Echoes of Love (20 page)

‘Why?’ she asked wearily because she knew it was expected of her.

‘It’s Charlie and this stupid chariot race for the Festival,’ Mallory said. ‘We were supposed to be going to the cinema this evening, but oh no! You know why?’

‘Since I’m not psychic, no I don’t,’ Anna snapped. ‘And shouldn’t you be at the tearoom? I thought they stayed open till six.’

‘They do, but honestly, they treat me like a slave,’ Mallory moaned. ‘You know what – they expect me to clean tables and wash the floor at the end of the day, and
sterilise all the stuff and . . .’

‘That’s what a job is, Mallory,’ Anna retorted. ‘The grot as well as the good bits.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Mallory said dismissively. ‘Anyway, about Charlie – he’s got it into his head that he’s going to tart up that old go-kart in the barn and enter
the race. He’s got Felix roped in and . . .’

To Anna’s irritation her undisciplined heart still lurched at the sound of that name.

‘Felix?’ she asked as nonchalantly as she could.

‘Yeah, Charlie mentioned it yesterday, before you turned up, and asked for help. Then Felix rang and said he was up for it. So now the two of them are holed up in the barn behaving like
ten-year-olds.’

‘But his hand . . .’

‘Doesn’t appear to stop him giving instructions on aerodynamics, or whatever you call it,’ Mallory said. ‘And hey, do you know what he said about you? He said you looked
so different that, if he’d passed you in the street, he wouldn’t have recognised you.’

And I would know him among a thousand guys even if I hadn’t seen him for twenty years
, Anna thought sadly.

‘It’s the hair, I guess,’ she commented hurriedly.

‘And the fact that you’ve lost weight,’ Mallory said. ‘Your face has gone all gaunt and bony.’

‘Oh thanks,’ Anna said.

‘Anyway, none of that is why I came,’ Mallory went on. ‘Dad called.’

‘And?’

‘He’s having a housewarming party in a couple of weeks and we’ve all got to be there or else,’ she said. ‘Drinks in the apartment and then food at the Yacht Club.
Araminta’s organising it.’

‘Why,’ Anna sighed, ‘doesn’t that surprise me?’

‘Do you think,’ Mallory ventured, ‘that her and dad will – well, you know?’

‘I think they probably “you know” already,’ Anna muttered.

‘No, I mean get married,’ Mallory replied. ‘I reckon they’ll announce it at this party.’

‘No way!’ Anna cried. ‘I mean, getting together is one thing but getting married? He’d never do that – I mean, Mum was everything to him and . . .’

‘Mum’s not here,’ Mallory reminded her. ‘And Araminta is.’

CHAPTER 14

‘T
HIS VOLUNTEERING IS PRETTY EXHAUSTING, ISN’T IT?’

Shannon wheeled her chair over to the table where Anna was packing up percussion instruments at the end of the Friday afternoon workshop session. ‘Fun, though,’ she added, as parents
drifted in to pick up their children. ‘One of the kids in my group is really talented and . . . Anna, are you listening?’

‘What? Oh sorry. I was just thinking.’

‘Worrying more like, judging by the expression on your face,’ Shannon remarked. ‘Go on, have one of these and spill the beans.’

She shoved a packet of chocolate biscuits in Anna’s face.

‘The Musgroves are having a barbecue tonight,’ Anna said. ‘They do it every year before the Festival – a kind of buttering up for the people in the village who might be
put out by the noise and stuff. And they want me to be there.’

‘This does not seem to be a cause for calling an emergency summit,’ Shannon teased.

‘Felix might be there. He and Charlie seem to be getting pretty friendly.’

‘Great!’ Shannon cried. ‘So what’s your plan?’

‘Shannon, for goodness’ sake, can’t you get it into your head that it’s going nowhere? He’s seen me three times – once at the Musgroves and twice round the
village now and if he’d wanted to talk he would have done.’

‘Guys operate differently from us,’ Shannon said calmly, totally ignoring her friend’s outburst. ‘You have to drip-feed them – if he keeps seeing you, all the old
memories and love and lust will resurface. Trust me. I know.’

‘You do?’

‘There’s this guy I know – he lives near my gran and . . .’

‘You kept that pretty quiet!’

‘Yes, well – that’s because he asked me out last year and I said no. He took offence and now I really want him to ask again and he hasn’t. It’ll be the same with
Felix – but you have to keep at it.’

Anna laughed. ‘OK, OK, point taken,’ she said. ‘Thing is, even if I do go . . . oh my God!’

She turned as a blood-curdling scream emanated from the far corner of the room. Alfie Green, one of her favourite children in the group, was sobbing in terror as blood streamed from his nose.
Amanda, the thirty-something group leader, was standing beside him as white as a sheet dabbing ineffectually with a paper tissue.

Within seconds Shannon and Anna were at his side, just as Amanda announced she was going to faint and promptly did so. For a while chaos reigned; parents ushered their children away, the other
leader, Anthony, went in search of ice, Anna held the boy’s hand and tried to calm him while Shannon, who had a first-aid qualification, told him what to do. Amanda came round, took one look
at Alfie and fled the room, stating she was about to throw up.

Fifteen minutes later, the blood was still pumping. And Alfie’s mum was nowhere to be seen.

‘Ambulance,’ decided Anthony, a remark that caused little Alfie to screech even louder. ‘And phone his mum again. Where the hell is she? Pick-up time was ages ago.’

Half an hour later, Anna found herself sitting in the ambulance with Alfie and Anthony heading for Fleckford Hospital A&E.

‘She can’t go,’ Shannon had said when Anthony pointed out that Child Protection demanded two people be with Alfie. ‘She’s got a date. I’ll go.’

‘Sorry, love,’ said the paramedic, gesturing to her chair. ‘But we can’t . . .’

‘It’s OK,’ Anna said. ‘It’ll be fine. I’ll have plenty of time to get back here on the bus, pick up my car and get home to change. And if I don’t,
it’s no big deal.’

‘You go,’ Anthony said to Anna. ‘I’ll stay with Alfie.’ But every time Anna made to leave, Alfie burst into more sobs. Anna stayed; she stayed while his nose was
packed with gauze, she stayed and told him stories until he fell into a restless fitful sleep.

At eight o’clock, Alfie’s mother finally appeared, dishevelled and flushed, her cheeks smudged with mascara and her eyes red. ‘So so sorry, my car broke down on this side road
miles from anywhere, and I had no credit on the phone and by the time I’d walked to the nearest village . . .’

Anna fled, glancing at her watch and deciding to grab a cab whatever the expense. The taxi rank was empty. When she did flag down a passing cab, it seemed that every set of traffic lights were
against them, and every slow-moving vehicle had decided to take the same route.

R u there yet?
Shannon texted as the cab crawled along behind a muck spreader.

No – 2 l8. No time 2 change. Not going
, she texted back.

Don’t u dare – such a cop out! Go as u r. Or u will have me 2 answer 2.

Anna glanced down at her less than spotless white jeans and totally unflattering trainers, neither of which would have been her first choice of what to wear. But, she reminded herself sternly,
since any chance of getting back with Felix was out of the question, it didn’t really matter. No one would notice or care anyway.

Anna stood by the wrought-iron gate that led to the Musgroves’ garden and scanned the scene. Groups of people from the village, all of whom Anna recognised, were chatting in huddles under
the umbrellas and gazebos that dotted the lawn. Charlie and Zac were sprawled on the grass, drinking from cans of beer, Henrietta and Leo were popping bits of sausage into one another’s
mouths, and Louisa was sitting on the swinging hammock seat talking in an animated fashion to Phoebe.

‘You came, then?’

She wheeled round and there he was, standing behind her, holding a frisbee in his good hand.

‘Louisa reckoned you wouldn’t come,’ he said, frowning slightly. ‘What on earth happened to you?’

‘I – er – I got held up,’ she stammered.

‘Doing what?’

‘I help out at a music workshop,’ she said. ‘And this kid . . .’

‘Over here, Felix!’ Louisa jumped up and beckoned enthusiastically.

‘Coming!’ he called back and then turned to face Anna.

‘It must be a pretty dangerous workshop,’ he said, just the merest trace of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. ‘You do know you’ve got blood all down the back
of your T-shirt?’ He paused. ‘Seriously, you’re not hurt are you?’

‘Anna, I’ve got something so amazing to tell you!’ Phoebe burst into the room, glancing briefly over her shoulder. ‘Look!’

She plunged her hand down her shirt and pulled out a ring on a chain.

‘Cameron and me – we’re engaged!’

‘You’re what?’ Anna’s mouth dropped open and she stared at Phoebe in disbelief.

‘You mustn’t breathe a word to a soul,’ Phoebe ordered her. ‘I mean, Louisa and Hen know but —’

‘Which means that by tomorrow the whole of Facebook and half of Twitter will be on the case,’ Anna interrupted. ‘But Phoebe – what does your mum say?’

‘I haven’t told her yet,’ Phoebe said. ‘That’s why I can’t wear the ring. It’s kind of tricky. She doesn’t approve of Cameron. Neither does Zac.
But that’s just because they are so prejudiced.’

‘About what?’

‘His age, his lifestyle, the fact that he’s been married before . . . Well, still is, kind of, but . . .’

‘Married?’ Anna gasped. ‘But . . .’

‘It happens,’ Phoebe butted in defensively. ‘It wasn’t his fault. And the divorce will be through soon. Poor guy, he says that Alison was so controlling . . .’

‘Phoebe, you’re crazy – I mean, what about uni?’

Phoebe looked sheepish.

‘Don’t tell me . . . Oh come on, you are still going?’

‘Cameron says there’s no point,’ Phoebe said. ‘Like, he’s got so many contacts and he can get me a job at the drop of a hat. Not that I’ll need to
work.’

Anna stood there, open-mouthed, shaking her head.

‘Well, aren’t you going to congratulate me?’ Phoebe asked. ‘Or is it that you’re jealous?’

‘Of course it’s not. I think you’re mad but I guess if it’s what you really want, then good luck – and congratulations! Does Jamie know?’

Phoebe looked at her and frowned. ‘No – why would he?’

‘You’ll have to tell him before he hears it from the twins. You owe him that at least.’

‘Why? He’s nothing to me any more.’

‘No, but you’re a hell of a lot to him. He’ll be home in a couple of days . . . I met his mum in town and she told me. He’s been doing loads of auditions and he’s
landed a part in
The Bill
. He’s coming back for a break before filming starts.’

‘Let’s hope that gets him off my back then,’ Phoebe retorted. ‘He’s still sending emails and cards and soppy poems. Sad or what?’

‘That’s what people do when they really care,’ Anna sighed. She turned to leave and then paused. ‘And you will tell your mum? And Zac?’ At least, she thought, they
might be able to make her see sense.