Page 63 of Happiness Under a Summer Skye

‘It’s all your fault!’ the woman screamed as she threw a bottle in the direction of Angelia, luckily it missed. She continued to shout, ‘It’s your fault Angel and the Fallen have split! After they plucked you from nowhere, this is how you repay them? You’ve ruined everything!’

Realising what was about to happen, Sarah’s family and some of the people at the other tables stood to form a blockade and Ferris ushered Angelia out the back door followed by Evin and Grace who led the way around to the back of the bakery. Grace banged on the door and Caitlin opened it in a panic.

‘What on earth’s wrong?’ Caitlin asked, peering outside with a worried expression.

‘Mum, there’s a lunatic woman trying to get to Angelia!’ Grace said.

Caitlin’s eyes widened and she gestured for them to come in. ‘I’ll give Inspector Donaldson a call.’

Within minutes, Inspector Donaldson and two further police cars were outside the café to deal with the drunken so-called fan who could be heard shouting and swearing, even from the bakery.

Angelia stayed out of sight in the back kitchen with the others, her heart pounding and a pit of dread in her stomach. After around ten minutes the bell above the bakery door jingled and then came a loud voice. ‘Angelia? Are you in here? Are you okay?’

‘It’s Ed,’ Angelia said. ‘My best friend, Ed.’

‘Come through to the back,’ Caitlin called to him and when he arrived in front of her, Scrappy in his arms, he pulled Angelia into his side with his free hand.

His lip was bleeding. ‘Are you okay? Are you hurt?’ he asked, panic evident in both his wide eyes and strained tone. ‘I was so worried when I saw what was happening with the police. They were dealing with a woman who was going mad throwing stuff and screaming, and I heard your name mentioned so I panicked and came looking for you.’

‘I’m fine, honestly, no harm done. Ferris, Evin and Grace worked so quickly to get me out of there. I’m so grateful to all of you,’ she said, addressing her rescuers. ‘But what’s happened to your lip, Ed? You’re bleeding.’

Caitlin handed Ed some damp kitchen paper and he placed Scrappy on the floor and dabbed at his mouth first before pulling Angelia into his arms again. ‘I’m fine, just got caught in the face by one of the missiles. It’s nothing. Thank goodness you’re okay, that’s all I was bothered about. I’m sure I heard one of the officers say they were arresting her for disturbing the peace. They were slapping handcuffs on her and then I saw her being bundled into the squad car. Another officer said something about threatening behaviour and causing damage to property. Thank goodness you’re safe. I’m so sorry I left you. It won’t happen again.’

She reached up to touch his face where a bruise was becoming evident and guilt knotted her stomach. ‘I’m sorry this happened to you.’

25

When the coast was clear, Ed drove Angelia home and she stared out of the window, absentmindedly stroking Scrappy’s head where it rested on her lap from his position in the passenger footwell.

‘Well, I think I know what I need to do about the record shop now,’ she said, her voice breaking and her heart sinking to a new low.

‘What’s that?’ Ed asked.

She shrugged. ‘I need to get someone in to run it, or maybe even sell it so I have no connection to it, and I think I need to go back to London.’

‘Wait, what?’

‘You saw what happened back there, Ed. The people of Glentorrin and the people of this island don’t need that kind of thing happening on their doorstep. It’s clear that me being here would cause too many negative issues. Obviously not everyone is okay with the fact that the band has folded, and they blame me for it. The last thing I want to do is bring trouble here. The lovely people don’t deserve that. They don’t deserve me and the problems I bring.’

Ed pulled the car into a layby and parked. He turned to her. ‘Hey, look at me.’ She turned slowly, her eyes now foggy with tears. He reached over and took her hand. ‘This isn’t you. This isn’t how you think. And can I point out that Heath wanted to quit, Anouk wants a solo career, and Bear wants to keep bloody chickens for goodness’ sake. If you want to run that record shop, then we’ll make that happen. Don’t go throwing that away because of a lone psycho with only two brain cells to rub together. This is the first time anything like this has happened, so you haven’t caused anything negative. That nutcase has clearly watched that interview you did on TV, taken her brain out, got pissed and placed blame where there isn’t any. The real fans don’t think like that. It’s stupid and so was she. The people of that village love you.’ He pointed back in the direction they had travelled from. ‘It’s clear when we’re at rehearsals how well thought of you are and how grateful they are to you too. But ultimately, Angel, you’re one of them.’ He shrugged as if it was obvious. ‘And you deserve to be happy. You’ve had a hell of a lot thrown at you, but you still insist on putting other people first. Well, maybe it’s time to do what you want. And if running a record shop or heading a choir in Glentorrin is what you really want then you should absolutely do it. I’ll help in any way I can, you know that. But please don’t give up because of what happened today.’ If she’d had any doubt about her feelings for him before, they had just evaporated, which wasn’t exactly helpful.

‘It was so scary though, Ed. I’ve never really experienced direct hate from fans of the band, and it made me so sad that she sought me out. I hate to think what would have happened if the people in the café hadn’t protected me. She threw a bottle. What if someone there had been hurt? There was a thirteen-year-old girl in there with her family.’

‘Think about what you just said. They. Protected. You. They didn’t all stand idly by while you were attacked, Angelia. They stood up for you. That speaks volumes. And Ferris is such a good bloke. I can totally understand why you’re drawn to him. I think… I think he might be just what you need.’ She opened her mouth to speak but he stopped her. ‘Now, let’s get home, chill out for a while and then freshen up because you have a rehearsal to get to later. And I need to call Fee and tell her you’re okay because I made the mistake of telling her about the incident at the café and now, she keeps bombarding me with messages because I told her not to tell you I’d said anything. Good grief, what a tangled web we weave,’ he said with a laugh and a shake of his head.

You’re not wrong there, she thought and inwardly sighed as his mention of Fiona reminded her that her feelings were misplaced.

When they arrived home, Angelia went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. She was still a little shaken up after what had happened and each time she thought about it she began shaking again and was plagued by what ifs. What if the woman had found her when she was alone, what if she had hit someone with the bottle she had thrown, what if one of the kids had been hurt. When she was done, she made her way back to the kitchen and could hear Ed talking on the phone in a hushed voice.

‘No, she’s fine, don’t worry. Honestly, she’s still definitely shaken up but she’s a tough person. She’ll get through it, I promise… Yes, absolutely… I’ll make sure to give him a call… Yeah, maybe I should press charges. Nah, it’s fine… a bit swollen but nothing serious. The utter moron needs psychiatric help if you ask me. Okay… no worries. See you soon… bye.’

‘Is everything okay?’ Angelia asked as she took a seat at the table, presuming he had been talking to Fiona.

He smiled. ‘Everything’s fine. It was Ferris, he wanted to check that you’re okay and ask if he was okay to give my number to Inspector Donaldson so he could call me about making a statement, but I’ve said I’ll phone the station.’

Angelia crumpled her brow. ‘I didn’t know Ferris had your number.’

Ed scratched his head. ‘Yeah, I gave it to him when I saw him after Meghan had left. I figured it was a good idea.’