Page 4 of The Island in Bramble Bay
MAGGIE STOOD ON the quay shuffling from foot to foot with her arms folded, trying to keep herself warm as a strong, biting wind came off the harbour spoiling what would otherwise have been a perfect spring day. She was waiting for the four volunteers she had recruited who were arriving on the midday ferry.
She had spent the previous day cleaning and clearing out the volunteers’ chalet, having to sweep it out at least three times before it looked reasonable. The windows were wiped over inside and out, the bathroom and kitchen scrubbed and she even cleaned out the wood-burning stove and laid a bunch of kindling twigs ready for the next fire. The chalet was on the opposite side of the island to the office and Maggie’s cottage, in a less wooded area, closer to where visitors tended to head. Having been a volunteer herself for a couple of years after she left university, she had first-hand experience of how bad some of the free accommodation could be and wanted to make it as nice as possible for them. She had lived in places that were no more than glorified sheds with terrible kitchen and bathroom facilities. Admittedly, because she had just left university, her standards had been quite low and when you were volunteering, anywhere you could live for free tended to be acceptable, which would possibly be the case today, but Maggie wanted it to be a little bit better than their expectations.
As the ferry docked, she could see the volunteers on the top deck, hoicking their rucksacks onto their backs. There were two women and two men, all in their early twenties. Maggie waved as they disembarked, standing to one side to allow the day visitors to stream past her into the reception.
‘Hi there, I’m Maggie Cassidy, park manager here at Bramble Island. Welcome to the island!’ She shook hands with each of them as they introduced themselves as Eric, Josh, Megan and Alice before suggesting that they go straight to the chalet so that they could get themselves settled in.
‘Wow, it’s lovely,’ exclaimed Alice as they walked in.
‘Yeah, much nicer than the place in Cumbria where I was last summer,’ said Josh, nodding appreciatively.
‘Great,’ said Maggie, really pleased that she’d managed to give them a good first impression. ‘Take the afternoon to settle in and explore then come to my house for dinner around seven? It’s the last cottage in the row down by the quay.’
Before she headed back to the office, Maggie went to find Charlie in the west woods. She wanted to see if he’d like to join them all for dinner. It was a good opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and would give Charlie a good idea of who he might like as his woodland sidekick for the summer.
She found him with a pair of loppers in his hands considering the fate of a hazel tree that looked particularly vigorous.
‘You’re going to need a bigger boat.’
Charlie turned around and grinned. ‘I think you’re right. I’ll come back to it with the chainsaw.’
She’d never seen him smile before and it lit his eyes up.
‘How’s it going?’
‘Pretty slow but y’know, okay. At least the weather’s on my side at the moment.’
‘So, I don’t know if you saw my note on the memo board in the office?’
Charlie looked sheepish for a second which Maggie took to be a ‘no’.
‘The volunteers arrived today so I wondered if you’d like to come to dinner, give us all a chance to get to know each other.’
The easy smile disappeared and he looked like a cat caught in the headlights so she was surprised when he accepted.
‘Thanks, that sounds great. What time?’
‘They’re all coming round to mine at seven but whenever you’re ready.’
‘Okay, see you later.’
It was as if he’d never had a dinner invitation before, Maggie thought as she strolled back to the office along the wide path which formed part of the circular walk which took in the whole of the island. Was it just that she had caught him by surprise? His apparent feelings towards previous managers were perhaps an indication that there hadn’t been much in the way of team spirit before. Perhaps it was slightly unorthodox to invite everyone round to hers and admittedly Maggie couldn’t think of a time when she’d been invited to something like that as a volunteer, but she was really glad he’d said yes. It would be reassuring to have a relatively familiar face there and would hopefully make Charlie realise how important he was to her team.
Maggie had put in a grocery order with the café who had a delivery from the mainland most days. In fact, she had been doing her shopping via them since she arrived with the only other option being to use the Bramble Bay Ferry and then get a bus somewhere. It was working out okay but soon enough she’d need to stock up on toiletries and other things which she wouldn’t feel comfortable asking them for.
As she wasn’t the best cook in the world, especially when it came to catering for more than two people, she’d opted for burgers and salad with fruit for dessert. The couple of bottles of wine and small crate of beers she’d asked for would hopefully help with the team bonding as well.
‘Hi Jan, I’ve just come to pick up my shopping for tonight.’
Jan was in charge of the café and had been a mine of information about anything Maggie had needed to know since she’d arrived.
‘Oh, Maggie love, hang on a minute,’ Jan said, wiping her hands on a tea towel which was tucked into her apron ties and hurrying into the kitchen. ‘Come through!’ she called.
Jan pulled a carrier bag from the fridge and checked inside. ‘Ooh, you’re having a do?’
‘The volunteers arrived today,’ explained Maggie. ‘I thought it’d be nice to have a get-together, saves them cooking tonight as well.’
‘Is Charlie joining you?’
