They sat in the campervan and sipped their drinkswhile Dixie uploaded her latest video and watched hopefully for any signs of engagement.
‘What’s the plan now?’ asked Renee, leaning her elbows on the ancient table and making the hinges creak.
‘I was going to do it up bit by bit. Rip out the old stuff and make it all modern.’
Renee gasped. ‘This is a classic. I thought you kids were into vintage these days?’
‘It’s not that so much, it’s more that it’s falling apart,’ said Dixie, pointing at where the curtains were sagging on a makeshift wire track.
‘What do all your people on the Interweb say about it?’
‘Ooh, good idea. I could do a poll and see what everyone thinks I should do. Excellent idea, Renee.’
‘I’m frigging well full of ’em, honey,’ said Renee raising her glass.
11
Nora didn’t entirely understand why Dixie needed her to bring all the bunting she owned over on a Sunday afternoon, but like all good friends she didn’t question it and did as she was asked. When she got there, the van was looking quite shiny, apart from the rust spots, and people were bustling around it.
‘Nora, you’re a star,’ said Dixie, skipping over and giving her a brief hug before inspecting the bunting. ‘This is perfect.’
‘For what exactly?’ Looking around Nora wondered if they were having the smallest-ever summer fete in the car park of Dixie’s apartment building.
‘Did I not say?’
Nora shook her head.
‘Silly me. I did a poll on Insta and the overwhelming vote was I should just go for it and start travelling.’ Dixie clapped her hands together. ‘Isn’t that exciting?’
‘Sorry, still not following,’ said Nora, but Dixie was already skipping off with the bunting.
Renee appeared next to her. ‘She’s going off on heradventures with Elsie. Says she’ll do the makeover as she goes. Shelter in Sheffield, roof in Runcorn and curtains in Croydon, that sort of thing. Weirdest thing is apparently it was my idea.’
‘Shelter?’ questioned Nora.
‘It’s the awning but the only place she could find that started with Aw was in Devon. So she’s starting in the north and then making her way down the country to Croydon.’
‘Will it get as far as Croydon?’
‘That’s the million-dollar question,’ said Renee. ‘I’ve done my best but that engine is on borrowed time. Quite frankly, it’s buggered.’
‘I guess there’s still time to talk her out of anything rash.’
‘You’d better be quick. She’s planning on having a big live send-off at four o’clock.’
‘Today?!’ Nora almost shouted the word in her surprise. Renee shrugged her shoulder pads.
Nora really didn’t want to be the harbinger of doom but she couldn’t let Dixie embark on a long journey in a clapped-out banger. Over the next hour she tried to get Dixie to see sense, but when Dixie had her mind set on something she was harder to shift than Renee off a beanbag– there had once been an incident in John Lewis. Nora realized it was pointless when Dixie came over and wrapped her in a bear hug.
‘You’re really going to do this?’ asked Nora.
‘I have to. I can’t be the girl that always fails at things.And I have a good feeling about Elsie.’ Dixie looked fondly at the van surrounded by strings of bunting, balloons and happy people.
‘At least you’ve always got this place to come back to,’ said Nora, nodding at the block behind them, where Dixie lived in an apartment paid for by her parents.
‘Nope, I’m going cold turkey. Tenant moves in this afternoon. I have all my essentials in Elsie, including a scooter for getting about and a port-a-loo.’ She whispered the last part. ‘And everything else has gone off to storage. This way I can’t chicken out and there’s no going back.’
Nora tried hard to hide how she felt about that. ‘OK, but there’s always a place for you at mine. Keep in touch. And please take extra care of yourself.’ Nora didn’t share the statistics regarding women on their own being attacked but it didn’t mean they weren’t at the forefront of her mind.
