Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Forty-nine
Currently living at Kilmory Cottage: Carly, Frank, Badger
Carly
What fools we were, to think we could relax and think everything’s sorted. Because it’s never sorted, I realise, as Frank and I sit on the rock together, looking out to sea. Something always rises up at you when you least expect it.
‘So, Jamie’s left Lewis,’ I tell him.
‘Jamie?’ Frank looks quizzical.
‘Jamie, my friend at work. How come you never remember anyone’s name?’
‘I’ve been a bit distracted!’ he protests. ‘I mean, there’s been quite a bit going on …’
‘Well, he’s been staying at Prish’s but that’s just temporary. I said he can come and live with us,’ I add.
Frank pales in the early evening sun. ‘Oh, really? Did you say that?’
‘Frank, I’m joking …’ I place a hand on his thigh.
‘Jesus, Carly.’ He shakes his head and laughs, and then he kisses me lightly on the lips. ‘I wouldn’t mind, you know. It’d be okay …’
‘No, honestly, it’s just me and you now. If you can bear it.’
He looks at me and smiles. ‘I can more than bear it. But actually, it’s not just us, is it?’
‘Well, me, you and Badger.’ I nod. When Frank moved back home it didn’t feel right to leave the cat roaming around the scrubby waste ground, perhaps looking for him. Because they’d grown close while Frank was living in the truck.
He leans down and picks up a smooth, worn pebble and rubs his thumb over it. ‘I want to tell you something,’ he adds.
‘What?’ I watch him, fixating over the pebble.
‘Remember when you were going to Suki’s cabin?’ I nod. ‘I didn’t care that you’d bought champagne because of the cost, you know,’ he adds. ‘I thought you were trying to impress her and her friends. And you don’t need to do anything special or different to impress anyone, d’you realise that? You can just be yourself, because you’re wonderful as you are.’
My eyes mist and my heart seems to swell. ‘That’s a nice thing to say,’ I murmur, reaching for our cool bag now, and lifting out the bottle of white wine. I fill two paper cups and hand one to him. ‘Here we are,’ I muse, ‘drinking on the beach like teenagers. Like we did when we first met, remember?’
‘Of course I remember,’ he says softly. I watch him as he takes a sip. My darling Frank, who would do anything for me. He moved to Scotland for me and he loves us all.
All those nights he spent in the shed, he was doing the only thing he could think of, in order to be useful with Eddie and Lyla’s baby on the way. He was designing and building a wooden cot for the baby. Not just any old cot but a beautiful object which rocks on its stand. It’s hand-carved and is now embellished with her name, and it’s perfect. With Grace’s early arrival they hadn’t got around to buying one yet. Suki had offered, of course – virtually from when the pregnancy was announced. But Lyla, who’s turned out to be impressively strong-minded, wouldn’t be rushed.
We’re going to visit them all in Edinburgh tomorrow. Eddie has promised that he’ll treat us to lunch at Bracken – so maybe he’s not so ashamed of us after all. ‘Of course I want to take you there,’ he insisted, and I pictured my boy as a teenager, charging ahead whenever we were out in public together, terrified of being spotted with us.
‘I’m just amazed you’d let us go to your restaurant,’ I explained.
Eddie laughed then. ‘Well, I do get a massive discount,’ he admitted.
‘So, what are you thinking?’ I ask Frank now.
‘About what?’ He turns to me.
‘About us and what’s next …’
He smiles. ‘Surely you’ve consulted that book of yours? About what our next chapter should be?’
‘Yes,’ I say. ‘We could move house, maybe? Is Kilmory Cottage too big for us now?’
‘Maybe.’ Frank nods thoughtfully. ‘We could get married? How about that?’
I take his hand and squeeze it tightly. ‘We could do that. But d’you think we’re rushing into it?’
Frank grins and sips his wine. ‘Or we could travel and have adventures?’
‘Yes, we could do all of those things.’
Or, I think, we could stay right here, in the place we love . We finish our bottle of wine, not minding that it’s no longer chilled, or that our town is faded and the pastéis de nata craze has yet to arrive in Sandybanks. I glance up as starlings swoop above us in a glorious cloud. And then Frank’s hand folds over mine, and my heart soars like a bird as we turn back towards home.