the back of the venue. There always was.

“Not tonight. Tonight I need to be with you. The tour’s over.” He
dragged her out through the door and down the corridor.

“Where are we going?”

He came to a stop and lifted her off her feet, swinging her round
before he set her back down and gave her another steamy kiss. “To bed. I’m not
finished with you yet.” The smile that lit his face was positively wicked.

She took his face in both her hands and kissed him with all the
passion she had in her. God he was amazing. And he loved her. “How are we
getting back tomorrow?”

“Why?”

“If I’m reading you right, we’ll have to sleep on the way.”

He grinned at her and raised an eyebrow. “You’re right. I wasn’t
planning on getting much sleep tonight.”

“And I don’t fancy getting on the bus with everyone.”

He kissed her savagely, leaving her breathless. “We can get the
train.” And with that, he took her hand and strode off towards the exit.

––––––––

O
ne of the many, many ways Angelique knew she was happy was by how
quickly the time since the tour had passed. When she was married to Wesley, time
inched along as if it didn’t want to move. But when she got home from Wales and
things with Noah got better and better, the weeks flew by.

A solid custody arrangement was decided – Lewis would stay with her
one night every weekend and half of each school holiday. And both parties
agreed to revise things further down the line. She didn’t like to put it into
words, but it seemed likely she’d get something approaching equally shared
custody.

For the first month and a half after she came home, Angelique lived
with her breath held in case everything came crashing down around her. But
nothing went wrong.

Wesley even let her have Lewis for the whole of Noah’s birthday
weekend. They spent it at Noah’s place. Lewis’s jaw practically scraped the
floor when he saw where his mum’s new boyfriend lived. She’d tried to describe
it to him, but he obviously hadn’t taken it in.

“When I grow up, I want a house like this.” His eyes darted over
everything – the gardens, the facade, the huge front door. When she got out her
key and they went inside, it was the same story all over again. “Wow, Mum. It’s
like a castle.”

“Hey, you two.” Noah kissed her on the cheek. “What do you think?”

“It’s sick.”

“That’s good, right?” he asked Angelique.

She nodded. “Very good.”

“Who’s hungry? We’ve got burgers and chips and all the stuff your
mum won’t usually let you eat.” He winked at her and led the way through to the
dining room. He hadn’t been kidding about the food. Lewis ran in, sat down and
started shovelling chips into his mouth.

“There’s salad too,” he added when he caught the mock-scowl on her
face.

All of them ate until they could hardly move. Then Noah brought out
a cake and they had to find room for a slice of that after Angelique insisted
they sing
Happy Birthday
. Sitting around the table, they fell into a
comfortable silence.

“What are we going to do now?” Lewis asked.

“Noah needs to open his present.” She brought out the box she’d
carried in from the car and handed it over. This was what she’d been looking
forward to all day.

“It’s pretty heavy.” Noah bobbed it up and down with both hands,
gauging the weight.

“Do you know what it is?” he asked Lewis.

“No. Open it.”

With an excited smile, he placed the present on the table and tore
off the wrapping paper to reveal a cardboard box. He lifted the lid and his
mouth fell open. “Oh my god!”

“Surprise.”

He reached into the box and carefully lifted out his bashed-up
acoustic guitar. “I tried to buy this back. They said they’d already sold it.”

“I wanted to get it for you.” It seemed a small gesture compared
with what he’d done for her.

“I can’t let you pay for it. You can’t afford it.”

“I know. John paid for it.”

“John?”

“I told him what you did. When he found out how much they were
asking for it, he wouldn’t let me pay.”

He put the guitar down and gave her a hug. “Thank you. It means a
lot.”

She looked up into his eyes. She couldn’t describe how good it felt
to give him that gift. “You’re welcome.”

Noah went back to his present and couldn’t resist a quick strum.

Sitting at the table, Lewis rested his chin on the back of his hand.
“I’m bored.”

“Lewis, that’s rude.”

“No, it’s okay.” Noah pushed his chair away from the table and stood
up. “Fancy a game of football?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t have to.” It was his birthday after all. She was sure he
didn’t want to spend it running around the garden on a full stomach. With the
amount of food she’d watched him put away, there was a good chance it would
make a return appearance if he did anything too strenuous.

“It’s fine. I think I’ve got a ball out in the shed somewhere. Why
don’t you relax in front of the TV?”

Actually, that sounded like a pretty good plan. “You’re sure you
don’t mind?”

He kissed her forehead. “Go and sit down. We’ll have fun. I’ll bring
him back in when he’s tired.”

“Okay.” It warmed her heart to see how good he was with Lewis. “I’ll
see you in a while.”

The boys trooped outside and she got up to make herself a coffee.

***

N
oah had found it extremely weird spending time with a nine year-old
boy to start off with. He didn’t know any other kids, so he didn’t really know
how to interact with him. Angie had told him to be himself, so he tried it and
it seemed to go okay. Lewis had hardly said a word at first, but he was like
that with his mum too. It wasn’t too surprising considering the circumstances.

After a few weeks of visits, they’d all started to relax and Lewis
had come out of his shell. He was a lot like Angie – they shared the same
laid-back temperament. Football was one thing he had in common with the lad.
Noah didn’t even have to let him win.

“Here it is.” He carried the old ball out of the shed and booted it
up the lawn. Lewis ran after it and stopped it dead. They spent a few minutes
dribbling it past each other. Neither of them were bothered about marking out
goalposts so they just kicked the ball around for a while.

“So, what do you think about me going out with your mum?”

Lewis shrugged and took the ball past him up the grass.

“Do you think she’s happy?”

He turned a tight circle around the ball and passed it to Noah. “I
don’t know. I suppose. She talks about you a lot.”

“Really?” He couldn’t imagine what she would say about him.

“Uh-huh.”

It was like pulling teeth, but he remembered being the same when he
was that age. Who wanted to talk about their mother’s love-life? But he had to know
what he thought before he asked him for a favour.

***

I
t wasn’t long before the television stopped holding Angelique’s
attention and she started to nod off. She changed position to sit up
straighter, but it was no use. The next thing she knew, Lewis was calling her
and shaking her awake.

“What?”

“You were asleep.”

“Oh. Sorry, Lewis. I don’t know why I’m so tired. Where’s Noah?” She
looked at her watch. They hadn’t been outside for very long.

“In the shed. He’s rubbish at football.”

She laughed. “He must be better than me.”

“A bit.”

“Then he really must be awful.”

Lewis looked back at the doorway and she followed his gaze. “What is
it?” She couldn’t tell what he was looking at.

“Noah asked me to give you something.” He reached into his pocket
and brought out a stripy brown paper bag. It was all crumpled, but there was
something small and soft wrapped up in it. He held it out in the palm of his
hand.

“What is it?” she asked as she took it from him.

He shrugged. “Open it.”

Movement drew her eye back to the door. Noah was standing there,
lingering just outside the room.

“What’s this?” She held up the little package.

“Look for yourself.”

She looked from Noah to Lewis. The look of fascination on his face
said that he didn’t know what was in there either. It was all starting to make
her nervous. She had a couple of ideas what it might be, but that just made her
heart race even faster.

Only one way to know for sure.

She opened the bag and tipped its contents out onto her lap. A
burgundy velvet pouch landed on her thighs. She picked it up. Jewellery. But he
knew she didn’t wear jewellery. Her ears weren’t even pierced.

“Open it.”

She thought she heard a tremor in Noah’s voice. Pulling open the
drawstring with trembling fingers, she upended the bag over her palm. A ring
tumbled out. A stunning solitaire with a thin band of gold.

Noah came over to the sofa and took it from her. “What do you say?”

Now that was a good question. “Is this...?”

He nodded. “Will you marry me?”

She looked at Lewis. He smiled and nodded. “You don’t mind.”

“I like him, Mum.”

Turning back to Noah, she took a good look at him. She wanted to fix
this moment in her memory. The poor man had set his mouth in a tight line and
it looked like he’d stopped breathing. Was he really that nervous?

“So, what’s your answer?”

She was tempted to keep him waiting and watch him squirm, but when
it came down to it, she didn’t have the heart. “Yes.” She nodded. “Yes, I’ll
marry you.”

“Yes?”

“Yes.”

Noah wrapped her in his arms and kissed her like he was never going
to stop. It was what she hadn’t dared to dream about. Noah Trent loved her. And
she loved him too.

T
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