Ivy opened her eyes and gasped. The harbour was bathed in silver moonlight and Trip was looking right at her, his eyes alight. And he was still holding her hand. He seemed to notice at the same time and let it go.
‘Did you just produce amoon?’ she asked.
He laughed, looking around at the silvered street. ‘Um, no. That part was a coincidence. It must have been hidden behind a cloud and came out while we had our eyes shut.’ He grinned. ‘But you have to admit, it’s brighter.’
He was right about that, Ivy thought. Together they began to walk along the harbour, the moon painting the water in silver, and the noise from the town hall fading behind them until the only sounds were an occasional distant splash and the masts tapping as the boats bobbed in their moorings.
‘Tonight was great,’ Trip said happily, almost to himself.
‘You tamed the show committee,’ said Ivy, shaking her head. ‘No one lit any fires. And no one lost any limbs.’
‘Trust me, with some of those stunts Mr Patterson had in the script, it was close. It all could have gone veryMidsommar.’
Trip walked beside her in companionable silence for a while, hands in his pockets, until Ivy spoke.
‘What made you ask Erin and Mei and Callum to help with the show? I mean, you barely know them.’
Trip glanced over at her, his expression thoughtful. ‘People mostly want to join in if you ask them.’
‘So says a life-long joiner. I can tell.’
He nodded. ‘Absolutely. That’s one of the biggest things Ilearned from my gran. She always had this way of justassumingpeople would want to be part of whatever wild project she was doing. A solstice parade or a spontaneous poetry night or a protest march. She’d ask everyone, the most unlikely people, and they’d usually say yes.’
‘She sounds nice,’ said Ivy. She thought of Brooke and Trip at the lighthouse that morning and wondered if they’d been talking about their grandmother then. ‘Like you. I’d be the one saying no or sitting in the corner.’
‘Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.’ Trip nudged her gently. ‘You’re nice too, Ivy.’
Ivy flushed. ‘I don’t think anyone’s ever called me nice before.’Difficult, stubborn, intense, single-minded, yes. She had been called all those things. Butnice, no.
‘Well, I think you are,’ Trip said easily.
Ivy could see her car up ahead and was almost sorry the walk was coming to an end. They reached it and stood there, facing each other. Out of nowhere, there it was again, Ivy thought. That odd, unexpected shiver.
Trip rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Night, then. I’ll see you in the morning, bright and early for this island excursion.’
‘Yeah. Night. Bring a coat this time? It gets cold on the boat.’
‘Okay.’
Neither moved.
Ivy said, ‘And you’ll bring snacks, right?’
Trip smiled a warm, slightly crooked smile. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘You have to have snacks.’
Liv was asleep when Ivy tumbled into bed. She dreamed a strange confused dream – of tapdancing lobsters performing outside the ghostly lighthouse and Mr Hargreaves conducting, all set to a jazz soundtrack. Trip was there too, hands in pockets, smiling his sunny smile and looking on.You’re nice too, Ivy. In the dream, Ivy felt like everything was going to be okay.
For the first time in weeks she had slept deeply and was sound asleep when her alarm went off. She sat bolt upright, disorientated, quickly turning it off so as not to wake Liv – why had she set an alarm so early? Then it came back to her. Of course. Her appointment with Brooke, Trip and Seal Island.
Forty-five minutes later, outside the shop, swaddled in all the winter clothes she could pile on, she found Brooke alone, looking as usual effortlessly put together in leggings and a thick padded coat.
‘Trip’s just getting the snacks,’ she said, pulling on thermal gloves. ‘He doesn’t travel without them.’
Ivy smiled. ‘Of course. Did he tell you about the rehearsallast night? He had the show committee eating out of his hand. The children following direction for the first time ever. And he revised the script into something coherent in the space of an evening. It was quite something to watch.’
‘Trip has a way with people,’ Brooke said. ‘And he doesn’t do half measures.’ She gave Ivy a curious look. ‘He was out later than I thought he would be.’
‘We took the scenic route back to my car,’ said Ivy.
