Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Luke
“ A nd she didn’t deny it?” Archer asked as he humped a tea chest from the main door of the warehouse.
Luke opened the lid and saw the packaging inside. He hauled out the straw-like material and carried it over to the recycling bins. They planned to reuse as much of the contents of the warehouse as possible. The packaging would be used to wrap up customers’ orders.
“No. She just stood there, looking… I don’t know, really. Panicked, pissed off, and a little sad. She is a hard woman to read. She asked me about baby Archer.”
“What did you tell her?” Archer asked, bringing over a stack of cardboard.
“That she needs to ask you, not me. She had no answer for that and changed the subject.”
“If she wants to know about my life, she needs to come and ask me. She knows where I live,” Archer replied as they walked back to the entrance of the warehouse.
The kids were throwing banter as they worked. Kenny walked up and down with a clipboard and a spray can sticking out of his long shorts. The cloudless sky made the work hot and sweaty.
“True,” Luke conceded, nodding. “I need to get back up to Edward Hall and check in with Jason to see if everything is okay with the wedding today. You got this covered here?”
“Yeah, the kids will be fine with me. Freya’s here, and Erica is gushing over the clothes she’s found. Kenny is great with the other kids for someone who was at their mercy not so long ago.”
“Yeah, remarkable, really. I’m really proud he’s worked through it. I’m hoping the other teenagers have an insight that we aren’t dripping in money and we do the hard graft ourselves. Hopefully, that will help with Turner PR. To be fair, if Cynthia stays at the house from now on, I think it will help salvage some of our reputations which seem to be in tatters at the moment.”
“Do you hear it directly from the townspeople?” Archer asked.
“Not directly, but how we’re treated here is so different from Scotland or on the rigs, hell, even when we went abroad. It’s bizarre that people will talk to me but not really engage. I swear Mrs Sentry half curtseyed when she saw me in the newsagent the other day.”
Archer barked out a laugh at Luke’s description and then patted him on the back.
“It will all turn out okay,” Archer assured him. “I’ll see you later for dinner. Bring Freya.”
“See you later,” Luke said.
Luke jumped in the buggy and headed for Edward Hall. When he got to the kitchens, he glanced at Jason and saw a scowl on his face. Then he saw Stan. They were on either side of the metal table in the far corner. The only thing on the table was a spanner. Jason swiped at it, and the tool skidded across the table and clattered onto the floor, skidding again and hitting the skirting board.
Luke suppressed a laugh and went to referee.
“Why are you antagonising the chef, Stan?” Luke said on approach.
“I’m merely the messenger. The bride isn’t happy.”
“Is it food related?” Jason asked.
Feeling uneasy, he watched Stan pick up the spanner and walk towards Luke.
“It’s not, but now another Turner is here and the C&B manager no less. I can pass the spanner onto you,” Stan said.
Luke looked to Jason, who now wore a smug grin.
“Not food related, not my problem,” Jason said, holding his hands up.
Jason straightened his chef cap and folded his arms like he was in for a treat to watch.
“Is it C&B related?” Luke asked with a sigh, swinging his gaze back to Stan.
Stan was in a navy blazer, blue slacks, a white shirt, and a light blue tie. Luke was impressed. Even though the wedding day running was with the C&B team, Stan came to all the weddings to see them through.
“It’s kind of… might be… sorta….” Stan said, giving Luke a multitude of facial expressions. The upside-down smile was worrying.
“I am not taking that spanner from you until I know what the problem is,” Luke said .
“She says she bought the dress before she booked the venue, and her mother came here to view the place.”
“So?”
“She has a big poofy dress.”
“So?”
“Don’t you know anything about weddings?” Stan asked, exasperated.
Jason laughed unashamedly.
“Fuck off,” Luke said to Jason. “Go bake some muffins. Those dark chocolate ones with melt-in-the-middle white chocolate.”
“They’re in the pantry. Help yourself. I’m staying for this,” Jason said.
It was still early in the day, not even nine. The kitchen staff had started drifting in, chattering as they stored their stuff in lockers. Side glances over to Luke, Stan and the spanner and then smirks rippled about the kitchen team. They all knew what a spanner meant, as some were food-related.
“Stan, what is the actual problem here. Spell it out like I’m a medic and know nothing about weddings. Oh wait, that’s what I am.”
Jason folded his lips in, and his shoulders shook but remained silent.
“She has a poofy dress, and the wind has picked up.”
Luke took one large step back and held up his hands, palms facing Stan.
“I’m not taking that spanner. I cannot change the weather.”
“The thing is, when she walks down the aisle, the wind coming in from the west will pick up her skirts, and she’s scared she’ll have to clutch onto her dress and look like a fool. A bride doesn’t want to look awful in the photos as she walks down the aisle with her daddy,” Stan explained like Luke was a child.
Several vocal agreements came from the kitchen staff, and much nodding.
“Save me from this madness,” Luke muttered. “Give me the spanner and come with me.”
Stan gleefully handed over the tool, and Luke tossed it into the nearest bin. “I’ll see you for dinner, Jason, at Archer’s,” Luke called out.
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Jason called back.
Luke muttered under his breath as he walked out to where they had set up the marquee. The bride was right. The wind had picked up. His t-shirt rippled in the hard breeze as they walked around the tent.
“So the ceremony is this side of the marquee?” Luke asked.
“Yeah, so they get married in the sunlight and not the shade of the marquee.”
“Okay, so let’s go the other side and see how far away we get from the shade of the marquee, and the wind picks up.”
Stan nodded and led the way to the other side. He paced until the breeze flapped at his trousers. “Here,” Stan shouted.
“All right. So that’s still in the sun. What if we move the platform to this side, set up some windbreakers along the edge of the marquee and move the guests’ chairs? Some of them will be in the shade, but I don’t think everyone wants to sit in the sun, anyway.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Stan agreed.
“Let’s go talk to the bride. If she agrees, I can grab a couple of the kitchen staff and move the chairs and podium quickly. It’s a small wedding, so it shouldn’t take long.”
Luke sat on the balustrade while Stan walked the bride and her father down where the aisle would be, pointing out what they would change. When Luke saw both of them nod and a shielded thumbs up from Stan, Luke went to get extra sets of hands.
Once everything was shifted, and the bride gave him a hug from saving her blushes, he jogged back to Sabrina Lodge to get a shower. He didn’t expect to find Freya languishing on a living room sofa in the back patio area.
His belongings had arrived.
“Hey,” Luke said, bending down and giving her a quick kiss.
“Hey,” she said, trying to prolong the kiss, but he wasn’t giving in to her. “Why so glum?”
“I can’t handle weddings and being a pencil pusher for the business. I’ve just had to move the entire ceremony set up because the bride decided it was too windy.”
“She didn’t fancy flashing her knickers, I bet.”
“See? I didn’t think of that. I am not cut out for this. I don’t think on that level. I knew how to solve the problem, but I didn’t understand there was a problem until Stan came to me. Well, he went to Jason first, but he stepped away as it wasn’t food related.”
“Are you really that unhappy?”
Luke looked at Freya and thought about the ring he had stashed away. For too long, he wondered if he would ever give it to her. He needed to be sure he was staying to ask Freya to be his wife. She might have said she’d follow him anywhere, but he would not make her move away from her job and family.
“I am, Peaches, and I don’t see a way out. I’m not going to let down Archer, Jason and Daisy but fuck if I know how to solve the problem.”
“It’ll work out,” Freya said, reaching for his hand .
He stepped away. Until he knew for sure he was staying, he could touch her. It wouldn’t be fair.
“I need to get a shower, change, and get back to the wedding before it all kicks off.”
“Oh, okay. I thought we’d have a bit of time before your duties started.”
“Sorry, need to get a shifty on.”
Luke saw the disappointment on her face and nearly caved, but he had to be strong. He patted the arm of the sofa and unlocked his back door. Luke was grateful Freya didn’t follow. By the time he came back out, she was gone.
The wedding went well. He dashed back to Sabrina Lodge, showered, and changed before searching out Freya.
When he left his place via the front door, he tripped against a giant flower pot filled with earth. There was a note stuck to his front door with the lipstick mark in the corner.
These pots are too big for my place. They’ll look better here. Freya.
There was no love, or X. He flipped it over and checked that side, and it was blank. They were the pots he humped from the Lavender farm. She was right. They looked awesome, flanking each side of his front door.
Luke needed to find her.
He called her, sent texts and hammered on her door, but he wasn’t getting any answers. Luke even went to the school where Mr Morris had previously said she wasn’t working the evening classes, but it was closed up. The warehouse was locked up too. Luke didn’t fancy invading best friend code and quiz Heidi about where Freya was hiding out. The same went for her parents’ place.
He’d just have to wait it out.
When he got to Jason’s place a few hours later, Freya wasn’t there .
They finished dinner and were sprawled out on the sofas in Jason and Heidi’s living room, watching Archer and Erica bicker over baby names. They were adamant that they didn’t want a name on the Turner family tree. Having recently gone through the names in the graveyard, Luke was gleefully clipping out negatives for the names they chose.
“Is there a traditional name that is not on the family tree?” Erica asked.
“There aren’t that many on the family tree, to be fair. You could have Owen, Ada, and Stephen. I’m shocked there isn’t a Christopher, Isobel, or Maud.”
“Maud?” Archer said.
“I had a neighbour called Maud, and she was mean to me. Can’t have Maud, but I do like Isobel,” Erica said.
Archer nodded at the possibility. “What about a boy? Christopher?”
“Maybe. Let’s see when they arrive and decide when we meet them,” Erica suggested.
“Excellent idea. Buys us more time. I’m all for that,” Archer replied.
“Okay, who wants apple pie?” Erica asked. “I want apple pie, but don’t feel you have to have some. Don’t feel pressurised at all,” she said.
She began getting up, struggling, unable to bend. Archer shifted his hands under her bottom and helped her up.
“I could’ve done with that at the check-up the other day. No one tells you that you can’t do much when you have a big belly when trying to bend. I’m grateful it’s warmer. I can wear slip-on shoes,” Erica said.
Erica grinned at everyone.
Heidi went to help her in the kitchen, leaving Luke alone with his brothers. Jason looked at Archer, and then Archer looked at Luke .
“What?” Luke said.
“How unhappy are you? With the job, I mean. Although I am slightly concerned, Freya isn’t here.”
“I seem to have pushed Freya away. I’d forgotten she knows me so well, so when I got distant, she knew.”
“Why did you get distant?”
“I don’t really know where I fit in. The meeting with Cynthia has really rattled me. Have we got to wait on tenterhooks to see what stunt she’s going to pull next? When you came home, Archer, she was clear you needed to get a wife to carry on the Turner name. Now we find out she has an heir. What if he is as calculating as her?”
“I got the lawyers to check over the contract I signed for Edward Hall, and it is all legit. No one can take it away from us, not even Cynthia Turner. So if she can’t take it away, whoever is her child can’t either,” Jason cut in.
“That makes me feel a little better,” Luke said.
“I have an idea for a role you might want to consider. It might involve online courses to get a refresher and maybe learn some new stuff.”
“I just spent six months learning how to push paper around,” Luke said.
He’d learned much more than paperwork but wanted to behave like a sullen teenager.
Archer chuckled, and Jason moved to the edge of his seat, no humour in him at all.
“We think this might be a better fit for you. I have to say you rock the C&B stuff, though. Everyone raves about the service you give for each residential we have here. The brides gush about Stan, but then he’s a big romantic.”
“Hey, I can be romantic,” Luke said.
“You might want to search for those skills when you try to win back Freya,” Jason said .
“Okay, what’s the idea?”
Archer spoke next, clearing his throat. “I think we could offer mass-event medic training. More crowds were here than I ever remember when the gig racing was on, but there were very few stewards. It’s a peaceful competition, but if anyone got into trouble in the water or on land, there weren’t many around that were trained to help. If it’s down to Daisy and us to get the island busy with tourism, then we’ll need to set up more than gig racing. That means more tourists, which means more support staff. We can ask for volunteers, but if they don’t know their arse from their elbow or panic in a crisis, it won’t help and will have a knock-on effect on tourism. So I thought maybe we could have regular courses at Edward Hall for the events we hold on the island. We could expand and offer the same training to towns on the mainland. It’s a huge surfer’s paradise, with loads of competitions, which means loads of spectators. They could send their first aiders over here to be trained for mass events.”
Luke was overwhelmed by the idea. It sounded perfect for what he’d spent years training for. It was gratifying to know his brothers had faith in his medical abilities.
“I love that idea. Do you think it would bring in revenue?”
“I think in the beginning, the knock-on effect of having more events on the island will help the town get busy again rather than money in the bank. Our other courses and weddings are more than keeping us afloat. But I also thought this would be where you would need some specialised training. You could do one-on-one physiotherapy courses for athletes that have been injured. I’m thinking of ligament damage, and they need to get match fit again. Marathon runners, it could be anyone. But I’m thinking Olympians, those who want seclusion while they get back on their feet and not in the gym where anyone can see them get back to where they once were. You have the medical training, but you’d need to get the physio training. You could do the theory online and then go across to classes. I had a quick look, and it’s like a day a fortnight in a classroom environment for practical lessons.”
Luke was silent for a long minute and then slumped back on the couch.
“That sounds phenomenal. And you two would support me to do that?”
“If it’s what you want, and it makes you want to stay on Copper Island with us, we’d do pretty much anything,” Archer said.
“I have the best brothers,” I said.
“Daisy did the course research, so she gets kudos too. Plus, she worked out the financials so we could float the idea to you.”
“Gotta love practical Daisy,” Luke replied.
“I think she knows as well as we do that we’re outdoors, practical people and staying cooped up in an office all day won’t work. Jason’s happy in the kitchens because he still gets to create and feed people. I have the best of both worlds because I get to go around and fix things, and most of those things are outside or in one of the rooms in Edward Hall. I’m not sitting in a chair watching my belly grow.”
“No, that’s my job,” Erica said as she came back into the room.
“Think about it,” Archer said to Luke, then gazed at his wife.
“I don’t have to. I love the idea. But what about the C&B manager’s role?”
“That is a future Turner problem. We can manage the role between us until the baby arrives,” Archer said before kissing Erica’s large belly.
“All right, who wants pie?” Erica asked as she pointed the cake slice to all of them. She got four nods, and then Luke nodded to his brothers and grinned.
He had his job sorted. Luke knew he would never get Cynthia sorted, so the only other task was to speak to Freya.