Chapter 4
brOOKE
‘Knock knock.’
Brooke and Danny glanced at each other in surprise.
It was rare that they got ghostly visitors to the flat Lawrie had assigned them when they first arrived in Rowan Vale, but there was no doubting that this was one.
Living visitors, such as the girls from the hairdressing salon beneath, or Callie or Lawrie, would knock properly on the door.
Since ghosts couldn’t knock on wood, they always verbalised the sound, as it was understood that they were entitled to their privacy, and simply walking into another ghost’s property was considered very bad form.
‘Who is it?’ Danny asked suspiciously as Brooke called, ‘Come in.’
He gave her a scowl which she shrugged off. Too late now, whoever it was.
She was relieved when Polly Herron stepped through the door, a wide smile on her face. Even Danny couldn’t object to Polly, who was one of the kindest, loveliest ghosts in the village.
‘What brings you here?’ she asked in surprise, after greeting their guest.
‘Sorry to intrude, my loves,’ Polly said.
‘I have some news I thought you’d want to know.
’ She smoothed her cotton print dress and sat down gracefully in the armchair.
‘Isn’t it awful weather?’ she mused, gazing out of the window at the heavy, grey sky.
‘You’d never think it’ll be April in two days, would you?
Our Shona’s constantly mopping the floor of the teashop cos people keep trailing the wet in.
All them puddles they’re walking through, and all them dripping umbrellas and raincoats!
Proper messy it is in there. She’s right fed up. ’
She patted her dark hair, which was neatly swept into the victory rolls style of the 1940s. ‘I’ll say one thing for being a ghost – you never have to worry about ruining your hair in the rain, do you?’ She laughed.
Brooke, thinking of the terrible hairstyle she’d been stuck with for the past eighteen years couldn’t help wishing the rain would wash all the hairspray out of it and give her flat hair again.
She’d happily stand out in the rain for hours if she thought it would make any difference.
Sadly, it wouldn’t. She’d already tried it.
‘So, you were saying – you had some news?’ Danny said, clearly thinking that Polly had wandered off the subject, and wanting to bring her back on course – no doubt so she could say what she had to say and leave as soon as possible.
Brooke sighed. It was nice to have company, and she wished Danny would be a bit more welcoming.
Polly gave him a knowing smile. ‘So I was, and yes, I do. Well, what it is, you see, is that some of us ghosts want to give Callie and Brodie an engagement present, so we’re canvassing everyone for suggestions of what we can give them.
’ She chuckled. ‘Bearing in mind we can’t actually touch anything, have no money, and Brodie can’t see or hear us, which does narrow things down a bit. ’
‘Hmm. You could say that,’ Brooke agreed. ‘Are the living residents getting them something, do you know?’
‘Lots of things,’ Polly said with a sigh.
‘Obviously, our Shona and Max are making them a cake, and Jasper Edgecumbe has offered to do them an engagement portrait at his photographic studio. The girls at the salon are giving Callie a free hairdo and manicure and all that malarkey for her party, and—’
‘Yes, okay,’ Danny said. ‘We get it. But I don’t see what we’re supposed to do. It’s not like we have a lot of options, is it?’
‘Not many at all,’ Polly said. ‘That’s why we’re asking everyone to put on their thinking caps.
Walter’s already offered to write them a poem and we can’t inflict that on the poor sods, can we?
We need to find something better than that or Callie and Brodie will never forgive us.
’ She laughed again, and Brooke laughed, too, imagining poor Callie having to sit through verse after verse of Walter’s dreadful literary efforts.
‘Maybe we could arrange a screening of a romantic film for Callie and Brodie at The Magic Lantern?’ Danny suggested. ‘You could mention it to Shona, and she could ask Robyn and Curtis to give them their own private showing.’
‘I could,’ Polly said doubtfully, ‘but then that would really be a present from Robyn and Curtis, wouldn’t it? They’re the managers of the cinema, after all. It wouldn’t really be a present from us at all.’
The three of them sighed heavily, aware that this was going to be a lot trickier than even they’d realised.
‘Maybe they won’t expect anything from us anyway,’ Danny said.
‘Oh, I’m sure they won’t,’ Polly agreed, ‘but that’s not the point, is it? We want to give them a present. They’ve both been so good to us, always thinking of us and including us in everything they can. And they deserve something nice, don’t they?’
‘I suppose…’ Danny didn’t sound too convinced, which made Brooke cross.
‘You’re always so negative! Polly’s right. They do. Love should be celebrated, shouldn’t it, Poll?’
‘Definitely. And those two are perfect for each other. Don’t you remember how lost and sad Brodie used to be before Callie arrived in the village?
Practically worked himself to death trying to prove that he had a purpose, even though he couldn’t see us ghosts.
Bless him, he felt like such a failure because he didn’t have his grandad’s gift.
It was Callie who turned that around and made him see his own worth, wasn’t it?
She made him feel needed and valuable in his own right. He’s been so much happier since.’
‘And didn’t Callie have a bad time, too?’ Brooke asked. ‘I happened to hear Shona and Clara talking once about Callie’s ex. You know, Immi’s dad, and—’
‘You happened to hear that, did you?’ Danny said suspiciously.
‘These things happen,’ Brooke said with indignation. ‘Not my fault if they can’t see me, is it? I can’t avoid everyone!’
‘Quite right, love,’ Polly said with feeling.
Since everyone knew that Polly liked to hang around the teashop where she’d once been manager and eavesdrop on the customers’ conversations, it was no wonder she agreed with Brooke on this one. Brooke gave Danny a smug grin.
‘Callie’s ex was horrible. And from what I’ve heard,’ Polly added, nodding her head furiously, ‘her life before she even met him was blooming awful, too. Her mum died when she was little and her dad didn’t want her, and she was passed from pillar to post. Bless her cotton socks.
I don’t think she felt really loved and secure till she met Brodie, and being a single mum with no family backup all them years must have been so hard.
Now she and Immi have someone they can rely on at last. Someone who’ll always put them first.’ She gave a heartfelt sigh.
‘I think it’s lovely. They saved each other.
I do love a good love story, don’t you?’
Danny got up and walked out of the room.
Polly looked at Brooke in surprise. ‘Something I said?’
Brooke wrapped her arms around herself, that familiar sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.
‘Just Danny being Danny.’
‘Hmm. Not the most cheerful soul in the world, is he?’ Polly agreed. ‘Bar the shouting and ranting, I’d say he’s as miserable as Silas Alexander in his own way.’
Since Silas Alexander – or The Reverend Silas Alexander to give him his full title – was a grouchy old man who seemed to loathe the world and everyone in it, Brooke didn’t feel that was very fair.
‘He wasn’t always like this,’ Brooke protested. ‘He used to be such fun. He was so happy and outgoing. He’s changed.’
‘Life can do that to a person,’ Polly agreed.
‘Not life,’ Brooke said sadly. ‘Afterlife. He wants to go back to his old home and have things just the way they used to be, and that can never happen. I try so hard to make him smile but it feels like he’s been depressed ever since the accident.
I don’t know what I can do to bring back the old Danny again.
I’d give anything to have him the way he was then. Anything.’
Polly reached out and took Brooke’s hand. ‘Does he have any inkling how you feel about him?’
Brooke gave her a startled look. ‘Wh-what do you mean?’
‘Well, that you love him! Because you do, don’t you?
You’re head-over-heels for the lad. You’d have to be, the way you put up with him, because I’ve never seen him even smile at you or give you a hug or anything, yet you still stick to his side like glue.
And don’t think I haven’t seen the longing glances you give him when he’s looking the other way. Bless you, you’ve got it bad.’
Brooke opened her mouth to protest but no words came out.
‘How long have you been in love with Danny Boy then?’ Polly asked gently. ‘Was it before or after the accident?’
‘I’m not—’ Brooke sighed and shrugged, realising there was no fooling Polly.
‘Before. Long before. I met Danny when I was fourteen and he was eighteen. My cousin introduced us. He was her new boyfriend. Thing is, I was smitten with him from that moment. I hoped, one day, when I was all grown up, he’d notice me, but he never did.
He only had eyes for my cousin, you see.
He felt about her the way I felt about him.
I only took the job at his company so I’d get to see him every day.
I kept thinking, one day he’ll look at me, and he’ll forget all about her. ’
‘Your cousin?’ Polly shook her head. ‘That’s not very nice, lovey, now, is it? You shouldn’t have been trying to break them up. It’s not decent.’
‘I didn’t exactly try,’ Brooke said defensively. ‘I just hoped and dreamed that one day he’d fall out of love with her and in love with me. I didn’t do anything to make it happen…’
Well, apart from taking the job at the IT company where he worked, and getting made up to the nines every day hoping he’d think how attractive she was, and laughing at all his jokes, and bringing him coffee and a pastry every morning, and giving him meaningful looks and batting her eyelashes at him and…
‘Even so,’ Polly said. ‘It doesn’t seem like a nice thing to do.’
Brooke scowled. ‘Don’t waste your sympathy on my cousin, Polly. She made Danny unhappy. He’s just forgotten all that.’
She gazed out of the window at the pouring rain, her thoughts drifting back to all those days watching and waiting for Danny to notice that his perfect relationship wasn’t as perfect as he thought it was.
‘She didn’t deserve him. I just wish he knew that.’
‘You should tell him,’ Polly said. ‘Not about your cousin. About you. About how you feel.’
Brooke gave a bitter laugh. ‘There’d be no point.
We’ve been stuck here for eighteen years now, Poll, and in all that time he’s never so much as looked at me with any kind of interest whatsoever.
I’m just some kid to him, even though I’m twenty-five now.
That’s all I ever was, and that’s all I’ll ever be. ’
‘Then you have to make him see you differently,’ Polly said, squeezing her hand.
‘Eighteen years you’ve waited for him to notice you.
Well, it hasn’t worked, has it? Time to change tactics, don’t you think?
Time to make him notice you. Time to make him see that you’re not that teenage girl with a crush any more.
You’re a woman with wants and needs of your own, and you want and need him! ’
Brooke thought about it.
‘Poll?’
‘Yes?’
‘Is it… I mean, is it really possible?’
Polly frowned. ‘Is what possible?’
‘You know.’ Brooke would have blushed if she’d been able. ‘To do it. Now we’re dead. I’ve heard that we can, but I’m not sure it’s true.’
Polly laughed. ‘Oh. That! It’s true all right.
Why wouldn’t we? We’re all on the same plane of existence, aren’t we?
Obviously, we haven’t got functioning reproductive systems any more, so it’s purely for pleasure, not baby making.
’ She winked. ‘Bonus, some might say. We can touch each other easily enough. You’re as solid to me now as if we were both alive and well. Why wouldn’t we be able to?’
‘Well,’ Brooke said doubtfully, ‘our clothes are in the way for a start. We can’t take them off, can we? Believe me, I’ve tried enough times.’
‘Nooo,’ Polly acknowledged slowly, ‘we can’t take them off. But we can push them down, pull them aside, lift them up… You know what I mean? Just gotta use your imagination, haven’t you?’ She grinned widely. ‘It’s not stopped Agnes and Aubrey by all accounts.’
‘Ugh.’ Brooke didn’t like to think about that. Agnes was forty-five and Aubrey fifty. It was a dreadful thought to imagine them doing that at their age.
Polly let out a peal of laughter. ‘Don’t look like that! Aw, I think it’s sweet.’
Agnes and Aubrey had finally married on Christmas Day at All Souls’ Church, with The Reverend Alexander performing the ceremony. Brooke had to admit she didn’t think she’d ever seen any couple look more in love that day.
‘Did Callie tell you they were at it like rabbits?’ she asked, thinking she’d have expected Callie to be more discreet than that.
‘No. It was Florrie!’
‘Florrie?’ Brooke was shocked. ‘Surely she doesn’t realise—’
‘Oh no, no!’ Polly held up her hands to fend off any suggestion that Florence – the couple’s ‘adopted’ daughter – had been witness to something she shouldn’t.
‘Bless her. She was fed up and moaning about Agnes. Said her mum had had constant headaches since the wedding, and was always having to go and lie down, and that Aubrey would send Florrie out to play so Agnes could have peace and quiet. He told Florrie not to worry, as he’d go and lie down with her mum to make sure she was okay. ’
They both laughed at the thought of little Florrie dutifully skipping off outside to allow her mother recovery time from one of her ‘headaches’.
‘Bless her,’ Polly said, shaking her head in mirth. ‘You see? There’s certainly a way around everything.’
‘So Danny and I could…’ Brooke’s imagination whirred into overdrive, and she hugged herself at the thought of an afterlife that was suddenly filled with intriguing and exciting possibilities.
‘You could, for sure. But first you’ve got to get him to see you as a woman, and not as some annoying girl that he’s stuck with. Time to make a plan, yeah?’
‘You’re right, Polly,’ Brooke said, smiling. ‘I’ve been too soft with him. It’s definitely time to up my game.’