Midsummer Magic (19 page)

‘It’s called a revenge shag, darling,’ she’d said in the morning. ‘Poor little Bron, did you really think I was coming back to you? After all this time? Give me strength.’ But she’d been so drunk by the time they went to bed, he didn’t even think it had been that calculated.

And then to make matters worse, the next thing he knew it was all over the Sunday papers. ‘Bron and me: The True Story’, ‘Bron the Bastard’; ‘How Auberon Fanshawe broke my heart’.

Poor lovely Tatiana. Such a waste. They said she was in rehab now, but he didn’t enquire too often. He really thought they’d cut through the bullshit of the last few years on that evening. But he’d been so wrong. Bad enough that she had rejected him in the morning, but to sell their story to the papers: his heart had broken all over again.

However much of a mess Tati was in, Bron was staying well clear. He knew he was still vulnerable to her charms. Probably always would be. The problem was, she was bad for his mental health.

Diana’s happiness from earlier on had completely dissipated. She’d been wandering around for over half an hour and was now grumpily lost. After her chat with Freddie, she had left the Standing Stones to find the others, feeling unsettled by the emotions she’d had when she woke up. She’d just been having a weird dream, with Harry rowing her in a boat. It didn’t mean anything, surely? Diana felt sure that once she saw him again, she’d put it all in perspective, but couldn’t rid herself of the stomach-churning excitement she felt at the thought – which was ridiculous, especially as he was getting married to Josie. Your best friend, Diana reminded herself. How could she harbour feelings for her best friend’s fiancé? Especially since she’d never let herself fall for anyone properly since Ant.

Diana’s mind fled back eight years, to when she and Ant had been an item. They had been so happy, or so she’d thought. But he’d let her down in her hour of need. And when she’d come looking for him – afterwards – she’d found him cosied up in the bar with Sian. Sian, who’d been her best friend. Ant claimed to have had no idea why she’d poured the glass of beer over his head. He’d denied anything was going on – yeah, right. Diana had seen first hand how flirtatious Ant could be, and Diana had never known anyone resist Sian’s seduction technique. All Diana knew was that during the most traumatic experience of her life, her boyfriend had been betraying her with her so-called best friend. Josie was the first proper friend Diana had trusted since then, but now she seemed to be harbouring feelings for Harry. She couldn’t do to Josie what had been done to her. She had to put these thoughts out of her mind.

The moon was really bright and shone on the path, which gave way to some woods. Where the hell was Harry? Or Josie? Or even Ant? Or
anyone
. Diana wasn’t really a country girl, and the sound of hooting owls freaked her out. But the path shimmered in the moonlight, and something drew her on. Despite her anxiety and irritation, Diana felt a sense that something magical was about to happen, and if only she could find her way through to the right path, she could almost reach out and touch it.

Harry was not feeling the magic. His head was thumping, and he felt heartsick at what he’d said to Josie. She had looked so hurt when he’d talked about delaying the wedding and the last thing he’d ever wanted to do was cause her pain. Harry wished she’d given him time to explain properly, but she’d run off into the darkness and now he didn’t know where she’d gone.

He wasn’t even sure which direction he should be looking in. Perhaps he should think about heading home. Maybe Josie had gone straight back there. He’d find her, sit her down, have a proper chat, and sort it all out. They’d had a silly misunderstanding, that was all; it could be easily resolved. Descending the cliff path, he found himself walking through woods which swayed gently in the breeze. The soft calls of owls and the odd rustling in the bushes were the only sounds to disturb him. After he’d been walking about ten minutes, he found himself in a clearing. In the far distance he could hear the rhythmic roar of the waves. There was a real sense of something – magic? – in the air. Harry paused for a moment and then sat down. He didn’t know why.

Then he heard voices. He got up gladly. Maybe it was Josie. But as the voices came nearer, he realised they were male voices.

‘Oh,’ he said, ‘it’s you.’

‘Hello, Harry,’ Freddie was all urbane charm, while Auberon Fanshawe huffing and puffing behind him nodded hello, and Will wandered nonchalantly behind them with a camera.

‘I thought you were going to show me where Tati is,’ Auberon grumbled. ‘Where in God’s name are we?’

‘I believe we’re not too far away from the farm where she’s camping,’ said Freddie with a smile.

‘Tati, camping? I’d like to see that,’ snorted Auberon.

‘I believe it’s more of a glamping experience,’ said Freddie, ‘she’s holed up in a yurt with all mod cons. But I’m hoping she might be up for a little midnight adventure.’

‘What did you say to her?’ said Auberon.

‘I may have possibly suggested subliminally that if she wanted that part, a late-night assignation at the theatre might be the thing,’ said Freddie. ‘You’re not getting cold feet, are you? It was your idea.’

‘No,’ said Auberon, but he didn’t sound too convinced.

‘Ah, Midsummer Eve,’ said Freddie, breathing a deep sigh. ‘Such a magical night, don’t you think? You could almost believe fairies and elves and Cornish piskies exist, couldn’t you?’

‘Tommy rot,’ said Auberon.

‘Um, I think I gave up believing in fairies some time ago,’ said Harry.

‘Oh well,’ said Freddie. ‘How’s the experiment going?’

‘Not well at all,’ said Harry. ‘I can honestly say that if I get through this evening, I will never be hypnotised ever again. Thanks to you, Josie’s run off and I don’t know where she is.’

‘So no one’s plighted their troth yet.’

Harry rolled his eyes.

‘The likelihood of Diana and Ant ever making it is somewhat less than zero, and thanks to me getting a dose of verbal diarrhoea as a direct consequence of your hypnotism, my fiancée isn’t speaking to me.’

‘Ah,’ said Freddie. ‘I’m sure it will all be all right in the end. Why don’t you go and find her and have a chat?’

‘That was the plan,’ said Harry, ‘but I’m not sure where she’s gone.’

‘Well, we’re heading for the theatre,’ said Freddie. ‘If I see her, I’ll tell her to meet you there.’

‘Okay,’ said Harry. ‘It’s a deal.’

Josie had planned to go back to the Standing Stones, to see if the others were there. She really wanted to talk to Diana and ask what she thought. A bit of her thought maybe she’d been unfair on Harry. Perhaps he was right, maybe they
had
rushed things – but it had been a bit of a shock, hearing that he still wanted to go travelling. He’d mentioned it when they first got together, but she hadn’t realised he was serious about it. Josie felt a little stab of guilt. She knew Harry really wasn’t happy in his job. Working on a local rag for London suburbia covering school fetes, lost pets and the occasional petty crime wasn’t exactly what Harry had had in mind when he left the journalism course he’d taken after uni. Josie could remember all those years ago, when they first met, he’d had the burning ambition to be a prizewinning journalist. That wasn’t going to happen at the
Hornsey Echo
, but she hadn’t twigged that he was so determined to do travel writing. Harry had mentioned it once or twice, but in such a diffident manner, Josie had assumed he wasn’t that serious.

She couldn’t help feeling it was partly Ant’s fault. No doubt he’d been stirring Harry up with thoughts of getting away and finding his freedom again. Despite Ant’s intervention the previous day, Josie didn’t quite trust him. He was so against marriage – or commitment even, Josie had read the excoriating email he’d sent Harry when Harry told him they were moving in together – he couldn’t seem to bear it happening for other people.

Josie had reached a fork in the path; one way carried on round the coast, and another path went down to the openair theatre. A third made its way down to a pretty little beach where she’d spent much of her teenage years having illicit barbies on the beach.

Josie struck off for the cliff path and, hearing voices, thought for a moment it must be Diana or Ant, but as she came further up the path, she realised the sounds were coming from a field where she could make out a brightly lit campsite – oh of course, this was the new place Mum had mentioned recently. A smart young couple from London had moved in and converted an old farm into a luxury caravan site, complete with yurts, and log burners, and ‘massage parlours’, according to Mum. Josie had checked, and it turned out there was a healing tent offering everything from Ayurvedic massage to hot stone therapy. And according to Mum, it was where Tatiana Okeby and her entourage were staying.

‘Please don’t go, Tati,’ she heard the high-pitched voice of Gray M’stard pleading, ‘Darling, you might get lost out there.’

‘Who knows what creatures are lurking in the woods,’ said the flighty little assistant, whom Josie had heard Tati refer to as Gypsy.

Their voices were getting nearer, they were clearly heading across the fields for the path she was on.

‘Will you all stop making such a fuss,’ said Tatiana grandly. ‘I am going for a little walk down to the woods, where I am going to meet Mr Slowbotham and discuss this part further.’

‘But why so late?’ said the final member of the entourage, Ariadne, Josie thought she was called. ‘What if he’s an axe murderer?’

‘Hallo there,’ called Josie, ‘it’s me, Josie, I met Tatiana yesterday. You really don’t need to worry. ‘I’ve known Mike all my life, I can promise you he isn’t an axe murderer.’

‘You see,’ said Tatiana triumphantly. ‘There really is no need to worry. Mike wants me to perform for him at midnight, so as to get the ambience right. I think it’s a wonderful idea. Now please, children, leave me be. I’ll be fine. This young lady seems to know her way round, so I’m sure she won’t mind escorting me to the theatre.’

‘Er,’ Josie was going to mention that she was looking for her friends, but didn’t get a chance as Tatiana bowled past her, grabbed her arm and said forcefully, ‘Now, I believe it’s this way, isn’t it?’

Ant was lost in the woods. He’d walked round and round in circles, and was no nearer to finding anyone, least of all Diana. Which in a way was a relief. Although he still had the strongest feeling that he needed to find her, a part of him was hoping he didn’t. From her reaction last night, when he tried to talk about what had happened between them, she didn’t seem too keen to go over old ground. Maybe he should let sleeping dogs lie.

He was just about to throw the towel in and take any path down the hill, just so he could get out of this wretched wood, when he heard voices. Female voices. It must be Josie and Diana, he decided. Well, it was now or never.

He walked towards them and then realised Josie was with someone else entirely.

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘Where’s everyone else?’

‘I haven’t seen Di,’ said Josie, ‘and Harry’s still on the cliff somewhere. Tatiana was a bit lost, so I said I’d show her the way to the theatre.’

‘Thank you so much,’ said Tatiana graciously, ‘I couldn’t have found my way on my own.’

She was wearing highly inappropriate clothing; a light gossamer dress, which was far too revealing for a woman her age, and high strappy sandals, which looked like they’d break your ankles if you fell over.

‘I must say, the countryside is rather tiring,’ she continued. ‘I don’t sleep a wink in that yurt. All I can hear is strange snuffling noises all night long. It is most concerning.’

Ant suppressed a laugh. What did the woman expect from camping?

‘At least you’ve got the glamorous version,’ said Josie tactfully. ‘Now, if you just follow the path that way for five minutes, you should be able to find the theatre. You can’t miss it.’

‘Thank you, my dear,’ said Tatiana, ‘it was very kind of you.’

‘Are you sure you don’t want me to take you all the way?’

‘No, thank you,’ said Tatiana, ‘I think I can manage.’

And with that she walked off dramatically in the wrong direction, till Josie pointed her the right way again.

‘God, what a drama queen,’ said Josie. ‘I’m glad to see the back of her. What’s been happening with you?’

‘Not a lot,’ said Ant. ‘I’m glad I’ve met you, as I’ve been getting hopelessly lost.’

‘Where were you trying to get to?’

‘Back to the Standing Stones to find Di,’ said Ant.

‘Really?’ Josie looked confused. ‘So the hypnotism thing actually worked, then?’

‘No!’ said Ant, ‘I just want to talk to her.’

‘About what?’ said Josie. ‘Only after last night, I wouldn’t have thought bringing up the past is a good idea, do you? Diana hasn’t even told me what really happened, what makes you think she’ll discuss it with you?’

Ant shrugged his shoulders.

‘She probably won’t, but it’s worth a try,’ he said. Ant looked around him. ‘Where did you say Harry was again?’

Josie shrugged.

‘I left him on the cliff,’ she stubbed her toe in the ground. ‘We had – we had a row.’

‘About?’

Josie looked miserable. ‘He wants to delay the wedding and go travelling. I said I didn’t. And then we fought.’

‘Come on,’ said Ant, suddenly feeling he wanted to make her smile again. ‘I’m sure you two can sort this out. Let’s go back and find him.’

‘Okay,’ said Josie.

They turned back up the path together, Josie leading the way. She seemed so sad, which upset Ant for some reason. He felt an overwhelming urge to make sure she was happy again, and as he followed her up the path, he couldn’t for the life of him think why.

Harry was struggling to find the right path to the theatre. The one and only time he’d been there, on his first date with Josie, they’d come from a different direction altogether. And now with the light of the moon fading, and the beginnings of a sea mist slowly curling its way across the cliffs, he was getting quite disorientated. All he knew was that he must find Josie. Surely she’d understand how he felt if he explained it to her better? He’d been clumsy and spoken without thinking. Maybe he could persuade her that instead of a honeymoon and buying a house, they should take a year off and travel instead. That would be a good compromise, he felt.