You Never Said - Part 3 To The Producer (A Ricky Wilson Fan-fiction)

Vests

Laura stood talking to Whitey in the shade of the hot afternoon sun. She had joined the party a little later than Katie had expected her to, having taken time to allow her tear stained cheeks to return to normal rather than cover them up with too much make up. Only a few people had arrived and she had found it easy to slip into the garden,  avoiding Ricky who was playing the role of host as she should have been doing. Laura had seen Whitey stood alone and putting on her sunglasses, avoiding eye-contact with anyone, she headed his way. Katie watched her from a distance.

"You alright?"  she asked,  taking a deep breath. Whitey was pleased to see her,  holding out his arms to hug her.

"Good thanks. It's a lovely place you've got here." He looked up at the house.

"Thank you. I like it." She looked about the garden, "Is Karen not here with you?" She knew the answer without asking really.

"No, she's at her mum's. We thought,  well,  she thought I'd prefer to come alone." Laura could hear the sadness in his voice.

"And do you?" she asked, wishing she'd have grabbed a drink as she'd walked through the kitchen.

"I'm not fussed really," he replied, shrugging.

"Look,  tell me to mind my own business, but you know I was married before," Whitey nodded as Laura continued. "Well decide what you want and work towards it. If it's a marriage worth saving,  start now. Win her love back again. But if in your heart of hearts you know it's over, well walk away. Don't drag it out telling yourself it will right itself, because in my experience it doesn't."  Laura could feel herself becoming emotional again. Her eyes flicked over to Ricky.  He was lumbering around,  telling some story or another. She turned back and smiled weakly at Whitey.  "If you love her, do whatever you can to keep her. Sorry,  excuse me," Laura said as she walked away. As she took a couple of steps she was aware of new arrivals at the side gate. Not feeling as if she was in the right mind to entertain, she was glad to feel Ricky's hand slip into hers and lead her towards the gate to his friends.

The party seemed to be enjoyed by everyone.  Laura was glad they had invited people from early afternoon as by early evening,  the guests had their fill of barbecued food and alcohol; by nine o'clock, only a few of their friends still remained.

"Any of those ribs left?" Chris shouted across to Ricky, who was turning over the last of the meat in the flames. Ricky made his way back over to the table with a large bowl.

"That's it." He put the bowl down on the table that the remaining guests sat around. Chris had become Katie's new best friend and her husband, Tom,  had spent much of the afternoon talking keyboards with Peanut. They were still deep in conversation now. Simon and Sarah sat in the shade with Chloe, a friend of the band's from the record label. Whitey had been one of the first to leave after spending much of the afternoon on the phone to Karen.  Her mum had agreed to babysit and he was going to take her out for the night.

Laura sat with a glass of wine,  her legs in the swimming pool,  which she'd only now uncovered for fear of anyone earlier falling in. With a glass of white wine in her hand,  she sat watching the coming together of friends from different parts of her life. She felt lucky that she had these people close to her.

She saw a pair of legs step up next to her; Ricky sat down, dipping his own legs in to the water. Laura turned to see her own reflection in the sunglasses that Ricky wore. She smiled at him.  They had seen very little of each other during the afternoon. In some ways,  Laura was glad.  It had meant she hadn't had to explain what her and Katie had been talking about earlier. She'd been able to catch up with friends, sharing gossip and news of others.  She had caught Ricky's eye a few times during the party,  sensing the worry he felt not knowing why he had found her crying earlier. She hoped he hadn’t chosen now to talk to her about it.