Page 63 of A Summer of New Beginnings
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The next morning Zara awoke with a thick pounding head to find a pint of water and two headache pills on her bedside table. There was also a note from Marco.
Zara Bear
Thought you might need these. We drank a LOT when we got home.
I’ve gone to meet gorgeous Toby for coffee. Wish me luck. Enjoy lunch at your folks’.
Love you
M x
She dragged herself out of bed, took the pills and went toshower. The marching band in her head was slowly being replaced with words that echoed Patrick’s from the night before about changes. Although as her earworm from her Highland travels was back the words came in the form of ‘Changes’, the David Bowie song, another of her dad’s favourites, and the lyrics she had known since she was a girl now resonated deep within her.
The front door to her parents’was locked when she arrived later on that day. It was rare but not unheard of, thanks to a number of opportunistic burglaries in the area. She pressed the doorbell button and could just make out the opening bars of ‘God Save the Queen’ as it alerted the occupants to her arrival.
Her younger brother, Will, opened the door and before actually greeting her he shouted over his shoulder at the topof his lungs, ‘Mu-u-u-um! It’s her! She’s he-e-e-ere!’ He then turned to her with a grin and said, ‘Better come in, sis.’
As she stepped into the living room she almost jumped out of her skin as party poppers exploded and The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ blared at full volume from her dad’s stereo system.
Her mum, dad, brothers, Shelley, Jake, Marco and even poor Toby sang to herat the top of their voices with big cheesy grins in place, but every time the word ‘walk’ came up they changed it to ‘ride’. Zara stood there watching and laughing at the scene before her as the group jumped up and down singing in terrible fake Scottish accents.
‘What the heck are you doing, you barmy bunch?’ she shouted over the music.
Her dad, out of breath, walked over to her side and huggedher with one arm. ‘We wanted you to have a proper homecoming, sweetheart. But we thought we’d wait ’til you’d caught your breath a bit.’
She beamed at her family and friends. ‘Well, this is brilliant.Ridiculous, but brilliant.’
‘We got you gifts too!’ her mum announced, still dancing.
‘Aw, you guys didn’t have to go to so much trouble, you know. It was only a work trip.’
‘Yeah, but we knowhow much you were dreading it so we planned this for when you got back.’
The song ended and was soon followed by Queen’s ‘Bicycle Race’. Her mum informed her, ‘Will and Andy made the track list for you on Spotify. They’re all biker tunes. “King of the Road”, “Born to Be Wild”, “Bat Out of Hell”, and stuff like that. Genius, eh?’
Zara laughed, her shoulders shaking and tears forming. ‘You doremember it was a bicycle, not a motorbike, don’t you?’
Andy huffed. ‘Yeah, but you try finding songs about cycling. All we got was Queen, which is okay, and bloody Mungo Jerry. It’s not exactly rock and roll, is it? So we had to use a bit of artistic licence.’
She hugged him. ‘Well, I absolutely love it. Thank you so much.’
‘Anyway, love; instead of a Sunday roast we’ve done a buffet. I hopethat’s okay?’
‘Ooh, is the food biker themed too?’
Her mum rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, good Lord, no. Even I have limits, love.’ She laughed.
‘Well, that’ll be perfect, Mum, thank you.’
Her parents went to sort out the food and she was joined by Shelley, Marco and their respective partners. ‘We clubbed together and got you something.’ Marco handed her an envelope.
She opened it and pulled out avoucher for a weekend at a spa hotel of her choice. Shelley winked at her. ‘There’s one in the Highlands. You know, in case you fancied a return trip.’
Marco told her, ‘The voucher’s good for a year so there’s no rush.’
Zara hugged them both. ‘That’s so sweet of you. Thank you. But I think I might use it a bit closer to home if you don’t mind.’
