The Heat Is On

by Helen Bridgett

‘Patty has some news.’

  She takes centre stage, pauses for a dramatic moment and then begins. ‘We’ve had a truly glorious weekend and the highlight for Jack was me agreeing to be his wife.’ She flashes the ring to lots of ‘oohs’ and ‘congratulations’ from everyone.

  ‘But we didn’t get you here to tell you this. Angie told me what happened at the bank last week and I’m gutted, I really am. When Jack proposed, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather get married and I can’t believe it might not happen.

  ‘So I have a proposal for you all,’ she continues. ‘The sale of my house will go through this week and when it does, the one thing I won’t be short of is money. But if the Aussie is actually coming back to work, and it looks as if she is, then I’ve got nothing to do. You’ve all got the opposite problem so let me help.’

  She takes a deep breath, ready to deliver the finale and beams at us.

  ‘I’d like to invest and become a partner in Mercury. I’ve loved working with you all and I think I can add something. I promise not to get under your feet. I’ll set up in the back room or the dungeon – wherever you want, just let me help.’

  Charlie looks at me open-mouthed. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but my feelings are slightly mixed and they have been since she suggested it last night. It’s been fun having Patty around and I’d love her to stay but I don’t know whether she could cope with doing the same job day in, day out. Would she get bored? Charlie gets up and gives her a big hug.

  ‘That is an amazing offer, Patty,’ he says. ‘Thank you. From the bottom of this little heart, thank you. Would you mind if I just have a few minutes with Angie and Josie?’

  ‘Of course,’ replies Patty, ‘take whatever time you need.’

  The three of us head out into the grounds to walk and talk.

  ‘What do you think?’ I ask Charlie.

  ‘I feel slightly overwhelmed,’ he replies. ‘I mean, it is incredibly generous of her but could you work with your best friend for the rest of your days? And would she be bored with being in a shop every day?’

  ‘That’s what I was thinking. What do you think Josie?’

  ‘She’s been ace, she really has,’ replies Josie. ‘The customers love her, she makes them laugh and she needn’t be stuck in the shop. She could run the wedding business, and who’s to say it has to be based in the shop? It could be all about home visits – we come to you to plan your big day, it would probably be better that way anyhow.’

  ‘But Charlie really wants to work on the weddings, don’t you?’ I say.

  He shakes his head.

  ‘Not really. I like the ideas part, sorting out the décor and design. And of course I’d love to go over to the island more often, but dealing with brides and their mothers? No thank you. I’d much rather to leave that to someone else. Patty would be fab.’

  I nod. I can see that, too, and I think she’d be brilliant at it. She could develop themes, the entertainment and she knows how to create the perfect stage for every event; she has that instinct and imagination.

  ‘My take on all this is quite simple,’ Josie continues. ‘You have a dream but no money; now you’ve got a chance of the money has the dream gone away?’

  We both shake our heads.

  ‘Then grab this offer before she goes and spends all that cash on hiring some eighties has-been to serenade her down the aisle or some other rubbish.’

  We laugh and Charlie looks at me.

  ‘So we’re going to say yes?’

  I nod, we most certainly are.

  We head back into the apartment and the chatter stops. Bizarrely, Patty looks very nervous, as if she’s on Dragons’ Den waiting to hear whether we’re going to invest. She’s the one getting us out of a pickle, so we should be the nervous ones in case she changes her mind.

  All eyes are on us as Charlie steps forward and takes hold of both Patty’s hands.

  ‘You strange and wonderful creature, I don’t know what to say except thank you. Thank you for stepping in so often over this awful year and thank you for rescuing my dream. We would all be absolutely delighted to have you as a partner in Mercury Travel.’

  Patty squeals and throws her arms around Charlie, then me, then Josie, then Michael, then Peter, then Jack, then Charlie again…

  Everyone gets hugged to extremes. Michael gets a bottle of champagne out of the cooler and another holler goes up as the cork pops.

  ‘Thank goodness for that,’ says Patty accepting a glass. ‘I thought I was in the wrong house when I saw you serving coffee.’

  ‘When does the house sale actually go through?’ asks Peter.

  ‘Thursday,’ replies Patty, ‘so I suppose we could transfer the money on Friday.’

  ‘You need to read through everything before you sign on the dotted line,’ Peter instructs Patty. ‘You have to be absolutely sure of this. If you’re happy, we’d still be a week late on the investment timetable, but that shouldn’t cause too many issues. We’re a bit behind on getting the resort up and running for the wedding season, though. You’re all going to have your work cut out.’

  Michael stands up.

  ‘Well, that’s where I can help. I can help you make up for lost time. As soon as the deeds are signed, I could take a few weeks off work and go over to Formentera to supervise the work. You need someone you know to watch the construction of those yurts so that they’re in place on time for the health and safety inspection, someone you can completely trust. Let me do that.’

  I hadn’t known he was going to do this but I melt a little at his offer.

  ‘Wow,’ says Charlie. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Certainly am. I’ve been investigating the construction features needed to get that safety licence. They’re not onerous if you know what you’re doing but there’s little room for error if we don’t closely supervise the workforce. We also can’t afford anyone to be working on “holiday time” as we don’t have the luxury of mañana. If I’m there, I can make sure the work is done, that you have an update every night, and of course, I can pitch in with the landscaping, too.’

  ‘It’s a huge amount of work,’ I reply. ‘Are you sure you want to take this on?’

  ‘I’d do anything for you,’ he replies, ‘you should know that by now.’

  He leans over and kisses me and everyone sighs ‘aah’, except Josie who just says, ‘Yuk, get a room.’

  ‘In fact I feel so strongly about this,’ he continues, ‘that I just can’t sit here and watch the days tick by not knowing whether or not the construction is going to be finished or not. After all you guys have been through this year, I have to do it for you. I really do.’

  I raise my glass and clink it against his. ‘Then I thank you from the very bottom of my heart and I’m sure Charlie does, too. How can we ever repay you?’

  ‘Well, I’m not sure about Charlie but I’ll think of a way that you can.’ Michael kisses me.

  More aahs and yuks from our friends.

  Josie stands up.

  ‘Before we all drown in drool, let me say this. I have a lot to make up to you guys,’ she says waving away the protests we make. ‘No, I know that I’ve made some real mistakes this year. So my offer of help is this: I’ll work twenty-four hours a day to get back the bookings we lost and I’ll get people talking about these weddings. We are going to be booked up and back on track by the end of the year.’

  We raise our glasses to her.

  ‘So with all these fab offers, what can we do, then?’ I ask Charlie.

  ‘You’re going to Scotland,’ he replies and I frown, puzzled.

  ‘The Americans Patty was flirting with a few weeks back,’ Charlie explains, ‘they’ve booked up the treasure trail and after everything we’ve been through, it has to be absolutely perfect. I’ll man the office but you have to go up and recce that first stopover before they arrive.’

  ‘They booked!’ cries Patty. ‘That’s brilliant, I knew they would. Angie, you have to let me come with you.’


  ‘It’s your business, too, now,’ I reply. ‘I’d say coming along was pretty much compulsory.’

  Michael brings out another bottle of champagne and refills the glasses. Charlie holds his aloft and makes a toast.

  ‘Friends,’ he says, ‘we have all had what you might call a difficult year.’

  ‘You can say that again,’ adds Josie.

  ‘But thanks to you all rallying round, it might just have a happy ending.’

  He tilts his glass towards Josie.

  ‘First of all, to our Antipodean colleague, thank you and yes, we accept your kind offer to work twenty-four hours a day.’

  She bows and takes a sip.

  ‘Next, to the man putting a smile back on Angie’s face, thank you and yes, we also accept your kind offer to supervise our building work.’

  Michael follows Josie’s lead with his own bow.

  ‘And finally to the lady rolling in cash – welcome aboard. I cannot wait to see what weird and wonderful weddings you conjure up. I’m sure they’ll be unique, if nothing else.’

  Patty curtsies.

  ‘To Mercury,’ says Charlie, ‘and living to fight another day.’

  Wild Wood

  Michael has to go and catch his flight, so I should let go of him but I really don’t want to.

  ‘You’ll be away for ages,’ I say grumpily.

  ‘It’ll fly past and besides, you’ll be on your own adventure.’

  ‘Don’t you go having your head turned by all those island beauties.’

  ‘Don’t you go falling for those rugged Scotsmen and their cabers.’ He kisses me and I promise not to. ‘Besides which, you want this place perfect for Patty’s wedding, don’t do? I promise I’ll do everything I can to make it spectacular and when your customers see that wedding, they’ll book up in no time. And I’ll see you when you come out.’

  ‘I can’t wait,’ I tell him. ‘But yes, I know you’ll make it perfect. We’re all lucky to have you.’

  We hold hands like a couple of teenagers until we reach the departure gates and then I stand and watch as he disappears into the labyrinth that is airport security. I pay the extortionate airport parking fee and drive home to wait for Patty. Both Michael and I packed last night laughing at the differences in our suitcases, his full of shorts and beach pumps, mine woolly jumpers and walking boots. It might be turning into a mild autumn but I’m taking no chances with the Scottish weather.

  Patty is hiring a car so we can share the driving. She will only drive automatics, therefore that rules my old faithful out of the running. I’m rechecking that I haven’t left any plugs in (thanks to my mother, I am paranoid about this), when she drives up and toots the horn; my eyes pop.

  I grab my case and head out on to the street.

  ‘You don’t do things by halves, do you,’ I say of the bright red convertible she’s chosen for our journey. ‘You know it’ll probably rain in Scotland.’

  ‘Stop being a killjoy; anyway, it does have a roof. I just thought we should do this in style.’

  ‘And you’re absolutely right,’ I say, ‘we’ve been through the mill this year.’

  I put my case into the tiny boot and hop in alongside her. This car could make any trip an adventure and I’m ready for one.

  ‘Do we have everything?’ asks Patty.

  I put my sunglasses on and turn to her: ‘You know what Thelma would say.’

  ‘Sometimes all you need is a great friend and a tank of gas,’ we both drawl in our worst American accents.

  ‘Now let’s go test this treasure trail,’ I yell as Patty skids out of the drive.

  We have five hours of travelling ahead of us, so the back seat of the car as usual looks like a sweet shop. I’m the confectionery waitress with the heavy responsibility of ensuring Patty’s sugar levels don’t drop – as if that could ever happen.

  ‘Wine gum please,’ she calls, ‘preferably an orange or green one.’

  I dig through the packet to find her choice and feed both to her.

  ‘Extra strong mint,’ she calls next.

  ‘You do realise we’ve only been travelling for forty minutes,’ I tell her.

  ‘I know – but they’re calling me.’

  I know what she means. I’m trying to ignore the tempting siren cries of the Starbursts. If I open the packet they’ll be gone before we reach Cumbria.

  The M6 isn’t the most interesting of roads but we make steady progress and before long we’ve left England behind us and the Scottish scenery opens out. I’m driving now and it’s an absolute joy, as the roads are quieter and sweep through the heather-topped hills. Patty starts shuffling through her MP3 player.

  ‘Be ready to put your foot down, I’ve loaded some Scottish music for us.’

  I’m sort of expecting something about the bonny banks of Loch Lomond but don’t really see this as driving music. Nonetheless, I speed up sending our hair flying across our faces. The music starts and I smile at her choice. I turn it up to full volume and we both join in with Lulu belting out the opening bars of ‘Shout’. Boy that song should be handed out on prescription – it could make anyone feel better.

  On Patty’s Scottish medley, Lulu is followed by The Proclaimers who are followed by the Bay City Rollers.

  ‘Aah,’ I reminisce hearing ‘Bye Bye Baby’ filling the air, ‘which one was your favourite?’

  ‘Les,’ declares Patty without hesitation.

  ‘It was Eric for me.’

  ‘Get you, picking the bad boy,’ laughs Patty.

  After one more change over and another hour we reach the ferry at Ardrossan.

  ‘I think I seriously underestimated how beautiful this trip would be,’ I say as we look out over the water glistening in the fading sun.

  ‘Or how clean the air would taste,’ adds Patty inhaling deeply. ‘It’s like breathing pure freedom. I think the Americans are going to love this.’

  ‘Oh bugger,’ shouts a voice from somewhere behind the car.

  We turn to see a man struggling with his motorbike pannier.

  ‘Can we help?’ I ask.

  ‘I think it’s broken but you’re welcome to see if the female touch works better,’ he replies.

  We take a look and attempt to close the catch but it is indeed broken.

  ‘It’s going to be a bloody nuisance carrying this on the bike,’ he sighs.

  ‘Where are you going? Maybe we could take it in the car and drop it off,’ I offer.

  ‘Are you sure?’ he asks. ‘It might have drugs or machine guns in it for all you know.’

  ‘And we might be drug and machine gun thieves for all you know.’

  ‘Nah, you don’t look the type.’

  I hold out my hand and we shake.

  ‘I’m Angie and this is Patty. We’re heading for Seal Shore if that’s any good to you.’

  ‘I’m Rab and this must be destiny,’ he says shaking his head, ‘that’s where I’m off to. I suppose you’re going to the music festival.’

  ‘What festival?’ Patty’s ears prick up.

  ‘Och, it’s great fun: bands, singing, real ale – what more could anyone want? But if you hadn’t heard of it you must be up to something else – just touring?’

  ‘Far from it – we’re hunting treasure,’ I whisper conspiratorially.

  Rab taps the side of his nose.

  ‘Say no more. Although I’d have put you down for undercover bounty hunters if I were guessing.’

  ‘He doesn’t mean the chocolate bar,’ I tell Patty and get a backhand slap for it.

  The car queue to get on the ferry has started moving, so we take Rab’s pannier and load it into the car promising to meet him at the hotel.

  It’s a short journey, so we stay up on the deck watching the island get closer and closer. Landing at Brodick has us buzzing – maybe you just have to cross the water to feel as if you’re having an adventure. I imagine the first guests discovering that they’re leaving the mainland and being quite excited to find where thin
gs are going to end. As the ferry leaves, they’ll be wondering when and how they have to leave the island to reach the next destination. I know all the details and I’m excited. I think this is going to work. Before we leave the port, I take a photo of Patty in the beautiful red car with the Firth of Clyde and mountains against the setting sun in the background. This isn’t for publicity, though; it’s to sit alongside all those other pictures of our adventures together.

  As it’s now early evening, the temperature has dropped, so we put on our headscarves and drive slowly around the island until we reach our hotel on the edge of the shore. Darkness has fallen and we can no longer see the sea, but we hear it lapping gently on the rocky beach as a breeze flicks through the flames of the torchlights bordering the hotel garden. We check in then order a glass of wine, which we bring back outside. The absolute blackness of the evening accentuates the peace as more stars than I’ve ever seen before start to appear, twinkling away.

  ‘Have you made a wish?’ asks Patty.

  ‘For Mercury to get back on track and everything to end well,’ I tell her. ‘What about you?’

  ‘To have the perfect wedding then never be alone again.’

  I squeeze her hand and suggest we go inside to eat. Adrenaline and jelly babies have kept me going so far, but I suspect a comforting meal will have the opposite effect and I’m so looking forward to getting a full night’s sleep.

  We meet Rab in reception where he’s teamed up with some of his friends. They invite us to join them but we decline, saying we’ve an early start.

  ‘I hope you get your treasure,’ calls Rab as we head into the restaurant.

  I eschew the healthy local salmon in favour of haggis, neeps and tatties with a whisky sauce – well, it seems the right thing to do.

  Our stomachs laden with food we trudge up to our room and slide into our little twin beds. I turn out my bedside light and say goodnight to Patty. She says nothing and when I look over she’s flat out, eyes closed and mouth wide open. That’s exactly how I want to be and as I snuggle into my soft pillow I know it won’t take long.

  * * *

  When I wake up to sun peeping through the curtains, I realise that I’ve slept more soundly than I have in weeks and I feel completely rested. I get dressed for the hike we have ahead of us and then I gently shake Patty, telling her I’ll just be downstairs. I walk out to the shoreline tentatively stepping from rock to rock and peering in all the pools in between. Balancing on one, I look out to sea and notice one of the rocks moving. I wonder what it is and putting my hands above my eyes to shield them from the glare of the morning sunlight, I step out to a more precarious rock to get a better look. The ‘rock’ appears again but it’s not a rock, it’s a seal. How wonderful, I’ve seen a seal! It’s probably not uncommon here but feels like a good omen. I wobble back over the seaweed and barnacles then head back in for breakfast.