Melissa shook her head. ‘Once upon a time, yes, but not now. Some days he seems pleased I’m here, others he seems to be counting down until I leave.’
‘I doubt that’s true.’
‘Why didn’t he come after me, Tracy?’
‘Remember what I said last time we talked about this? You need to ask him. Only he and you know what you were both feeling deep down. It’s no use second-guessing or having others speculate.’
‘I suppose you’re right. But I think I’ll try to get through organising this ball first. Speaking of which, I’d better carry on.’ She finished up her lemonade but before she headed up to her room to freshen up before meeting Harvey and distributing those flyers, she had another question. ‘I meant to ask you before, does anyone ever want to come to the Wedding Dress Ball but can’t, for whatever reason, find an outfit?
‘Strange question, and isn’t an outfit kind of a prerequisite? If the dress or the suit don’t fit or if you don’t have one, you’re not coming in,’ she laughed. ‘It says it clearly on the tickets. It’s part of the event.’
‘Harsh,’ Melissa laughed back. ‘But I’m serious, does it ever happen?’
‘Not that I can recall. Several people, myself included, couldn’t fit into their wedding dresses no matter how much dieting we did, but we’ve all had our dresses altered for the cause – taken in or let way out in sections where we’ve changed shape. Some dresses are probably unrecognisable from what they once were, but everyone gets on board and has fun with it. It’s all part of the event, and a definite ice-breaker for anyone on the shy side – we start talking and laughing about gown- and suit-fitting struggles and it’s all we need. And anyone old enough but without a gown, they pick up a dress just like you did. May I ask where your mind is going with this?’
They made their way back inside and into the lovely cool kitchen. ‘I found a dress, at Barney’s house. It was tucked away in his wardrobe. Beautiful it was, gorgeous in fact, something I’d pay a small fortune for now if it didn’t have a section of material cut out from the bottom.’
‘You sound like you’ve got your eye on it. Are you and Mr Pilot getting serious?’
‘I don’t have my eye on it. But don’t you think it’s weird, that it’s there in his wardrobe and he hasn’t mentioned it? I saw it years ago when I was a lot younger too.’
Tracy shrugged. ‘Maybe the dress was left at his place and the person never reclaimed it.’
‘What, they came to the ball wearing it but went home naked?’
‘Good point. Well, the only explanation I can see is like you said, it’s a spare, just in case. And perhaps the cut-out section meant he picked it up somewhere for next to nothing, meant to have it mended, then didn’t get around to it.’
‘You could be right. Perhaps I’m trying to read too much into it.’
‘Probably, and you’ve got enough to focus on with the ball coming up,’ she smiled. ‘And Barney will come around, I know he will.’ With a cloth she wiped some crumbs from the chopping board on the side and emptied them into the bin inside the kitchen door. ‘It’s really good to have you here, Melissa.’
‘I’m glad to be here,’ she smiled at her friend, and she was.
But that was the problem.
*
Between them Harvey and Melissa spent most of the afternoon and early evening delivering flyers for the Wedding Dress Ball to local businesses, houses in the Cove and a slightly wider area, before meeting up back at Barney’s place.
Harvey watched Melissa after they’d shared a cup of tea with Barney and headed outside toward the barn. While the red of her hair had faded, it still shone as though she were years younger, that same girl he’d fallen for. He wished he could switch off his feelings, but it was getting more difficult to do by the day. Until she’d shown up in the Cove again he would’ve said he was over her, but now she was here, he knew he was anything but. The more time he spent with her, the more he remembered what they’d once had and what she now had with someone else.
‘I phoned the table-and-chair-hire company,’ she told him as he opened the doors to the barn and folded them back. ‘We’re almost there.’
He positioned a stepladder at one end of the barn. His job now was to inspect all the beams, something he did periodically to check for rot, mildew or any deterioration. Catching things early was key and some beams had been repaired, pieces had been replaced, and at least he didn’t have to worry about the concrete floor, which pretty much looked after itself. The only other scan he’d need to do was of the sides of the barn in case there were nails protruding or splintered wood that could catch an unsuspecting person or their outfit.
‘Let me hold the ladder,’ Melissa insisted when he climbed up to the topmost step.
‘No need.’ He wanted to get rid of the cobwebs above the barn doors. There’d be more soon enough but it didn’t hurt to keep the place clean as they went along.
‘If you fall too, I’ll have to organise this whole event on my own and I’m really not up for that.’
He smiled down at her. ‘Fine.’
When he finished up and climbed back down the ladder her body was so close he brushed past it and the jolt between them was something he knew they both felt.
‘I’ll go back inside and try to see if I can get Barney to do at least one exercise with me,’ she said, scurrying off in the direction of the house.
She might be with someone else but he wasn’t sorry he still had an effect on her. ‘Good luck, make him listen.’
