Coming Home to Brightwater Bay

by Holly Hepburn

  Once she’d shown Jess the inside of the croft, she took her out to the bench overlooking the bay. It was early evening and the sun still hung high in the sky, warming the air and bathing the cliffs in golden light. The birds had yet to settle and were wheeling overhead on the thermals, calling to each other as they wove lazy circles across the cloudless blue sky. Beneath them, the Atlantic crashed its steady beat against the rocky shoreline.

  ‘I can see why you’ve fallen in love with this place,’ Jess said, after a few minutes of silence. ‘It’s beautiful.’

  Merry remembered the first time she’d stood where Jess was now; it had been February then, and the sun had been dropping below the horizon when she’d arrived at the croft. She’d had her breath stolen by the sunset and she had known right then that she’d found somewhere special. And what made it even more special was sharing it with her best friend. ‘Yes,’ she replied. ‘It’s not bad, is it?’

  Jess turned to look at the croft, with its ancient stone walls and living turf roof, and she let out a sigh of appreciation. ‘If you tell me there’s Deliveroo, I might just stay here for ever with you.’

  ‘Not that I know of,’ Merry said. ‘But I know a great restaurant with views that are almost as amazing as this. Shall we go?’

  ‘Sure,’ Jess said but she made no effort to move. ‘How are you feeling about Magnús? Has he been in touch?’

  It was a good question, Merry thought. The first day or two had been tough – there had been moments when she’d almost asked him to reconsider, and others when she’d been filled with anger at the unfairness of the situation. But there hadn’t been anything close to the all-consuming emptiness she’d felt after Alex, which wasn’t a surprise given she and Magnús had only been dating a short while. She was disappointed at the way things had worked out and mournful of what might have been, but her heart hadn’t been broken. Bruised a little, perhaps, but she’d survive.

  ‘We agreed to leave it for a while before messaging,’ she told Jess. ‘Just to let the dust settle.’

  The other woman gave her a hard look. ‘That’s fine, but how are you feeling about it? Don’t avoid the question.’

  ‘I’m okay,’ Merry said. ‘And much better now you’re here.’

  ‘Good,’ Jess said, apparently mollified. ‘I’m sad I’m not going to meet the man who could put Niall the sexy librarian in the shade, but you can’t have everything. Now, how do we get to this restaurant and have we got time for a cocktail first?’

  * * *

  Merry awoke the next day with only the slightest of headaches. Mindful of their event on Saturday evening, both she and Jess had taken care not to overdo it with the tequila or the whisky once they’d returned from a delicious meal at the Skerry. It had still been light enough for them to take their full glasses out to the bench; they’d sat wrapped in blankets, and watched the sun go down while putting the book world to rights. Then they’d gone inside and called it a night.

  ‘Plenty of time for a wild one after the event tomorrow,’ Jess had said, unable to hide a deep yawn.

  And so it was that Merry found herself clear-headed and ready for whatever the day brought. She glanced over at the still-sleeping Jess and smiled. It was good to have her here.

  Slipping out from under the covers, Merry headed for the kitchen to make coffee and, by the time Jess joined her an hour later, she’d already caught up on her social media and jotted down the bare bones of a short story. It was incredible to think that she’d been barely able to look at her laptop when she’d arrived at Brightwater Bay back in February, Merry thought as she saved the outline and got to her feet to brew more coffee. She’d never be anything less than grateful to Niall for choosing her to be Writer in Residence. It had most definitely changed her life.

  She treated Jess to a tour of some of her favourite Orkney places during the day, stopping by Rossi’s for lunch, to introduce her to Morag and Helen and their incredible tiramisu. And then they’d returned to the croft to freshen up before heading to the library for their event.

  Niall greeted them both with obvious pleasure, but Merry thought she observed an extra sparkle in his smile for Jess and she wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about that.

  ‘All set to wow our audience?’ he asked.

  ‘If one turns up,’ Jess answered with a self-deprecating quirk of her eyebrows.

  Niall’s smile deepened as he led the way to his office so they could leave their bags and collect their radio microphones. ‘Oh, I think they’ll turn up. As you discovered on the plane, you’ve got quite a fan club here. We’ve sold around three hundred tickets.’

  Merry took pleasure in seeing Jess’s jaw drop. ‘I told you, we’re practically rock stars here. Wait until you see the signing queue afterwards.’

  The talk was being held in the large hall that Merry’s previous two events had used. This evening, it had a comfortable-looking armchair facing a velvet sofa on the raised stage, with many rows of seats for the audience. They’d begun to trickle in long before Niall escorted Merry and Jess to the hall, so by the time six-thirty arrived, there was a sense of expectation in the air.

  ‘This is going to be fun,’ Merry whispered as they took their seats on the stage.

  Jess grinned back. ‘Of course it is. And to think we call it work!’

  The applause was thunderous once Niall had introduced them. Once it had died down, he turned to them both and smiled. ‘I can’t believe how lucky we are to have not one but two incredible authors with us tonight,’ he said, his gaze roving from Merry to Jess. ‘But as well as being authors, you’re also best friends. Can you tell us how you met?’

  ‘Believe it or not, we took a residential writing course together,’ Jess said. ‘It wasn’t long after I’d arrived in the UK from New Zealand, and I remember feeling pretty nervous about spending a week with a bunch of people I didn’t know. But then I got chatting to Merry over the welcome pastries and knew right away we’d be friends.’

  Merry smiled. ‘It was like a romcom – we both reached for the last maple pecan Danish, our eyes met and BAM! We’ve been friends ever since.’

  ‘Who got the pastry?’ Niall asked.

  ‘I did,’ Jess said. ‘It might have been a totally different story if Merry had demanded we split it.’

  ‘Even then, I knew better than to ask you to share cake,’ Merry said, which got an appreciative laugh from the audience.

  ‘And who got the first book deal?’

  ‘Jess did,’ Merry said. ‘We were both writing women’s fiction – or at least, the kind of novels that publishers considered to be for women – but that was where the similarities ended. Anyone who has read one of Jessie’s books knows that they’re sharp, sexy and fun. Mine were gentler, more traditional love stories and there was a big demand for the kind of fiction Jess was brilliant at, so she landed an agent and then a book deal before me.’

  ‘Not long before you,’ Jess cut in. ‘I think it was only a few weeks. And our books might be different in style, but they do have a few things in common – we both write stories that readers love to get lost in. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have told me they read one of my books really fast, that it was really easy to read.’

  Niall nodded. ‘It’s something I hear a lot as a librarian. How do you feel about it?’

  Jess shrugged. ‘I love it, of course. Easy reading doesn’t equal easy writing but if someone enjoys one of my books so much that they forget they’re even reading, it means I’ve done my job properly.’

  She glanced at Merry, who picked up the conversational baton. ‘Having a light touch also allows us to explore some tricky themes and ideas, without the story being laden down by the issues our characters might be facing. It’s a bit of a balancing act.’

  ‘And one that both of you manage with great style and talent,’ Niall said. ‘As I’m sure anyone in the audience who’s read your books would agree. And one of the reasons Orkney Library invited you here, Jessie, is bec
ause you’ve got quite a fan club among our readers. Can you give us an insight into your writing process? How do you come up with such memorable characters?’

  Jess grinned wickedly. ‘Some of them are actual people. But others are purely products of my imagination. Take Oscar, the hero of my third novel – he was based on someone I met on holiday on the Cote d’Azur and readers loved him so much that I brought him back for Book Five… and Book Seven…’

  The conversation flowed seamlessly between the three of them, often causing ripples of laughter to spread across the audience, and Merry was genuinely sad when Niall checked his watch and said it was time to open the floor to questions. She wasn’t surprised to see her neighbour, Sheila, with her hand in the air, alongside her best friend, Bridget McGinty, and a couple of other older women she recognized as being from the same book club; they were all huge Jessie Edwards fans. Niall had obviously spotted them too because he homed in on them straight away. ‘Yes, Sheila, what’s your question?’

  Sheila got to her feet and Merry saw with some amusement that she held a clipboard. ‘This is for Jessie,’ she said. ‘In Lola’s Lolly, you described a film star who gets caught in an indelicate position by the paparazzi. Was that based on anyone real, and if so, who?’

  Jess smiled in a way that Merry had seen a hundred times before. ‘I couldn’t possibly say,’ she said, in a tone that left no doubt the character was absolutely based on a well-known A-lister. ‘But let’s just say if he were real, he’d be famous for his licence to thrill as much as anything else!’

  A murmur went through the audience as they tried to second-guess who she meant and Merry had to hide a smile. Jess was a master at hinting who her characters might be based on, without ever revealing the truth. By the time questions had finished, she had the crowd eating out of her hand.

  ‘I hope you’re ready for this,’ Merry said, once Niall had wrapped the evening up to thunderous whoops and cheers. ‘You’re going to be signing for hours!’

  She wasn’t wrong; Jess’s queue was twice the length of her own. But she didn’t mind – Merry wasn’t exactly old news to the readers of Orkney, but many of them had been at previous events and had at least one of her signed books already. Jess was fresh meat and therefore naturally attracting the bigger queue. Merry still had plenty of fans in front of her signing table, however, and she spent a busy forty minutes working her way through them, chatting and signing while Jess did the same beside her.

  When Merry had signed the last book in her queue, she looked up to see Niall on the far side of the room, wiggling his hand in a gesture that suggested a drink. She was about to nod gratefully when she saw something that made the breath catch in her throat.

  Walking towards her was the last person she’d expected to see. In fact, she had to blink twice to make sure she wasn’t imagining him.

  ‘Shit,’ she muttered. ‘Shit, shit, shit.’

  Jess gave her a sideways look but was too busy signing to ask what was wrong.

  Merry glanced helplessly around, but it was far too late to try to escape – he was almost at the table. She was going to have to face him.

  ‘Hello, Alex,’ she said, once he stood in front of her. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

  She heard what sounded like a pen clatter onto the tabletop beside her and guessed Jess had overheard.

  ‘Hello, Merry,’ Alex said, and flashed the smile she knew so very well. ‘It’s good to see you.’

  Jess had stopped talking to her fans now and Merry could almost feel her bristling. Niall seemed to have realized something was going on too, because he was striding across the hall. Merry’s heart thudded uncomfortably in her chest as she stared at Alex, so incongruously out of place that it made her ears roar. He was part of her London life, or had been. He didn’t belong on Orkney.

  ‘Seriously, Alex, what are you doing here?’ she repeated, and saw Niall’s face drop in dismayed astonishment when he heard the name.

  Alex spread his arms in boyish appeal. ‘Isn’t it obvious? I’m playing the romantic hero for once in my life.’

  He reached down to take both her hands and draw her to her feet.

  ‘I’ve come to get you back, Merry.’

  Part Four Sunset over Brightwater Bay

  Orkney Literary Society invites you to a

  Summer Ceilidh with Merina Wilde

  To celebrate the end of a successful tenure of our current Writer in Residence, we invite you to dance the night away as we travel back in time to Orkney in the 1940s.

  Dress up or dress down, it’s up to you, but wear your dancing shoes!

  Friday 31st July

  7pm until 11pm at Orkney Library

  Booking essential.

  Email Niall.Gunn@Orkneylib.gov.uk

  Chapter Twenty-one

  ‘Merry? Are you okay?’

  Merina Wilde didn’t turn at her best friend’s words. Instead, she kept her gaze trained on the spire of St Magnus’s Cathedral, reaching up towards the still-light night sky even though it was long after nine o’clock in the evening. Behind her stood Orkney Library, its sleek modern design a stark contrast to the centuries-old cathedral that towered over Kirkwall. And, between the bench where Merry had been sitting for the last forty-five minutes and the library, was Jess.

  ‘I’m fine,’ Merry said, in a voice that sounded nothing like her own. ‘Just taking a moment.’

  She heard the tap of Jess’s heels as she crossed the courtyard that had been filled with enthusiastic readers just an hour earlier. Then there was the faint rustle of fabric on stone as Jess settled next to Merry.

  ‘You’ve been out here alone for the last fifteen minutes,’ she said, draping a jacket around Merry’s shoulders. ‘You must be cold.’

  She was, Merry realized, and the observation caused a belated shiver to ripple through her. What she’d mostly felt until now was numbness. It had started the moment she’d looked across the crowded library hall and seen her ex-boyfriend watching her, had gone on throughout his earnest apologies and heartfelt declarations of his own stupidity, and had lasted right up to this very second, when she couldn’t even find the words to reply to Jess. It was exactly how she had felt the night Alex had ended their sixteen-year relationship, back in November, when she’d stared at him with stunned incomprehension as he’d told her he no longer loved her. Except that tonight he’d reversed that painful assertion by saying he’d never stopped loving her. And Merry couldn’t even begin to get her head around the implications, much less figure out what to tell Jess.

  ‘Thanks,’ she managed, pulling the jacket close beneath her chin. ‘It is a bit chilly.’

  Jess nodded patiently, as though a chat about the weather was precisely what she’d come outside for. ‘So, what did the weaselly little prick have to say for himself? No, wait, don’t tell me – I bet I can guess.’ She adopted a sorrowful expression. ‘I’m going with “I had to leave you to find myself, but all I discovered was that I can’t live without you, babe.” ’

  It was such a perfect line that Merry smiled in spite of herself. ‘Isn’t that from one of your books?’

  ‘Might be,’ Jess said, shrugging. ‘But I reckon that’s the angle Alex took. Am I right?’

  There was no point in trying to deny it, Merry thought. Jess had been her best friend for more years than either of them cared to count and she’d been there throughout the devastating aftermath of the break-up; she had a pretty well-formed opinion of Alex’s behaviour, before, during and since. And, on this occasion, she was absolutely bang on the money.

  ‘Pretty much,’ Merry conceded. ‘He said that when I changed, that made him change too and he lost sight of how good we were together.’

  ‘Okay, let’s just unravel that…’ Jess frowned. ‘So, what he means is, your mental health issues made him decide he could do better.’

  Merry blinked. That was blunt even for Jess. She opened her mouth to object but her friend held up a hand. ‘Don’t argue, that’s exactly w
hat happened. And now that you’re back on your feet, looking smoking hot and with a shiny new movie deal in your back pocket, he’s suddenly afraid you’ve moved on.’ Jess paused and shook her head. ‘I bet he even had the audacity to say he didn’t want to lose you!’

  Merry said nothing, because Alex had indeed said he didn’t want to lose her, and Jess slapped a hand against the stone bench. ‘You know who he is? Jasper Bloom, from The Holiday – the mealy-mouthed arse who gives poor Kate Winslet just enough attention to make her hope, but not enough to mean anything. It’s only when she kicks him to the kerb that he goes chasing after her. Sound familiar?’

  Another shiver chased its way down Merry’s spine and she felt the dull thud of a headache beginning at the base of her skull. She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. ‘I know you don’t approve, Jess. But what was I supposed to do – send him away without even listening to what he had to say? He travelled a long way to see me.’

  Jess let out a snort of derision. ‘It was his choice – you didn’t ask him to.’

  ‘No, but that doesn’t mean I can pretend he’s not here.’ Merry paused as another of Jess’s comments came back to her. ‘You’re wrong about the movie deal, by the way – it hasn’t been announced so he doesn’t know it’s even happening. As far as he’s concerned, I could still be struggling with writer’s block.’

  And now Jess laughed. ‘Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately, Mer? You don’t look like you’re struggling with anything. In fact, you look like you could take on the world.’

  The words made Merry remember something Magnús Ólafsson had said not long after they had first met, that she reminded him of a Valkyrie. She’d assumed he was joking at first, but once he’d made it clear he wasn’t, she’d gradually begun to feel flattered by the comparison. If only he hadn’t been called back to his native Iceland to nurse his sick mother, Merry thought wistfully. She’d have felt much less unsettled by Alex’s sudden appearance if Magnús had been at her side.