Page 115 of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon
Trudy relaxes. Is that all?
‘Yes, I do,’ she says.
‘And you didn’t tell me!’ The note of outrage in Babs’s voice could be real or feigned – it’s hard to tell.
‘None of your business,Barbara.’
‘Don’t call me that. It doesn’t suit me.’
‘Gertrude doesn’t suit me either.’ She puts her hands on her hips and raises her eyebrows.
‘Fair. It’s a harsh-sounding name.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’
‘Do.’ Babs purses her lips and keeps eyeing Trudy. ‘What’s his name, this gentleman?’
‘Sol.’
‘Where do you know him from?’
‘He played bowls with Laurie.’
‘Bowls … bowls …’ She presses her lips together harder than before. ‘Not Sol Jacobs?’
Trudy feels like a child caught with her hand in the lolly jar. ‘Yes,’ she half whispers, taken aback. ‘Obviously you know him?’
‘I used to play bowls at that club.’
It’s coming back to Trudy now: Babs started coming to the salon because she played bowls with Laurie. Which means, of course, that she’d have played it with Sol.
‘Lovely fellow. So sad when his wife died. We all wanted him to find someone.’ She brightens. ‘And he has! Wonderful! Do you play bowls?’
‘No.’
‘Good. Don’t start.’ She makes a face. ‘Sopolitical, those clubs. Waste of time.’
Phoebe appears, nervously tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘I’m ready for you, Mrs … um …’
‘Babs.’ She pushes herself up from the chair. ‘Call me Babs, love.’
Babs toddles off to the basins as Trudy thinks about the fact that she knows Sol. About the roads that lead us to people and how sometimes there are more of them than we think.
Evie is on the other side of the salon chatting away to Anna, who’s in for her own wash and blow-dry. From what Trudy has gleaned, Oliver is turning out to be quite the nice companion for Evie.
There’s another road that’s led them all somewhere: Evie knew Oliver, Oliver suggested Sam for the job, and Sam has been a gem to have in the salon. And in his own way Sam led Evie back to Oliver. Perhaps he was always her destination.
She doesn’t think Sol was always hers – but he didn’t have to be. Because the road can change course and we won’t even notice. And sometimes we’ll decide to take a different road.
Trudy’s been thinking about selling the business. Not now. Not even soon. But it’s in her mind. She even talked to Sol about it, because he’s been retired for a while, ‘and I recommend it’, he told her.
‘We could travel,’ he said, and she liked that idea, not having set foot much beyond Terrigal in her entire life.
Not that she needs more than Terrigal. Everything she wants and loves is here. Apart from Dylan, of course.
There’s more of the world to see, though. More of life to live. Her clients have lives that spin in and out of this place, and for decades she has listened to their stories and thought those experiences will never be for her because she has to stay and work. Stay and keep up with her responsibilities.
She said something like that to Sol the other day. He said, ‘But your primary responsibility is to yourself. If you are happy, the people around you are happy.’
