Coming Home to Heritage Cove

by Helen J Rolfe

  Giles delivered the salads and cutlery to the table and Tracy poured two glasses of lemonade, handing one to Melissa.

  ‘This salad looks good,’ Melissa smiled. ‘Giles seems to be enjoying the catering side of the business.’

  ‘That he is.’

  She tucked into a mouthful of chicken with cajun seasoning, juicy red peppers, peppery rocket mixed with crisp, fresh lettuce. ‘Compliments to the chef,’ she reiterated.

  Tracy, cutlery in hand as she enjoyed her lunch, hadn’t missed a thing. ‘Was the phone call from your other half?’

  ‘It was, he’s missing me. I’m away for quite a while now I’m hanging around for longer.’

  ‘I’m sure he understands. It is Barney.’ Tracy obviously thought Melissa had shared a lot more about her life in Heritage Cove than she actually had. ‘Why don’t you invite him up here? I for one would love to meet this mysterious pilot of yours.’

  Melissa wasn’t sure she wanted to share this part of her with Jay. She’d separated her new life in Berkshire and Heritage Cove successfully so far, and it worked. Jay knew she lost her parents, he understood she didn’t want to dwell on what had happened and he let her disappear into her own thoughts whenever she needed to. What he didn’t know was that when she’d left the Cove five years ago, she’d also left behind the man she thought she’d spend the rest of her life with. By the time she and Jay became an item, she no longer wanted to look backwards, only forwards.

  ‘Talking of men…’ Tracy adjusted her chair so the sun wasn’t right in her eyes. ‘How’s Harvey coping with you being back and the two of you having to spend time together to organise the ball? I saw Barney today and he filled me in on everything. Thank goodness you both stepped in is all I can say.’

  ‘We had to, but it’s crazy busy trying to work out what was cancelled and what wasn’t, what still needs to be done.’

  ‘You still haven’t answered my question.’ Tracy speared a piece of tomato. She wasn’t going to let her get away with avoiding the focus on Harvey.

  ‘Awkward is probably the best description of how it is between us.’ She recapped on what they had to organise, what they’d already taken care of.

  ‘I can help you out when it comes to caterers.’ Tracy put her cutlery together now that she’d finished her salad and pulled out her phone. ‘I would suggest Giles but party catering isn’t his thing unless you’re really desperate. Let me send you a couple of contacts I have – try them, mention my name. I’ve used both of them before when the oven at the inn went on the blink just in time for a guest’s eightieth birthday event and then again the week after we had it fixed and were supposed to cook Sunday dinner for twenty-five people to celebrate owning the place for a year.’

  ‘That sounds like a nightmare.’

  ‘It was, let me tell you, never been so stressed.’ Melissa’s phone bleeped as the contacts appeared via text message on her phone. ‘Both of the caterers I’m putting you in touch with are wonderful, their food is top notch – book them in for a tasting if you can.’

  ‘I will do, and thank you.’ She pulled an awkward face and Tracy knew where her mind was going.

  ‘Go ahead, do it now, I need to take these empty plates inside and make sure I’m not needed in reception. I’ll be back.’

  By the time Tracy returned Melissa had been in touch with both caterers. ‘One already has a booking, I’ve locked in the other on your recommendation and on the condition we get a tasting beforehand. I’ll sort something with Barney.’

  ‘Great, another thing ticked off the list, I’m relieved I could help.’ She clinked her glass against Melissa’s in a toast. ‘My parents used to talk about that ball all the time, you know. They loved putting on their finery and heading on over. Mum was always thrilled she still fitted into her gown and Dad bought himself a new suit for the occasion – his had seen much better days. They went every year until Mum died and Dad went into a home.’

  ‘It’s a shitty time losing a parent.’

  ‘The worst. But it’s the circle of life. I guess I’m lucky I had them both around for so long, they got to meet their grandchildren.’ She covered her face. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t think.’

  ‘Never apologise. We’re all in different situations, I was lucky in other ways. Mum and Dad gave me the best childhood I could wish for, that doesn’t happen for everyone.’ She knew they were both thinking of Harvey’s upbringing, a dad who dominated the family and gave very little love in the process.

  Melissa relaxed with the lemonade and shut her eyes. The sun was behind her now and it warmed the back of her sundress, kissed her pale skin that was protected by sunscreen so she wouldn’t burn. ‘I made it down to the cove the other day.’

  ‘Finally. And…?’

  ‘It was as beautiful as I remembered. Dipping my toes in the water after all this time, well, it felt like coming home. Is that weird when my home is no longer here?’

  ‘Your home will always be here. You spent decades living in the Cove, that isn’t something that disappears just like that.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right. And Winnie certainly loves it down there, she chased up and down the sands for a stick, had me working hard.’

  ‘Winnie?’ She made a face. ‘Yes, I know who Winnie is, what I’m asking really is how come you were at the cove with Harvey?’

  ‘We were talking about Barney.’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Don’t read anything else into it, Tracy.’

  ‘I won’t.’ Her look suggested otherwise. ‘Have you been to the cemetery yet?’

  ‘Not yet.’ Melissa turned away as someone else came out into the gardens and settled at a table on the other side of the grass to read the newspaper. ‘I’m a terrible daughter, aren’t I?’

  ‘No, you’re not. I could go with you, if you need me to. You may even find it helps. I know I feel closer to my mum when I visit.’

  Melissa would’ve preferred to scatter both her parents’ ashes into the cove, let the water take them away, but each of their wills had instructed they were to be buried at the cemetery. People were always going on about how nice it was to have somewhere to visit, so perhaps that had been their thinking all along, maybe they’d done it for her. Not that she thought it helped at all. She hadn’t been to the cemetery since the day her parents were laid to rest. With no siblings by her side and despite Harvey and Barney being there for her, she’d been unable to make sense of the world and her part in it without someone else who knew the exact pain she was going through.

  Tracy brought the conversation back round to what they’d been talking about before. ‘Do you remember your first Wedding Dress Ball?’

  ‘I do. I found a white debutante dress from a second-hand shop in Norwich.’

  ‘That’s right, and you were so pleased with it, you wore it year after year. Harvey couldn’t take his eyes off you.’

  She remembered. And the feeling had been mutual.

  Tracy waved over at Sandy who’d come outside to cut a few extra pale pink roses like those Melissa had seen in the little vases on the tables in the restaurant area. ‘You know, I was jealous when you left. I knew that I’d already settled down, my time for travel and fun had well and truly gone.’

  ‘You’ve found other things in your life.’

  ‘That I have…and I couldn’t leave the Cove. I could go away for a holiday, but not for good. It’s the kind of place that grabs hold of you and refuses to let you go.’

  Home had always been a feeling rather than a place for Melissa. After her parents died she’d found being here painful, little reminders waiting to jump out at her at any moment. But it was only now she realised that after some time away and with her focus on Barney and getting him back to normal, since arriving here she hadn’t been faced with quite the confronting reminders she’d once dreaded. Instead, there were smaller moments, pangs of nostalgia, and not all of them bad. She had one right now, sitting here in the pretty little garden, remembering Sunday lu
nch with her parents on Father’s Day one year. Her mum had been nagging her dad to get out of the sun so he wouldn’t burn, he’d argued back that it was the first sunny day they’d had in weeks after severe storms had bashed the east coast and he was going to make the most of it.

  Before she fled Heritage Cove a memory like that would’ve had Melissa sobbing, returning to the cottage that had once been her parents’ and hiding out under the duvet as she tried to sleep the hurt away. But, now, here she was, still listening to Tracy chat away about the Cove, and she hadn’t fallen apart.

  ‘How’s Barney going with those exercises you said he has to do?’ Tracy swatted a fly away from the rim of her lemonade glass.

  ‘As far as I know, he’s not doing any of them. He has a rehabilitation program and the stubborn old goat won’t comply. It’s frustrating.’

  ‘It’s a shame, I miss bumping into him on The Street or him coming in here for a chat.’

  ‘What worries me is that he can’t see it himself, he can’t see that with a little bit of effort he can go back to exactly what he was doing before. You’d think he’d want to get better but it’s as though he’s given up. And I’m happy to help with the Wedding Dress Ball, but what I dread is…I worry that it won’t be long before…’ Her voice caught and she couldn’t finish.

  ‘Steady on, love.’ Tracy’s hand reached out and covered hers. ‘None of us is immortal but Barney’s got years in him yet. We keep an eye out for each other around here too, nobody will let him suffer in silence, and he still has Harvey locally.’

  ‘I’m glad Harvey’s here for him.’ It gave her some comfort to know that they were both still close and when she left here Barney would have someone keeping a watchful eye on him.

  ‘That man would move heaven and earth for Barney. He’d likely move those things for someone else I know.’

  Melissa shook her head. ‘Once upon a time, yes, but not now. Some days he seems pleased I’m here, others he seems to be counting down until I leave.’

  ‘I doubt that’s true.’

  ‘Why didn’t he come after me, Tracy?’

  ‘Remember what I said last time we talked about this? You need to ask him. Only he and you know what you were both feeling deep down. It’s no use second-guessing or having others speculate.’

  ‘I suppose you’re right. But I think I’ll try to get through organising this ball first. Speaking of which, I’d better carry on.’ She finished up her lemonade but before she headed up to her room to freshen up before meeting Harvey and distributing those flyers, she had another question. ‘I meant to ask you before, does anyone ever want to come to the Wedding Dress Ball but can’t, for whatever reason, find an outfit?

  ‘Strange question, and isn’t an outfit kind of a prerequisite? If the dress or the suit don’t fit or if you don’t have one, you’re not coming in,’ she laughed. ‘It says it clearly on the tickets. It’s part of the event.’

  ‘Harsh,’ Melissa laughed back. ‘But I’m serious, does it ever happen?’

  ‘Not that I can recall. Several people, myself included, couldn’t fit into their wedding dresses no matter how much dieting we did, but we’ve all had our dresses altered for the cause – taken in or let way out in sections where we’ve changed shape. Some dresses are probably unrecognisable from what they once were, but everyone gets on board and has fun with it. It’s all part of the event, and a definite ice-breaker for anyone on the shy side – we start talking and laughing about gown- and suit-fitting struggles and it’s all we need. And anyone old enough but without a gown, they pick up a dress just like you did. May I ask where your mind is going with this?’

  They made their way back inside and into the lovely cool kitchen. ‘I found a dress, at Barney’s house. It was tucked away in his wardrobe. Beautiful it was, gorgeous in fact, something I’d pay a small fortune for now if it didn’t have a section of material cut out from the bottom.’

  ‘You sound like you’ve got your eye on it. Are you and Mr Pilot getting serious?’

  ‘I don’t have my eye on it. But don’t you think it’s weird, that it’s there in his wardrobe and he hasn’t mentioned it? I saw it years ago when I was a lot younger too.’

  Tracy shrugged. ‘Maybe the dress was left at his place and the person never reclaimed it.’

  ‘What, they came to the ball wearing it but went home naked?’

  ‘Good point. Well, the only explanation I can see is like you said, it’s a spare, just in case. And perhaps the cut-out section meant he picked it up somewhere for next to nothing, meant to have it mended, then didn’t get around to it.’

  ‘You could be right. Perhaps I’m trying to read too much into it.’

  ‘Probably, and you’ve got enough to focus on with the ball coming up,’ she smiled. ‘And Barney will come around, I know he will.’ With a cloth she wiped some crumbs from the chopping board on the side and emptied them into the bin inside the kitchen door. ‘It’s really good to have you here, Melissa.’

  ‘I’m glad to be here,’ she smiled at her friend, and she was.

  But that was the problem.

  *

  Between them Harvey and Melissa spent most of the afternoon and early evening delivering flyers for the Wedding Dress Ball to local businesses, houses in the Cove and a slightly wider area, before meeting up back at Barney’s place.

  Harvey watched Melissa after they’d shared a cup of tea with Barney and headed outside toward the barn. While the red of her hair had faded, it still shone as though she were years younger, that same girl he’d fallen for. He wished he could switch off his feelings, but it was getting more difficult to do by the day. Until she’d shown up in the Cove again he would’ve said he was over her, but now she was here, he knew he was anything but. The more time he spent with her, the more he remembered what they’d once had and what she now had with someone else.

  ‘I phoned the table-and-chair-hire company,’ she told him as he opened the doors to the barn and folded them back. ‘We’re almost there.’

  He positioned a stepladder at one end of the barn. His job now was to inspect all the beams, something he did periodically to check for rot, mildew or any deterioration. Catching things early was key and some beams had been repaired, pieces had been replaced, and at least he didn’t have to worry about the concrete floor, which pretty much looked after itself. The only other scan he’d need to do was of the sides of the barn in case there were nails protruding or splintered wood that could catch an unsuspecting person or their outfit.

  ‘Let me hold the ladder,’ Melissa insisted when he climbed up to the topmost step.

  ‘No need.’ He wanted to get rid of the cobwebs above the barn doors. There’d be more soon enough but it didn’t hurt to keep the place clean as they went along.

  ‘If you fall too, I’ll have to organise this whole event on my own and I’m really not up for that.’

  He smiled down at her. ‘Fine.’

  When he finished up and climbed back down the ladder her body was so close he brushed past it and the jolt between them was something he knew they both felt.

  ‘I’ll go back inside and try to see if I can get Barney to do at least one exercise with me,’ she said, scurrying off in the direction of the house.

  She might be with someone else but he wasn’t sorry he still had an effect on her. ‘Good luck, make him listen.’

  ‘I’ll sweep the floor when I get back,’ she called over her shoulder as she left.

  He carried on checking for splinters of wood and exposed nails and dealt with each in turn.

  ‘Knock, knock!’ came a voice from the barn door and when he looked up from his position in the corner of the barn, it was Casey, a girl who’d moved to Heritage Cove with her family a couple of years ago and who he’d dated a handful of times.

  ‘Hey, Casey, how’s it going? What brings you here?’

  ‘I wondered if you’d had a chance to think about my proposition.’ When he pulled a face she added, ‘Being my date
to the ball.’

  ‘Ah, that.’

  ‘You forgot, didn’t you?’

  ‘No.’ He grinned. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I knew it.’

  He was about to think up an excuse to turn down a girl who was striking to look at with her sharp green eyes, angelic blonde hair and curves she wasn’t afraid to show off in fitted clothes that didn’t leave much to the imagination. But when Melissa appeared with a broom, ready to sweep – clearly she’d had no joy convincing Barney – he had no choice but to introduce the two women.

  Casey looked between Harvey and Melissa. ‘I hear you two are in charge of this year’s ball.’

  ‘Word certainly got around fast,’ said Melissa. ‘I think we’ll be able to pull it off.’

  ‘I don’t mind helping out if needs be. Harvey has my number,’ Casey added cheekily.

  Harvey didn’t miss a flit of something in Melissa’s eyes. Jealousy? Part of him hoped it was. ‘Well, I’m all finished here for today,’ he declared. As friendly as this was, it was awkward more than anything. ‘Everything looks good and the stage is ready for the band.’

  ‘Did they call back?’ Melissa asked.

  Confused, he told her, ‘I thought you were dealing with it.’

  ‘No.’ Before he could add anything else Melissa spun on her heel, calling behind her, ‘I’ll do it now.’ She mumbled something else too but he couldn’t quite make it out.

  Casey, perplexed at Melissa’s sudden departure, got back to the reason she’d come. ‘Please tell me you need a date. I can’t turn up to the ball on my own, it’s lame.’

  ‘So you’re happy to use me?’