Page 66 of A Secret Cornish Wish
‘Yeah, I lived here until 1989, the year I left school, in fact. My dad got a job over in the States so the whole family upped and left with him, and never looked back. It is quite odd to be here again now, though. It feels like I never left. It doesn’t change all that much, does it?’
‘No, not a lot.’ Eddie nods, looking at Mack with wide eyes.
‘I have to disagree,’ Claire says. ‘As a resident here, I think it does change. We try to move with the times, but people like the quaint timelessness of it all. That’s why they holiday here year after year.’
‘You’re right, of course.’ Mack smiles. ‘A few of my friends were quite jealous when I said I was coming to Cornwall.’
I like how he saysCornwall. Drawing out the vowels to make them seem more important.
‘Why are you here?’ I ask. ‘Did Rob just ask you to come with him?’
I’m desperate to know what their relationship is, and why Rob has brought Mack here for Hetty’s funeral. It seems very strange.
‘Ah, that’s a funny one. No, funny is the wrong word. Strange is probably better. Rob and I know each other from the sports bar I run in LA. We have quite a lot of ex-pats who drink with us because we show British sport – English football, rugby, sometimes cricket, you know the stuff. Most of my rivals only show NBA, NFL and NHL. They’re American sports,’ he adds, in case we don’t know.
Eddie nods, eagerly taking in every word, while Claire and I just listen.
‘Rob’s one of my regulars. To cut a very long story short, we were chatting one afternoon when the bar was quiet, and I discovered that Rob was going to be coming back here to England for a funeral. That’s a coincidence, I said, I should be going back to England for a funeral too. When we both discovered that not only was it the same funeral, but that we’d both lived in the same Cornish town when we were younger, we couldn’t quite believe it.’
‘Did you know Hetty too?’ I ask.
Mack shakes his head. ‘Not that I remember. But I did know her husband, David. We were buddies at school. Played in the same rock band together. I was in the year above you guys. Terrible, isn’t it, what happened?’
We all nod sadly.
‘So, anyway, when Rob suggested we travel here to England together for their joint funeral, it didn’t take much for me to agree. I thought as well as paying my respects, it would be cool to see the old place again.’
‘You said you were in a rock band at school,’ Eddie says, still staring at Mack. ‘Was it the band that played at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, by any chance?’
‘Yeah, that’s us. We called ourselves the Friday Rock Project.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘We thought we were so cool and trendy with that name! We were the leavers the year you guys put on our entertainment. I remember you singing that Beach Boys song dressed as mermaids. You won, didn’t you?’
Eddie visibly blushes. ‘No, sadly we came runners-up. It was the band with the ringer singer that won.’
Mack frowns. ‘Ringer singer?’
‘Yeah, they found this supposed new pupil who could miraculously hold a tune extremely well, and they completely changed their act to accommodate her. We had no chance.’
Eddie is clearly still very peeved about that competition.
‘Oh, yeah.’ Mack nods as he remembers. ‘They got her to sing with us too. The rest of my band were not at all happy when we had to accommodate a lead singer last minute, but the girl had some pipes on her that’s for sure; it didn’t do us any harm. Never saw her again afterwards, though.’
‘Yeah, funny that,’ Eddie says sourly. ‘It’s almost like she was never going to be a pupil at all . . . ’
‘Who was never gonna be a pupil?’ Rob asks, coming back to the table with a tray of drinks.
‘We were just talking about the Enchantment Under the Sea dance,’ Claire says. ‘And that girl, Marnie, who sang.’
Rob glances at me, but I pretend not to notice as I reach for my orange juice.
‘Yeah, I was quite surprised when I ran around from backstage to see you guys play that night.’ Rob glances at me again to check I’m listening. ‘I was a huge fan of your band and very jealous I wasn’t in it.’
Mack shrugs good-naturedly. ‘That was all a very long time ago now. Funny how these things happen, though. What are the chances I’d bump into someone in LA who not only lived in the same place as me when I was young, but who actually went to school with me too – incredible!’
Rob lifts his pint of beer. ‘Let’s have a toast,’ he says. ‘To old friends.’ He looks around at us all. ‘And to new ones!’ He gestures to Mack. ‘May they all mingle into one big happy mess together. To our friends!’
‘To our friends,’ we all repeat. ‘Old and new.’
As we all take a sip from our glasses, a voice calls out across the pub.
