Flora was going crazy in the kitchen, bustling about, taking cling film from the tops of salads and things people had brought, sending Hamish out with bottles to top people up. Anything, in fact, to save her having to smile and answer questions about Joel. She sighed heavily just as Mark walked in, carrying the most expensive bottle of wine the little supermarket sold (which was not very expensive), and with a huge pile of hog roast on a roll. He looked as happy as a clam, but his face fell when he saw her.
‘Ach, my Flora,’ he said, putting his arm around her. ‘I know. I know.’
‘I haven’t even seen him,’ said Flora. ‘I haven’t seen him at all.’
‘You need to let him recover. Let him get there on his own.’
‘What if he doesn’t?!’
Mark patted her on the shoulder. ‘Life is difficult,’ he said. ‘Your food, on the other hand … it is amazing. And it is a wonderful afternoon, and the sun is shining and there is wine … Life could be worse.’
‘Yes, it could. But, Mark. Why can’t … why can’t he just let me in?’
Mark sighed sadly. There was so much he could say. But he couldn’t say any of it.
‘It’s very difficult for him,’ he said.
‘It’s difficult for everyone,’ said Flora. ‘Can I ask you one question?’
‘Um, I don’t know.’
‘If you were me, would you wait?’
Mark rubbed his neck. ‘Come on, Flora. There’s only one person who can answer that.’
‘No, there are at least three, and two of them won’t talk to me. By which I mean you and Joel, by the way, in case it wasn’t obvious.’
‘It was quite obvious, thank you,’ said Mark amiably. ‘But that only leaves one person to answer the question.’
Chapter Fifty-five
Saif finally managed to persuade Agot and Ash there was ice cream in the kitchen if they went and asked Flora nicely. He looked closely at Colton, pulling himself up. His face was grey, and he was sweating and breathing heavily. Saif didn’t say anything.
‘There you are!’ Fintan came up to Colton and slung an arm casually around him. ‘You look hot. Are you too hot?’
‘I’m fine!’ said Colton. ‘And a man in need of a beer.’
Fintan kissed him. ‘Your wish is my command,’ he said. Then he added, ‘Don’t expect it to be like this after we’re married,’ and headed off to the kitchen.
‘I won’t,’ said Colton, watching him go. Away from the noise of the musicians, the afternoon suddenly felt quiet: the sun not so warm; the sky not so bright; the music slow and getting slower as the two men stood there in silence.
Saif badly wanted to go home, but he couldn’t. Agot was showing Ash Frozen in the back parlour, and to Saif’s total surprise when he’d wandered in to check, Ash knew all the songs in Arabic. When he asked him how, Ash, not wanting to tear his eyes from the screen, had muttered something about the soldiers having it, leaving Saif wondering precisely what had happened then, and whether Ash would ever really remember. He would have asked Ibrahim but the boy had finally – finally – got himself insinuated into the football game and there was absolutely no way Saif was going to mess with that. So he watched with the little boy and girl for a bit – Agot having decided she wanted to sing the same words as Ash – rubbing his beard, then reluctantly went back outside.
Lorna had definitely found her courage from somewhere, somewhere being a chilled glass of rosé on a warm summer’s day. Innes was standing watching the football, talking hay prices with some of the farmers who’d driven their tractors here from over the hill. She walked over to him, feeling the sun warm on her back, her dress fluttering around her legs.
‘Hey,’ she said, handing him the beer she’d picked up for him on the way.
Innes blinked at her, took in the dress, the pretty hair … Oh my God! This was Flora’s mystery woman! Of course it was: those two were thick as thieves! He’d rather assumed Fintan and Flora had just been teasing him, but now here she was … He’d never given Lorna a second thought; she was his annoying little sister’s best friend after all, always closing the door and giggling and smelling the place out with what he had learned was nail polish (with the occasional undercurrent of cider and black in their teenage years).
‘I’m here to persuade you to enrol Agot,’ she said, grinning.
He looked at her. Her face was smiling.
‘I think you could persuade anyone to do anything,’ he said frankly. His blues eyes crinkled in his suntanned face, and Lorna felt her insides suddenly turn a little watery. She felt defiant too. Why shouldn’t she have some fun? Why shouldn’t she stop moping after some ridiculous, completely out-of-reach man she was never going to be with? Was she going to sit on a shelf for ever?
‘Well, that’s fortunate,’ she said, moving closer. ‘But we don’t have to talk about school.’
Lorna wasn’t very experienced at flirting, and not particularly good at it. But suddenly, there was something in the evening that made them both not care.
‘We don’t need to talk about anything,’ said Innes, taking a grateful swig of the beer. The fiddlers had started up a fast jig. ‘Dance?’
Lorna held out her hand.
Joel glanced at his watch. The streets of Mure were empty. Every single person on the entire island was up at the barbecue. And he should go, he really should, even if it was the last thing he could handle right now.
Joel took the hill road, expecting to see the boys – it was their last day today; they’d catch the morning ferry back, but Jan had said they didn’t need him. He had watched, genuinely surprised as the boys had complained less, laughed more, seemed to stand up straighter by the end of their stay. They had gone brown as nuts in the sun, laughing and splashing about in the stream. He was going to have to have a word with Colton, make sure they didn’t lose their funding, as Jan kept threatening they were about to … No, he wasn’t going to think about Colton.
He wandered up and the boys crowded around him.
‘Well,’ he said. ‘Nice to meet you all.’
They cheerfully chorused a goodbye and Joel had the pleasant sensation of doing something positive, something that wasn’t just for him.
Before he’d got too far, Caleb had caught up with him. ‘Oi! Mister! Joel! Mister!’
Joel turned round. He glanced up, expecting to meet Jan’s disapproving face, but she just smiled.
‘He wants to come into town with you!’ she yelled.
As usual, Jan didn’t ask whether this would be all right or not. She said what was happening and you had to deal with it.
‘Okay then,’ said Joel.
They walked in reasonably companionable silence. Joel stopped at the grocer’s and asked the boy if he wanted anything, expecting an order for sweets, but Caleb shook his head. ‘That’s all I get,’ he said quietly. ‘Can I have proper food?’
And Joel’s heart sank and he wanted to take him to the Seaside Kitchen to buy him something wholesome, but of course it was shut for the party, so then naturally Caleb wanted to know where everyone was and when he found out they were at a party his eyes got very wide and he rushed back and told everyone. Almost before Joel knew it, they all appeared to be marching up the hill road to the MacKenzie farm, where the boys could smell the most delicious barbecue. Caleb gleefully slipped his hand into Joel’s, as the other boys congratulated him on his magnificent scheme. Joel looked down at him and grinned.
Caleb gazed at him wonderingly. ‘Can I see your watch? I won’t steal it.’
Joel unstrapped the heavy Jaeger-LeCoultre he always wore, which had been knocking the boy’s slim wrist. He had bought it when he got his first bonus, solely because Mark had one and it seemed a nice, heavy, centring thing to have. Caleb looked at it in awe.
‘How much is this worth?’
Joel smiled. ‘It really doesn’t matter.’
‘Can I have it then?’