Chapter 17
17
T he dinner had been long and drawn out with many courses. As the last of the dessert plates were cleared away, a few people had pushed back their chairs, the candles had burned low, and Cally had started to visualise going to bed. As she sipped a glass of water, coffee arrived by way of a tall silver coffee pot and delicate little coffee cups were passed along the table. After trays of handmade chocolates from Lovely were placed at each end of the table, all of a sudden, Alastair pushed his chair away from him, rose to his feet and tapped his dessert spoon against his water glass. A sharp ding echoed through the room. Cally chuckled to herself. So Logan had been right. Alastair was up to something.
Logan rolled his eyes. ‘Here we go.’
Cally turned her head and shifted in her chair to look down towards the end of the table.
'If I could have everyone's attention for a moment,' Alastair called out.
Logan whispered in Cally’s ear. 'So dramatic. I told you. I can always tell when he’s scheming.'
Cally whispered back. ‘How did you know?’
‘I know him inside out. We were stuck together as children. It comes from that.’
Alastair cleared his throat theatrically. 'My dear family. Octavia and I have an announcement to make.'
‘He’s like the town crier.’
Cally’s eyes widened. Alastair didn’t hang around. He was going to announce that they were getting married or propose. One of the two. She waited with bated breath and shifted her eyes to Octavia, who was looking up at Alastair fondly. Octavia's face lit up, and she reached for Alastair's hand, giving it a squeeze. Blech.
'We've decided,' Alastair continued, pausing for effect, 'to embark on a grand adventure. We're taking a year-long sabbatical to travel the world!'
Surprise rippled across the table. Logan snorted softly beside Cally. 'A year-long sabbatical from what exactly? He doesn't even work. I'm not sure what he's taking a holiday from. You have to love him. He’s always been the same. He can’t even get the horses sorted for a day without it causing all sorts of drama.'
‘Good point.’ Cally whispered.
‘Did this really warrant a big announcement?’ Logan wondered.
Cally wasn’t sure whether to say too much. It was fine for Logan to criticise Alastair, but her not so much. She didn’t need to go there. ‘Sorry, has he ever had a real job?’
Logan rolled his eyes. ‘He worked for Uncle Reg for a bit after uni. Officially, he still does.’
Cally watched as Octavia stood to join Alastair. 'We leave next month. We've decided to start here in the UK and then head straight to India and make our way east from there. We’re going to wing it a bit and see where we end up.'
‘Wing it a bit?’ One of Logan’s cousins called out. ‘What? Are you roughing it and backpacking?’
Alastair grimaced and shook his head quickly. ‘Gosh, no. We won’t be in youth hostels or suchlike. Rather not.’
A smattering of applause broke out around the table. Cally joined in with the clapping and laughter. Inside however, she couldn’t quite get her head around the fact that Alastair and Octavia were just going off on a whim for a whole year. As you do. Travelling the world wasn’t something that had ever been an option for our Cally. The concept seemed so foreign to her that she wasn’t sure what to think. To be able to just take off willy-nilly felt impossibly grand for someone like her. As the family began to pepper Alastair and Octavia with questions about their itinerary, Cally’s thoughts drifted to Lovely Bay. She thought about the long hours at the chemist, the early mornings working on her laptop for the online retail job, and the weekends spent helping Nina with decluttering projects. Each shift, each extra hour, another pound in her savings account. Another step closer to her own little piece of Lovely Bay. There were no year-long sabbaticals in the distance for our Cally. Does anyone have a violin?
Logan waved a hand in front of Cally’s face. 'Blackcurrant? You alright?'
She turned and forced a smile. 'Yes, of course. Just thinking.'
'About?'
Cally hesitated as she glanced at Alastair and Octavia. They were beaming, accepting congratulations and well-wishes from around the table. 'Oh, I don’t really know. Just how different lives can be, I suppose.'
Logan rolled his eyes. 'For him, maybe. I suppose Alastair's lifestyle is a bit different from what we mere mortals are used to. I guess I don’t really see it…'
Cally nodded, tracing the pattern on her coffee cup with her finger. 'It's not just that. It's the freedom, I suppose. The ability to just get up and go.' She shook her head and inhaled.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I’ve literally never had that.’
Cally imagined what it might be like to pack a bag and set off into the unknown, to wake up each morning in a different country, to experience new cultures and ways of life. To not have to worry about holding up the sky. To not have a job and to have to constantly keep checking bank accounts. Not that she wanted to jetset around the world. It hadn’t ever really floated her boat. Or so she thought. She had her own very nice, tight little dream of owning her own place in Lovely Bay. She didn’t need to gallivant around the globe, but the option to have it might be nice. Logan didn’t get it. Not that she expected him to. It was sweet that he tried.
‘We could travel too, if you wanted. Not for a year, but we could see some of the world together.'
‘You'd want to?' Cally narrowed her eyes.
‘I’d love to. We’d have a great time.’
Cally allowed herself to imagine strolling the streets of Paris, or watching a sunset over a beach. Palm trees, cocktails, sunbeds, nothing to care about. It didn’t take long for reality to intrude: work schedules, chatbots, and savings accounts. 'It's a lovely thought, but…’
'Something to think about…’
‘Yes.’
The grandfather clock in the corner chimed and Cally stifled a yawn and checked the time on her phone. The events of the day, the rich food, and the long walks in the fresh Scottish air had caught up with her.
Logan seemed to read her thoughts. 'Shall we call it a night? I’ve had enough.’
Cally nodded, pretended she didn’t mind when really she wanted to go back and stopped herself from biting his hand off at the mention of going home to bed. She pretended to be casual and that it was up to him when really she couldn’t wait to get out of her clothes, scrub off her makeup, and get into bed. She shrugged. ‘If you like.’
Logan pushed his chair out and she followed suit. They made their excuses and said goodnight to the family, she smiled and chatted for a bit with Octavia.
Walking back to the cottage via the sunken garden, they stopped for a while on a bench by the water fountain. Because everyone has a water fountain in their garden.
Logan put his hand on her leg. ‘How was that, then? Not too bad? You survived, so there’s that.’
Cally nodded. ‘I really enjoyed it.’
‘Did you?’
‘I actually did.’ She gestured to the house. ‘I’ve fallen for the house. It’s so comfy and grand at the same time. Weird really. There’s something about it up here, too.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like an aura or I don’t know, a pull or something. Is that a thing?’
‘I know what you mean. It’s enough to have made Alastair announce his grand plans.’
‘Yup. I wonder if there will be wedding bells with those two next.’
Logan widened his eyes. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Feels like something’s in the air.’
‘Does it? How’d you mean?’
‘I don’t know really. A feeling in the water about those two or something. I can’t put my finger on it.’
Logan joked. ‘Ooh, intrigue.’
‘Ha.’
Logan patted her leg. ‘Well, you survived another Henry-Hicks bash.’
‘I did.’
As they got up and strolled in the direction of the cottage, Cally was surprised about how much she’d enjoyed the evening. Her mind flashed back to her first Henry-Hicks family event she’d attended at the races. She’d been a ball of nerves and unsure what was what. Now it was almost as if she was part of the woodwork of the actual inner circle of the family. It was odd and sort of nice at the same time. She couldn’t shake a strange feeling, though, that something with, about, or to do with the family was going to happen soon. As they arrived at the door of the cottage, she winced a little bit as a thought went through her head that whatever was in the air it wasn’t going to be nice. She wasn’t wrong.