Page 8 of Happiness Under a Summer Skye

‘Aye, no doubt. It’ll be the air conditioning on the bus, I reckon. Sean’s had the lurgy for a week now. We’ll blame him, eh?’ He chuckled.

Sean, their driver, was a middle-aged man with at least fifty tattoos, a huge beard, shaved head, and arms like tree trunks. Nothing much fazed him, but he had been coughing and spluttering for a while, so Heath was probably right.

‘Yeah, my eyes have been quite heavy, and my arms and legs too. It’ll be just my luck to come down with the flu right as we take our break.’

Heath walked over and placed a hand on each of her shoulders. ‘Get some vitamin C down you. And get plenty of rest when you get back, yeah?’

Angelia nodded. ‘I will, don’t worry. What do you and Agda have planned for the break?’

Heath had met his Swedish wife, Agda, when she styled the band for a photo shoot while on their European tour before Angelia joined. She was originally from Uppsala and her parents still lived there. Heath and Agda now had a four-year-old son, Rosco, who was the spitting image of his daddy. Even at his tender age, the boy was bilingual and already learning to play the guitar, professing his desire to be a ‘wock star just wike daddy’. He was such a cutie and was at that age where he questioned everything. Heath kept them all amused with updates on his latest enquiries; the most recent being, ‘Why do dogs have four legs and can’t talk but people only have two legs and can?’ Everyone had been amused by his supposed correlation between limbs and the ability to vocalise.

‘We’re taking Rosco back to Uppsala to see his mormor and morfar. He can’t wait, bless him.’

Heath had often spoken of Agda’s parents, so Angelia felt like she knew them. Keeping the smile on her face, she replied, ‘Aww, that’ll be lovely, make sure to send me plenty of photos.’

‘I will.’

‘How is Agda doing now?’ Angelia asked with genuine concern. Agda was in the midst of her second pregnancy and had been exhausted but refused to stay home, regardless.

‘She’s much better now. I just wish she’d actually do what the midwife has told her to do and stay home to rest. You women can be so stubborn,’ Heath replied with a laugh and a shake of his head. ‘I’m hoping she’ll at least listen to her parents when we get there. Hey, you could always hop over to Sweden for a few days if you get bored.’

‘That’s good to hear. But I won’t be bored, don’t worry. I’m heading to my flat in London to do some online property shopping, and some songwriting too. Might see my doctor and have a bit of a physical while I’m at it. Although I’m sure I’m just run down.’ She glanced sideways at Meghan who smiled and gave a single wink.

‘More property, eh? You’ll own half the world at this rate. Where are you looking to buy this time?’

Angelia had always kept a check on the housing market both in the US and UK and had earmarked a few she was interested in that were coming to auction very soon. ‘I’ve seen a couple on the Isle of Skye that I’m looking into.’

Heath nodded. ‘Cool, your first property close to your actual home, eh? And I bet you can’t wait to see Scrappy. How is the little dude? I’ve missed having him around this month.’

‘He’s great,’ Angelia replied as she smiled at the memories of her little salt and pepper miniature schnauzer. ‘Getting spoiled rotten by the dog sitter just now from the photos he’s been sending me. But you’re right, I can’t wait to see him.’

The little dog, who had been the smallest of his litter, hence his name, had become the centre of Angelia’s world since she adopted him as a nine-week-old puppy. Scrappy’s mother, Luna, had been handed in to Battersea Dogs Home while heavily pregnant with him and his two siblings, when her owner couldn’t afford her care any more. Angelia had read an article online about the dog and it had been her intention to adopt Luna but thankfully she had found a loving home as her pups reached an age that it was safe to rehome them. And at that point Scrappy had stolen her heart.

‘Well, take care and give the little guy a belly rub from me. And the offer stands about visiting if you change your mind. Agda would love you to come and visit so she can take you shopping again.’ Agda had a real eye for detail and Angelia loved shopping with her because she made her step out of her comfort zone and try on things she would never even consider if she was by herself. Heath’s phone pinged to notify him of a message, and he glanced at the screen. ‘Ah, I’d better get going. Agda’s feet have swollen and she’s tired out.’ In Angelia’s opinion, the beautiful Swede was glowing, but it was clear this pregnancy hadn’t been quite as easy as her first.

‘Aww, give her a hug from me. Enjoy your break.’

‘You too. Keep in touch and I’ll see you in the studio in a few weeks. And don’t forget to get your Taylor Swift on and write that revenge song, eh? I can’t wait to hear what you come up with.’ He grinned, and with that he left.

Angelia had been involved in the songwriting for the band from day one and the guys had all said she had a real talent for capturing raw emotion with her poetry. She wasn’t sure she could be bothered wasting her energy on writing revenge songs but she’d had so many lyrics floating around her mind recently as she had reminisced about her feelings for her best friend, Ed, and how she couldn’t help thinking they could have been perfect for each other.

4

A few days later, Angelia was at her Hampstead apartment, staring at numbers on her laptop screen as Scrappy slept at her feet. Beside her laptop sat a plate with an unfinished bagel upon it. She had struggled to swallow the bread and had decided it must have been too dry so had abandoned it.

The luxury apartment Angelia inhabited in a gated block on Frognal Rise had been an obvious choice at the time she had purchased it eight years earlier, because at the time the rest of the band had lived close by, too, except for Dom, who had favoured New York to be close to his partner, Rio. Meghan lived in London as well, which was helpful, and it was such a vast city with a dense enough population that Angelia almost had the luxury of wandering around unnoticed. Baseball cap atop her head and sunglasses perched on her nose, she blended in just like all the other celebrities trying to live incognito in ‘the Big Smoke’.

As the property auction began live at the venue in Glasgow, Angelia watched and listened from the comfort of her home. Her heart pounded, as it always did on these occasions; they were quite a rush. Her mobile phone was beside her on the table with the speaker turned up to full volume and she chewed on her thumbnail as the auctioneer rambled an almost incoherent string of words, until, at the end, she heard something she understood very clearly.

‘Sold! Telephone bidder.’

Her heart skipped a beat as she listened to the gavel hit the auction block and she silently fist-bumped the air when the deep Glaswegian accented voice at the other end of the call informed her, ‘The property is yours, Miss MacAuley. Well done. I’ll email the paperwork right over.’

‘Thank you, Richard. As always, your assistance is appreciated.’ She ended the call with her UK-based real estate agent and glanced up to find Josh watching her from his position on the floor in front of her vintage vinyl collection. He had stopped in to visit while Nancy attended a beauty appointment at a salon on Finchley Road. ‘What?’ she asked with a shake of her head.

He narrowed his eyes. ‘So, you’ve bought another property without seeing it in real life, eh?’

She shrugged. ‘I couldn’t exactly get there, could I, seeing as I was otherwise occupied entertaining the masses of the US? My dad viewed it for me, though. He said it has loads of potential.’