Missed opportunities #3
“Aye, the lass is really good, and I hope she wins. But even if she doesnae come first, we appreciate her and her cooking, don’t we, Rupert? That restaurant of hers seems busy enough as it is.” Alice was positively glowing with familial pride.
“I prefer your food,” Rupert claimed, smiling so brightly at his wife that she blushed.
Kendrick was impressed, and a little envious, to see that even after forty years of marriage, things could still be like that.
His parents had been married for about that long too and definitely enjoyed a solid partnership, but they were rather matter of fact with each other.
Maybe it was because they had the same profession and worked side by side every day?
He had never heard his da give his ma such a casual but heartfelt compliment as Rupert had just done, and his ma was a great cook too.
It seemed like the old horse whisperer was also a first-class husband.
“Hush! You just say that because you dinnae know the first thing about haute cuisine,” Alice dismissed the compliment, but Kendrick could see how pleased she was. “But back to the topic,” she turned to Kendrick. “Can we expect a dance performance from our favourite vet tomorrow?”
“Wow, that was amazing,” gasped Shona, cheeks pink and eyes shining after their final rehearsal.
Phyllis Montgomery’s workshop had taken a surprising direction when it turned out that the participants had very different levels of experience.
About half of the group were interested beginners, the other half ambitious and more or less semi-professional.
Phyllis had watched this mismatch throughout the morning and tweaked her training to give all participants their money’s worth.
But after lunch, she announced a change of plan: two of her professional dance students would take the beginners to one room, while the more advanced ones would continue to train with the master herself in another.
They were to rehearse small dance sequences that they would present at the festival the next evening.
Kristy would even dance a big solo. Shona’s tall, slender cousin had always been the best dancer in town.
She could have gone professional, and she might have – if not for her major growth spurt during her teenage years.
Shona and Hailey couldn’t hold a candle to her – neither back then nor now – but their joy made up for any lack of grace.
Together with two local high school girls, they rehearsed an original and rather complex four-person choreography for the event.
“I wouldn’t say ‘great’, but pretty good,” Phyllis put a damper on Shona’s enthusiasm. “Surprisingly good actually, considering that the four of you have never danced together, and we pulled all this together in a few hours. I’m sure people tomorrow will love it.”
The grey-haired lady looked like a ballet teacher in her training outfit: elegant, graceful and awfully strict.
Shona knew that the festival visitors tomorrow would see a very different side of the famous dancer.
When Phyllis twirled around in her traditional dress, she looked like a warrior unleashed.
You could be sure to see men of all ages drooling over her on the edge of the dance floor.
She, Hailey and the two girls were more of an opening act to fire up the crowd, but they would hardly make people fall head over heels for them.
Be that as it may, she was excited for the next evening.
“Should we go over it one more time?” asked Hailey, still panting.
“I think you’ve got it now. We’ll rehearse it again before you go on stage. That should be enough,” Phyllis said with a smile and waved them towards the door. “Kristy, dear, please stay.”
The two teens quickly said their goodbyes, dashed down the steps of the community centre and disappeared through the heavy front door.
Shona and Hailey followed them at a more leisurely pace, exhausted from the strenuous training.
“My legs are shaking so badly I’m not sure I’ll make it safely down these stairs,” Hailey moaned.
“You should be in better shape than me. You’re always riding and cycling.” Shona gave her cousin a sideways glance and held on tight to the banister herself. It was a minor miracle that her legs weren’t all in knots.
“But you go dancing a lot more,” Hailey claimed. “Riding and cycling don’t help with that.”
“The last time I went dancing was over a month ago,” Shona shot back and realised that her cheeks had flushed crimson at the memory of that particular evening in Inverness.
Fortunately, the Old School’s stairwell was dimly lit, so Hailey didn’t notice her blushes.
And perhaps she was too preoccupied with getting herself safely down the stairs anyway.
“Was that the night you ran into Kendrick?”
“What?” Shona stopped short mid-step. How did Hailey know that? She hadn’t told her about it. She had mentioned it to Kristy, who had sworn she wouldn’t tell.
“You didn’t expect Kristy to keep such a juicy piece of gossip to herself, did you?” Hailey laughed.
Yes, she had indeed expected Kristy to do just that.
And she definitely didn’t want to have this conversation right now.
Hailey may say she was no longer interested in Kendrick and tease her about how he had eyes only for her, but Shona assumed that was all just talk.
Naturally, she thought Hailey had no idea what was behind those looks Kendrick gave her!
Well, those assumptions had now been proven wrong.
Thanks for nothing, Kristy! Fortunately, it was still only half the truth.
Shona swung open the front door and shivered. “Bloody hell, it’s getting cold!” she exclaimed and zipped up her fleece.
“Aye, it’s really autumn now.” Hailey hunched her shoulders and looked towards the village square. “Shall we go home or to the pub?”
“The way we look?” Shona glanced at her cousin, who, like herself, was clad in leggings, a sweat-stained long-sleeved shirt and a thin fleece.
“Sure, why not? Half of Jon’s guests smell of sheep, goats, cattle or horses, so we won’t stand out.” Hailey grinned. “Besides, I’m starving and don’t fancy cooking or putting a pizza in the oven.”
Food was a rather strong argument. “Okay, off to The Wise Pelican then!”