And she’d need both those things tonight. Because, while she’d initially declined Kate’s invitation to the MacLeod family barbecue, she’d since discovered something she thought Lucy should know and if there was one thing she knew about Lucy, it was that she didn’t miss a family get-together.
It was one of the many differences between them. Augi only ever missed family get-togethers. But she’d compromise — she’d join them later, after dinner because then, she hoped, Dan would have left to return to Wellington.
She didn’t want him to ask her out again, and she especially didn’t want him asking why she didn’t want to go out on a date with him. She didn’t think ‘because I was shocked by how much I wanted to’ would cut it.
Augi rang the doorbell of MacLeod’s Cottage and waited.
She could hear people talking and laughter coming from the rear of the house, the side that faced the sea. She’d been to the house before but it had always been during the day to see Kate. There had rarely been others involved except occasionally Lucy. But Kate’s life had changed in the last five months and her eldest daughter Jen, her son Liam, and fiancé, Sam, were now living with Kate. And since Jen’s dramatic return, Dan had also come back — and stayed. Augi knew she ought to wish he hadn’t. The fact that she didn’t made her angrier.
She steeled herself. She was here for one reason only. Kate and Lucy had been so supportive over the years that she’d do anything she could to help Lucy with her fight against the man who proposed to knock down The Old Colonial Hotel and create a modern monstrosity which would destroy the heart of MacLeod’s Cove. A heart which Augi refused to allow to be wrecked. It was that heart which had saved her when she’d moved from Greece to New Zealand.
She knocked on the door seeing the bell had brought no reaction. But there was still no response. She wasn’t surprised. From the sound of conversation and music, they were sitting outside.
Augi never called informally on anyone. She visited people only if she was invited, and only through the front door. But now it seemed she had no choice but to adopt a kiwi sensibility and walk around the verandah to the back of the house.
As she did so, she heard Lucy’s voice, and gathered she was telling someone about the mystery over who actually owned MacLeod’s Cottage.
‘It’s an unusual problem,’ said Lucy. ‘A friend of ours is checking out some local history to see if there’s anything there that could shed some light on it.’
Then, just as Augi rounded the corner, a man spoke. Augi halted in her tracks, remaining unseen in the shadows.
‘Local history? There are a whole lot of files sitting untouched in filing cabinets. And it looks like the American Marines frequented the pub. I’ll have a look through what we have there. I don’t think they’ve been touched in decades, and the previous owners all seemed to have been hoarders, so I doubt they’ve thrown anything out.’
There could be no question as to who had spoken. She’d seen his photo when she’d been researching him and she recognised his profile. But she hadn’t anticipated he’d be here tonight. Nor that he’d be so familiar with them all. But there he was. The, apparently former, object of Lucy’s enmity — Oliver Perry-Warnes. He was sitting with Kate, their friends Megan and Ryan, and Jen, Sam and Lucy. As if they were one big happy family.
And she was about to rip that happy family apart. She stepped forward, in the process shifting a chair which scraped heavily on the wooden deck.
‘Talking of our clever researcher!’ said Kate. ‘Here she is!’
Augi gripped the covered plate she was holding more tightly as if it would save her. ‘I hope you don’t mind me coming round the back but I knocked and no one answered,’ she said.
Kate jumped up. ‘Not at all!’ She opened her arms wide and before Augi could react she found herself engulfed in Kate’s embrace. She stiffened and Kate moved away quickly, as if remembering that Augi really didn’t like that distance between her the world to be breached. But Kate still held on to Augi’s shoulders as she searched her face with a smile. ‘Next time, knock and then come right on in.’
Augi nodded, even as she thought hell would have to get pretty chilly before she did anything as familiar. She looked around, searching for an escape from Kate’s acute gaze. But, instead she looked straight into Dan’s gaze which not only appeared as acute, but far more interested and surprised than his mother’s.
To her annoyance, Augi felt herself blush. That was the second time in roughly ten years — the first being when she’d seen Dan last. Even more annoyingly she didn’t seem to be able to look away.
The spell was broken by Jen saying loudly, ‘Dan, you’re relieved of child duties. Why don’t you get Augi a drink?’
Augi turned around to find Kate and Lucy looking at her with a smile she didn’t like the look of. They obviously, erroneously of course, believed there was something between Dan and herself. They couldn’t have been more wrong. If only the blush which refused to subside didn’t signal the opposite.
‘Sure,’ said Dan, as if he was equally thrown by his reaction. He took a few steps up to the verandah towards her. If Augi hadn’t had the wall behind her, the table to one side, and Kate on her other side, she’d have backed away. But there was nothing for it except to watch him approach. She must have betrayed how nervous she felt because he stopped suddenly. When he reached out his hand for hers, they both had to stretch to meet.
‘Augi,’ he greeted. ‘Glad you could come. I thought?—’
‘Kate invited me,’ she said quickly before he could convey his thoughts to everyone here. And, from the warm look in his eyes, those thoughts weren’t for common consumption.
He cleared his throat, raked his fingers through his hair and twisted around, and saw everyone looking. Not that it seemed to worry him. ‘Would you like a glass of wine? Champagne?’ he asked, turning back to her.
‘White wine would be lovely, thanks.’
‘Come and take a seat,’ said Lucy.
Augi nodded, and glanced at Oliver who looked right at home amongst them all. She couldn’t believe he was sitting as if he were part of the family, as if he had nothing to hide, when he did. They all believed that the consultation process he had to adhere to would block the development of his brand new hotel, which would be at complete odds with the feel of MacLeod’s Cove. But it wouldn’t.
Question was, should she reveal the information she knew to Lucy now, when it was clear that Lucy and the rest of the MacLeod family were a lot friendlier with Oliver than Augi had anticipated, given the state of play around the Old Colonial Hotel?
Instead of doing anything dramatic she focused on the plate she was holding. She took off the foil cover, to reveal the Greek dessert she’d prepared, and placed it on the table.
