‘What about him?’
‘Well, you two seem close. And he’s hot. And I was wondering if you were sharing nights of passion in his love tent?’
‘No, we are not!’ I say, laughing. She doesn’t look convinced, so I throw a napkin at her face to emphasise my denial. ‘We’re really not, Connie.’
‘Why not? I’ve seen the way you look at him. Like you’re dying of thirst and he’s a tall glass of water…’
I shake my head. ‘No. I don’t know if you’ve missed the newsflash, but I’m pregnant?’
‘So what? That doesn’t mean you’re dead. And didn’t you say things with the baby-daddy aren’t serious?’
‘I did. The baby-daddy is a good man, but it was never a love match. Guy is… Well, it’s complicated.’
‘Do you fancy him?’ she asks, leaning forward with her face resting in her chin. I feel like I’ve been transported into the pages of one of the teen girl magazines I used to read as a child.
Do I fancy him? Well, duh – I most definitely do. Has she not seen the man?
‘Um, yes. I do. Because he’s, you know, scrumlicious.’
‘He is! I love that word for him! And does he think you’re scrumlicious too?’
Does he? I don’t really know. Things certainly got a little hot and heavy in the ‘love tent’ a while ago, but that was definitely a one-off. It was a moment, and we both got carried away. Has there been any hint of that since, I ask myself? Maybe.The odd glance. An accidental touch. An awareness that those accidental touches could easily turn into something else. We’re careful around each other, I suppose – neither of us wanting to jeopardise the balance of what we have.
‘I don’t know,’ I tell her honestly. ‘And it doesn’t matter anyway.’
‘Why not? Don’t we all need a bit more scrumlicious in our lives? It’s even better than cake – and I do remember how my hormones played up when I was pregnant. I couldn’t get enough, and I’m not talking about cake!’
Yuck. That’s my brother she’s talking about. But I do also know what she means. I am very much alive on the libido front, more than ever in fact.
‘I think the issue is, Connie, that I don’t want to spoil it. I like him. He’s my friend. We’re very different, but we’re also kind of the same. We’ve helped each other since we arrived here, in ways you probably couldn’t understand… I don’t mean to sound as patronising as I just did, I’m sorry. But you’re one of the village elders, so you wouldn’t get it.’
‘Less of the elder, you cheeky moo! And that’s okay, I don’t have to get it. I don’t have to understand everything, none of us do. But I do know that I see two people who might just be right for each other, both of whom are fighting it.’
I know Connie has form for this. I know she loves to matchmake, to benignly interfere in other people’s love lives. It’s because she believes in happy endings, despite everything that she’s been through. She still believes in the fairy tale, in the magic and the stories and the pixie dust. Even when I was a child, I was never quite sure – and my favourite was always theMagic Faraway Tree, because it was all about escaping reality, literally climbing out of your own world and into a new one.
She’s looking at me expectantly, and I hate to disappoint her. I hate to burst her little bubble of romance and hope.
‘I’m sorry, Connie. But like I said, I value his friendship more than anything else. We’re both trying to build something here. Me with my family, him with Miranda and Evan. We’re both trying to find a place to settle, to be better, to be who we want to be. I suspect the last thing either of us needs is anything more complicated in the mix – we’ve both got more than enough going on.’
She looks crestfallen, and sighs in disappointment. I wonder what it would be like to have her world view. To see Starshine, to see life, as this magical sparkling thing. To see every layer of every relationship as something wonderful rather than yet another rope that ties her down.
It would be, I think, very nice indeed. But some of us just aren’t made that way.
FOURTEEN
My dad’s big day rolls around, and begins in style with Archie, Jake, Josh and Trevor turning up at the front door with a portable throne. Guy helped them build it, a red-velvet covered seat on a frame, complete with four carrying poles.
He looks ever-so-slightly nervous as he clambers onto it, but soon settles into the idea as he is paraded around the village green waving at his subjects. It’s not a big journey, which is lucky for the men tasked with carrying him, just a quick circuit and then off to the Cove Café for birthday brunch.
Once there, the feasting begins, and I suspect it might go on all day. Connie has outdone herself, coming up with so many of his favourites. It’s a long and luxurious multi-course feast that begins with a classic bacon butty, done on her home-baked doorstep-sized slices of bread, and served with his beloved HP Sauce. After that, there is an actual pancake menu for us all to choose from – options including sliced bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, Nutella, blueberry compote, or any combination of the above. It’s all finished up with a sumptuous fresh fruit salad drizzled with his favourite maple syrup, although everyone is stuffed by that point.
My dad manages to get through a creditable amount – he eats like a horse and always has done, paying scant regard to new-fangled trends like cholesterol or blood sugar. But he’s also always been incredibly active, and when somebody is celebrating their ninetieth birthday, they’ve clearly been doing something right.
The brunch is accompanied by Buck’s Fizz all around, and then a game of Mystery Cricket on the village green. Mystery Cricket was introduced after my departure from the village, so it’s also pretty mysterious to me. I soon realise it’s a whole lot of fun and very Starshine indeed. It involves a batter and a bowler, just like normal cricket, but the mystery bit kicks in because the batter has no clue what is going to be bowled at them. It could be a ball, it could be pouch of jelly, it could be a water balloon or a bag of flour. It takes googlies to a whole new level, and my dad ends up coated in both fluorescent green gunk and a flurry of multi-coloured sequins.
After that, he is taken on his throne back to Archie and Cally’s cottage, where he is given a mini spa-break by Meg and Lilly. I’m not convinced that he really enjoys having his face exfoliated and his nails buffed, but the girls are so excited about it, and he is, as ever, the model of patience. Cally uses her professional skills to tidy up his silver mane of hair, and her son Sam presents him with his specially curated outfit for the evening events.
‘Oh, this is all marvellous,’ he declares, ‘I feel very special indeed! But now, I’m going to ask you for the very best gift a man could have – I need a snooze. There’s no way I’m going to last the whole day if I don’t have a power nap!’
