Love in Another Town Read Free

He didn’t want to be late for the meeting with Samantha Matthews, but he did want to hear his favourite piece from
Tosca.
    As Te Kanawa’s voice filled the room, soared up to the rafters, Jake was engulfed. He felt himself falling down into her wonderful voice, falling into the music, which never failed to touch him with its beauty and sadness.
    Te Kanawa
was
Tosca, and she was singing of her sorrow, her tribulation, her hour of need, and Jake leaned his head back against the chair, closed his eyes, gave himself up to the music.
    Unexpectedly, he felt choked. Tears welled. His emotions were suddenly laid bare … he was filled with yearning … for something … although he was not exactly sure what he yearned for. Then he knew … he wanted to
feel
again. I know there’s more, he thought, there’s got to be more to life …
    He let the music wash over him, relaxing his body, and he remained very still even after the aria had finished. In repose, his lean, sharply-sculpted face looked much less troubled.
    After a short while Jake roused himself, and went to turn off the CD player. He had to be in Kent in five minutes, and it would take him longer than that to get there.
    He left the house through the kitchen, and ran to his pick-up truck.
    On the way to Kent he thought about the meeting he was about to have with Samantha Matthews. He had met her a few weeks ago on the big lighting job he was doing at a mansion in nearby Washington. She was a resident of the town who designed and produced unusual, handmade fabrics which the owner, his current client, was using throughout the house.
    He and Samantha had started talking over a cup of coffee one day, when they were at the house together, and she had been interested in hearing more about the special lighting effects he was creating inside the house and in the grounds.
    Several days later she had phoned him with an offer. It was an invitation to work with her on the stage sets for an amateur dramatic group she was involved with in Kent.
    He had agreed to come to one meeting at least. And it was tonight. He had no idea what to expect, and he wasn’t sure whether it would be the first and last, or the first of many.
    Although he had not told Samantha, he was excited about working in the theatre, if only with an amateur group such as hers. It was a wonderful challenge and a way to learn more, he felt.
    As he drove towards Kent, his mind preoccupied with lighting techniques, Jake Cantrell had no idea that he was being propelled towards his destiny. Nor did he have any way of knowing that his life was about to change, and so profoundly it would never be the same again.
    Later, when he looked back to this night, he woulddo so wonderingly, reminding himself how ordinary it had seemed. He would ask himself why he had not sensed that something momentous was going to happen, why he had not realized that he was about to set out on the journey of his life.

CHAPTER
2
    Â 
    S AMANTHA MATTHEWS LOOKED UP from the script she was making notations on and stared across the table at her friend Maggie Sorrell, frowning. ‘Now you tell me you think I’ve chosen the wrong play! Just when I’ve got it cast and everyone’s madly learning their lines!’ she exclaimed, her voice rising slightly.
    â€˜I didn’t say that!’ Maggie protested. ‘I asked you
why
you’d chosen it. I was merely thinking out loud. Honestly.’
    â€˜Thinking out loud or not, you sounded
critical.’
 
    â€˜I didn’t, Sam!’ 
    â€˜Doubtful, then.’
    â€˜Not doubtful either. You know very well I never doubt you, or anything you do. I really was only wondering why this particular play, that’s all.’
    Samantha nodded. ‘Okay, I believe you. I know you’re my true blue friend who’s stuck by me through thick and thick and thin and thin over the years. My very best friend in the world.’
    â€˜Just as