Chapter 10 #2
It doesn’t take long until the dark country roads start to light up with streetlamps and houses.
Sam is right. Ravenswick is just a bigger version of Brindlewood.
Far more houses though, including a huge church, shops, cafes, a school, a playground and, of course, a pub.
We pull up on the side of the road. I climb out onto the cobbled pavement and wait for everyone to join me.
Looking through the windows you can see the traditional English pub is filled to the rafters with people enjoying their Saturday night.
A young woman is currently on the small corner stage singing with people crowded around her singing along.
Sam walks to the back of the taxi and takes his guitar out of the boot.
Hannah scurries behind me and links my arm.
“Come on, Harri. We will find a table while those two get us some drinks.” She pulls me through a small group of men smoking outside and into the pub.
The heat from the pub warms my bones. Chatter, song and laughter fill the air.
The smell of stale beer and cigarettes are ingrained deep into the old walls and carpets of the place. I love it.
We find a table right near the stage just as the young woman is finishing her cover of “What’s Up” by 4 Non Blondes. The people around us clap and cheer as she takes a bow. She starts to pack up her guitar case.
Lois and Sam join us with a round of drinks. Sam notices the girl packing up her case.
“It’s Cherish. I’m just going to say hi.” He runs over to the woman on stage waving at her as he goes. I watch as she gives him a hug, and they stand chatting. I can’t hear what they are talking about, but I can feel the envy burning in my belly.
Hannah pours me a glass of wine from the bottle and hands it to me, noticing me staring.
“She’s married,” Hannah whispers to me.
“Huh?”
“You look like you want to punch her in the face. She’s married. No threat.” She smiles.
“I wasn’t… I’m not bothered if she is or not. I was just looking.” I sip my wine, not able to take my eyes off them.
Lois swigs her pint and laughs. “If you haven’t picked up on the vibe, our Sam is very much smitten with you.”
Lois’s statement pulls me back to the table. “What?”
“And you definitely like him, right?” she asks.
“I don’t really know him that well.” I can feel the fire protruding through my cheeks.
Her grin is a telltale sign that, like Aradia, she is loving this matchmaker business. “But you fancy him, right?”
Hannah nudges Lois. “Leave her alone, Lo.”
“I’m just saying, he’s a really good guy. I just don’t want to see him get hurt.” She swigs some more of her pint and stares at me.
“I’m not trying to hurt anyone.” My brow furrows and Lois notices my defensiveness.
Her face softens. “I know you’re not, sorry. I’m just protective, you know? Sorry, Harri, it’s not my business.” She takes another drink. “I just mean that you seem really nice, and we’ve been waiting for someone like you to meet Sam.”
“Thank you, it’s sweet of you, but my life is also complicated at the moment.” I try to ease the awkwardness.
“I get that.” She nods. “Sorry if I’m too blunt sometimes. It just comes out.”
Hannah nods along to what Lois is saying. “It’s true. Lo opens her mouth before thinking all the time, but her heart is good.” She kisses Lois’s cheek.
Sam comes back over to sit with us. “I’m on at eight so enough time for a pint or two!” He takes a sip of his drink and turns to look at me. “So, Harri, you have pubs like this in London?”
“Probably. I haven’t really been to a pub before. Maybe once in the Lake District but in London, with the people I’m around, it’s more bars and clubs.”
“No pubs? That is wild!” He chuckles. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to a club to be honest.”
“We did that silent disco in the village hall,” Hannah replies. She is just so innocent and sweet. I really like her.
“Oh yes! And Sam smuggled in the bottle of tequila and Angela got so drunk that Reggie and Pete had to carry her home and she slept on Reggie and Emmie’s sofa.” Lois is in fits of laughter at the memory.
“Oh, God yes! Harri, remember I was telling you about Angela? She is well into her late eighties at least!”
“She sounds amazing! You have a really close community. It is nice to see.”
“Yeah, it’s a good place to be,” Sam remarks proudly.
“So, what do you do in London?” Hannah asks.
“Do you mean job-wise? Well, I’m a designer, but I’m taking a break from employment at the moment.
After my split with Greg, Aradia offered for me to come and stay, so here I am.
No plans as such and just trying to navigate my new life I guess.
” I try not to sound like a tragic sob story but it’s hard not to.
“It must have been awful,” Hannah sympathises. Lois also has a sympathetic look in her eyes and Sam is listening intently to everything I say.
“I mean, being cheated on sucks, yes, but I have always, even as a little girl, had this feeling I didn’t belong.
My life just always felt like a path chosen for me, not by me.
God, stop, guys. You are making me feel like a right downer of the night.
” I take a large gulp of my wine. I hate that they make me feel so comfortable that it’s coming out like word vomit.
“Not at all. I had you pegged for a rich city brat so it’s nice to see you’re not.
” Lois raises her eyebrow and Sam shoots her a scowl.
“I’m joking.” She holds her hands up. “I’m glad Harri is here.
She’s managed so far to put up with my intimate questions and attitude.
She is one of us already.” Lois smiles. I can’t quite figure her out, but I think deep down she’s as soft as Hannah, but has steel-made walls built around it.
“No, she’s right.” They look surprised that I agree with Lois. “Well, I used to be. Money in my family is all you care about. It’s nice to not care about it anymore.”
“That’s so surprising. Cerci and Aradia never give that impression,” Hannah replies.
I shake my head. “Oh, not them, my mother and father. Cerci and Aradia are polar opposite.”
“So, they didn’t influence you when you were younger?” Sam asks me.
I can either tell a lie here or actually go into the fact that my newfound family and I have only just met. I take a gulp of wine and decide to go with the truth with my new friends.
“So…” I take a deep breath. “I didn’t know they even existed until very recently, as in, me coming here recently.”
“I knew we hadn’t seen you in Brindlewood before!” Sam exclaims. “I knew I would have remembered you.” He smiles, and his eyes light up.
“So, you didn’t know them?” Hannah looks confused.
“So, Aradia turned up on my doorstep, well, my mother’s, introduced herself and asked for me to get to know them. My mother was hiding them from me. I think from the embarrassment that they don’t live the way she does.”
“So, you break up with your fiancé, meet your secret family and run away to the country?” Lois laughs shaking her head. “Talk about a movie script! Pretty badass though, Harri!” She toasts her glass at me.
If only she knew that I am also learning about witchcraft and trying to figure out my powers. But let’s make friends before we scare them away, Harri.
“Yeah, it is all a bit of a whirlwind but I’m so glad I’m here. It is like a breath of fresh air.”
“Except this place.” Lois laughs. “Your lungs will be full of smoke by the end of the night.”
“I’m glad you’re here too.” Sam goes to touch my hand. Our fingertips brush lightly when he is called by the man behind the bar.
His croaky voice caries over the top of the other punters to us. “Sam, boy, you’re up!”
Sam pulls his hand back and gives me a sympathetic smile.
He gets up to the stage and unpacks his guitar, He sits down on the bar stool and adjusts the mic in front of him.
The crowd falls into a quieter chatter waiting for Sam to start.
All eyes are drawn to him. I notice that he has engaged everyone’s attention.
“He hasn’t even started, and he’s got everyone looking at him,” I whisper.
“Ah, the locals love Sam. He’s like the romantic pied piper of drunk countrymen,” Lois replies.
The lights dim slightly as they did for the performer before. Sam strums his guitar and speaks into his mic.
“I’m going to start with a new one I wrote recently. This song is called ‘Reborn’ and goes out to anyone starting their new beginning.” He looks at me and starts singing.
Underneath the starlit sky,