‘Hey, feel free to use me back,’ she grinned.
She’d like that but he wasn’t going to. If there’s one thing he knew about women it was that leading them on was a bad idea. Which is why things with him and Casey had never gone further than a bit of fooling around and a couple of late nights in the pub. She didn’t deserve to be messed around, especially not now when his head was elsewhere.
‘I mean it, it’s a genuine offer,’ she went on, reaching out to touch his arm with her fingers that trailed up the skin. She took her hand away when she got no reaction. ‘You’re turning me down because of the redhead.’
‘Melissa?’
‘Don’t even try to deny it,’ she said good-humouredly. ‘I’ve heard about the pair of you and probably wouldn’t have thought you were still hung up on her if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.’
‘Melissa and I are ancient history. She’s with someone else.’
‘You’re not, you’re single.’
‘Nothing’s going on with her, I assure you.’ He dropped his hammer back into his toolbox.
‘I saw the way she looked at you, how you looked at her, blah blah blah.’ Casey had never been backward in coming forward and she was a lot of fun to be around. Her sparky persona tended to have a way of carrying you right along with it. ‘I’m pleased for you, pleased she came back, I mean.’
‘She’s not back, she’s just visiting.’ Outside the barn he told her, ‘And she has a boyfriend who she’ll be going back to in a few weeks’ time.’
‘Well, I hope her new guy realises his girlfriend is still in love with someone else.’
Shaking his head at her claims, he put his toolbox into the tray of the truck. ‘I’ll see you around, Casey.’
‘Don’t go all broody on me. How about a drink at the pub? Just friends, I know the deal. Come on, there’s nobody around. And I’m bored.’
He sighed between his teeth. ‘You’ll get me into trouble.’
‘I’ll try to.’
‘OK, you’re on. Let me go and tell Barney, I’ll drop the truck home, meet you there.’
And when Melissa came outside and overheard him tell Casey he’d see her at the pub, her reaction told him perhaps Casey was right about the girl who’d once broken his heart.
Maybe both of them had fallen in love a long time ago and neither of them had truly let the other one go.
Chapter Eight
Melissa was pleased with progress when it came to organising Heritage Cove’s event of the year. Despite her plummeting mood after she saw Casey with Harvey last night, inviting him to the pub and hanging off his every word, she’d turned her attentions to everything else that still needed to be done for the Wedding Dress Ball to go off without a hitch. She’d confirmed flowers with the florist, managed to get hold of the band, and she’d contacted the newspaper. She’d had a few emails back and forth with Jay, although ignoring any mention of her little cottage in the Cove, and she’d been for a long walk around the countryside filling her lungs with the fresh air that had a calming effect.
At least it had until she went over to Barney’s in time for dinner that day. Giles had made a lasagne that Barney took one look at and claimed it was enough to feed a family four, he suggested Harvey come on over, and when Harvey turned up he’d gone on and on about Casey and how she wanted him to join their pub quiz team, he was a hidden weapon apparently. Melissa had begun to wonder whether Harvey was going to bring her to the ball, and it didn’t put her in a particularly good mood.
After the dishes were cleared, Harvey headed to his mum’s place to fix her shed door that had come off its hinges, and Melissa busied herself emptying the dishwasher for Barney.
It wasn’t long before Barney called over to her from the armchair. ‘What’s with the crashing about? I won’t have any crockery left if you’re that heavy-handed with it.’
She took a deep breath and slowed down. ‘Sorry, Barney.’
‘What’s he done now?’
‘What’s who done?’ She stretched to slot a pile of four plates onto the corner shelf near the cooker.
‘You know full well who I’m referring to. Harvey, that’s who. He must be the reason for the sudden bad mood.’
‘I’m in a perfectly good mood, thank you. And Harvey hasn’t done anything.’
‘Could’ve fooled me,’ he batted back.
‘Cup of tea?’
But her question was interrupted by a knock at the front door and Barney grumbled, ‘Who’s that? It’s after eight o’clock.’
And he thought she was in a bad mood? ‘I’ll get it.’ He usually reacted well to visitors and she hoped his frame of mind would shift sooner rather than later. But when she answered the door, she knew from the uniform that this visitor wasn’t going to help matters.
‘I do apologise,’ said the woman as she followed Melissa through to the lounge. ‘I’m the health visitor. I couldn’t get here earlier, my schedule has been ridiculous.’
Harvey had mentioned the health visitor was coming but it had completely gone out of her head.
‘What are you here for?’ Barney snapped.
‘Barney…’ Melissa laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘Be nice,’ she whispered. ‘She’s not the enemy.’
She turned to face the health visitor and mouthed the word, ‘Sorry.’ The woman just smiled and took a seat opposite Barney, ready to take charge. Melissa hoped she’d have better luck than she had in trying to convince him he wasn’t too old to make a full recovery if only he’d comply.
Melissa picked up a pile of sheets she’d laundered yesterday and left them to it while she went to make up the spare bed that Harvey had stayed in a few times to keep an eye on Barney. He was still staying here some nights but mostly he’d gone back home at Barney’s insistence, and the only signs he’d left behind were a spare toothbrush and toothpaste.
She leaned against the window frame and looked out past the peaked roof over to the barn. Although enjoying her solitude at the inn, she wondered whether Barney might have been better had she stayed here. She’d be around all the time then and maybe have half a hope of persuading him to take on board his part in the recovery process.
She thought back to the times she’d stayed here as a kid. She and Harvey had begged for sleepovers in the barn every summer, arranging hay bales to sleep on, positioning their sleeping bags and pillows on top. They’d only ever had the sleepovers when Harvey’s dad was away with work, but it had always been fun, a big adventure for them even when booming thunderstorms came with a vengeance. Barney had often stayed in the barn to keep an eye on them, and the night of the big storm Harvey and Melissa had giggled away at his snores competing with the chaotic weather outside until a long, low rumble followed by an almighty clap of thunder had Melissa so scared that Harvey reached out to hold her hand and tell her everything would be fine. They were safe, they always would be here.
As she came down the stairs after making up the spare bed and walked along the corridor it was a relief to hear the gentle murmur of voices. Barney was at least talking to the health visitor and Melissa hung back, not wanting to interrupt. She wondered whether she and Harvey had been crowding Barney and perhaps someone impartial was exactly what he needed.
Stopping outside Barney’s bedroom, her mind flipped to the dress again, hanging in the wardrobe with a section missing at the bottom. She had to get a look at the letter she’d found before and so, sure she wasn’t going to be caught red-handed – not unless Barney sprinted from his chair to here – she tiptoed into the room and opened the wardrobe slowly in case the door creaked. She unzipped the plastic and reached into the material bag to pull out the letter. She unfolded the single sheet with a partially faded blue symbol that looked a bit like an anchor and she began to read.
Dear Barney,
It is with much pain and regret that I write this letter. And it is cowardly of me to do so while you’re not here, but I have to, because I know you would not let me go otherwise.
&nb
sp; As I write this you are at work doing your best to build a future for the both of us. But it is one I can no longer be a part of. After everything that has happened I feel I have no choice but to get away, to find out where I fit in the world. I truly believe we can both be happy again but I’m no longer sure it is something we can achieve together. Our pain has broken us in a way we cannot get past.
Be happy, my love. You are the kindest man I have ever known, please don’t ever change that about you.
With love always,
Your Lois x
Melissa stuffed the letter back into the little bag, tucked the bag next to the dress and checked again that she wouldn’t be disturbed. And though she hated herself a little bit for doing it, she got down on her hands and knees to look through what else he had hidden inside the wardrobe. She fished through umpteen pairs of shoes, a couple of rolled-up leather belts, the odd faded receipt, a tub containing spare buttons, and when she lifted up a pair of slippers with holes in the sole and wondered why he’d never thrown them away, there underneath was a photograph. Black-and-white, not very big but in a frame, she pulled it out, holding back a sneeze that sneaked up on her when she brushed the dust away.
Heart thumping, she studied the photograph. It was definitely Barney, she’d seen other pictures of him at around the same age, one sitting on a boat wearing a life jacket and holding on to the rope from a sail, another with his mother sitting on a beach eating fish and chips. The woman standing next to him in this picture had to be Lois, surely. She was classically beautiful with delicate features, dark hair wound up at the top of her head and curly tendrils hanging either side of her face. She held a small posy of flowers and was smiling into the camera as Barney looked at his bride as though there wasn’t anyone else there at all. And there was no doubt about it as she compared the top of the wedding dress in the photograph to the one hanging in the wardrobe, this was the same dress, it had to be Lois’s dress.
Melissa put the photograph back where she’d found it and covered it with the old slippers. She piled up the shoes, the belts and everything else and hoped it didn’t look as though it had been disturbed. Her head all over the place, she was desperate to get outside and so without a word she passed the closed doors and went out of the front and around the side of the house to the courtyard. She sat on the big tree stump and tried to text Harvey, but no response. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him anyway, but she wanted to talk to someone. Why had Barney never mentioned Lois? Melissa doubted she’d died given that she’d left him the goodbye note, but plenty of people married and split up, it was hardly anything to be ashamed of.
When the health visitor emerged from the house Melissa snapped out of her reverie. She went back through the gap in the juniper trees and peeked in the side window near the door to make sure Barney wasn’t looking out this way. But she was safe, it looked as though his focus was back on the television. ‘How’s he doing?’ she asked.
‘As well as can be expected.’ The health visitor, a tall rangy woman called Penny who’d had to duck at the low ceiling to pass through the hallway into the lounge, deftly did up the leather buckle on her bag with one hand and with the other clutched a folder to her chest. ‘He’s as stubborn as my father-in-law, a no-nonsense man, who will cope with things in his way and nobody else’s, and in his own time come to that.’
‘That doesn’t tell me much.’ Melissa helped Penny with the latch on the low-down front gate and waited for her to put her things onto the backseat of her sky-blue Peugeot parked on the street.
‘His hip is mending slowly, maybe don’t push him too much, be there for him. I’m sure we’ll notice a difference soon. He’s lucky it’s summer. The winter months are hard, especially for the elderly, some of them struggle with hospital stays and a long recovery.’
Melissa wanted to shout after Penny as she drove off that Barney wasn’t old, there was plenty of fight and spirit in him, but little by little she was realising how long she’d been away and that perhaps it was time to accept change. And if this was the last year that the Wedding Dress Ball would run, if Barney had really had enough, then she owed it to him to make this the best one ever.
*
Harvey shared a beer with his mum after fixing the shed door, and by the time he got home the sun had already set.
As he approached the front door the outside light was on and Melissa was sitting on his doorstep, waiting for him. ‘Everything all right with Barney?’ he asked straight away.
She realised her mistake, that she’d made him panic. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. Nothing has happened, Barney’s fine, the health visitor came.’
‘Ah, I meant to remind you about that.’
‘Not a problem, he seemed to talk to her at least and she thinks he’ll get there in the end.’
He let them both inside the house and Winnie didn’t waste time getting Melissa’s attention. ‘So what’s with the late visit?’ he asked.
‘It’s about the dress.’ Melissa fussed Winnie around the ears in the way she liked.
Harvey switched on the lamp in the corner near the kitchen table. ‘And you need to talk about this now? It couldn’t wait until tomorrow?’
‘I read the letter, the one in the bag.’
Frowning, he shook his head. ‘It’s none of our business.’
‘Maybe not.’
‘Come on then, out with it, what did it say?’
She recapped almost verbatim. ‘He’s never mentioned a Lois, has he?’
‘Not as far as I can remember.’ He went to sit down and tried to focus on the subject matter rather than Melissa, here, in his home again. He’d imagined it a few times over the years, especially since he bought the place and made it his own, but he always snapped back to the present and stopped his mind going too far down that particular road.
‘Barney has been through more than we know,’ she went on as he sat down. ‘Whoever Lois was, she must’ve broken his heart and we’ve no idea why.’
He still wondered why this couldn’t wait until the morning.
‘I don’t think Barney has ever truly moved on from whatever happened between them. And I think…well, I can’t help thinking that Barney’s mood, his lack of desire to get back to normal, is also something to do with Lois.’
With a sigh he said, ‘Whatever happened would’ve been years ago, before he came to the Cove. I know I’m a man and I’m not supposed to understand feelings as well as you women, but I’m pretty sure he would’ve picked himself up from a woman dumping him and moved forwards.’
‘You don’t have to sound so heartless about it.’
‘It’s not heartless, it’s reality. I think you’re reading way too much into this. Now, it’s late, I have to be up early for a job.’ And the more she sat here opposite him the more he wanted to reach over and touch her hand, pull her to him and pick up where they left off. Perhaps she was right. Perhaps moving on wasn’t so easy for Barney, it certainly wasn’t for him. But he wasn’t going to let her know that. ‘Not everyone bounces back from a broken heart,’ he said instead.
‘Are we talking about Barney and Lois here, or us?’
‘Maybe both.’ He didn’t take his eyes away from the dog, who had turned her attentions to her master.
After a while she asked, ‘Should I say something to Barney?’
‘Then he’d know you were snooping.’
‘I’d hate him to resent me.’
‘He’d never do that.’ He quickly changed the mood when her gaze lingered on his by telling her, ‘Well done for doing so much organising today – the band, the newspaper, the florist,’ he elaborated.
‘I feel better now it’s all done. The band was a worry. I called them, they said they were already booked up after the cancellation as we suspected they might be, but they phoned back less than an hour later. I don’t mind telling you I was sweating a bit, I don’t really have any idea where to start when it comes to hiring a band and some I looked into were w
ay too expensive or the members all looked about fifteen years old and I suspect would put on a heavy-metal gig that wouldn’t go down well at all.’
Harvey was amused by that. ‘Doesn’t bear thinking about.’ Silence fell between them again until he said, ‘I wonder why Barney never mentioned this Lois.’
‘Ah, so you’re curious too.’
‘OK, I’ll admit it, I am. It’s weird, you’re right. Especially with our history, particularly with me, when you left. I’m not having a go at you,’ he said when she flinched, ‘but it would’ve been the perfect example of a breakdown in a relationship and a man who has carried on regardless.’
‘A perfect example? Or a bad one? I mean, he doesn’t ever talk about what happened, he’s got a wedding dress in his wardrobe. Perhaps he didn’t want to share it with you in case you went down the same road as him and never moved on.’
‘You can check my wardrobe if you like, I only have men’s clothes, no dresses.’
‘I don’t think that’ll be necessary.’ He loved the way her whole face got involved when she smiled and she couldn’t hide her expression even if she tried. ‘Perhaps I should leave this alone. Winnie, what do you think?’ She ruffled the dog’s fur, but Winnie just rolled on over for a tummy tickle. ‘Maybe Barney just left the dress and forgot about it, perhaps he did keep it as a spare or to give to someone. You know what he’s like about including people. He’s big on community relations, keeping local businesses going, making sure new residents don’t stay anonymous.’
‘Even if they’d rather,’ Harvey smiled. ‘I hear Lucy, the new blacksmith, resisted getting to know everyone at first until Barney insisted upon it and had her over for afternoon tea to give her the low-down on the Cove. He accosted her on The Street and left her little choice.’
‘That sounds like our Barney. And I’ve met Lucy, she seemed nice. I wonder if she’s here for good.’
‘Knowing Barney, he’ll treat her as though she might be.’
Coming Home to Heritage Cove Page 16
