‘Oh!’ Ally can’t help the sound escaping her as two others follow him.
It’s the woman from the other day. The one who’d been holding his arm and laughing. Ally’s brain glitches as she sees her grip at his arm once again. There’s a man behind them, smiling pleasantly, nodding to her dad and Sachin. He looks a lot like Jamie, just older and world weary.
‘Hi, hope you don’t mind. I’ve brought my dad,’ Jamie announces. ‘He’s been visiting me, staying at the hotel.’
‘Not that I’ve seen much of you the last couple of days,’ the man says in a gentle way.
‘Oh.’ Ally fights her own awkwardness to step forward and greet them all properly, realising it was her fault Jamie’s missed much of his dad’s visit. ‘Sorry about that.’
‘And,’ Jamie added. ‘This is my sister, Karolyn.’
‘Sister?’ Ally pumped Karolyn’s hand. ‘It’s nice to meet you! Not that it wouldn’t be nice to meet you if you weren’t Jamie’s sister. Obviously. I mean…’
‘I’m Roz, welcome to the repair shop.’ Ally’s mum was stepping in to save her. She still felt the searing flush of red race down her neck, though. ‘And this is my husband, Charlie McIntyre.’
McIntyre shook their hands and bid them come to the sewing table.
Even though the Gifford sisters would have loved to stay and observe Ally in her agonies, Sachin was ushering them out of the door saying something about letting Ally see to Jamie without an audience, which all the Beatons and McIntyres overheard.
Once alone, with the big doors pushed shut, everyone was smiling politely, shrugging off the sudden sense of being cloistered in this big cathedral of a repair barn, the anticipation growing.
‘We couldn’t believe it when Jamie mentioned he was getting Holiday repaired, just like on that telly programme!’ Karolyn was saying. ‘We cut our wander round the tourist shops short specially to come and see this.’
Roz and McIntyre stood on one side of the table with Ally between them, and opposite her stood Jamie, with his dad’s hand on his shoulder and his sister watching closely.
‘Is that it?’ Karolyn said, pointing to the lump under the cloth.
‘I don’t know if this was a good idea,’ Jamie said ominously, his eyes fixed on it too.
‘He was your cow?’ Roz asked.
‘She, actually,’ corrected Jamie with an apologetic, slightly nervous laugh. ‘Yeah, she was mine, from when I was wee.’
‘You took that cow everywhere,’ Karolyn put in, tugging at her brother’s arm affectionately. ‘First day at school, football camp…’
‘She even went on that Duke of Edinburgh residential with you,’ his dad pitched in fondly.
‘And you were sixteen then,’ Karolyn teased.
‘All right, all right!’ Jamie was laughing but it was stiff and pained. He looked at Ally through the embarrassment. ‘Holiday was important to me. Still is.’
‘Well, she’s had quite the makeover,’ said McIntyre.
‘Do you want to see?’ asked Roz gently.
A silent moment passed where all three Beatons breathed deep. Jamie and his sister nodded and their dad tightened his fingers over Jamie’s shoulder, his chest swelling in readiness.
Ally lifted away the cloth, her eyes on Jamie’s face.
What she saw there, she’d never forget. An expression like she’d never seen before and one so complex and raw no actor could ever replicate it.
Even with his hands thrown to his mouth to cover his emotion, she saw what this meant to him.
Karolyn gasped. ‘Oh, that’s lovely!’
Jamie let the sight sink in. ‘Can I pick her up?’ he said.
‘She’s yours,’ said Ally.
