Page 60 of Coming Home to Winter Island
‘To the mainland, like I said.’
‘But what about a job?’
‘I’ll find something. The care home have offered me some gardening work. Might suit me fine. They said there’d be a job for you too if you wanted to spend some time singing with the residents.’
‘Ha, I might just take them up on that!’ I try and laugh through the sniffing and the tears that have started to roll. Tears of frustration and sadness. ‘Joe knows I didn’t go to Tenerife. He knows I’ve lied to him. He says I have to go back now, or it’s over.’ Everything I’ve known for the past four years, over. Lachlan pulls me closer, and this time I don’t resist; I let myself fall against his big chest and his soft knitted jumper, breathing in the aroma of woodsmoke and what smells a lot like home right now.
‘Come on,’ he says finally, as I stand up straight and he pulls off his gloves and wipes the tears from beneath my eyes. ‘Let’s see if there are any kippers left.’
We turn towards the house. It’s a magnificent building. Despite its sorry state inside, it is as proud as its owner on the outside. Smart and upright and brave in the face of adversity. We start walking towards it, and Lachlan keeps his arm around my shoulders.
‘I’ll take down the video of you singing. Like I say, I just thought it would attract some attention on the crowdfunding page. I thought it did exactly what you said we should do, show off the island at its best.’
I look up at him. ‘Did you?’
‘I did, yes. But I’ll take it down now. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you.’
‘It’s got me into a bit of bother. Joe’s given me this ultimatum and I’m in trouble with the band, with Jess.’
‘I should’ve thought. I’m sorry. I just saw it and thought how beautiful you looked in it, how beautifully you sang and how you were everything this island is. You’re a part of it as much as any of us. This is your home too.’
The tears well up again and I drop my head as we walk back into the house and towards the big kitchen, where my old laptop is sitting on the table.
In the doorway, I turn to Lachlan.
‘I’m sorry again,’ he says. ‘I really didn’t mean to cause trouble for you. I just felt...well...I just thought it was beautiful. I didn’t think.’
‘It’s fine, really,’ I say, looking up at him.
He smiles back, that familiar smile, and just for moment I look at his lips and he looks at mine, and I feel myself drawn to him, but he suddenly turns and goes in to Hector and throws another log on the fire there. I blush. Was I going to kiss him because I feel bad and let down by Joe, or because I’m actually falling for him? I can’t let myself be confused by the two things. Thank goodness he pulled away first, otherwise I could have made a big mistake. I seem to have made a few of those recently.
I open the computer and click through to the crowdfunding page. There’s the video. Jess must have seen it before me. And now she thinks I’ve lied to her and that it’s over for us as a band as well as for Joe and me. Even if I do go back, will she and the others want me after this? Can you be a band if you don’t have trust? Has all this been for nothing? We’re going to lose the gin, the house, everything. And Hector will end up who knows where. A long way from everything he knows and loves.
I look at the video and play it. Like I say, I usually hate to watch myself, but somehow, this time, it makes me smile. I’m there with my hair being blown by the wind, collecting firewood on the beach, gazing out across the water. It’s everything I will remember when I leave this place. It’s everything that was there in the gin.
‘Here, I’ll take it down,’ says Lachlan, leaning over me, making my nerve endings stand to attention again. He takes hold of the mouse. Hector has wandered into the kitchen, clearly having heard the singing.
‘It was back on the beach, that’s where it started...’ And he launches once more into the story of the day my father left. ‘...But he’ll be back. With the baby...’ and I can’t help but smile again, knowing that Hector was here waiting for me. There was always a place for me in the heart of this home, and in his heart too.
‘Wait,’ says Lachlan, the cursor hovering over the delete button. ‘I think you should probably see this first.’ And he points to the screen.
‘I can’t look!’ I say. I close my eyes and put my hands over my face.
Chapter Thirty-five
‘Take your hands away, look!’ I hear him say, but I can’t. Then I feel his hands on mine, gently guiding them from my face until they’re on the wooden table in front of me. ‘Now open your eyes,’ he tells me. ‘Go on!’ he urges. He’s standing right behind me and I can feel his warm breath next to my ear. Excitement and fear are building in me, and I don’t know if it’s because of what he wants to show me on the screen, or something else.
Slowly I open my eyes. What if investors have pulled out? Changed their minds? I know we haven’t made the target yet, nowhere near in fact, and the tea party is under a week away. This is my fault, or it feels like it anyway. I sigh deeply, resigning myself to the fact that we’re going to have to cancel. I raise my gaze to the screen, then blink and look again. I turn round to Lachlan, who’s smiling widely, creases forming in his cheeks, his flecked green eyes sparkling.
‘Looks like they’re investing in you!’ he says. ‘They love you!’ The smile on his face is mirrored in his voice.
‘Oh my God! People are paying! They’re really putting up money!’ I look at the figure on the screen again. ‘Aren’t they?’ He is still beaming and nodding, watching the total, which has just changed and gone up again. ‘Oh!’ My hands shoot to my face. ‘A new investor!’
Lachlan leans in over my shoulder, making my heart pick up its pace as I smell his now familiar aroma of woodsmoke and pine. ‘Look, it’s the care home. The Island View. It says the residents have had a whip-round and want to be Teach Mhor investors. And they want to know if you’ll come back and visit again soon.’ He points. ‘And there are loads of comments about your singing. Looks like it’s you they’ve fallen in love with. “A slice of island life”, someone’s written.’
Transported me straight there, can’t wait to taste the gin!I read another comment.Enchanting and magical. Felt like I was there! Who is this woman?!And then many more wanting to know who I am and where they can hear more of my music.
‘The number of shares and likes it’s getting is going up and up. People are reposting it all over the place! And look at the total, it’s amazing!’
