Chapter 6
It was so great of them to reassure me, but honestly, it was all giving me a headache because it was constantly whirring around in my brain. I needed to change the conversation, so I pulled myself together.
‘Anyway, tell me something else to take my mind off it. What’s going on with you guys?’
‘Well, ladies, I’ve been thinking,’ Emma announced.
Jo and I mock rolled our eyes.
‘How I love it when Emma has been thinking,’ Jo groaned. ‘You do know, Chelle, that whatever she’s been thinking about, we’ll be roped in, don’t you?’
‘I am here you know!’ Emma responded, smirking.
‘It’s always a bright idea, and that means there’ll be lots of work for us all, and it’s going to take over our already busy lives. I’m supposed to be taking it easy you know, Jo. Did I mention that? And she’s such a tyrant too.’
‘Yep! Still here.’ Emma laughed. ‘Anyway, you know that you love helping me on my little projects and this is something for the group, and you’d never let those folks down, would you?’
She really did know how to hit us where it hurt. The Lonely Hearts Club had a very special place in our hearts and we’d do anything to help.
‘Anyhoo.’ She paused for dramatic effect. ‘You know how everyone has gone a little bit mad for country music? There’s also loads of really raunchy cowboy romance books out at the moment by the way.’
Now this was something that I did know. Reading romance novels was my guilty pleasure and something I’d never really admitted to anyone since I’d discovered them after Mum and Dad had both gone.
Emma continued. ‘These romances – sometimes somewhat smutty novels – are flying up the book charts and people just can’t get enough. And you can’t turn the radio on without hearing Shaboozey’s latest song.’
‘Sha-who-now?’ Jo asked.
‘Shaboozey,’ I explained to her. ‘You know that song where he’s singing about everyone in the bar getting tipsy.’
‘Oh, I know that song but I thought it was frisky?’ Emma replied.
‘It is actually tipsy, but to be honest when you’ve drunk as much whisky as he sings about, he probably is getting a bit frisky,’ I replied.
‘Oh God,’ Jo responded. ‘Our Friday cocktail nights are enough for me and as you know, I refuse to drink anything with whisky in it. Foul stuff. Anyway, you sing what you like, love. You’re a Queenager and you can do what the hell you like.’
‘God, having a conversation with you is like having loads of tabs open on your computer all at the same time and not knowing which one is which.’ We all laughed at Emma’s analogy. ‘Can I continue?’
‘Sorry, miss,’ Jo and I apologised in unison, even though we were tittering like school children being told off. I loved these women immensely. I could totally and utterly be myself and if that involved me being childish then so be it. They didn’t judge; they laughed along.
‘Go on, Emma. What’s your brainwave? What do you have up your sleeve?’
‘I was talking to your mum, Jo, up at the farm and she was saying that it was a shame her two big barns were empty. I didn’t even know she had barns but I bumped into her the other day in town, and I gave her a lift home and she showed me.
They are colossal and would be stunningly gorgeous if dressed properly.
I was getting quite excited at the thought. ’
‘Yes, when I first explored up at the smallholding, I discovered that Mum has some amazing outbuildings and space. It was quite a surprise to be honest. There’s so much more up there than I originally thought.’
‘Sorry,’ I replied. ‘You’ve totally lost me. What are you talking about, Em? And how do you need our help?’
She took a deep breath.
‘So glad you asked, Michelle, because we’re going to be holding a barn dance.’
‘A barn dance! What the hell do we know about organising a barn dance?’ I asked, my voice suddenly three octaves higher than normal.
Emma laughed back at me.
‘Absolutely nothing, but we’re going to learn. YouTube tells you how to do everything so I hear.’
‘Who told you that?’ Jo asked. ‘I’ve a few questions I could do with the answer to. The first is why is my friend such a mentalist?’
‘It was Ruby who told me, so it must be true.’
Ruby was a gorgeous little girl who had recently taken on a starring role at the Christmas panto that Emma had directed. She lived in Sandpiper Shore with her parents and was a feisty little ball of energy that we’d all become very fond of.
‘Oh, come on, ladies. Where’s your get up and go?’
Jo cocked an eyebrow at me over the top of Emma’s head before she responded.
‘Mine got up and went a few years ago,’ she tittered.
‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’ I asked Emma, faltering already. She started grinning back at me, knowing that we were weakening.
‘Would people come to a barn dance?’ asked Jo.
‘Well, they will if we make it the spectacular event of the summer that nobody will want to miss. And I’ve been doing some research…’
Emma reached into her handbag and removed an A4 purple plastic wallet containing many sheets of paper and proceeded to flatten them out on the table in front of her.
‘You know if you’re putting on a barn dance, I definitely won’t be able to go to Greece.’ I shrugged at them both, feeling quite cocky that they wouldn’t be able to answer that one.
‘I’m sure we’ll manage without your physical presence and you can just help us do everything else from there. On that internet thing.’ Emma winked at me. ‘Or you could even just get on a plane and come back when you want to. They have flights all the time you know.’ She smiled sweetly.
I sighed in defeat. They really did have an answer to everything.
‘Gosh, Chelle, that sigh said a lot. When do you have to make up your mind by?’ she asked.
Somehow the conversation had swung back to me and the humungous decision I had to make.
I suppose it was the most time-sensitive issue that we had between us.
‘He needs to be out there as soon as possible. He’s planning to go on Sunday,’ I replied.
‘That is soon,’ Jo replied. ‘Although I suppose you could follow on, couldn’t you?’
‘Yeah, that’s one of the things he said.
He just can’t hang around. According to Katrina – the lady who is trying to look after his mother and run the farm – she feels like she really has taken a turn for the worse.
She even said that she might not have long left.
I don’t have to go at the same time; I could follow on I suppose.
I’m not sure I want to be sitting around waiting for someone I don’t even know to die.
It was bad enough when I lost my own parents. ’
‘So, what’s the problem then really?’ Jo asked. ‘Surely you have all the time in the world to decide.’
I shook my head.
‘Demetri said he doesn’t mind waiting for me to join him, if I decide to go.
But he doesn’t want to sit around waiting for me to make up my mind, which I suppose is fair enough.
He doesn’t know if her illness will go on for years or not despite what Katrina says.
We both feel like it should be a clean break if I don’t go. It’ll be the best for both of us.’
I could feel a big fat tear roll down my left cheek and settle on my upper lip. ‘So, he wants my answer by the time he leaves on Sunday.’
Moving to Sandpiper Shore had been one of the best decisions I’d ever made.
Since I’d arrived, I had a sense of complete calm which I’d never had before.
Even though the last few weeks had been tumultuous, I finally felt that I belonged somewhere, which was something that I hadn’t felt for years.
Since Mum and Dad had both passed away, and my brother had moved to Canada, I hadn’t had that feeling.
I’d spent years feeling lost and lonely.
After a long time of searching, I’d finally learned what I needed in my life to survive, and it was why I couldn’t relocate to Greece and do it all over again. I was already home.