Page 57 of Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse
‘So, what’s he like?’ Sarah asked.
Lily smiled. ‘He’s all right,’ she said.
‘Is that all right as in all right, or all right, as in, “all riiiiiight!”?’
Lily smiled. ‘I can’t give you a definite answer yet, because I’ve only just met him, but let’s just say that I’m satisfied with progress.’
Pete opened his mouth to say something else, but Lily put up a hand. ‘And anyway, enough about my love life or lack of it. What’s news?’
It was clear Pete and Sarah were going to continue to grill Lily for details, so as soon as she was done with dinner, she retreated to her room, lay down on her bed, and opened her laptop.
I waited forever for you today, was Steve’s message. What happened? It hurts to be stood up like that. I thought we were working things out?
Sarah had poured Lily a glass of wine with dinner, despite Lily’s protests. Nope, she wrote back, feeling a little combative. I’ve had a think about everything, and it’s better if we go our separate ways.
His reply was quicker than she had expected.
I never realised you could be so cold. I made a mistake, that’s all.
The wine had definitely gone to her head. You sponged off me for two years, she wrote back. The whole while playing around behind my back. It’s me that made a mistake.
I thought I explained, he replied.
Not well enough. Goodnight, Steve.
She closed his message down, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. Michael had also messaged her, and she felt in the unenviable situation of feeling both angry and excited at the same time. Taking another breath, she opened Michael’s message.
Hi Lily,
The guesthouse is lovely. Like I remembered it and more. Angus’s beard is longer than ever, but Gertrude hasn’t aged a day! I’m afraid they didn’t recognise me, but that’s to be expected. Anyway, it’s really nice to be back. I haven’t tried to contact Mother yet. I was hoping you could help me break the ice tomorrow. You will be in, won’t you? I’m really looking forward to seeing you.
Yours,
Michael
There was something about the maturity in the way he wrote that left Lily swooning. She felt like some 19th Century housewife reading mail from her government-employee husband stationed in some far-off land. It was easy to throw off the likely realisms of such a situation and enjoy a romantic view. Separated loves, forced to correspond by long letters delivered by slow-moving paddle steamers. She shook her head as she found herself grinning, but it made no difference.
I’m really looking forward to seeing you too x she typed, then immediately deleted the message before sending.
Come on, Lily, act your age.
‘Hi Michael,’ she said, dictating the message as she typed, unable to resist putting on a toffy voice. ‘Thank you for your message. Yes, I’ll be at the guesthouse tomorrow. I hope to see you too.’
She changed it to “really hope”, then changed it back. Did it seem too needy, or too forward? In the end, she deleted the last sentence and just wrote “see you then”, pressing send before she could stop herself. Immediately after the message had sent, she grabbed her hair and gave it a savage squeeze. That surely wasn’t forward enough. He would think she wasn’t interested.
She was just starting to type some blathering, vague addendum, when Michael’s reply appeared.
Hi Lily, thanks! I’ll see you then too.
28
Reunion
‘What’s up with you this morning?’ Aunt Gert said, handing Lily a stack of bread slices to lie across the guesthouse’s industrial-sized grill. ‘Were you just whistling?’
‘Uh, no.’
‘Must be a crack in a pipe somewhere,’ Uncle Gus grunted, lifting a large bowl of salad leaves covered with cling film and giving it a savage shake. ‘Don’t worry, he’ll blow soon, and we’ll be able to fix him up.’
