He heard Lettie’s voice chatting to Patsy seconds before they entered the study.
‘Oh dear, that bad, is it?’ Patsy asked, walking in and leaning on the desk.
Melody lowered her hands and stretched. ‘We’ve been in here the entire time you two have been out.’
‘How are you getting on?’ Lettie asked, walking around their father’s desk to have a look over Zac’s shoulder at the programme on the screen. ‘You’re coming along well.’
‘So we should be,’ Zac groaned. ‘We’ve taken long enough to get this far.’
Melody gave Zac a gentle nudge in his ribs. ‘Take no notice of him – he’s fed up because I’m a perfectionist.’ Zac heard the amusement in her tone but knew there was some truth in what she was saying. ‘We’ve also updated the spreadsheet with all the new additions, like the rubber flooring we’ve had to hire for the class areas in the barns and any costings that have come in over the past few days.’
Lettie groaned. ‘Urgh, I hate to think how much this is costing us when we initially planned on doing it to make money.’
‘I’m sure you’ll make some money,’ Patsy said. ‘We just need enough people to come along and pay their entrance fee.’
‘The festival will pay dividends,’ Melody assured Lettie. ‘We just need to make sure enough attendees come along on both days so that those with stands do well.’
‘I’m sure they will,’ Zac said.
He felt Lettie give his shoulder a slight squeeze. ‘Maybe you can contact Callum and ask him to give the festival another shout-out on his show, to remind people about it.’
He knew it made sense. ‘I will but I’m not sure whether he’s back on the island yet.’
‘Give him a call and find out then,’ Lettie said, walking back around the desk and pulling a face at him. ‘Honestly, is there something going on between you and Callum?’
‘No.’ Zac sensed he had answered a little too quickly by the way his sister’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. ‘Why would you think that?’ He hoped she couldn’t tell he was bluffing.
Lettie shrugged. ‘I thought he’d given up doing all that modelling.’
So had Zac. ‘Maybe they made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,’ he suggested. ‘I don’t know.’
Lettie sighed wearily. ‘Would you prefer it if I called him?’
Feeling silly for making a big deal about speaking to his best friend, Zac shook his head. ‘No, of course not. I’ll call him in a bit.’
Melody stood and, pressing her hands to her sides, stretched backwards. ‘I’ve been sitting for far too long.’
Seeing an opportunity to call Callum in private, Zac held his hands out to the three women. ‘Why don’t the three of you go and take it easy for a bit? I’ll finish up in here, then make that call to Callum and I’ll catch up with you later.’
He watched them go and sat back in his chair, trying to think what to say when his friend answered his call.
22
MELODY
Melody was relieved to know that Zac and Callum would be speaking. She hated to think that her presence had caused a rift between the two close friends. It wasn’t as if she was completely free of Rhys yet, or that anything much had happened between her and Zac. Which was a good thing, she decided, not liking to think of Rhys discovering she was attracted to anyone else. Not until she knew he understood that their relationship was well and truly over.
An hour later she heard a van coming down the drive followed by Lettie’s excited voice a couple of minutes later. ‘Girls, come and look at what’s just arrived.’
Patsy nudged Melody as they walked along the hallway to the kitchen. ‘I love how she includes me when she calls for the girls to join her.’
‘When you have more energy and enthusiasm than the rest of us, I think I can understand why she would class you as a girl.’
They walked into the kitchen and Melody noticed two boxes. The first one had the flaps open already and Lettie was busily cutting the tape on the other with a knife.
‘What is it?’
‘Have a look,’ Lettie said, giving a satisfied sigh as she released the tape on the other box and opened it.
