Chapter Thirty-Seven Freya’s house a week later
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Freya’s house a week later
While Evie fretted and felt her world was collapsing around her, Freya was looking out of the window and counting her blessings on the day before her big birthday.
Despite all the upset with Evie the week before, Freya was trying to focus on the positive.
It had always been her way of coping with bad times in the past.
It was such a bright sunny morning and Orkney was putting on a real show.
Soft light rain falling overnight had given everything a sheen; and when the sun broke through there was a vivid rainbow lighting up the sky.
It was as though the whole island was getting ready to celebrate with Freya and wishing her happy birthday.
The emerald-green fields, azure skies and silver seas had never looked more beautiful.
Freya had woken up to the arrival of Paul the postman, who was delivering an armful of carefully wrapped presents and a sackful of cards. “There will be more tomorrow on your actual birthday, Freya, but I thought I would get these to you now,” he said cheerfully.
Freya thought Paul looked just like a snowman.
He was remarkably pale, but so chubby that his body was almost completely spherical.
He seemed to have no neck, just a perfectly round face with coal-black currant eyes, and he was completely bald.
The snowman look was complete with a floppy hat and a scarf.
Freya honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if she had seen him ‘walking in the air’ above Kirkwall Cathedral.
They’d had a cup of tea together and a chat about Paul’s bunions.
He was a martyr to his feet and last month Freya had given him a large bottle of homemade lotion to dab on them.
He thanked her over and over again and said it had made all the difference.
Wishing her many happy returns, he left with his pockets and cheeks bulging with homemade biscuits.
Freya decided she’d watch an old Bette Davis movie, probably Now, Voyager, although she had watched it so often, she knew all the dialogue.
She had her bath, painted her nails, attended to a few rogue hairs on her chin with her trusty tweezers, and gave her feet a going over in the foot spa Patsy had bought her for Christmas.
It had been put in the cupboard under the sink and was being used for the first time.
She popped on a bright-green avocado face mask and settled down for a much-needed chunk of ‘me time’.
Amelia had gone over to see Ross for a Friday-night date and planned to stay with him overnight. She would be back the next day in time to get ready for the ‘surprise’ party. This was going to be the night for them both. To be honest, Freya was enjoying having her house to herself for a few hours.
Amelia was no trouble, but sometimes Freya just wanted to have a bit of time on her own, with beans on toast on a tray for her tea in front of A Place In The Sun. With a guest you always had to make a bit of an effort, and even someone as sociable and gregarious as Freya needed a break.
On the upside, she knew when Amelia got home, she would get a full rundown of the evening’s events.
She was surprised at how quickly Amelia and Ross had become a couple.
Things had moved fast and they seemed besotted with one another.
It had taken Ross a long time to find love, but he had seemingly fallen hard.
‘Perhaps we might be hearing wedding bells,’ thought Freya. ‘And then Amelia would stay in Orkney and build a life here.’
Freya tutted, ‘I’m getting ahead of myself again. I really need to just leave them be so they can find out whether they are meant to be together. It wasn’t all that long ago I was making plans for Ross and Evie. I had high hopes of those two.’
Freya sighed. She had expected Evie to come over the morning after her outburst and apologise. They would have both had a good cry and put it all behind them. But there was no sign of her, and it wasn’t like her to sulk.
Freya had reached for her phone right away to call Evie but there was no answer. She tried many times. She didn’t want to leave a message as she always got flustered and talked for too long. So eventually, her chubby fingers painstakingly drafted a text.
Hello Evie. I don’t want us to fall out. Amelia says she forgives you and so do I. The party wouldn’t be the same without you. Hope you can come tomorrow night.
Evie was so desperately embarrassed and ashamed of herself she couldn’t bring herself to answer Freya’s call.
She knew the longer she left all the bad feeling to fester, the harder it would be to mend.
She read the text, and felt relief that Freya still wanted her at the party, but she was livid at Amelia.
‘She can stick her forgiveness up her arse, but I’m just not sure I can face everyone, even on Freya’s big night. ’
Her phone rang again. This time it was Sophia, probably the only person Evie felt she could talk to, so she decided to answer.
Sophia sounded utterly distraught, as though she was trying to stop herself breaking down.
“Thank God you picked up, Evie. I honestly don’t know where to begin.
I can’t do this anymore. I’m telling Finn it’s all over.
He hasn’t been in touch, and he obviously doesn’t care enough about me to make this work.
I’m still coming up for the party, though.
Can I stay with you? I’m heading to the airport in a couple of hours. Could you pick me up?”
Sophia was so downhearted Evie felt she couldn’t burden her with her own troubles. She would wait until they were together, sitting in the kitchen and sharing a bottle of wine. She told her that of course she could stay and she’d be there to pick her up in Florence. They could talk more tonight.
Evie was bitterly disappointed that Finn hadn’t immediately made things right after the talking-to he was given by herself and Freya. For the next half hour, Evie busied herself sorting out the spare room for Sophia’s arrival.
“Men are such clowns,” she muttered to herself, as she changed the duvet and left clean towels on the bed.
“All Finn had to do was tell Sophia he was sorry, and then look at Ross mooning all over that two-faced Amelia. I expected better of him. I thought he was way too good for her, but now I’m not so sure.
I would have expected him to realise she’s a complete phoney. ”
Evie had talked about Amelia going out with Ross in one of her many WhatsApp calls with Sophia. She also confessed to her friend that she felt as if she was in the movie Single White Female, where a deranged Jennifer Jason Leigh creepily copied the looks and life of Bridget Fonda.
They had laughed about it, but Evie knew Amelia had now crossed a line.
The trouble was Amelia had fooled everyone else and it felt as though she was the only one who could see what Amelia was really like.
She needed to see Sophia in person for a proper catch up, and she needed her friend’s reassurance she wasn’t overreacting and losing her mind.
She jumped as her phone pinged with a message from Sophia. Evie expected it to say her plane was delayed but instead it read:
You will never believe it. Finn has just walked through my door. He is babbling all sorts of nonsense and keeps apologising and saying he wants to go and see Essex beavers. I don’t know what you and Freya said to him, but it has done the trick.
He’s in the shower right now and I think I will be tied up for the foreseeable future if you get my drift. Sorry I won’t make the flight today. I hate letting you down. But I will let you know how it all goes and we will both get the first plane up tomorrow.
Evie was deeply disappointed not to see her friend, but at the same time, relieved that Finn had taken action after all, and made the long trek down to London to make things right with the woman he loved.