‘Of course,’ she said, looking flustered. ‘I have packing to do and your father hasn’t even begun to sort out his clothes for our trip to the Mediterranean.’ She pointed to the wall clock. ‘Forget the rooms for now. You’d better leave to fetch them. Kathleen will have let them know that you’re on your way, so they’ll probably already be waiting.’
‘Fine. I’ll see you in a bit.’ He went to say something about the festival to his sister.
‘Zac Torel, I need you to go straight away,’ his mother said before leaving the room.
Lettie widened her eyes, clearly amused.
‘I’m going. You’re going to need to think of a name for the festival, work out what you think it’ll cost and exactly when you’d like to hold it.’
‘And we’ll need to set up a website,’ she replied enthusiastically. ‘I’ll make some notes and get on with all that.’
‘Go, sis! I’ll help you later if you want.’
‘Sounds amazing,’ she said, leaning over to the worktop and grabbing a notepad and pen. ‘Thanks, Zac.’
‘Zac Torel, are you still here?’ their mother called from somewhere in the hallway.
Zac rolled his eyes.
‘You’d better get going.’
It took all Zac’s patience to stop letting his frustration with the traffic get the better of his temper as he slowly made his way there. The roads were full of people seemingly out on leisurelydrives. Every cyclist on the island also appeared to be out and about and, when he managed to find himself on a clear road, a tractor or some other farm vehicle materialised in front of him, slowing him down again.
He pulled into the campsite car park and realised he had no idea what the two women looked like. He decided that the best thing might be to get out of the car and stand by it, hoping they would think to speak to the person who was clearly waiting for someone.
Eventually two women walked into the car park and seemed to be looking for someone. They had large rucksacks and one seemed older than the other from what he could see of her face under a huge floppy straw hat. It seemed more suited to lying on the beach or on a lounger in the garden than in a campsite.
He stepped forward and raised a hand waving at them. ‘Are you looking for me?’ he asked cheerily. ‘I’m Zac from Hollyhock Farm.’
They both smiled and began walking more quickly towards him.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ the older lady said, leading the way. ‘It’s jolly kind of you to come all this way to fetch us.’
‘It’s no problem at all,’ he said, realising he wasn’t only saying that to be polite when he saw the beautiful girl take off her hat momentarily to reveal her bright pink hair. She pushed her hair back from her face before replacing the hat on her head.
2
MELODY
Melody should have known camping wasn’t going to suit her grandmother Patsy’s idea of comfort but once Gran made her mind up about something there was little point in arguing. At least they would soon be staying in a farmhouse with, she hoped, real beds. She caught the eye of the handsome, tanned man who had come to fetch them and hoped the rest of the family were as friendly as him.
‘Hi, I’m Zac Torel,’ he said, shaking her grandmother’s hand.
It dawned on her that maybe the Torel family expected them to pitch their tent in one of their fields. She hoped not. Melody was looking forward to sleeping inside again. One week sleeping under the stars was enough for her, especially sharing an airless tent with her gran.
Melody watched her grandmother introduce herself to the man and decided she couldn’t love anyone more than she did this caring, protective woman whose zest for life surpassed anyone else’s that she knew. It was comforting to know that there was someone who had your back no matter what life threw at you. All it had taken for her gran to insist they come to theisland was Melody turning up on her doorstep in floods of tears after the last time her husband Rhys had turned on her.
Melody raised her hand to her right cheek, touching the skin lightly with the tips of her fingers, even though the bruising had now gone. She saw Zac glance at her and pulled her hat down lower. It still shocked her to recollect how volatile Rhys’s temper had become since their marriage only two years before. She was embarrassed to think how he had manipulated her to believe she was the cause of so much of his rage. Then he had hit her and she decided that she had endured his jealousy and accusations for long enough. It was time to leave.
‘That’s it,’ Patsy had said after Melody had explained what had caused her sobs. ‘You need to get away from that toe rag. I’ve always wanted to visit the Channel Islands and now there’s nothing stopping the pair of us going there. Pack your things.’
Only too happy to agree with Patsy’s plan, Melody had waited for Rhys to leave their Edinburgh flat before sneaking in and packing a rucksack of essentials, grabbing her passport and returning to her grandmother’s bungalow. All her parents knew of their trip was that she was accompanying Patsy. Her mother and Rhys’s mum were best friends and Melody didn’t want to cause a rift between them by telling her what had really been going on in her life. Her father would hunt him down and probably resort to hitting him, and she didn’t want to be responsible for that happening either, so confiding in her grandmother had been the safest option. And the best, she now realised.
Patsy was still talking to Zac. ‘It’s very good of your family to offer us somewhere to stay and thank you again for coming to fetch us.’
‘May I take your rucksacks for you? They look rather heavy.’
‘They are a bit,’ her grandmother said, turning to let him lift the heavy weight from her back. ‘That’s much better.’
