Jude blinked, his mouth opening just slightly, but before he could speak, a few soft guitar chords drifted across the sand.
Paul, sitting cross-legged by the fire, began to play. His fingers moved with quiet certainty. No one interrupted. No one needed to. The time was right. One by one, everyone sat back down by the fire and listened.
Paul’s voice rose, low, smoky, hopeful somehow as he sang the heart out of his new ballad.
‘I came here with pieces I’d hidden away
Old ghosts in my backpack, too heavy to stay
But the sea didn’t ask me for reasons or proof
Just gave me the tide and a place to tell truth.’
He raised his voice as he reached the chorus.
‘So, here’s to the quiet, the brave and the broken
To words and hopes, now finally spoken
We found something real, in the salt and the sand
And I’m not who I was when I first came to land.’
Paul’s voice hitched as he continued with the second verse.
‘The nights felt like stories we wrote in the dark.
Each laugh lit a lantern, each tear left a mark
We’re strangers no longer, not here, not tonight
We’re stitched into starlight, and holding on tight.’
The group started swaying and moving in their own personal ways as the melody hit them. Then a few hums to the chorus.
‘So, here’s to the quiet, the brave and the broken,
To words and hopes now finally spoken.
We found something real, in the salt and the sand
And I’m not who I was when I first came to land.’
As the final chorus arrived everyone in the group joined in.
‘So, here’s to the quiet, the brave and the broken,
To words and hopes, now finally spoken.
We found something real, in the salt and the sand
And I’m not who I was when I first came to land
No, I’m not who I was… and I think I understand.’
As they made their way back to the car park, the hum of the chorus still soft on everyone’s lips, Rita lingered a step behind. The moonlit sand stretched ahead, quietly lighting her path. For the first time in a long while, she felt ready to face what was unfolding around her. And maybe, just maybe, it was time to start making her hopes for the future come true.
FORTY-ONE
