Page 20 of Happiness Under a Summer Skye

Heath spoke again. ‘Come on, Josh, what about Nancy? You talked about proposing to her. You’ve been with her forever, mate. Are you going to throw that away?’

‘Of course I’m not,’ Josh hissed. ‘I could never be with Angelia. We’d never work because of my deep love for Nancy. But I’ve been sitting on these feelings for years now and tonight kind of… confirmed it, I suppose. I felt like I’d been gut punched when she told us about this MG thing. I couldn’t handle it. I just wanted to scoop her up and tell her everything would be fine and that I would sort it all out, but I can’t and that does my head in.’ His voice broke and he cleared his throat. ‘And the thing is, I know she feels something for me, too, or at least she used to. I could see it in her eyes, Heath. Can you be in love with two people at once?’ His voice was strained and filled with pain.

Heath sighed deeply. ‘How should I know? I’ve only ever loved Agda. I’ve never even been remotely interested in anyone else, so you’re asking the wrong person. But my guess is that if you’re capable of loving someone else when you’re with Nancy there must be something not right there. I mean, you say your love for her is deep but you’ve been together since high school and you’re not even engaged after all this time.’

‘I’ve been going to propose to Nancy so many times,’ Josh said, almost pleadingly. ‘I’ve even got the ring. But… something always stops me. She said recently that if I can’t commit to her 100 per cent she’ll leave. I can’t let that happen, Heath. She’s the one I’m meant to be with but… Angelia came along and… I felt this instant spark. This connection. Like we’re soulmates or something crazy like that. She calls our bond an invisible string. She’s right except that for me it’s something more than just a friendship bond. But I can’t act on my feelings. Because I do love Nancy. And I need to commit to her. So, I need to let this thing with Angelia go. So maybe her going home for a while isn’t such a bad idea.’

There was a silent pause and Angelia wished she could see their faces. Her heart hammered and she felt a little lightheaded with shock.

Heath broke the silence after a few moments. ‘Yeah… yeah, I think it might be a good thing to get some distance between you because Angel has been messed around enough by dickheads and I won’t let you be another one. She’s like my kid sister. And yes, I think she had a crush on you when she joined the band, but she had the sense to let that go years ago. You’re wasting your time. Just let it go and move on, Josh. She doesn’t need this and Nancy doesn’t deserve it. In fact, I love you like a brother, Josh, but you don’t deserve either of them, in my opinion. Just bloody grow a pair and be a friend to Angel, for feck’s sake.’

‘Angel, are you going to come and eat before Bear finishes off all the pizza?’ Den shouted and Angelia jumped, feeling a little like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

She felt heat rising in her face and hoped to goodness Heath and Josh hadn’t realised she was outside the door, listening in on their very personal conversation, because nothing good had come from it. She ran on her tiptoes towards the kitchen and when she had created enough distance between her and the study she called out, ‘Just getting some wine, be there in a sec.’

Her head was spinning, her mind reeling from what she had heard. So, he did feel something for her after all. Although it was useless to have this little snippet of knowledge as she had heard from Josh’s own lips that he would never be with her. He might feel a connection to her but his connection to Nancy was evidently stronger. And that was fine really because she couldn’t be the one to break them up. Nancy was such a lovely person and didn’t deserve any of this. No, it was time to well and truly let this crush go. And her mind was made up.

She was going home.

The following day, Angelia managed to get hold of both Ed and Fiona and arranged a video call with them at 4 p.m. GMT, meaning it was 11 a.m. in New York where Ed was, to update them on what had happened. Ed sat there, shirtless, in bed, his hair all scruffy and flat at one side. Angelia couldn’t help smiling and for a split second imagined what it would be like to wake up next to him. She shook her head and made a joke about his appearance and him being dragged through a hedge backwards.

‘Yeah, sorry about the state of me. Late night with The Phil. Then an after party. Absolutely knackered,’ he explained through a yawn.

Angelia had gone on to explain the diagnosis she had been given the day before. Fiona was on her Easter break and had been full of positivity and optimism, as always, but Ed had seemed a little shellshocked.

‘And they’re sure there’s no cure?’ he asked, his brow furrowed as he stared into the camera.

Angelia nodded. ‘They’re sure. But they’re researching all the time, so you never know.’ She tried to sound upbeat.

He had huffed the air from his lungs through puffed cheeks and rubbed his hand over his face. ‘Jeez… I don’t know what to say, Angel. Are you okay? Shit, that’s such a stupid question.’ He shook his head. ‘I wish I could hug you.’

Angelia had kept it together up to that point but his words and the sentiment behind them made her eyes sting. ‘Me too.’

‘And are the meds working?’ Fiona asked.

‘Meghan only collected them today, so I’ve only taken one. But the doc said they should kick in pretty quickly.’

‘Well, I’m coming to see you as soon as I can,’ Fiona declared. ‘You need your besties at a time like this. But you’ll beat it, Angelia MacAuley. I have faith in you.’

‘I’ll come over as soon as I can too,’ Ed added. ‘Fee’s right. And I… I miss you… both of you.’ His eyes appeared glassy and it was a little out of character for him.

‘Is everything okay, Ed?’ Fiona asked, beating her to it.

He nodded as he rubbed his thumb across each eye in turn. ‘Yeah! Oh God, yeah, I’m fine. Just sore eyes. Like I said, knackered.’ He yawned again as if to exaggerate his earlier point.

In order to lighten the mood, Fiona told them all about the conversations she had overheard when she had accompanied some of her high-school students to play a concert at a local primary school. The little kids were all seated on the floor in rows and waiting for the concert to begin and it was clear they were excited about the upcoming visit from the Easter bunny, and some of them had been talking about the fact.

‘I heard one of the wee ones say to his friend, “If the Easter bunny lays eggs doesn’t that make him a chicken?” and the friend replied with, “Nah, don’t be daft, Connor, he doesn’t lay the eggs. My dad says he buys them from the Cash and Carry near Ikea. That’s where the farmers drop them off.” Then, after pondering this for a minute, the first boy said, “I wonder why they only come out made of chocolate when it’s Easter. The ones I have for my breakfast are never made of chocolate.” And the other boy gave a deep sigh of exasperation and shook his head before telling him, “Connor, you’re a wee dafty, they feed the chickens on special stuff in the lead up to Easter to make them chocolate. Don’t your mummy and daddy tell you anything?” It was hilarious… and a little worrying.’ The three friends laughed at her stories and the call ended on a decidedly lighter note than it had begun on.

On Good Friday, later that week, Angelia and Scrappy headed north with Meghan in the little yellow Mini. Angelia had tried to insist that she would make the journey alone, but Meghan wouldn’t hear of it.

‘Look, Angelia, I think of you as a friend, not just my boss. I would like to come with you, not only to keep you company but if I’m there and there are any issues with rogue fans, or anything else, your mum and dad have an extra person to help out.’

‘But what about Ezra? You and he were just getting to know each other.’

Meghan smiled. ‘You’ve heard of WhatsApp and video calling, haven’t you?’ she said with a nudge to her shoulder. ‘And anyway, I don’t want to be one of those women who sits around pining. It’s just not me. Ezra is away filming in New York, and he calls me when he gets the time but I’m not hanging on the back of the door like some lovesick— whatever lovesick thing hangs on the back of doors,’ Meghan said with a giggle. So, Angelia had accepted the offer of a lift rather than flying and having to hire a car.

Meghan had collected her prescription for the next few weeks, and made a Spotify playlist for them to listen to as they travelled. They made a few toilet stops for the wee dog and eventually arrived at Gretna Hall Hotel – just along the road from the famous Gretna Green Blacksmith’s Shop wedding venue – where they would spend the night. Meghan had ensured everything was booked ahead of time, so Angelia didn’t need to worry, and she had even got special dispensation for Scrappy to stay with them in their twin room.