CHAPTER TEN
Wil supped the second mug of tea that Kian served up and gazed out the window. In the background, he listened to the gossip buzzing around the bakery shop.
Kian was on the phone. ‘The party night is on at the barn!’ Kian told the owner of one of the local hotels. ‘We’ll need the big barrels of beer delivered there.’
Smiling to himself, Wil sat in the middle of the whirlwind.
Wil’s phone rang. It was Callum.
‘Do you want me to print the tickets for the party night?’ Callum said, sounding eager to take on the task. ‘I heard that you and Delphie are organising it after all. I usually print the tickets. I have the date, and it always starts at seven o’clock.’
‘Yes, do that, Callum,’ Wil agreed.
‘Right, I’m on it.’ And Callum was gone.
Finishing his tea, Wil got up and went over to the counter and paid for his breakfast.
Kian was still on the phone. Bottles of whisky were being discussed.
‘Are the tickets available?’ a customer sitting at a table called across to Catriona.
A moment’s lull descended over the chatter and all eyes were on Wil.
‘Callum is printing them as we speak,’ Wil assured them .
The buzz erupted again with customers wanting to put their name down on a list that Catriona was making.
‘I’ll take two tickets,’ a customer called over.
‘Put my name down too, Catriona,’ another customer added.
Kian finished his call. ‘Do you want us to handle the ticket sales?’ he said to Wil. ‘It would help us gauge how many people need catered for.’
This made sense. ‘That would be helpful,’ Wil agreed.
A woman, the owner of the local dress shop, hurried in. ‘I heard the news. Is there a poster I can put in my shop window?’
‘Delphie’s designing one,’ said Wil.
‘What is this year’s theme?’ the woman wanted to know.
Wil drew a blank.
‘Last year the theme was vintage,’ Catriona told Wil.
‘And the year before that everyone wore kilts and tartan,’ the woman added. ‘We’ve had all sorts of themes.’
Wil needed to come up with something fast. ‘Dancing,’ he said.
‘Oh, that’s a wonderful theme,’ Catriona said, smiling. ‘I definitely want a new dress for the party.’ She looked at the dress shop owner. ‘I’ll pop in for a browse of your rails this afternoon.’
The enthusiasm spread around the bakery shop as customers planned what to wear .
Ball gowns and tango dresses were being discussed as Wil’s phone rang. It was Callum again.
‘What’s the party’s theme this year?’ said Callum.
‘Dancing,’ Wil told him.
‘I’ll add that to the information on the tickets. Great theme. Easy for folk to find something to wear. I’ll be sure to wear my smart suit.’ And Callum was gone again.
Wil finally managed to escape from the melee of the bakery shop. Breathing in the calm morning air, he walked along to his dance studio.
Delphie was in the barn.
She checked the biscuit tin behind the bar. There were the leaflets advertising the party nights from previous years. She planned to use those to create a poster design with the usual information that people needed.
Sitting at her artwork table, she sketched a rough outline, inked it like an illustration, scanned it into her laptop, and added the necessary wording. That’s when she noticed that the previous year’s poster included a theme. She’d been to dance nights in the barn before, though not in the last few years, but she never knew there was a special party to celebrate autumn.
She phoned Wil. ‘We’re going to need a theme for the party night.’
‘Dancing.’ He explained the situation.
‘A perfect theme. I’ll include it on the poster.’ After agreeing this with Wil, she emailed the finished design to Callum at the art shop .
Callum called to confirm he’d received it, and that he’d print out enough copies to distribute locally.
Later in the day, Callum phoned Wil to tell him the watercolour painting was framed ready for collection, and so were the tickets and the posters.
Wil went along to the art shop to pick everything up, and on the way back to the studio he handed in a copy of the poster to the dress shop and to other businesses. Callum had pinned one up in the window of the art shop.
Wil kept a poster for the dance studio, and gave the rest to Catriona and Kian at the bakery shop along with the tickets.
Heading to the dance studio, Wil felt he’d been swept up in the whirlwind of organising the party, and was glad to get back to work on his choreography.
Delphie had gone down to the main street to buy fresh groceries and got caught up in the party buzz circulating the town.
Carrying her shopping back to her car, she thought she’d pop in to see Wil. But as she loaded the groceries into the boot, she noticed Sienna and Steaphan heading into the studio and decided not to interrupt their dance practise.
Back at the farmhouse, Delphie made a cup of tea and took it over to the barn.
Setting up her paints, she made progress with the painting for the bakery shop .
As the afternoon light faded to an evening glow, she received a call from her grandparents. Their cheery faces smiled out at her from the laptop.
‘I’ve so many things to tell you,’ Delphie said after hearing that they were still having a great time in Paris. She finally got to the part about the party night. ‘I didn’t know there was a special party in the barn each year to celebrate autumn.’
‘It’s always been popular,’ said her grandmother.
‘We felt we were letting people down this year because we were away on holiday,’ her grandfather said, joining in.
‘You should’ve told me,’ said Delphie.
‘We didn’t want to foist that burden on to you,’ her grandfather explained. ‘We planned to make it up to the town when we got home.’
‘It’s wonderful that you’re holding it this year,’ said her grandmother. ‘I wish we could be there, but obviously we can’t. Though I’m sure it’ll be fun with you and Wil hosting it.’
Delphie chatted to her grandparents, and noted information about the running order of the event, from the opening dance to the closing number at the end of the evening.
‘You and Wil will need to start the evening with a dance,’ her grandmother told her.
‘Just the two of us?’ Delphie was taken aback.
‘Yes,’ said her grandmother. ‘We always start with a lively number to get the party going. Then we finish with a slow dance, like a romantic waltz.’
‘With you and Wil being such fine dancers, it’ll be a skoosh for you to do this,’ her grandfather added .
‘Remember to borrow any dress you want from my wardrobes,’ her grandmother reminded her.
After the call, Delphie’s mind was whirring with ideas for the dances as she continued to work on the bakery shop painting. Adding pops of colour, like strawberry pink to the cupcakes and bright red to the glacé cherries on top, the painting started to look like an artistic impression of the bakery.
The yellow of the lemon meringue pie, and sugared slices of fruit on top of a lemon drizzle cake, contrasted with the blueberries on the muffins and orange fondant on the carrot cake.
A colourful jar of sweets sat on the counter, and everything from the fresh raspberries on a Victoria sponge, to the Scottish snowball cakes, showed the delicious selection of treats in the bakery shop.
The shop was a joy to paint, and by the time Delphie had finished adding Catriona and Kian into the scene, it was now dark outside and way past dinner.
Leaving the painting to dry, Delphie walked over to the farmhouse kitchen and started to prepare dinner. She’d bought a cottage pie topped with mashed potato at the grocery shop and popped it in the oven to heat while she cut a slice of crusty bread and made a pot of tea.
She was about to serve it up and sit down at the kitchen table when there was a knock on the front door.
Opening it, she found Wil standing there. ‘I brought you a copy of the poster and a ticket. I thought you’d like to see them. And I wondered if I could talk to you about the party.’
‘I was just about to have dinner.’
‘Sorry, I thought you’d have finished it by now.’
‘I got caught up in my painting. But would you like to join me? Have you had dinner?’
‘No, it’s been one of those days, but I don’t want to intrude.’
‘Come in,’ she beckoned, leading him through to the kitchen.
Wil washed his hands at the sink and sat down as she served up two portions of the pie and cut more bread for them.
‘How did the choreography practise go with Sienna and Steaphan today?’ she said.
Wil blinked.
‘I saw them going into the studio when I was picking up my groceries,’ she explained. ‘I was planning to pop in to see you, but I didn’t want to interrupt their rehearsal.’
‘It went well. You should’ve come in.’
Delphie poured their tea. ‘I spoke to my grandparents about the party night. We’re supposed to open with a dance.’
Wil cut–in. ‘I know. People are expecting a proper performance from us. And a closing number.’
‘I thought it was just to encourage everyone on to the dance floor.’
Wil shook his head. ‘Not for us. Rumours are circulating that we’re putting on two full performances. ’
Delphie tried not to smile and ate a mouthful of mashed potatoes and gravy.
‘What’s so funny?’ he said, starting to smile too.
She took a sip of tea. ‘I thought I was busy in the city, but for a quiet small town, it’s buzzing. The days are whizzing by.’
Wil agreed. ‘But I’m enjoying myself more than I have in a long time.’
‘So am I.’
They both burst out laughing.
‘Okay, what will we do for our opening number?’ said Wil.
‘My gran says they always dance something lively. How about a quickstep?’
‘Or I could twirl you around during a swing dance,’ he joked, gesturing that he’d hold her above his head and spin her like a baton. ‘That would liven things up.’
The look she gave him vetoed his idea.
‘A quickstep would be ideal,’ he agreed.
‘Or you could perform a solo ballet number,’ she teased him. ‘Leaping high into the air and doing pirouettes across the floor.’
‘My ballet tights will be in the wash that day.’
‘Ah, well, maybe another time.’
They continued to tease each other and enjoy their dinner.
‘Mind if I have a look at the dance floor in the barn?’ he said as he finished helping her wash and dry the dinner dishes. ‘I’d like to have a proper look at the size of it if we’re going to perform. ’
‘Yes, come on over.’ Delphie led the way, shivering slightly in the night air after the cosiness of the kitchen. But once she was inside the barn, the warmth wrapped itself around her.
Wil started to scope out the floor. ‘It’s quite large so we should be able to quickstep across the diagonals at speed easily.’
Delphie looked around. ‘The barn can hold a fair number of people. It’s going to be jumping at the party. I’ll obviously move my artwork into the farmhouse out of the way and that’ll make even more room for dancing.’
Wil clasped her hand. ‘Try a quickstep with me. See how it feels.’
They fell into step with each other and danced across the floor.
‘This could work,’ she said, sensing that spark whenever she was dancing with Wil. ‘But we should try it with music.’
‘I’ll check what’s on the song list at the bar later, but for the moment, let’s dance to this.’ Wil scrolled through his phone and found a piece of lively music.
As the song played, Wil led Delphie in a quickstep. They danced until the song ended, smiling as they skip–stepped together around the floor.
‘Let’s try a different song,’ Wil suggested, and lined up another song on his phone. ‘Round two,’ he said playfully.
Delphie played along, enjoying having fun with Wil.
She could feel the strength in the muscles beneath his shirt contrasting with his lightness of movement when they skip–stepped to the beat. He was the best dancer she’d ever been partnered with.
When the song finished they both assessed the music.
‘The first song suited us better,’ he concluded.
‘It did.’ She shrugged. ‘Round three?’ she said, and suggested another song.
‘Great choice. I hadn’t thought about that one.’ Wil set the song to play and took her in hold.
The introduction to the song was longer than the others and allowed them to have a moment standing there, smiling at each other, waiting for the beat to kick in.
Delphie felt her heart was pounding with the excitement of being so close to Wil rather than the dance.
In sync, they both began dancing the quickstep, poised, in perfect hold.
It was one of those times that Delphie knew she’d always remember. Their impromptu quickstep that night in the barn. And for a moment, just a heartbeat, she pictured what her life would be like if she was together with Wil. Dating him. A true romance. Something that had eluded her despite her best efforts to find the perfect partner.
After they finished, they both agreed that the first song was the winner. The introduction was lively at the start and suited the quickstep better.
‘The first song would be my choice,’ said Wil.
‘Mine too.’
She’d taken her hand off his shoulder, and he’d released his hand from her waist, but they were both clasping one hand as they stood there discussing the music.
And then he let her go, stepped back and picked up his phone where he’d sat it down on the edge of her artwork table.
‘I should go and not take up any more of your time,’ he said. ‘We’ll rehearse the quickstep another evening.’
‘We could continue to practise now if you want. Though I’d like to run over to the farmhouse and put on my dancing shoes.’
A smile lit up Wil’s face. ‘Great, I’ll set up the music again.’
‘Could you move my artwork table to the side so that we can use the entire floor?’
More than willing to do this, he began to set things up.
Delphie hurried out into the night, and ran upstairs to her room. She was wearing a skirt and top that were fine for dancing, but she put on a pair of dance shoes with heels, then hurried back over to the barn.
Wil had carefully moved her artwork table and easels aside, clearing the floor.
And all of a sudden, Delphie saw the barn as a dance venue rather than her temporary art studio. Images from the past flickered through her mind, remembering the times she’d been there years ago when her grandparents hosted a party night.
Wil stood in the middle of the floor and gestured around. ‘It really is quite spacious.’
‘It is. Even when there’s live entertainment on stage, or the bar is busy, the dance floor dominates the barn. My grandfather designed it with this in mind so that my grandmother had a spacious floor to dance on.’
‘How to you feel about elevating the quickstep routine?’ said Wil.
‘I’m ready to up my game.’
A warmth touched Wil’s heart. He loved that Delphie was willing to give things a go.
He walked over to her and she gazed up at him, into those blue eyes that reminded her so much of her favourite cerulean when painting.
‘If we’re going to use the song we’ve selected, we can add to the drama on the intro beats,’ he said. ‘We’ll begin in promenade, and then do a flick step into the dance, adding a bit of flair from the start.’
Wil demonstrated on his own, showing Delphie what he had in mind.
She tried it, jump stepping into the movement.
‘That’s it!’ he said. ‘Then we’ll spring–step across the diagonal.’ Again he danced on his own, ending up at the far corner of the floor. ‘We’ll add a sway, and then with another flick step, kick out the back foot, before circling the floor for one complete loop. If that makes sense.’
‘Total sense.’
Wil smiled, eager to try this. He liked that she picked up on his moves easily from her background in dance. But it was more than that. It felt like they were on the same wavelength whenever they danced together. Could they ever be so in tune off the dance floor he wondered. Pushing this thought aside, he turned the music on and took her in hold .
And they danced, adding the flicks and kicks.
He stopped and paused the music halfway through. ‘Now let’s add some extra moves at the midway point where we cross in front and cross behind.’
Every move Wil suggested, Delphie went along with, enjoying being part of the choreography.
As they practised each part of the dance, she felt them tap in time, lock step in line and chassé in sync.
‘Okay,’ he said, ‘let’s try the whole dance again — with pizzazz.’
Delphie laughed. ‘Pizzazz coming up.’
Wil paused. ‘It’s a pity we won’t have this on film.’
‘Hang on.’ She set–up the camera on her laptop.
Wil posed in different areas of the floor while she altered the camera angle to capture everything.
She laughed as he included a few playfully exaggerated poses, loving the fun they were having while making sure they had a routine that people would enjoy watching.
‘Lights!’ Wil announced.
Delphie turned her desk lamp off to create a sparkling atmosphere with the twinkle lights.
‘Camera!’ he said.
Delphie gave him the thumbs up. ‘We’re good to go.’
‘Action!’ Wil pulled Delphie into his arms as the music started, and they were off to a flying start.
Delphie danced with all the pizzazz he’d hoped for, and they matched each other so well that when they finished, they were both breathless and smiling from the fun of it .
‘That was wonderful, Delphie,’ Wil murmured, gazing at her, so close, again a breath away from her lips.
They both sensed where their feelings could lead them and stepped back. Wil bowed and Delphie curtsied to conclude the performance.
Delphie went over to the laptop that was set up on her artwork table at the side of the dance floor. She checked the recording and smiled.
Every moment of the dance was captured on film. Wil stood beside her as she played the video. They nodded throughout the performance, agreeing that they’d nailed the routine they’d use as the opening number. But then his heart ached, as he saw the romantic moment at the end of the dance.
‘You’re an excellent performer,’ he said, clearing his throat of emotion. It was too much to hope that they had a future together when their worlds were due to be far apart.
‘As are you, Wil.’
He rubbed his hands together. ‘Well, I’d better be going. It’s late and we’ve got one routine in the bag.’
‘I’ll send you a copy of the video,’ she said, turning off the twinkle lights in the barn as she saw him out.
In the cold evening air, she closed the barn door on what was a true night to remember, and waved as Wil drove away.