As she talks, one of the pirates walks towards us with a small tray of food – chocolate cake, tiny sandwiches, and those little cocktail sticks of cheese and pineapple that I didn’t think people did any more. As he nears, I actually make a little squeaking noise out loud – this particular pirate must be signed up with a modelling agency. He’s tall, dark, and despicably handsome. His costume is a bit like Captain Jack Sparrow’s, and his teeth glint white as he smiles at me.
He slides down next to Ella, and puts his arm around her shoulder. For just a moment, I feel invisible as they grin at each other. This, I vaguely remember, is what being in love looks like.
“This is Jake,” she says, leaning into his side. “He’s my fancy man.”
She winks as she says it, and Jake adds: “Ahoy there! I bring treasure. Do you need another drink? I know the owner, I can get it for you on the house…”
“Heisthe owner,” Ella explains, then introduces me. Jake listens to my half-told version of events – the reckless cross-country dash from home – and then nods.
“Connie is going to freak out,” he announces, pushing the plate towards me. “That’s like a gift from above for her.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, picking up one of the little butties. I know I’m going to eat the lot, and probably get seconds, but I will start small on the off chance that I have some kind of personality transplant mid-meal.
“He means that Connie is a bit on the…gosh, what’s the right word? A bit on the enthusiastic side, to put it diplomatically. She – and lots of the other people who live here, to be fair – have this unshakeable belief that Starshine Cove is somehow…well, no use sugar-coating it – that it’s special. That people find it when they need it, that fate and destiny bring them here as much as the A35…that it’s, um, well…magical.”
Ella pulls a little face as she says this, but I suspect she’s not quite as cynical as she is trying to sound. I see her fingers creep into Jake’s as she speaks, and wonder what their story is – this looks like a happy ending but, in my experience, those don’t come without some bumps in the road.
“Magical…” I repeat, enjoying the word on my tongue, almost as much as the cake I’ve now started to nibble. “Well, that sounds pretty great to me. In fact I think I’ve used that word more times in the last few days than I ever have – except with the words ‘not very’ popped in as well. In fact it was one of the reasons I drove all the way here – because I remember it being magical. I knew that maybe I was just remembering it that way because I was a little girl when I stayed here, but I wanted – needed, really – to believe that it still would be now. So, bring it on – I’m up for a bit of magic!”
As I talk, a vision in a full-length baby blue dress shimmies towards us – and I actually mean shimmies, as the music has switched to Shakira in all her glory, inspiring a frenzy on the dance floor. The woman approaching is wearing a full Cinderella outfit, and has what I can tell immediately are naturally golden blonde curls cascading around her shimmying shoulders. Her eyes are big and blue, and she is approximately five feet tall, with the kind of curves that a Disney princess would only have if she was genetically spliced with Dolly Parton.
She plumps herself down next to me, makes anooofsound, and announces: “Well, my hips don’t lie – they’re telling me it’s time to stock up on the Ralgex! Hello, hello, snow angel – I’m Connie!”
I see Jake and Ella exchange amused looks, and wonder what’s about to happen.
“This is Cally,” says Ella simply. “She’s been driving all day looking for Starshine Cove, chasing the dream of a magical Christmas.”
The blue eyes get even bigger, and Connie grins at me before she says: “Well, you’ve come to the right place for that, my lovely! Where are you from? That accent isn’t local!”
“Liverpool,” I reply. “All the way up in the frozen north – except the weather was far better there than it is here. Not that I’m complaining. I love a bit of snow.”
“You really should be an Elsa fromFrozenthen, shouldn’t you? I think we have a few of those around tonight…but in the meantime, let me see what I can do…”
With a speed that belies her aching hips, she jumps to her feet, dashes off to one of the booths, rummages around and comes back clutching a variety of accessories. She lays them out on the table, and encourages me to pick one – “just to get in the party mood”.
I never need much encouraging to do something like that, and within seconds I am wearing an Olaf the snowman’s hat, complete with fake twigs growing out of my head. I pat it down over my ears, strike a pose, and ask how I look.
Connie claps her hands together, and exclaims: “Just perfect! I can see you’re going to fit right in here, Cally…”
“That’s what I said!” Ella adds.
At this point, Jake gets up and rolls his eyes, and says: “Cally, you have my sympathies. I’ll go and get us some more drinks.”
All three of us stare at him as he walks away, and I wonder how that must feel for Ella – to be the other half of a man who looks like that, and also owns a pub. I mean, he just couldn’t get any more perfect, could he?
“So,” says Connie, slapping her Cinderella thighs and turning back towards me, “what’s your story, Cally? What led you to make a magical pilgrimage to Starshine Cove this festive season?”
I drink some more wine, and decide that maybe I do like red after all. It’s certainly making me feel nice and warm inside – to the point where I see no reason not to share my “story”, dull as it is. I’ve been on the receiving end of non-committal grunts from Sam all day, and it’s actually really nice to be sitting here with some grown-up company.
“Well,” I say, pushing the last bit of cake around my plate with my fork, knowing its days are numbered, “my mum, who is in her seventies, met a man on the internet and ran off to live with him in Scotland. I’ve been looking after my mum for…well, a long time. And Sam, my son, obviously – but he’s eighteen now and—”
“Doesn’t think he needs looking after at all, until he needs his pants washing?”
“Yep. Do you have one of those as well?”
“I have two of them,” she says, pointing at the teenagers now lying in a tangled heap on the Twister mat. “And one in his early twenties.”
“Yikes! You get it, then. Anyway, so, she left, and then the place where I work got flooded and closed down for a month, and I suddenly found myself…available. And that just wasn’t as much fun as I always thought it would be, to be honest. I found myself looking through some old photo albums, and came across some pictures of Starshine Cove, on a holiday we had here one Christmas when my dad was still alive. So, I got in the car, and here I am – there is more to the last part but it’s really boring. I was just glad I saw that giant inflatable snowman on the hill, the one that looked like he was pointing me in this direction…”
