Chapter 23
Vee and Rick polished off their lunch in record time and decided the moment had come to get their toes wet.
Vee left Rick to say a fond goodbye to Maddie and went to stand outside the beach shack, drinking in the sound of the waves lapping against the shore and the seabirds calling to each other.
The breeze was cool and fresh on her face, and she stooped to pick up a tiny cockleshell, slipping it into her pocket as a memento of this day of mixed feelings.
Vee heard Rick call, ‘See you later, alligator,’ followed by Maddie’s reply of, ‘In a while, crocodile,’ and she smiled.
It must be lovely to have childhood and ongoing memories of a friendship like this one, one so strong and affectionate that it could be picked up at a moment’s notice even after a long gap.
Leaving Willowbrook seemed to have fractured Vee’s life to such an extent that the only people she remembered clearly were the ones like Rhonda who left a bad taste in her mouth.
There must have been less traumatic friends, but much of anything to do with Vee’s school life that came before their departure from the village was lost in the mists of time.
She gave herself a mental shake. She was starting to catch Rick’s habit of thinking in clichés today.
Maddie and Rick were still exchanging familiar phrases, but it sounded as if they had almost run out of steam. ‘See ya,’ shouted Rick as he left the café.
‘Wouldn’t wanna be ya,’ replied Maddie, and they both laughed uproariously.
‘Okay, race you to the sea,’ Rick said as he approached Vee, and without further ado, he dumped his bag of towels on the sand and set off at a gallop.
‘Hey, that’s cheating, you had a head start!’ she yelled, and took off after the departing figure, catching up with him before he reached the waves.
They screeched to a halt just in time to avoid splashing straight into the water, and Rick turned to face Vee. ‘We’ll call that a dead heat,’ he said. ‘Come on, we’d better roll our jeans up. We don’t want damp ankles all day.’
Soon they were tentatively stepping forwards, a few sharp pebbles causing them to wince. Vee wobbled sightly and Rick reached for her hand. They inched along until it was clear that if they waded in any deeper, the water would reach their rolled-up jeans.
‘This is bliss,’ said Vee, breathing in the salty air. ‘I don’t know why I didn’t do it more often when I still had my Mini. There was no need for me to wait for Nigel to come with me. I could have had lots of days like this, just enjoying the fresh air and sunshine.’
They paddled back out again after a while and wandered up the beach.
Vee wondered if Rick had forgotten he was still holding her hand.
She decided not to mention it because the feel of his warm palm and his fingers entwined with hers was both comforting and strangely exciting.
When they reached the discarded bag, Rick handed Vee a towel to dry her toes and spread the other one on the ground.
‘A day like today calls for chocolate digestives,’ he said.
They were already halfway down the packet and sharing the bottle of water when both their phones pinged.
‘Shall we ignore them?’ Rick said. ‘What could be more important than sitting on a lovely beach with my favourite… biscuits?’ he added hastily as Vee turned to look at him.
But Vee had never been able to leave a message unread for long. She took her phone out of her pocket and clicked on the latest text. ‘It’s Beryl,’ she said. ‘She wants us to meet them all at the Fox and Fiddle tonight at seven o’clock. Final planning for the trip. Is that okay with you?’
Rick pulled a face. ‘I’d been thinking that we might call for fish and chips and then have a night in front of the TV,’ he said.
‘But I’ve never yet managed to ignore a summons from Beryl, and we do need to talk about the details, especially as we’re the drivers.
Tell her we’ll be there. We can go in early and eat at the pub if you like? ’
They began to pack away their few belongings.
Vee was torn between disappointment that the lovely outing was over and an odd feeling of contentment that Rick had been automatically including her in his plans for the evening, as was usual these days.
The thought of moving into the almost-complete Dragonfly Cottage was exciting but she would miss the easy co-existence they’d gradually developed.
In between now and then, there was this unexpected bonus of a holiday but with the spectre of what might end up being an uncomfortable reunion with her aunt.
Yolanda had always been somewhat unpredictable.
She was a law unto herself and the prospect of meeting her again was unnerving.
Not only might she hold the key to what really went on at the camping trip, there was still the unresolved question of why Yolanda had so effectively distanced herself from her family.
The drive home was punctuated by a couple of hold-ups, and Vee and Rick barely had time for a quick change of clothes before they set off on foot to the pub.
The weather had grown cooler as they walked, dark clouds scudded across the sky and a smatter of raindrops made them both up their speed.
Rick had lent Vee his spare waterproof jacket, so both were warmly wrapped up, but she felt chilled and mildly grumpy when they reached the warmth of the Fox and Fiddle.
‘I’m having fish and chips, because I half-promised it for us before we knew we couldn’t stay at home for the night,’ Rick said. ‘How about you? Glass of red?’
Vee agreed to both suggestions and went to find them a table. The bar was fairly quiet so early in the evening, but when she sat down, Vee noticed that a man and a small girl had just come in and were talking to Rick. He turned and pointed to Vee and after a few moments all three came over.
‘Vee, this is my friend Sam and his daughter, Elsie,’ said Rick, pulling up an extra chair. ‘They’ve ordered food too, so we decided to eat together.’
The girl peered at Vee with interest and sat down next to her.
‘I’ve heard all about you,’ she said, beaming up at Vee, sliding her arms out of her bright yellow waterproof coat.
‘You’re going to live next door to Beryl and next-door-but-one to my friend Kate.
I have sleepovers at her house sometimes. She’s got a purple sofa.’
Vee digested this random snippet and wondered what the correct response was.
She didn’t have much experience of children.
This one looked to be around seven or eight years old, at a guess.
She had curly auburn hair held back by a sparkly headband and she was dressed in leopard-print leggings and a baggy hoodie.
‘Erm… I don’t even have a sofa yet,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what colour mine will be.’
‘Maybe you should have a nice red one,’ Elsie suggested. ‘A bright sofa cheers up a room, you know.’
This strangely adult comment seemed to put an end to the subject and Elsie began to rummage in her backpack. She brought out a sketchbook and pencil case and set out her stall.
‘What are you going to draw?’ asked Vee, as Elsie bent over her book.
‘You,’ came back the brief answer, as, tongue protruding slightly between her teeth, the girl began to sketch an outline of an elongated body.
Now the younger member of the party was occupied, Vee had time to look at Elsie’s dad.
He was young-ish, maybe not more than mid-twenties, and slender with long blond curls tied back in a ponytail.
At first glance he seemed to be having a cheerful conversation with Rick, but as she listened, Vee got a totally different picture.
‘No, I’m okay, honestly, mate,’ Sam was saying. ‘You win some, you lose some. I’ve been expecting this. Luka was bound to want to be free before long. I’m surprised we lasted until now, if I’m honest.’
The two men noticed that Vee had tuned in to what they were saying and paused, as if trying to decide how to explain all this to a stranger.
She smiled at Sam, hoping to give him the message that she was friendly, and saw that although he was smiling back, his eyes were red-rimmed and the hand that reached for his beer was shaking slightly.
Rick lowered his voice, glancing at Elsie as she sketched. ‘Sam’s had bad news today… erm… I guess there’s no easy way of putting it, his relationship’s over. He’s…’
‘He’s upset,’ chimed in Elsie, not looking up from her sketchbook. ‘Luka’s a knob-head.’
‘Elsie!’ Sam said. ‘That’s not a nice thing to say.’
‘Well, he is. He’s made you sad. He’s a knob-head and I hate him.’ With that, she handed over her drawing to Vee, who took it, glad of the distraction.
‘Oh, wow, Elsie, this is really good,’ she said in surprise.
The sketch showed a tall, smiling woman with a pompom of hair and very big eyes.
She was wearing slim-fitting trousers, trainers and a baggy striped shirt.
The detail was impressive even though there was something of the marshmallow about Vee’s face and her feet looked like canoes.
‘I know it’s good,’ said Elsie. ‘Art’s my best subject. I don’t like maths or writing much. I wish we could draw all day.’
‘That’s exactly how I felt when I was at school,’ said Vee.
An instant flashback made her blink. She saw herself sitting cross-legged in a field while the other children ran around doing various athletic activities.
It had been a glorious summer and a sprained ankle from a cartwheel that went badly wrong had meant that Vee was able to sit on the sidelines during all sports lessons for a magical week or two.
She’d been allowed to take her jotter and pencil case outside with her and had loved these moments of pure pleasure.
‘Did you? Do you still like drawing?’ Elsie asked, eyes wide with interest.
‘I… don’t know. I haven’t done any for ages.’
‘Why not?’