by Jenny Kane
‘Have you told Alice about him yet?’
Charlie laid her spoon into her empty soup bowl. ‘I haven’t seen hide or hair of her. And there’s no reason why I should, is there? She thinks you’re coping with the impossible list of tasks you’ve been given all on your own, and is probably happily re-enacting her past with Cameron.’ Charlie sighed, ‘I can’t believe he’s allowed himself to be ensnared again. She’ll leave him as soon as she’s finished living this guilt trip, helping him out to appease her conscience for her past poor behaviour. Afterwards, she’ll disappear back to Edinburgh, to people who are more used to her no-nonsense manner, and the whole cycle will begin again.’
Kit wasn’t so sure, but said, ‘When you explained the situation to me, you said you don’t fancy Cameron anymore, so if he and Alice got together you’d be OK, wouldn’t you?’
‘Of course. I know I sound contradictory, but I’d love Alice to be happy. It might knock a bit of the front she’s developed away.’
‘But?’
‘But I don’t want to go back to being invisible again like I was last time they were together. That hurt way more than my feelings for Cameron being unreciprocated.’
Smiling her thanks to the waiter who was clearing their bowls away, Kit said, ‘I have to say I’ve seen a change in Alice over the past few days. I would put money on the fact that she’s missing you.’
‘I wish that were true, Kit, but sadly I suspect she's merely missing having someone to stand next to so she can be the pretty one.’
Kit couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Don’t be infected by her insecurities, hun.’
‘Her insecurities? She hasn’t got any. Alice is always one hundred per cent sure about everything. If she was insecure about something once in a while then she’d be somehow more human.’
‘How on earth did you two become friends in the first place?’
Charlie smiled sadly at the memory, ‘We were in a queue for a bus, believe it or not; both going to a lecture over at Foresthill near Aberdeen Hospital from our digs near the main campus on the other side of the city. Alice was behind me; she told me my hair was fascinating.’
Kit laughed. ‘Well, it is! It’s the only truly spring-like hair I’ve ever seen.’
Trying not to blush as she thought about how Gervase had told her on their last walk together that he’d been spending far too much time imaging what it would look like hanging around her naked shoulders, Charlie said, ‘Perhaps it was vanity that made me keep talking to her. Very few people pay me compliments. I mean, I’m short, dumpy, and my hair is always wild despite my best efforts to tame it. Alice on the other hand has a perfect figure, blonde hair, and effortless style. I was flattered that she liked something about me.’
Cradling her wine glass, Kit said, ‘That may have been how it started, but it had to have developed. I mean, you became friends to the point that you lived together after university.’
Charlie could only agree. ‘You’re right, of course. We had a lot of fun together, but recently I’ve seen that we’re only OK when we’re on our own. As soon as Alice and I are in a group I sort of blend into the background. That’s partly my fault, but I hadn’t realised how bad it had got until Cameron came along – and now he’s back just at the moment when Alice is here.’
‘Of course he is. Cameron invited her here. You knew that …’ Kit paused. ‘Is it that you’d forgotten how much you’d allowed yourself to live in her shadow before?’
‘Precisely,’ Charlie said, ‘I have myself to blame for letting Alice take over for so long, but now I’ve made an effort to get out of her shadow, got my own career and stuff, I am almost afraid to see her with Cameron around in case I disappear again.’
‘And that’s why you haven’t told her about Gervase?’
Charlie shrugged. ‘If he sees Alice next to me, he’s bound to want her instead.’
Kit shook her head, ‘But you told me he said you were prettier than Alice?’
As the waiter delivered two bowls of cheesy chips, Charlie said with feeling, ‘He was probably being polite. Believe me, when he sees us standing next to each other, he’ll go all “Cameron”, and I won’t exist.’
Kit was about to tell Charlie she was insane, and that she should call Alice, when suddenly Alice was there. Standing by their table, her face blotched with angry tears.
‘Oh my God!’ Instantly forgetting she’d been avoiding her friend, Charlie got up and put her arms around Alice. ‘Whatever is it? Have you been attacked?’
Burying her head against her friend’s shoulder, Alice blurted out, ‘I’m so sorry, Charlie. I’m sorry. I thought you were exaggerating about Cameron not noticing you. But you weren’t, were you, and then …’
Signalling to the waiter that a whisky was required urgently, Kit gently pulled Alice from Charlie’s shoulder and sat her down. ‘And then?’
‘I’ve upset Cameron, and now we need a new venue for the festival.’
Chapter Eleven
Monday November 30th
Sniffing into the serviette Kit passed her, Alice spoke over the dram of whisky she now held. ‘I’m so stupid.’
Determined to stay strong, and swallowing back her natural impulse to ask what was wrong, Charlie said, ‘Alice, I’m sorry you feel stupid, and I genuinely do want to hear about it, but right now we have no home for the festival. The authors will be arriving at the end of next week. What do we do?’
Alice, who’d expected Charlie to be all sympathy rather than practicality, stuttered, ‘What the hell do you care about the festival? You walked out on it.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! I did no such thing.’
‘What?’
Seeing that they were in danger of getting caught in a whole heap of explanations before Alice got to the reason why the festival was homeless, Kit intervened, ‘Girls, please.’ She paused then addressed Alice, ‘Charlie was the one who secured the bookshop stall, and she has been helping me with all the school visits and posting all those leaflets through the doors of the town, in between making sure her novel is written.’
Holding up her palm so Alice didn’t have the chance to speak, Kit turned to Charlie, ‘Am I correct in saying that the only reason you told Alice you wouldn’t help was because you were tired of being treated like a tool in a business plan and not a friend, and because you hadn’t been told about Cameron’s involvement?’
Charlie nodded, not trusting herself to speak, as Kit continued, ‘Right then, as I see it, we have three options. We persuade Cameron to change his mind, we cancel, or we approach one of the other castles. All the promotional material has been based around the fact that the event is being held in a castle, so it has to be at a castle.’
Checking her watch and seeing that it was almost ten o’clock in the evening already, Kit abruptly stood up. ‘If you’ll excuse me, I think I should leave you two alone to discuss this situation.’
‘But we all need to sort this out!’ Alice was virtually pleading now.
‘Indeed we do, but first you two have to sort yourselves out. Emergency meeting at nine o’clock tomorrow morning in The Gift Shop Café? This is a situation that needs clear heads and coffee.’
Striding out of the café, sounding far more self-assured than she felt, Kit was glad that the women didn’t know her well enough to recognise how far out of her comfort zone she’d just stepped.
Kit pulled out her mobile as she headed to a short row of taxis. ‘Phil love, I know it’s late, but I need your advice …’
Having sent Alice to the bistro’s bathroom to make herself feel more human, Charlie took advantage of having five minutes alone. She knew she should demand a proper explanation from Alice, but she was also aware that, for the first time since she’d known her friend, she had the upper hand. It was a strange feeling, and despite her determination not to go back to being in Alice’s shadow, Charlie didn’t have the heart to stay angry.
Ordering two more drams of whisky, Charlie moved to an armchair by th
e roaring fire, watching the flames flicker dangerously near to a set of Santa’s legs which had been placed further up the chimney.
When Alice returned she no longer looked as though she had been attacked by a toddler brandishing a mascara wand, but although she appeared as unruffled as ever, her usual aura of confidence was missing.
‘Thank you, Charlie.’ Alice sat down in a wing-backed chair and picked up her drink.
Resisting her uncharacteristic urge to make a big deal of the fact Alice had actually thanked her, Charlie said, ‘You’re welcome. Now, why has Cameron withdrawn Crathes? It makes no sense when he asked for the event to be held there in the first place. Without the location we will have to cancel, which isn’t going to do your reputation much good.’
Charlie paused as a flicker of something that was either regret or fear crossed Alice’s face, and realisation dawned. ‘That’s what he’s threatened you with, isn’t it?’
Alice stared into the crackling flames as they licked around the logs in the fireplace. ‘He said that the business was the only thing I cared about. That I’d forgotten how to be a real person and how real people feel.’
There was a moment of silence, and then Alice said, ‘He’s right, isn’t he?’
‘A little bit.’ Charlie leaned forward in her chair so she was closer to Alice. ‘Come on, Alice, what happened?’
Kit wasn’t surprised to see lights on in the estate office when the taxi pulled onto the gravel drive. Standing in the serene magnificence of Crathes’ grounds, admiring the Christmas lanterns which adorned the gardens, tantalisingly leading the eye towards the woods, Kit had an urge to run into the trees and let Alice sort out her own mess.
Phil had convinced Kit of what she knew anyway. If she didn’t sort out whatever muddle her fellow organisers had got themselves into, then there wouldn’t be a literary festival, and the romance panel – which she was so scared of doing, but was also, in her usual contradictory fashion, looking forward to – wouldn’t happen.
Thinking back to all the muddles she’d sorted out for her friends back at Pickwicks as her feet crunched purposefully over the gravel to the estate office door, Kit took a deep breath and pushed it open without knocking.
Cameron was sat with his feet on his desk next to an open bottle of whisky, a tumbler in his hand. He looked like a disillusioned detective from an American cop show.
‘Kit? What are you doing here so late?’
‘I could ask the same of you.’
‘Ah.’ Cameron swung his feet to the floor, ‘Your tone suggests that you have encountered Alice.’
‘She’s with Charlie. All I managed to learn was that a new venue for the Christmas at the Castle Literary Festival is required. Which, I’m sure you will agree, is going to be very difficult to arrange so close to Christmas. This is in real danger of becoming an Easter at the Castle Literary Festival.’
‘That’s not funny.’
‘I wasn’t joking.’ Kit pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the desk. ‘So why do we need a new venue?’
Cameron put his glass down on the desk. ‘It’s personal.’
‘I’m sure it is, but this affects the whole town, and as I understand it, your future here rests on this being a success. Why jeopardise that because Alice can be a bit difficult sometimes?’
‘A bit difficult?’ Cameron snorted as he refilled his glass, ‘Try totally baffling, try uncaring and emotionless. Try a pain in the bloody arse!’
Alice took another sip of the smooth Glenmorangie. ‘We’ve been out for a few meals, and drinks. Cameron and me, I mean.’
‘I know.’
‘You do? How?’
‘Oh come on, Alice! Banchory is a small town. I’ve seen you. Believe it or not, I go out sometimes as well. There aren’t that many places to eat here.’ Charlie mentally gritted her teeth as she asked, ‘So are you two an item again?’
Alice put her head in her hands. ‘No. I made it clear from the beginning that we’re just friends, but I guess Cameron misread the signs.’
‘Let me guess: he assumed that, because you’d been out on more occasions than required to discuss work, and because you’d enjoyed flirting with him, then it would be OK to make a move. Then he got annoyed when you knocked him back. Right?’
Alice stared into her glass and mumbled, ‘Right.’
Kit was beginning to crave a strong drink herself. ‘So, you asked Alice out and she said no. It happens. That’s hardly a reason to have a tantrum and cancel everyone else’s fun.’
‘It isn’t like that!’ Cameron dragged a palm through his hair, ‘I can’t believe I let her get to me again. I should have known all Alice wanted was another successful event for her precious business. That reputation of hers is all that matters to her.’
‘Prove it isn’t like that, Cameron. Prove to me I haven’t wandered into a crèche of stamping toddlers rather than a gathering of professionals, because I’m beginning to think I’m the only grown-up here.’
Ashamed, Cameron said, ‘Sorry, Kit, I just have an awful sense of history repeating itself. Dented pride, I guess.’
‘The question is, Cameron, will you swallow that pride for long enough to let us hold the festival here?’
‘I can’t see how I can?’
‘Because you love her or because you hate her?’
Cameron stretched his arms over his head. ‘Same thing, isn’t it?’
‘Let me get this straight,’ Charlie put her glass on the small round table between their armchairs, ‘you left Cameron five years ago, not because you didn’t love him like you told everyone, but because you did love him, but you didn’t want anything getting in the way of your career?’
Alice nodded dumbly and took an extra-large gulp of her remaining whisky.
Charlie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ‘But you even told me you were using him back then. You said it all the time.’
‘I know.’ Alice’s blonde fringe flopped over her face as she stared into the flames. ‘I said it lots.’
Closing her eyes against the orange flames for a second, Charlie said, ‘Let me guess. It wasn’t me you were trying to convince back then, it was yourself?’
‘You’ve got it.’
‘So you do love him, then?’
‘Yes, but it’s so …’
‘It’s so what, Alice?’
‘So damn inconvenient! I’m supposed to be a strong, independent woman.’
Charlie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘You are. But you don’t have to be a strong, independent, lonely woman.’
Alice spoke so quietly, Charlie had to strain to listen over the fire’s crackle. ‘But even if you’re right, how can I date someone who acted like my best friend didn’t exist? It wasn’t only Cameron I treated badly back then. It was you as well, although I didn’t see that at the time. I’m sorry, Charlie.’
Kit yawned and stood up. ‘Come on, Cameron, this event has to work, so stop pratting about. Honestly, you remind me of my friend Jack.’
‘Who’s Jack?’
‘That’s not important now, and anyway, it’s a very long story which requires coffee.’ Kit stared at her whisky glass accusingly, as if suddenly realising she was drinking the wrong sort of liquid. ‘All I’m saying is, the festival has to happen, and it has to happen here. All the guests are booked, and people are buying plenty of tickets thanks to Gwen and the SWI. We are going to hold the Christmas at the Castle event at Crathes, so get used to it!’
Shocked by Kit’s outburst, Cameron felt foolish. ‘I was being childish, you’re right. Of course you can hold the event here, Kit. My boss would kill me if I cancelled anyway.’ Cameron got up, and pointed to the door. ‘It’s late. Let’s regroup tomorrow.’
‘We intended to. We’ll be at The Gift Shop Café at nine tomorrow morning for a meeting. Will you come and tell them the good news yourself, or shall I?’
Cameron flicked the pages of his diary. ‘I have to help get the Christmas trees into th
e main castle rooms all day tomorrow. Could you give the team an additional message for me?’
‘Certainly.’
‘You can have the festival here, but only if Alice stays away.’
‘But she’s the host!’ Kit felt her feistiness dissolve and a new wave of panic rise in her throat. ‘If she doesn’t do the author intros, I’ll have to!’
‘You might, because Alice isn’t setting foot up here. She is now an offsite organiser.’
Chapter Twelve
Tuesday December 1st
Kit couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so tired, but she did remember why she never drank whisky. As she lay against the soft pillow, her head thumped while her stomach cried out for a cup of Peggy’s coffee and a Pickwicks cheese scone.
As soon as Kit had got back to her room the previous evening, she’d called Charlie to tell her that the festival had never been in danger of cancellation, but that Alice was definitely not welcome anywhere near Cameron. In return, Kit had been relieved to hear hostilities between Charlie and Alice had ceased.
Kit hadn’t been surprised to hear that Alice was in love with Cameron all along. All that needed to happen now was for Alice to admit how she felt to Cameron, and they could all live happily ever after. ‘You can tell this is pantomime season,’ Kit muttered into her sheets, ‘I’m thinking like a bloody fairy godmother.’
The first shafts of a crisp winter morning light were invading the tiny gap at the top of the bedroom curtains. Sitting up with a low moan, Kit grabbed the glass of water next to her bed and went to the window. The view was stunning. The sun was battling with the frost to turn the woodland scene into a silvery paradise as a breeze stirred the few fallen leaves the gardeners had yet to sweep up, making them dance across the granite path.
‘Dancing …’
Clicking the kettle on as she headed to the shower, Kit began to smile.
Mel didn’t have to ask what the three women wanted as they came wearily up the stairs of The Gift Shop Café and sat silently at the table by the window.
