‘Anything.’
‘Sunil’s wife knows all about this – me – and wants to meet me at some point and they’re going to let me get to know their children eventually. How do you feel about me spending time with them?’
‘How doyoufeel?’Callie asked, with a catch in her voice.
‘I’m dead excited, to be honest. You know what I said about feeling as if part of me was missing? I think finding out aboutSunil and his family and his culture will…’ Frida flailed for the right words. ‘Oh I don’t know, complete me.’ She pulled a face again. ‘Sounds naff when I say it out loud but that’s how it feels.’
Callie bit back the tears. She couldn’t deny Frida this but, just as she’d got her daughter back, it felt as if she was losing her all over again. She was growing up, expanding her horizons. It was only natural but it was still painful. Stifling the loneliness which speared through her, she said, ‘Of course you must spend time with them, if that’s what you all want. It’s only natural. As I said, I won’t stand in your way.’
‘Thanks, Mum. Just think, I’ve been an only child all my life and now I have a dad, a stepmother and three siblings. It’s wild.’ Frida’s lovely green eyes went huge at the thought.
Perhaps it would all be all right. Callie prayed it would. She’d rather die than have her daughter hurt. Then she glanced at her watch and jumped to her feet. ‘Jeez. Have you seen the time? We’ve got an awards ceremony to get ourselves to!’
Thirty
WEDNESDAY EVENING 21ST AUGUST
David Hockney
Contemporary English artist. One of the most influential British artists of 20th and 21st centuries. Activity: depiction of sunlight on water in watercolour. How to express joy.
(Taken from Calliope Thorne’s teaching notes.)
‘And first prize in the inaugural Lullbury Bay Art School Competition goes to…’
‘Mum. Mum. You’ve won!’ Frida danced up and down and then hugged her mother. ‘Fuck, you’ve won!’
Callie was in a complete daze but the swear word got through. ‘Frida! Language!’ She’d gone through the evening in a trance. Had it not been for the fact she was stone cold sober, she would have thought she was drunk. Her brain was muzzy, her emotions all over the place. Her daughter’s revelations, meeting Sunil after all this time, all on top of everything else that had happened since she’d arrived in Lullbury Bay had, as Frida would put it, done her head right in.
The Art School main hall was unrecognisable. Long trestle tables covered in snowy cloth ran along one side. They were groaning with food and drink, courtesy of Rick at The Old School Kitchen, the restaurant in town. Displays of artwork ran down the middle of the room and the bigger pieces, like her own, hung on the wall. Brenda, Avril’s friend, was already attaching an enormous first prize banner.
Hearing her name being called, she froze. She should be making her way to the front where Dave Wiscombe, Jessica Starling and an elegant woman in cream linen and enormous earrings, who was apparently London gallery owner Adya Blanca, stood waiting for her.
Frida prodded her in the back. ‘You need to get to the front. Go on, go get your prize.’
As Callie wobbled forwards, a great howl of wind whipped around the building making it shudder. Or she thought it had. It may just have been her nerves. Rain lashed at the high Velux windows. The storm had worsened.
Her way was hampered by many in the crowd wishing her congratulations. Austin was there, shouting, ‘Well done,’ in her ear. His wife, Aggie, grabbed her around the neck making them jump up and down together. Sybil Starling bellowed a ‘Congratulations’ and gave her a bear hug, followed by Maria saying the same and Becky echoing it. Grace patted her arm and said, ‘How simply wonderful,’ and Lucie, accompanied by what seemed most of the Wiscombe clan, yelled, ‘Go, girl!’
Despite the awful weather, most of the town had turned out. Just as she thought she’d fought her way through them all, a slight figure to her right detached from the crowd to give her a hug. ‘I knew you’d do it,’ whispered Avril Pengethley. She gave her a gentle push. ‘Now, take your moment. It’s your time.’
Callie gave a speech although she wasn’t aware of a single word she said. Frida said afterwards she’d been witty andgenuine and everyone laughed so it couldn’t have been too bad. Dave handed over a cheque for a huge amount of money and the terrifyingly chic Adya explained that Callie had won exhibition space at her gallery in Islington for the next five years.
It was all a complete whirl. Unreal. She tried not to search the crowds for Johnny but did anyway and swallowed the bitter disappointment that he wasn’t there. She saw Frida skip over to a rain-soaked Sunil and saw how happy she looked showing off her father to Avril.
Grace approached. ‘Marvellous, my dear girl. Simply splendid. I can’t tell you how delighted I am.’
Jessica joined them. She handed over a glass of champagne. ‘Congrats, Callie. Knew I’d backed a winner.’ Kissing her on the cheek, she murmured, ‘I’m so pleased for you. Dave’s totally desperate to offer you that job. Think you should take it.’
‘Job?’ Callie laughed, confused. Jessica never stopped bossing people around.
‘Yes. The tutoring job,’ Grace and Jess chorused as one.
‘Here at the Art School,’ Jessica added.
‘I can’t think of anyone better suited. We’d be thrilled to have you,’ Grace said. ‘Please do consider it.’
They must mean the teaching job Dave had mentioned. Callie hadn’t thought he’d been serious. ‘But I already have a job.’ She looked wildly around to see who would rescue her, but everyone was too busy attacking the buffet. ‘I’d have to give my notice. I have a house in Worcester. My whole life is there.’ She caught sight of Frida and Sunil deep in conversation.But is it? And for how long?If Frida really was determined to go to South Western to study, she’d be leaving home. It could be the chance to change her life. The change she’d been longing for. But it would mean giving up all her security, taking the biggest risk of her life.You’re not your mother,she reminded herself.Don’t make the same mistakes.
