Sixteen
It’s strange to see someone other than Rob’s parents behind the bar of the Merry Mermaid but Rita and Richie, the new owners, seem jovial and efficient as they serve both us and the mix of early holidaymakers and locals out for a drink this evening.
Eddie and I are the first to arrive. We quickly find a table big enough to accommodate the others when they come, and we sit down with our drinks feeling like we’ve never been away, as the familiarity of the Merry Mermaid on a busy Thursday evening envelops us like a warm and comforting blanket.
‘You know what you were saying earlier?’ I ask Eddie as we sit on the same side of the table watching the comings and goings at the bar. ‘About our parents all gradually moving away?’
‘Uh-huh,’ Eddie replies, sipping on his lager.
‘Apparently my mum and dad are going to be next in the parental exodus of St Felix.’
‘Really?’ Eddie looks surprised. ‘Are they selling up too?’
‘It would seem so. They told me tonight over dinner they’re going to put our house up for sale sometime this year. Apparently, the property market is just too good in St Felix at the moment. Houses are going for way over the odds as people clamour to buy second homes, or holiday rentals. They’re hoping to buy a bungalow somewhere and possibly take early retirement with the proceeds if all goes well.’
‘How do you feel about it?’ Eddie asks perceptively. ‘By the tone of your voice, I assume not too happy.’
I shrug. ‘It’s always going to be hard when the home you grew up in is sold. It doesn’t surprise me they’re moving on; I just didn’t expect it quite yet. But it’s not just the selling of the house that bothers me, it’s the fact I won’t have any reason to come back here to St Felix if they don’t live here any more.’
‘Claire is still here. You could come and visit her if you need an excuse?’
‘I suppose. Claire and I don’t actually speak as much as we used to, though. What with her young family and everything, I get the feeling she’s really busy these days. Have you noticed that?’
‘Not really, but you two were always a lot closer. She doesn’t always make our MSN chats on the rare occasion we can get everyone together these days, though, does she?’
‘No, I’ve noticed that too. Or she’s really late coming online.’
Eddie nods. ‘Oh, talk of the devil . . . Claire!’ He starts waving madly in the direction of the pub entrance. ‘Claire, over here!’
Claire smiles and raises her hand, then weaves her way through the busy bar to our table.
‘It’s so good to see you both,’ she says, hugging Eddie and then me. ‘So very good.’
Claire hugs me a little longer than feels comfortable.
‘Are you OK?’ I ask, smiling at her.
Each time I’ve seen Claire over the last ten years, she’s looked a little bit more stressed, and a little bit older. Heartbreakingly she lost the baby she was pregnant with at her wedding. But fortunately for her and Jonathan, they managed to conceive again – and they now have three beautiful children between them: Alice, age eight, George, age six, and little Freddie, who is almost four. That’s enough stress and worry for anyone!
At thirty we have all begun to age, of course we have – a few more lines around our mouths and eyes, a few more wrinkles on our foreheads that don’t disappear quite as fast as they used to when we stop frowning. But Claire seems different. Her lines appear worn into her face rather than simply accrued by age, and she looks tired, exhausted even.
‘Yes, of course I’m OK. Why do you ask?’
‘No reason,’ I say quickly, shaking my head. ‘Come, sit down. What are you having to drink?’
For the next twenty minutes or so, it’s just the three of us chatting about what’s been going on in our lives and what’s been going on in St Felix.
‘Rita and Richie seem to have fitted in really well,’ Claire says, looking up at the bar. ‘It was sad when Rob’s parents left, but his dad’s health wasn’t great, so it was becoming too much for them, I think. Have you guys heard Rob’s news?’
I shake my head.
‘He’s only gone and got himself the lead role in a new superhero movie!’
‘Blimey!’ Eddie says. ‘What superhero?’
‘Er . . . he’s going to be Danger Man or something like that. It’s very exciting – it’s going to be his first leading role.’
‘Are you sure it isn’t Danger Mouse?’ I ask sarcastically, raising my eyebrows. ‘It seems more apt.’
But my mind immediately casts back to Rob in his Batman outfit.
‘Ooh, meow!’ Eddie says. ‘I don’t know about mice, but someone’s catty tonight!’
‘Frankie,’ Claire says reproachfully. ‘That’s mean. This is going to be Rob’s big break. He’s very excited about it.’
‘How do you know all this?’ I ask her. ‘He never comes on chat any more.’
‘My mum keeps in contact with his mum; they’re still good friends even though they’ve moved away.’
‘Oh,’ I say quietly, slightly distracted as I glance behind Eddie’s head. ‘I see.’
‘Are they giving him a bodysuit?’ Eddie asks, still playing along. Since Claire arrived, his back is to the bar now. ‘He was hardly buff the last time I saw him.’ He attempts to flex his biceps. ‘Superheroes need muscles, you know!’
‘They do indeed!’ a familiar voice says, making Eddie jump. Eddie spins around on his stool to find Rob standing behind him in a fitted navy T-shirt flexing very well-developed biceps.
‘Rob!’ Eddie stands up immediately. ‘Good to see you, man! Wow, you have filled out . . . ’ Eddie says admiringly as they give each other a hug.
‘Claire.’ Rob smiles at her as Eddie releases him. ‘Good to see you again.’
‘Hello, Rob,’ Claire says, looking pleased to see him. ‘I’m glad you could make it.’
‘Frankie.’ Rob finally looks at me. ‘How have you been?’
‘Good, thanks,’ I say quickly. ‘Very well.’
‘Good. Good.’ Rob holds my gaze for a moment and annoyingly I feel my stomach do that silly thing it always used to do when I first knew Rob, taking me right back to my school days once more. ‘Oh, sorry, mate,’ he says to a man behind him who I’ve only just noticed standing there. ‘I should introduce you.’
I look with interest at the man who steps forward. I’d guess he’s about our age, tall like Rob, and fit-looking, with a healthy LA glow to his skin. A pair of piercing blue eyes smile from under a mop of dark glossy hair, which he runs his hand through to push it back off his face.
‘This is Mack,’ Rob says. ‘He’s a mate from the States. Mack used to live here in St Felix too. I bet none of you remember him?’
‘I would definitely remember if we’d met before,’ Eddie says, eagerly standing up to shake Mack’s hand.
‘Good to meet you, Eddie,’ Mack says with a strong American accent as he firmly shakes Eddie’s hand. ‘And you, Claire, and, of course, Frankie.’ He smiles at me. ‘Rob’s told me a lot about all of you.’
‘I’ll get the drinks in,’ Rob says. ‘Usual, Mack?’
Mack nods, pulling up a seat opposite me.
‘Lager for you, Eddie?’ Rob asks.
Eddie nods. ‘Yes, please.’
‘Claire – still a gin and tonic?’
‘Well remembered, Rob, but, no, I’ll have a glass of white wine, please.’
‘Frankie?’ Rob asks, looking at me. ‘Still the same Jack and Coke?’
‘No, I’m just on the orange juice tonight, thanks,’ I tell him.
‘Frankie’s got a dodgy tummy,’ Eddie says. ‘Amazingly, she’s not touched a drop all night.’
Rob looks surprised. ‘Orange juice it is, then,’ he says, holding my gaze again. ‘Back in a mo.’
‘You all make me sound like an alcoholic.’ I shake my head. ‘What will Mack think?’
Mack shrugs. ‘Mack will think nothing of it,’ he says. ‘Because I am one.’
I stare in horror at Rob’s friend.
‘Oh my . . . I’m so sorry!’ I say quickly, absolutely mortified. ‘I . . . I didn’t mean . . . I mean, I did mean . . . but I wasn’t poking fun or anything like that.’
‘Please,’ Mack says quietly but firmly. ‘I’m not in the least offended. So why should you be upset?’
I nod, but I feel myself blushing furiously.
‘So,’ Claire says quickly. ‘Rob said you used to live here in St Felix, but you’ve clearly been in America a long time. What’s your story?’
‘Yeah, I lived here until 1989, the year I left school, in fact. My dad got a job over in the States so the whole family upped and left with him, and never looked back. It is quite odd to be here again now, though. It feels like I never left. It doesn’t change all that much, does it?’
‘No, not a lot.’ Eddie nods, looking at Mack with wide eyes.
‘I have to disagree,’ Claire says. ‘As a resident here, I think it does change. We try to move with the times, but people like the quaint timelessness of it all. That’s why they holiday here year after year.’
‘You’re right, of course.’ Mack smiles. ‘A few of my friends were quite jealous when I said I was coming to Cornwall.’
I like how he says Cornwall
. Drawing out the vowels to make them seem more important.
‘Why are you here?’ I ask. ‘Did Rob just ask you to come with him?’
I’m desperate to know what their relationship is, and why Rob has brought Mack here for Hetty’s funeral. It seems very strange.
‘Ah, that’s a funny one. No, funny is the wrong word. Strange is probably better. Rob and I know each other from the sports bar I run in LA. We have quite a lot of ex-pats who drink with us because we show British sport – English football, rugby, sometimes cricket, you know the stuff. Most of my rivals only show NBA, NFL and NHL. They’re American sports,’ he adds, in case we don’t know.
Eddie nods, eagerly taking in every word, while Claire and I just listen.
‘Rob’s one of my regulars. To cut a very long story short, we were chatting one afternoon when the bar was quiet, and I discovered that Rob was going to be coming back here to England for a funeral. That’s a coincidence, I said, I should be going back to England for a funeral too. When we both discovered that not only was it the same funeral, but that we’d both lived in the same Cornish town when we were younger, we couldn’t quite believe it.’
‘Did you know Hetty too?’ I ask.
Mack shakes his head. ‘Not that I remember. But I did know her husband, David. We were buddies at school. Played in the same rock band together. I was in the year above you guys. Terrible, isn’t it, what happened?’
We all nod sadly.
‘So, anyway, when Rob suggested we travel here to England together for their joint funeral, it didn’t take much for me to agree. I thought as well as paying my respects, it would be cool to see the old place again.’
‘You said you were in a rock band at school,’ Eddie says, still staring at Mack. ‘Was it the band that played at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, by any chance?’
‘Yeah, that’s us. We called ourselves the Friday Rock Project.’ He rolls his eyes. ‘We thought we were so cool and trendy with that name! We were the leavers the year you guys put on our entertainment. I remember you singing that Beach Boys song dressed as mermaids. You won, didn’t you?’
Eddie visibly blushes. ‘No, sadly we came runners-up. It was the band with the ringer singer that won.’
Mack frowns. ‘Ringer singer?’
‘Yeah, they found this supposed new pupil who could miraculously hold a tune extremely well, and they completely changed their act to accommodate her. We had no chance.’
Eddie is clearly still very peeved about that competition.
‘Oh, yeah.’ Mack nods as he remembers. ‘They got her to sing with us too. The rest of my band were not at all happy when we had to accommodate a lead singer last minute, but the girl had some pipes on her that’s for sure; it didn’t do us any harm. Never saw her again afterwards, though.’
‘Yeah, funny that,’ Eddie says sourly. ‘It’s almost like she was never going to be a pupil at all . . . ’
‘Who was never gonna be a pupil?’ Rob asks, coming back to the table with a tray of drinks.
‘We were just talking about the Enchantment Under the Sea dance,’ Claire says. ‘And that girl, Marnie, who sang.’
Rob glances at me, but I pretend not to notice as I reach for my orange juice.
‘Yeah, I was quite surprised when I ran around from backstage to see you guys play that night.’ Rob glances at me again to check I’m listening. ‘I was a huge fan of your band and very jealous I wasn’t in it.’
Mack shrugs good-naturedly. ‘That was all a very long time ago now. Funny how these things happen, though. What are the chances I’d bump into someone in LA who not only lived in the same place as me when I was young, but who actually went to school with me too – incredible!’
Rob lifts his pint of beer. ‘Let’s have a toast,’ he says. ‘To old friends.’ He looks around at us all. ‘And to new ones!’ He gestures to Mack. ‘May they all mingle into one big happy mess together. To our friends!’
‘To our friends,’ we all repeat. ‘Old and new.’
As we all take a sip from our glasses, a voice calls out across the pub.
‘Oi! You lot! I hope you haven’t started without me?’
We all look up to see Mandy waving wildly at us from across the bar.
‘Barman!’ she calls, slamming her hand down on the bar as a worried-looking Richie comes towards her. ‘Tonight needs to be a party, not a wake. What’s everybody having? The drinks are on me!’