Page 60 of Will You Stay Another Day?
‘You mean he had one like that?’
‘No. I mean, that man at the festival was Harry.’
Lili sat very still.
‘He came home raving about this girl he’d met. Said she had awesome purple hair and grew up in Manchester. She’d shared her crisps and fruit with him and these amazing cinnamon buns from the café where she worked. In return he bought them burgers and chips.’
‘Em and Harry… they knew each other?’
Slowly, Dylan nodded. ‘Yep, I reckon so… She was into astrology and when the concert was over, she took him to a nearby field where the lights were less glary and pointed out different star constellations. He tried to track her down on social media, but he only had her first name to go by, and the fact that she lived in Truro. They’d got separated on the second day during a crush when a really popular band came on.’ Dylan picked up a handful of sand and let it run through his fingers. ‘He said this girl had so much energy, the best banter and she actually laughed at his jokes.’
Lili’s jaw dropped. ‘This is mad.’
‘I’d never seen him so buzzed about a girl before. I remember him telling me about her wearing some sort of sleeveless, floor-length silk coat that was totally impractical for roughing it outside.’
Lili exhaled. That coat – it was the one of Em’s that Meg always talked about and said showed true style. Her mind scrolled back again. ‘Yes, I remember now, she said the tattoo guy was from Tavistock, and he’d pretended he’d got her a vegan burger. He insisted on calling her his little potato all weekend. He told her to google the Italian for it when she got home. She did and… Oh, of course… now it makes sense.’
‘It’s an Italian term of endearment – patatina.’
‘Yes. Because well-cooked potatoes are soft and tasty. We laughed about it. We laughed even harder when she talked about his tattoo – but in an affectionate way on her part. Em tried to find him afterwards as well but she gave up eventually, because he’d said how he was going backpacking and… Oh, Dylan.’
He nodded. ‘That music festival was shortly before his trip.’
She linked arms with him and the two of them gazed out at sea, chatting about Em and Harry and how well-matched they would have been.
‘Look!’ said Dylan, and he pointed towards the sea stack.
Lili stood up and grinned. A head bobbed up and down under the moonlight. Neptune had come to say hello. Dylan stood up and put his arm around Lili. They turned to face each other.
‘I can’t help thinking Em and Harry somehow orchestrated our meeting,’ she said.
‘It would be just like Harry. He was always trying to get me on dating apps.’
‘And Em would have seen you as the perfect antidote to me moping around after her death, as she’d have seen it.’
‘It would be a shame for their hard work to go to waste,’ said Dylan, his jet-black eyes twinkling along with the stars.
A lump rose in her throat. ‘It does feel as if fate had to get involved, because Mario and Bacteria don’t sound like a match made in heaven,’ she whispered.
‘Why don’t we ship our names together? Bario? In Italian, that’s the word for barium, a chemical element. Your ceremonies are about going back to the basics of life. That’s us, building our relationship from the ground up.’
‘You are so romantic,’ she said and pulled a face.
When they stopped laughing, he held her tight. Lili leaned into him and closed her eyes. Despite the cutting wind, the crashing waves, the December frost, everything felt absolutely right.
41
After leaving a yellow hazel tree leaf on her bed for Lili to find later, Dylan left the cottage on Monday morning at the same time as Lili headed to work, both of them navigating roads covered in black ice. He had packing to do before going to Italy and last-minute shopping, joking about buying a new full-length raincoat. The weather on the Amalfi coast was getting worse after heavy rainfall last week.
Feel-good Christmas music had been the order of the day and by the time she got home, Lili couldn’t get Bing Crosby out of her head. Callum had picked up the VCR player and Jack was full of how they were going to a nativity play later on. Glenda had dropped in to sort through more jigsaws. They weren’t for Christmas, so there was no urgency. But she didn’t need to know that and Lili simply said it would be a huge help to have them ready for the January sale period.
‘Are you seeing Dylan again before he heads to Naples tomorrow?’ asked Tommo. He wore a Santa hat and a scarf of tinsel around his neck, like the dancers in Vegas. It was Tuesday now and his last shift volunteering before the visit to his sister’s for Christmas, in Norfolk, that he’d told everyone about. Lili passed him the biscuits. Despite counting every penny, Glenda had dropped off a tin of cranberry and orange shortbread, a thank you for the staff’s good service and friendliness over the last year. The tin was ornate, bright green with holly around the edges and a beautiful robin in the middle.
‘He’s coming over tonight. I’d go to his, but he said I’ve got enough driving ahead of me, up to Manchester.’
‘A real gent. I like that. Not that you gals need special treatment,’ he added hastily as Meg came in.
Meg gave him a bemused look and took a biscuit.
