‘Yes, there’s an apple pie.’
Zac felt Melody’s little finger touch his. Before she could move it away from him, he wrapped his little finger around hers gently but didn’t look in her direction. Her finger tightened around his.
Zac felt his heart race to know she felt comfortable with him and picked up his bottle of lager to take a drink. As he looked up he saw Callum watching Melody, then look at him. He tried to read his friend’s expression but couldn’t tell what he might be thinking. Feeling Melody’s finger moving from his, Zac assumed she had seen the exchange and was feeling as uncomfortable about Callum as him.
‘Can I take your plate?’ Brodie asked, interrupting their silence.
Zac looked up at his sister’s boyfriend, aware that it should be him helping and not Brodie. He stood, happy to do something to take his mind off things. ‘You’re a guest,’ Zac said. ‘You should be relaxing not helping. Let me get these.’
‘It’s fine,’ Brodie said. ‘I don’t mind.’
‘Then I’ll help you,’ Zac said, taking Melody’s plate and placing it on top of his.
20
MELODY
Two weeks later
Melody couldn’t believe they were already in September. The weather was still warm, but the forecast was for a cold front to pass over the island and Brittany over the following few days. The festival was in a week’s time and everyone was concerned that the inclement weather would hamper their preparations, or worse, cause disruption to the festival itself. She really hoped it wouldn’t happen, especially after all the hard work everyone had done to make it a success.
‘The worst thing,’ Lettie said to her and Patsy as they sat eating a cooked breakfast on the terrace overlooking the garden, ‘will be if people need to camp but are unable to due to heavy winds or rain.’
Melody hoped the bad weather would pass the island by somehow. She hadn’t been in Jersey long but was aware that the island was small enough to miss odd showers that passed by. She desperately wanted to help Lettie resolve her concerns.
‘I think that camping outside will be fine but maybe we could set up an area with tables and chairs in the barn where people can eat in the evenings, or sit and chat to each other.’
Lettie finished her mouthful and gave Melody’s comment some thought. ‘We could keep aside some space for that. I will need to be able to house some of the animals if the weather’s bad though.’
Determined to help find a solution, Melody tried to come up with another alternative.
Melody saw Patsy’s expression change. Then her grandmother drank some of her tea and after placing her cup down on the saucer turned her attention to them. ‘I think giving over space for attendees to relax each night when the festival ends is a great idea. We can tidy the furniture away in the morning before that day’s programme begins, if necessary.’
‘Hmm,’ Lettie said, clasping her hands together and narrowing her eyes thoughtfully. ‘We’ve hired portaloos for the site, and as the event is over two days we’ll need to offer shower facilities too.’
‘Yes, that’s what I was thinking,’ Melody agreed. ‘Maybe keep one of the smaller storerooms for people’s personal belongings.’
‘I don’t foresee too many people wanting to camp here,’ Lettie said. ‘It’s only a small island and I’m sure most people will want to go home at the end of the day.’
By the time they finished breakfast, Melody knew that Lettie was feeling much calmer about the weather forecast. Melody was beginning to look forward to the entire thing being over with and getting back to her sketches and helping Lettie with harvesting produce and looking after the animals. That was more than enough work as far as she was concerned.
‘Where will you find camp beds though?’ Zac asked, coming out to join them. She saw him look at the food on their places. ‘Hey, where’s mine?’
‘You know where the kitchen is,’ Lettie said. ‘If you’d have got out of your bed as early as we did, then I’m sure Patsy would have cooked some for you.’ He grumbled something and went back into the house.
‘Going back to what you were saying,’ Lettie said, chewing her lower lip. ‘I’ll give some thought about who hires out camping gear on the island.’
‘It is still a busy time of year, so we really should enquire about it soon,’ Melody suggested. ‘Zac seems to know most people here,’ she said. ‘Maybe he could give someone a call,’ she added, realising that might be the better option.
She hadn’t seen much of Callum since the barbecue a few days before because he had been away on a modelling shoot somewhere. Zac had seemed quieter since that evening too and somehow kept himself busy with jobs for the upcoming festival. If he wasn’t delivering leaflets, he was putting up posters. He had met with a couple of late sponsors and there always seemed to be emails to respond to and calls to take.
Melody wasn’t sure if him being constantly busy was due to his discomfort about the two of them kissing. She suspected it might be, especially as he and Callum were good friends. Maybe though, Zac’s distancing himself had something to do with him discovering she had only recently gone through a difficult break-up, and he wanted to give her space to come to terms with that? Whatever it was, she missed having him around as much as he had been before.
‘Yes, please. That would be perfect.’ Lettie gave her a thumbs up.
Melody tried to retrace her train of thought to understand what Lettie was talking about. Remembering her suggestion, she said, ‘I’ll ask Zac to make some calls.’
Melody watched Lettie lean back in her chair. She sighed happily. ‘This is finally all coming together. Although I’mbeginning to wonder why I ever thought this might be a good idea. I suspect this is going to end up costing more in time and effort than we’ll ever see back in revenue.’
