Page 64 of Happiness Under a Summer Skye

‘Ah, okay. How’s your lip?’ The skin near the cut now had a purplish hue and his lip was swollen.

He lifted his hand to it and gave it a prod. ‘Oh, it’s fine. I can hardly feel it, don’t worry. How are you doing?’ She nodded but her chin trembled and her emotions got the better of her. ‘Hey, come on.’ In one stride he was scooping her into his arms. ‘Shhh. It’s okay. You’re okay. Which is more than that cow bag will be if I ever see her again.’

She smiled at his turn of phrase. ‘Thank you for staying with me,’ she said as she clung to him, inhaling his aftershave and relishing the feeling of his smooth skin against her cheek and his familiar strong arms around her.

He stroked her hair. ‘I’d do anything for you, Angel. You know that.’ Then after a pause he added, ‘Best friends for life.’

That night, as she walked into the church for their final rehearsal, Angelia was surprised to see the choir already assembled. They were all deep in conversation about something that appeared serious and none of them seemed to realise she had entered.

When Isla spotted her, she glared at Ferris who was seated at the keyboard and hissed, ‘The eagle is in the henhouse!’

Bella turned to her, and with a quizzical expression said, ‘Pick a metaphor, Granny. Either the eagle has landed, or the fox is in the henhouse.’ She shook her head and rolled her eyes but went back to her conversation.

Isla scowled at her granddaughter and then shouted, ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, everyone, Angelia has landed in the henhouse!’

Everyone fell immediately silent and turned to stare at Angelia who giggled. ‘Is everything okay?’

Ferris counted to four and began playing as the choir launched into a rendition of ‘Stay Another Day’ by East 17 and Angelia stood there, open-mouthed and a little watery-eyed. Their harmonies were a bit bizarre, but they sang with such passion that she couldn’t help it when a few tears escaped.

When the song was over, she applauded and Ed joined in, adding a whistle for good measure. ‘That was wonderful. But I don’t understand, it’s a Christmas song really and the concert is for summer. And we’ve already finalised the set list.’

Isla cleared her throat. ‘Aye, hen, we know it’s a Christmassy song. It’s by that East Enders group. We performed it at the Christmas concert. But you see we wanted to sing it for you because of the words and the sentiment. I think I speak on behalf of everyone here when I say these last few weeks of working with you have been wonderful. And we’re kind of hoping you might stay on the island and maybe… I don’t know… open a shop selling vinolay flooring or something.’ She smiled and gave a little wink. ‘Although it’s a strange choice for a former rock star,’ she added, but quietly, and probably to herself.

‘Vinyl, Granny. As in records that you play,’ Bella whispered.

A puzzled expression briefly crossed Isla’s face. But then in true Isla fashion she replied, ‘Aye, that’s what ah said,’ through the corner of her mouth, without moving her head. ‘Anyway, Angelia dearie, we know you’re feeling a bit shaken up after that wee mad grouper tried to get to you. But we want you to know that we’d love you to stay, and you’ve not to let that thug derail any plans you might have had, that’s all. We’re used to celebrities on this island, you know,’ she said with a glint in her eyes. ‘And if this is somewhere you think you might like to make a new life for yourself then we’d be happy to have you, and we’d look out for you. And…’ She glanced around at her friends. ‘We’re sort of, selfishly, hoping you might like to stick around and direct the choir too.’ Everyone else enthusiastically added their agreement to this.

Angelia looked to Ferris who was smiling at Ed, and then she turned to Ed who was also smiling back. When he saw her looking at him, he simply shrugged but his smile remained fixed in place. He was clearly very pleased with himself; they both were. So that must be what their phone call was about, she thought. The two of them have been in cahoots. But she was so grateful they had.

‘Thank you all so much. Your words, and song choice, mean the world to me,’ she told them with a wavering voice. ‘I have a lot to think about but for now, we’ve a concert to prepare for so shall we get some rehearsing done?’

The whole choir burst into spontaneous applause and for a moment Angelia felt like a football coach who’d just given a team talk. She took a bow and then took her position at the front of the choir.

Their version of ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ was her favourite of all the choices. She loved the sentiment of the chorus and especially the way it talked about maybe the thing you think you desire being out of reach, but perhaps instead the universe gifts you the thing that will actually help you move forward. That resonated within her. She had always thought that being a rock star was what she wanted and was what she was meant to be, but a diagnosis with a chronic condition and the last few weeks of working with the choir had shown her that life doesn’t always have a singular path. Perhaps the little paths that run off at tangents were just as fulfilling if you either chose to veer off, or, in her case, were made to do so.

There wasn’t an ABBA song in their set list, even though she had suggested it as an homage to their former choir manager who was apparently now fit and well and hoping to attend the concert. But the group agreed that audiences wouldn’t particularly be fussed with songs about chicken tikka, or any other cuisine for that matter; but that was mainly Isla. And also, thanks to Isla, there was to be no moose scaring either. So, in addition to the Rolling Stones, the choir had chosen ‘Friends Will Be Friends’ by Queen, The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’, ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams and ‘A Sky Full of Stars’ by Coldplay, simply because it mentioned the word ‘sky’. And the set was to end with Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’; another uplifting song about being yourself and being happy. Angelia couldn’t help but notice the song choices were all filled with not-so-hidden messages, maybe not purposefully chosen for that reason, but each song spoke to her all the same.

‘You guys are incredible,’ Angelia told them at the end of the final rehearsal. ‘You’ve all put so much effort in and learned these songs in so few rehearsals, and I can’t tell you how amazing that is. We used to rehearse for months before going on tour, but you guys have seriously worked wonders with everything I’ve thrown at you.’

‘Reid, Evin and I have been having mini-practices at home,’ Jules said. ‘It’s been a great way to have family time together.’

Evin laughed. ‘Aye, we’ve been using anything and everything as microphones, wooden spoons, the vacuum hose.’

‘The shower head,’ Reid added and then blushed. ‘But obviously no one else saw my solo performances.’ Everyone chuckled.

‘I think my Tam might be glad when it’s over, to be honest. He’s not down with the kids like me. He did ask me how on earth it was possible to be happy like a lounge without a ceiling. But I did tell him those weren’t the words,’ Isla said with a roll of her eyes and a shake of her head. The rest of the group shared smiles and glances, evidently amused at the irony.

‘Well, you’re going to blow the audience’s socks off tomorrow night. And I want you to know I’m so immensely proud of each and every one of you.’

‘Does that mean you might stay?’ Evin asked, his eyes full of hope. His dad put his arm around his shoulder and kissed the side of his head.

Angelia smiled and tried not to think about what had happened earlier that day; she didn’t want to end things on a low note. ‘I have a lot of things to think about, Evin. But the fact that you all want me to stay is absolutely wonderful. You’ve made me so welcome. And you’ve made me feel like one of you. I can’t tell you how uplifting that’s been.’

At the end of the rehearsal, when everyone had gone, Ed went to bring the car around as usual. Angelia stood with Ferris by the door.

‘Oh, I almost forgot in all the excitement this evening. Someone handed Ed’s wallet in to me earlier. He must have dropped it in the kerfuffle outside the café this afternoon. Anyway, I’ll go get it for you to give to him.’ He headed off towards the vestry and returned moments later holding it aloft. He somehow tripped over his own feet, and the wallet went flying through the air and landed on the floor at Angelia’s feet.

‘Are you okay there, vicar?’ she asked with a giggle. ‘Been overdoing it with the communion wine, have we?’ She bent to pick up the wallet which had landed open on the flagstones. Something caught her eye poking out of one of the card slots, and when she retrieved the wallet from the floor, she pulled out the item with intrigue.