Chapter 35
MARTHA
We didn’t stay outside for long as it had become quite chilly. I suggested we go and sit inside and actually ask around to see who might be going towards North Sydney.
‘We need to eat something,’ I said, thinking about the lovely breakfast at the guest house this morning.
We’d had nothing but a coffee since then.
‘You do a round of asking while I get us some food. You’re much younger and prettier than me so you’ll probably get lucky.
Don’t tell them your old nana is coming until it’s too late and they’ve committed. ’
‘Martha! I don’t want to get lucky and I’m not chatting up some bloke for a lift. You’d be much better at that than me anyway,’ Erin said.
‘It’s not like your charms haven’t come in useful on this trip so far and I’m not knocking it. Do you want to win this race or not?’
Noah had found a table to put in a bit of speed-puzzling practice and was timing and filming his progress.
‘Is there time for that?’ I asked him.
‘Yeah, it’s a seventy-minute crossing. My best time on this puzzle is fifty-six minutes.’
Cally was skulking but didn’t seem to mind that Noah wasn’t filming. They must have so much footage, another ferry journey didn’t matter that much and he’d filmed us up on deck before we left. He’d probably film us getting off, hopefully in a car with a free lift.
I bought us sandwiches and cans of cold lemonade with the money Erin had handed me. She had taken well to being in charge of the finances and I had done well to relinquish control.
‘Okay,’ Erin said as she returned. ‘I did actually chat up a bloke, which I’m ashamed of.’
‘Well, I’m proud of you,’ I said with a grin.
‘But he’s only going as far as Antigonish and I’m not exactly sure where that is. He says it’s about eighty kilometres.’
‘Bite his hand off for it,’ I said, looking at the map. ‘It’s in the right direction and it’s free. I assume it’s free?’
‘Oh, Nana, stop it,’ Erin said, looking disgusted.
‘I only meant a contribution to fuel.’
‘Oh, well, no, because he said he was going anyway,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell him yes, shall I?’
‘Unless we find someone else who’s going all the way to North Sydney, then yes, let’s take him up on his kind offer.’
Erin disappeared off while shovelling down her chicken and salad sandwich.
‘I’m so impressed, Noah,’ I said. ‘I had no idea how fast you were. I’ve only really seen the finished puzzles at the checkpoints. So, do you have a chance of winning?’
‘I’d have to go some to beat the current world champion, but I’m going to try, and our team is decent for the team event,’ he said.
‘You’re really passionate about it, aren’t you?’ I said.
‘Yeah, I am. You have to be, to be good at anything. It takes a lot of training to be fast.’
‘And your team; are they friends of yours?’ I asked.
‘They are now, but no, not originally. My friends aren’t interested in puzzles. They’re happy to support me and will watch some of the live stream from the event or say they will at least, but they don’t puzzle.’
I scrutinised his hands flying around the table and a small crowd gathered round to watch. When he put in the last piece, he got a small round of applause and he grinned, slightly embarrassed at the attention.
The ferry came in to dock and we gathered our things and found Vince, the chap who had offered us a lift. He had a decent car and was happy for Noah to film a little from the back seat and clip his small camera at the front too.
‘And you don’t mind an old woman tagging along?’ I asked with a smile.
‘Not at all,’ he said.
He was British, or certainly sounded like he was, and as we left the port and headed east he told us about how he’d relocated with his wife and children ten years ago for his work. Originally from Cornwall, he said that life in Canada was so much richer than it had been back in the UK.
‘I love the Cornish countryside and coast, I adore the Cornish people, but the quality of life was becoming difficult,’ he said. ‘House prices were getting ridiculous. Pushed up by people with second, holiday homes. We have a huge place here and the kids love it.’
Vince got us to Antigonish by six thirty and we decided to push ourselves and try for a lift to the port at North Sydney tonight.
‘If you don’t get a lift, then I could offer you a couple of beds in our spare room,’ he said. ‘I’m sure my wife won’t mind. She loves reality TV shows.’
‘That is super kind,’ Martha said. ‘But we won’t have any way of contacting you.’
‘I tell you what, you try for a lift and I’ll come back round in a couple of hours. If you’re not here then great, you’re on your way. If you are here, the offer still stands.’
‘You know what, if you are serious, then I think we should take you up on your offer now,’ Erin said before turning to me.
‘The thing is, the ferry doesn’t leave until tomorrow night at 17.
30. Even if we do get a lift, we will have to find somewhere to stay in North Sydney and I’ll bet there won’t be another Vince waiting to offer a spare room. ’
‘That does make sense,’ I said. ‘I think tiredness is clouding my judgement. Perhaps you want to go and check with your wife first.’
‘No, she’ll be fine, honestly.’
We piled back into the car and even though I was grateful for the free room, I could only hope Mrs Vince was as generous as her husband.
Vince was right about one thing: his house was huge.
Set back from the road and surrounded by trees, his home looked a bit like a castle from a fairy tale.
It had the painted boards we’d come to see a lot of and his were in a pale-blue colour.
There was a porch that wrapped around half of the house and there was a pretty front garden stocked full of flowering plants.
But the thing that stuck out more than anything was the turret.
‘You have a lovely home here,’ I said. ‘Really, it’s… wow.’
‘Is that where Rapunzel sleeps?’ Erin asked, pointing to the turret, and Noah was filming with his mouth open.
Vince laughed and climbed out of the car. ‘That’s where you’ll both be sleeping,’ he said.
‘Are you absolutely sure your wife won’t mind?’ I asked, imagining if this had happened to me. I like to think of myself as a welcoming person but if my ex had turned up with two women who needed a bed for the night, I’m really not sure how I would have reacted.
‘I messaged ahead. She’s putting some dinner together and is very happy for you to be here. You’re fellow Brits and on one of her favourite type of shows. Honestly, I’m surprised she hasn’t rolled out the red carpet.’
Cally pulled up behind us but Vince was adamant that Noah should stay to film inside while we had dinner. He invited Cally to join us. This was turning into quite the event.
Vince’s wife, Morwenna, was an absolute delight. He was right about her being happy for us to be there. She’d already put chicken and potatoes in the oven and was peeling vegetables for a roast dinner.
‘I can’t tell you how grateful we are to be here,’ I said and Erin agreed.
‘It’s me who’s grateful,’ she said. ‘I miss home a lot, so to have some friends from the UK for dinner is a pleasure.’
Their kids were early teens, two girls who had a pronounced Canadian accent.
They had only been to Cornwall twice in their lives.
Home, Morwenna had called it, but it wasn’t home to these girls, I didn’t think.
Really, it never would be. It made me wonder how happy Morwenna was in this country.
They had a magnificent house in a beautiful part of the world but to hear her talk, I could tell she’d not really settled.
She put on a lovely spread, though, and while we all tucked into the roast and Vince opened a couple of bottles of wine, we talked about the show.
It was nice to see Cally lighten up and talk candidly about the difficulties they faced trying to keep everything on track.
Morwenna, it turned out, was a fellow jigsaw-puzzler and she and Noah got one going after dinner.
They didn’t get a chance to finish it, though, as Cally’s car had arrived to take them to a nearby hotel.
When they had gone, Vince poured us a last drink and we took them into the living room. The girls had gone to their bedrooms and we offered to clear up the dinner things but Morwenna wouldn’t hear of it.
‘Vince can do it,’ she said, and he laughed like a man who’d had some wine.
‘Let’s throw it all away and buy some new dishes.’
But he did actually disappear back into the kitchen and left us girls to it.
‘You know what?’ Morwenna said. ‘I feel so invested now; I’m going to offer you a lift to the ferry tomorrow. I really want you both to win.’
‘We can’t ask you to do that,’ said Erin, but I could hear the half-hearted protest in her voice.
‘You didn’t ask. I offered and I really want to do this.
I’m well known to be a problem solver; Vince is the same, really.
You need to get to the ferry and I don’t want to drop you at a gas station and see you beg for a lift.
I have to get the girls to school but I’m free after that.
It’s only a 180 kilometres so we can be there in just over a couple of hours. What time does your ferry leave?’
‘Wow, that’s just amazing, thank you,’ I said. ‘The ferry we want to get doesn’t leave until five thirty, so there’s plenty of time.’
‘Well then. I think we have tomorrow sorted.’
We went to bed that night in a room that resembled the icing on a wedding cake.
There were white, frilly-edged curtains with flowers embroidered all over them.
Heavily patterned wallpaper covered the space in pale, pastel shades and the white-painted furniture was scalloped-edged and ornate.
Erin and I exchanged a look and shared a silent understanding.
Morwenna and Vince had been amazing hosts and went above and beyond what anyone else would have done.
We were incredibly lucky and weren’t about to start exchanging thoughts on decor that we wouldn’t choose for our own homes.
‘I feel a bit drunk,’ Erin said as she came out of the en suite. ‘You know, if this were a thriller or a dark TV drama, our drinks would have been spiked and things would not end well for us.’
‘Yeah, but we’d die happy, stuffed full of roast chicken and white wine. That chocolate pudding was to die for anyway.’
I had a sudden yearning to talk more to Erin there in that turreted bedroom.
I wanted to share stories about Clare and get Erin to commit to the wording on the bench plaque, make a decision about where we were going to scatter her ashes, but we had already made some progress and anything I said now would be to satisfy myself alone.
I didn’t want to push her away when we were in such a good place.
And anyway, when my head hit that fluffy pillow, I was already asleep.