by SR Silcox
“Sorry,” Will said. “I have to go and pick up some more toilets to put on Fitzy’s. Have fun though. I’ll catch you later.”
Lizzie linked arms with Tess, and as they headed to the bingo field she said, “Isn’t it great?”
“I guess so,” Tess said. The bands they’d had on so far hadn’t been too bad, except for that one group whose idea of music was yelling incoherently into the microphone with electric guitars screaming in the background. She couldn’t believe how many of the crowd actually enjoyed it.
“Did you hear how many we’ve had come through?” Lizzie asked.
Tess shook her head. “I just asked Will but he said he didn’t know.”
“I heard Pop say that we had six hundred as of an hour ago.”
“Wow, really?” Tess was amazed. That was double what they’d had last year in total.
Lizzie nodded excitedly. “I know. And they’re still coming.”
“What did you two do?” Tess asked.
Lizzie shrugged. “All we did was tell a few people they should come, that’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“Yeah,” Lizzie said.
When they reached the bingo field, Lonny informed them that Bessie had taken just one hour and twenty-one minutes to pick the winners, which was just short of her record. She’d pooed right on the line between seventy-eight and eighty-eight, which meant that old Mrs Hetherington and her daughter young Ms Hetherington got to share the prize, which was a voucher for Gloria's No Size Too Big Boutique.
As Tess was helping Lizzie organise the two ladies for their photos, a voice boomed from behind them. “You should have someone handing them their prize.”
Tess rolled her eyes. Barry Montgomery. She started to say something but Lizzie interrupted. “Sure,” she said. “That would be a great idea. Would you like to do the honours, Mr Montgomery?”
“Oh, er, sure,” Barry replied, as if that wasn’t his intention all along.
“As a matter of fact, we should get one with Bessie in the background. Since she was the one who picked the winners.”
“Great idea,” Barry said, sidling up to Mrs and Ms Hetherington.
Lizzie looked through the camera and said, “Just a little closer. That’s it.” She took a few shots and then said, “Just a couple more. If you wouldn’t mind standing in the middle, Mr Montgomery? Thanks.”
Barry adjusted his garish tie and smoothed down his hair as he planted himself between Mrs Hetherington and her daughter, placing his arms around their shoulders.
As she started snapping more photos, Lizzie said, “And just back a little. A bit more.”
Mrs Hetherington and her daughter had the good sense to look down as they moved back, but Barry Montgomery, obviously too intent on flashing his winning smile for the camera, did not. The look on his face when he felt his leather shoes sink into Bessie’s winning cow pat was priceless. Tess laughed into her hand as Barry cursed and wiped his feet on the grass.
“Got it!” Lizzie said. “Thanks for that. I’ll get one of those into the paper next week.” She grabbed Tess’s hand and pulled her away before Barry could yell at them.
∞
After laughing over the action shots of Barry Montgomery stepping in Bessie’s cow pat, Lizzie and Tess decided they needed to eat. The Lion’?s chip van was doing a roaring trade, and thanks to being the organisers, they slipped around to the back of the van and were able to avoid the crowds lining up at the front.
“His face was a classic,” Tess said.
Lizzie laughed. “What about when he did this,” she said, pulling a face that captured Barry’s shocked expression almost exactly.
Tess laughed. “Do you think your dad will put one of them in the paper?”
“Don’t know,” Lizzie replied. “But he'll probably blow a couple of the better ones up to put above his desk.”
Tess smiled. “I know Pop would love to have one on his dart board.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Lizzie said as she shoved a chip into her mouth. “God these chips are so good.”
“Uhuh,” Tess agreed.
Lizzie had a long drink of water and then said, “Do you miss her?”
“Who?” Tess asked.
“You know who,” Lizzie said.
Tess knew exactly who Lizzie was talking about, but she’d spent the better part of the day trying not to think about her. “Yeah, I miss her.”
Lizzie nodded. “Have you heard from her?”
Tess dug a chip from the bottom of her cup and scraped some tomato sauce from the side. “Nope.” She shoved the chip into her mouth and chewed.
“You really do like her, don’t you?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because,” Lizzie said. “The festival is buzzing, Tess, and you’ve been moping around all day.”
“I have not.”
“Really? Because that’s what it looks like.”
“What makes you think it’s not because my two best friends were keeping secrets from me?”
Lizzie let out an exasperated sigh. “Because you like surprises, Tess. Both your best friends know that.”
“Yeah, well, maybe I don’t like surprises anymore.”
Lizzie shoved Tess with her shoulder. “I can promise you right now, Tess, that you will love your last surprise. Okay?”
Tess sighed. “Okay. But if I don’t like it, you and Will are going to pay big time. Got it?”
Lizzie laughed. “Just trust us, okay? And enjoy the festival like everyone else is.”
“Whatever,” Tess said.
Lizzie finished off the water in her bottle and screwed the lid on. She tapped on it with her hand and said, “I have a bit of a confession to make.”
“Oh God, another one?”
“This one’s kind of bad,” Lizzie said.
“Oh no. We’re not doing karaoke at the festival, are we?”
Lizzie laughed. “No.”
“Phew,” Tess said. “Nothing could be worse than that.”
“Don’t be so sure,” Lizzie said.
“Come on then,” Tess said, digging Lizzie in the leg with her finger. “Out with it.”
“You know the picture in the paper? Of you and Maddie?”
“How could I forget?” Tess said.
“Well. That’s kind of my fault.”
“How? You didn’t take the picture. Did you?”
“What? No! Of course not.”
“How’s it your fault then?”
“I may have put up a photo of you and Maddie together on the blog and someone recognised Maddie.”
“Are you serious?”
Lizzie nodded sadly. “I’m sorry, Tess.”
“Wow,” Tess said. She looked out over the Big Yard. There were people everywhere, dancing, eating, sitting on picnic blankets. It was more people than they’d had over the last few years combined. Tess couldn’t be angry with Lizzie over an innocent mistake. Besides, it wasn’t like Lizzie knew who Maddie was when she put up the photo.
“Tess?”
“It’s okay,” Tess said. She turned to Lizzie and put her head on Lizzie’s shoulder. “You didn’t know, so, forget about it.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Tess said. “What was the blog about anyway?”
“Friendship,” Lizzie said. “It was about the value of good friends.”
Tess smiled. “As long as you only said good things about me,” she said.
“I always say good things about you,” Lizzie said. Before Tess could reply, Lizzie’s phone rang. She checked it and said, “I’ve got to take this. I’ll catch you a bit later?”
“Fine,” Tess said. “I’ll just go and wander around.”
“Enjoy yourself,” Lizzie said. She gave Tess a quick hug and then ran off. Tess sighed and as she finished the last of her chips, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She swiped the screen and her heart flipped when a message appeared from Maddie.
Meet me at the tree h
ouse 5pm
She checked her watch. 4.45pm. She’d have to take Chitty to get there in time. Before she headed over to the old shed, she detoured via Gran’s tent to pick up the cupcake Gran had saved for her. Or, she realised, the cupcake that Gran had now obviously saved for Maddie. The fact that Gran must have known Maddie was coming back didn’t matter, and Tess had to stop herself from running to the shed in her excitement.
TWENTY-NINE
Tess spent the few minutes she had to wait swapping between being nervous and being excited. To get a text out of the blue from Maddie, and to realise that text meant she was back in town was one thing, but to still be wondering whether it was her fault Maddie left was another. Tyres crunched on the gravel outside the tree house, and Tess took a few deep breaths to calm herself. In reality, it had only been one day, sixteen hours and around forty-six minutes since she'd last seen Maddie (but who was counting). Tess wiped her sweaty palms on her shorts, and found it hard not to fidget. The more she fidgeted, the more her palms sweated and the more she had to wipe them on her shorts. When she heard footsteps on the tree house ladder, she turned to face the door.
Her heart almost exploded with excitement when Maddie appeared in the doorway, smiling at her. She strode over to Tess and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“I missed you,” Maddie whispered against Tess’s neck. It sent shivers down Tess’s spine.
“Me too,” Tess said. “I’m sorry.”
Maddie pulled back, holding Tess at arm’s length. “You? What are you sorry for?”
“The picture. Of us in the paper.”
Maddie shook her head. “That’s nothing. Last month they were saying Andy had gotten some girl pregnant.”
“Wow.”
Maddie shrugged and said, “It comes with the territory unfortunately.”
“I think it sucks,” Tess said.
“It does sometimes,” Maddie replied. “But the free stuff you get given makes up for it.”
“Really?” Tess asked.
Maddie laughed and said, “No, not really.” She took Tess’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I want to apologise to you, Tess. For leaving without telling you what was going on.”
“That’s okay,” Tess said. “It's not like we’re together or anything.”
“Is that what you think?” Maddie asked.
Tess looked down at her feet. They hadn’t discussed their relationship and where they stood with each other before Maddie left.
Maddie took both of Tess’s hands in hers and said, “Well I don’t know about you, Tess Copeland, but I don’t just go around kissing random girls you know.”
Tess laughed. “Me neither.”
Maddie stepped closer and when she spoke, Tess could feel the heat between them. “I really like you, Tess. And I really, really hope you like me too.”
Tess’s throat was suddenly dry, so she just nodded.
“Good,” Maddie smiled. “I don’t know about how things work in Chesterfield, but in Sydney, when one girl likes another girl enough to kiss her, and only her, that means they’re, you know, girlfriends.”
Tess swallowed. “Okay,” she said.
“And girlfriends don’t just leave without telling each other why,” Maddie said.
“I’m sure it was something important,” Tess said, finally able to talk.
Maddie nodded solemnly. “It was,” she replied. “But I still should have called you to let you know I was okay.”
“So, what was it? Did you get it sorted?”
“I hope so,” Maddie said. “The record company wanted us to go in a direction we didn’t want to go in. So did my dad. So we quit instead.”
“You quit? Can you even do that?”
Maddie shrugged. “We thought about how we were in the beginning, before we had a record deal. When we were having fun. It was all our own stuff. Just me and Freya and Andy. So, we decided to just do it all ourselves.”
“That’s good, isn’t it?” Tess had no idea about the music industry and how it worked, but she guessed that if they were happier doing their own thing, then that had to be better than being miserable.
Maddie let go of Tess’s hands, walked over to the window, leaned on the ledge and looked out over the dam. Tess walked over and stood beside her, putting her arm around Maddie’s waist. Maddie leaned into her and said, “Yeah. It’s good. But it’s scary too. We have to produce our own stuff. And sell it. We might not make any money.”
“You could always get Lizzie to be your publicist,” Tess joked.
Maddie laughed and said, “Funny thing about Lizzie. She emailed me through our website and let me have it about leaving without saying goodbye to you. She said I could make it up to you by coming back to play at the festival. She also asked whether I have a cold because of how badly I sang on Thursday.”
Tess laughed. “That sounds like Lizzie.”
“So anyway, we announced on our website that anyone who bought tickets to our cancelled concerts could come and see us up here and Lizzie did the rest. She’s actually got quite a reach on social media.”
“So that’s why Lizzie and Will have been so secretive the last few days,” Tess said. She shook her head in disbelief.
“You have some great friends,” Maddie said.
“Yeah,” Tess agreed. “I just wish you’d let me know you were coming back.”
Maddie pulled a face. “Sorry. They made me promise not to say anything.”
“If I’d known,” Tess said, “I would’ve saved you a cupcake.”
Maddie frowned. “Are they all gone?”
Tess shrugged. “Like I said, if I’d known…”
“Oh well. Maybe I can have one next time,” Maddie said. She leaned her head on Tess’s shoulder and Tess breathed in the vanilla scent of Maddie’s perfume.
Tess leaned down and spoke softly into Maddie’s ear. “I’m just kidding. Of course I saved you one,” Tess said, holding the cupcake in front of Maddie. “At least, Gran saved you one. I guess she knew you were coming back as well.”
“I suppose it’s going to cost me,” Maddie said, smiling up at Tess.
“You have no idea,” Tess replied. As Maddie leaned in for a kiss, Tess pulled away. “Wait a minute,” she said. “I’m not giving the cupcake up that easy.”
Maddie’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
“Yeah,” Tess said.
“All right. What else do you want from me to make you give up that cupcake?”
“A promise,” Tess said.
“What type of promise?”
“Promise that you won’t leave again without telling me,” Tess said. Maddie went to take the cupcake, but Tess pulled it away, just out of reach of Maddie's hand.
Maddie smiled and said, “I can promise that.”
This time, Tess didn’t pull away when Maddie leaned in and kissed her. Maddie wrapped her arms around Tess’s waist and pulled her into her, and it took all of Tess’s strength to stay standing. The kiss was soft and sweet, and Tess felt like her heart had melted into her feet.
Someone just outside the door cleared their throat. “Jo,” Maddie said. “Great timing, as usual.”
Tess laughed.
“I wish I could stay up here with you, but I have to go,” Maddie said, nuzzling her head into Tess’s shoulder. “I have a concert to put on.”
“I don’t want to keep your fans waiting,” Tess said.
“They’ve waited a couple of weeks to see us, so another few minutes won’t hurt.”
As Maddie pulled away, Tess held out the cupcake. “Don’t forget this.”
Maddie looked at it, seemed to consider it for a moment and then said, “Hold onto it for later. Meet me back here after the concert? Around 9 o’clock?”
“On one condition,” Tess said. “You leave Jo at home.”
There was a cough outside and they laughed. “I’ll see what I can do,” Maddie said. She gave Tess another quick kiss and for a little while after Maddie left, Tess considered just wait
ing up in the tree house for the concert to finish. Then she figured that she really should go and watch Maddie sing. After all, that’?s what a girlfriend would do.
∞
Tess arrived back at the festival in time to see Will’s band playing the last song of their set. She found Lizzie waiting at the side of the stage.
“Did you see her?” Lizzie yelled over the music.
Tess nodded. “Thanks,” she yelled back.
Lizzie smiled and draped her arm around Tess’s shoulders. “What are friends for, right?”
“Right,” Tess agreed. She gave Lizzie a squeeze. “You get to see them live. How cool is that?”
Lizzie’s eyes lit up. “I know! Isn’t it fantastic? And they’re giving me an exclusive interview after the show for my blog. And Maddie said she might be able to get it published on a few other music websites she knows about.”
“That’s great,” Tess said. “That's really great.”
Lizzie nodded. Pop appeared beside Tess and said, “They’ve gotten a lot better, haven’t they?”
Tess nodded. “Isn’t it too loud for you up here?”
Pop turned his head and pointed to the earplugs in his ears and Tess laughed. “Where’s Gran?”
“In town at your mum and dad’s. She’s exhausted after today so she’s staying there to get some sleep.”
Tess nodded. Pop said, “I just came to tell you I’m heading off as well to stay in town. Have fun, okay?”
Tess nodded and gave him a hug. As he left, Will’s band finished their final song with a flourish and the crowd cheered.
Will ran off stage and said, “That was the best fun!”
“You guys were great,” Lizzie said.
Will smiled. “Thanks. We’re happy to play in front of so many people, but we’re not the ones they’re here to see.”
On cue, Maddie and her band took to the stage to the explosions of pyrotechnics and wild screams of their fans. Maddie looked to the side of the stage and when she saw Tess she gave a little wave. Tess waved back, and Will gave her a poke in the ribs. Tess smiled. She couldn’t believe that was her girlfriend standing out on the stage, about to sing to hundreds of people.
Maddie gripped the microphone stand like she’d been doing it all her life, and as the spotlight settled on her she said, “Welcome to Chesterfield!” The crowd screamed. She waited until the noise died down, for the most part anyway, and she said, “Sorry we’re late. We had some technical difficulties a few weeks ago, but now we’re back.”
