She looked genuinely surprised at my question. ‘Leave Pine Harbor? No. Never. It’s home.’
‘You don’t find it, constricting?’
She shrugged. ‘Sure, sometimes it can be annoying, when everyone knows your business, sometimes before you do. But as much as people here love to gossip, you know they’ve got your back when you need it. Did you hear about Bronwyn?’
I searched my mental memory bank. ‘Meecham?’
‘Yeah.’ She checked to make sure no one was listening. ‘She got breast cancer last year. Only thirty-one, with two small kids. It was pretty aggressive when they found it. She couldn’t work, had to take time off to go through the treatments.’
‘That’s awful.’
‘She got really,reallysick. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone alive look the way she did. It was horrible. Her husband, Ben, was trying to juggle work, with the kids, and ferrying her back and forward to the city for treatments. I organized a meeting at the town hall and so many showed up. By the time we left two hours later, we had a roster and a plan for everything. Filled their chest freezer up with frozen meals and lunches. Washing was picked up twice a week and dropped back clean and pressed. The kids were taken to playcenter; Bronwyn was driven back and forward to her appointments. Even the dog was walked twice a day by volunteers. Ben could carry on working, knowing that everything was taken care of.’
‘How is she now?’
‘She’s doing OK. The treatment regime seems to have worked and she’s currently in remission. Very grateful to everyone for helping out while they were in the thick of it. That’s why I love this town. You can count on the people here to support you through the hard times, you know? And there’s going to be hard times, no matter where in the world you are. I know I’d rather be here if it came down to it. Besides, there’s plenty of fun times too. The festival is in a few days; that’s always cool. Will you still be here?’
‘Actually,’ I admitted. ‘I kind of got talked into running a tattoo stall.’
She stared at me for a moment, before she burst out laughing. ‘NowayCelia asked you to do that.’
‘Oh, she was firmly against it,’ I confirmed. ‘Tried her hardest to persuade the town it was a bad idea, but sadly for her, she lost.’
‘Was that at the town festival planning meeting?’
I nodded.
‘Damn, I missed it. I had to work that night. Pity, I’d have loved to have seen her face. I remember when we all used to go over to Adam’s house sometimes after school; she’d look at us like we were sewer rats or something. Stuck-up cow.’
‘You won’t find me arguing with that.’
A door opened and Ray shuffled up to us. ‘Done.’
‘What did the doctor say?’
‘I don’t know,’ he grumbled.
‘Because you weren’t listening, or because she said something you don’t agree with?’
He glared at Dawn, giving her a quick up-and-down.
‘Who’s this?’
She pointed at herself. ‘It’s me, Dawn. We’ve met before, but it was years ago. I was a friend of Taylor’s and Cal’s at school.’
‘Say no more. Another troublemaker.’
‘Actually, she’s the town librarian now,’ I told him. ‘Very respectable.’
He grunted. ‘At least one of you grew up and got a proper job.’
Dawn frowned. ‘You know Taylor makes way more than I do, right? And has won numerous industry awards, not to mention the fact that she owns her own business. She’s accomplished way more than most of our high school year has, so if anyone has a “proper” job, it’s her.’
‘I’ll wait for you at the car,’ he said, ignoring her. ‘Don’t be too long, we need to get to the pharmacy before it closes. And you need to bring me back in two days to get my ears cleaned out.’
‘Again? I’m sure Mom told me you had that done not long ago. I remember because it was disgusting, and I told her never to mention it to me ever again.’
‘I get a lot of buildup.’
