Page 57 of Summer at Harbour View House
‘—I had Hannah do it. She seems to be able to flutter her eyelashes even down a phoneline. I know he said he’d rather eat his fingers than play with you again, but I figured it was a worth a try.’
‘You’re wasting your time. The last time I saw Curve, we got into a bit of a dust up. There are things between us that can’t be resolved. Did he actually speak to her?’
‘He hung up the moment she said what she was calling about, but she’ll give him a day or so to stew and then try again.’
‘Not gonna happen. Good luck with it, though.’
Eddie replaced his sunglasses and leaned back in his deckchair. He poured a glass of juice and sucked it through a straw.
‘Just don’t forget your promise.’
‘Oh, I won’t. I can’t believe you actually thought Curve would do it….’
Feeling a little frustrated, Natasha headed on to the pub. Lizzie was alone in the bar, watching a daytime soap opera. In the nearby family room, a couple of campers were playing pool.
‘How’s everything going?’ Lizzie asked.
‘Getting there,’ Natasha said. ‘I spoke to Jago this morning and he said the council’s cleared all the red tape. The village hall is going to help us with a stage, and we’re slowly getting together a few side acts and things to make it into a proper festival. Albert’s going to do a painting workshop, and I know a guy back home called Pete Markham who has a burger van. He promised to donate all his profits to the cause provided we hand his business cards around a little bit.’
‘And you’ve got the band?’
Natasha grimaced. ‘More or less. We’ve got a bassist and a backing singer coming down. We’re still short guitars, drums, and keyboards.’
‘You know old Jago plays a bit of guitar. ‘e might be out o’practice now, but back when we was kids ‘ed be up playing in village halls and the like. Bluesy type stuff.’
‘I might have to ask him for a favour.’
Lizzie’s smile abruptly dropped. ‘I had the bank on the phone this morn,’ she said. ‘Grave robbers, the lot of them. I’m close to defaulting on the mortgage. This place is on her last legs.’
‘It’ll work out, I promise.’
‘Be wary o’promises, maid,’ Lizzie said. ‘There’s that other little thing called change. And sometimes, there ain’t nothing you or me can do about ‘e. You know, I saw the Weasel outside the café this morning. I know Jan over there, been friends for years. All these palace people ordering in from Waitrose and Marks and Sparks, blocking the roads with their delivery vans, they’ll be the death of us. And they’ll be inheriting a ghost town.’
‘Not if I can help it,’ Natasha said.
Lizzie smiled. ‘Got a bit o’fire in yer belly, you’s have,’ she said. ‘Be nice to see you around a little more often.’
Natasha, only too aware that her own tenancy was temporary, forced a smile. ‘August 31st,’ she said. ‘That’s our judgement day.’
And it would also be her last day, for on September 1stshe was due to head back up to Brentwell to start preparing for the new school term, something that had been moving in and out of focus over the last couple of weeks. Some days it felt a million miles away, so far that she couldn’t ever imagine going back. Other days it felt jarringly close.
After talking to Lizzie, she went for a walk on the beach. Ben was down by the shore, teaching a group of kids how to bodyboard in little two-foot breakers. Natasha sat down on the beach to watch, wondering how he looked so at ease with himself, despite a career-ending injury. As he smiled and joked with the kids, he showed almost no sign of it, only one brief wince and a clutch of his shoulder on one occasion when he turned around too fast.
All of us, we’re broken in some way, she thought. It affects some of us more than others, and some of us hide it better, but we’re all still broken. Or perhaps we start broken, and we spend our lives trying to be fixed?
Down by the shoreline, Ben was jumping up and down, cheering as a boy no older than seven or eight managed to catch a wave and ride it into the beach. She was just wondering whether she ought to catch his eye, or quietly sneak away, when a familiar voice hailed her.
‘Nat! Nat! You’ll never guess what happened!’
She turned to see Hannah racing gracefully down the beach, a cross between a gazelle and a fairy, her hands lifted out in front of her. She came up beside Natasha, gasping for breath yet not a hair out of place, not a dribble of sweat to spoil her perfect face. At the wide-eyed, fawny look, Natasha couldn’t help but smile.
‘Look!’ she cried, holding up a hand to reveal a shiny diamond ring. ‘Davey proposed. Oh my god. I can’t believe it. I’m getting married next week!’
‘Uh, wait a minute. Can I just pick that apart? I mean, obviously, congratulations. That’s wonderful. But did you say, “married” and “next week” in the same sentence?’
‘Yes!’
‘That’s … that’s just … I’m blown away. Congratulations.’
