“Aren’t folk around here lovely?” Malcom opened the gate as they approached June’s house, “Sort of, I don’t know, homely. Don’t get much of that anymore, least not where I come from.”
June hoped she wasn’t being presumptuous in inviting Mac in for tea but it seemed the right thing to do.
As she filled the kettle, she watched as he strolled around the kitchen looking at old photographs on the mantle and taking one in his hand.
“Are those your folks?”
“That’s my nan and pop, they’ve both passed on now. They were the best.”
“And your parents?” Mac noticed the change in June’s expression.
“Sorry June, just when you said.”
“It’s okay. My nan and pop reared me. My mother left when I was very young. Long story. Tea or coffee?”
June wasn’t about to spoil a lovely evening talking about her own misfortunes. Not that he’d be the least bit interested anyway, she thought to herself.
They chatted for ages then Mac got up and took his coffee cup to the sink.
“Never realised the time. Best be on my way.”
As they walked to the door, Mac thanked June for accompanying him and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
Climbing the stairs June didn’t really feel tired she’d had a lovely evening, she thought how she had got into a rut didn’t do anything very exciting anymore. Was Matt’s memory going to spoil her chances of ever finding happiness again? Maybe you do only get one chance of happiness!
Chapter Thirty-One
The church barbeque was to be held the previous week but was cancelled on account of the bad weather promised, so it would go ahead this Sunday weather permitting.
There were flags and bunting out and bells ringing in the ears of the poor saints with prayers to bring fine weather.
It brought a great crowd, with local produce on sale from cakes and buns to fresh eggs and home-grown vegetables, and saints be praised there wasn’t a drop of rain or a cloud to be seen in the sky.
“Can’t be doing with that, what do they call it, barbequing is it would burn the mouth off you,” Walter was drinking water by the gallons, “By golly ’tis hot stuff.”
June had to laugh as he walked by huffing and puffing.
“It was indeed a great turn out,” Father Mulcahy had said as he thanked everyone concerned from the alter, the following Sunday at mass. Not forgetting to thank the wonderful saints for sending the fine weather and he hoped it would continue for the rest of the summer.
“I was thinking of going home for a few days, do you think you could manage? Or would you like me to get an extra hand in for a few days?”
June was cashing up, it was pension day and one of the busiest for a while, “I’ll be fine.”
Mac walked across to where she was sitting and sat on her desk, “You sure? Some business to sort out at home. I’ll go Monday and be back on Friday.”
“That’s grand.” June had been on her own lots of times, she’d be fine.
“June, would you be kind enough to put that in the window for me lovey?” Mrs Beatty handed June a card that read, ‘Sum of money lost. Please contact’.
“Oh Mrs Beatty, not your pension surely?” June remembered her signing for her pension at the counter the day before.
“Yes lovey, I went straight home. Must have lost it out of my shopping bag. Sure maybe someone that needs it more than me found it.”
The hairdressing salon in the village had been run by Mrs Sheridan for years.
Had retired now and closed up of course but you could still get that smell of perm solution as you walked past.
June remembered going in there as a child with her nan, she would have her hair permed every spring without fail.
Said the set would last longer if she’d had the perm in, she would set it herself the rest of the time.
The visit to the hairdressers was a luxury she could only afford on an annual basis.
June had been blessed with her own natural curls Nan would say, though at times, June would say she’d been cursed she dreaded the weekly washing of her long curly hair back then, the tangles and the tears!
And sure if there was a bit of a mist in the air at all she’d have a halo around her face.
Mac didn’t seem the same when he returned from his business meeting at home, seemed very into himself, as if deep in thought. June wondered if maybe business wasn’t going so well, perhaps he was contemplating selling up and moving back home into the family business.
She wouldn’t dare to ask him what was on his mind, but there was definitely something bothering him.
She would wait if it concerned the post office and her she would hear all in good time.
Summer now coming to an end, there was a feel of autumn in the air, a chill in the mornings.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Walking past the store where they had met, seemed a lifetime ago now but June’s thoughts once again drifted back to Matt, she wondered what he might be doing. If he ever thought of her!
It had rained all day, there were puddles everywhere and a strong wind blowing.
“Better watch the tides tonight, with that wind it could come up.”
Walter tucked his pension book under his top coat as he opened the post office door and looked back, ‘High tides promised’.
Poor Walter was so caring, June had never known a couple as close as him and Lily, he must miss her dreadfully.
The evenings getting darker now and the mornings too, June enjoyed her little lie in on a Sunday morning went to the last morning mass and strolled along the quay afterwards. Perhaps it was the sound of the water that calmed her but it always made her feel better to be near to the sea.
Clodagh came to mind, she wondered how she was getting on, she’d only had one card since she’d left and no return address so that keeping in contact was impossible.
Clodagh had mentioned that she would probably have to move around from place to place, wherever she was needed and there was no point in trying to get in contact, but she did promise to keep in touch.
Things were so different back then when Clodagh was around.
Seemed a long time ago now but it wasn’t really.
Mac was a gentleman to work for and June would never say a bad word about him, but working with Clodagh was lovely. They’d share the joys and the miseries of the weekend on a Monday morning and have a giggle at a painful customer, just silly things but June missed it.
“I found it! June, I found it!” Mrs Beatty came running across the road from the chapel.
“Sure I hadn’t put it down in my bag at all, didn’t I put it in my apron pocket inside in my coat? I never thought about it until I put it in the wash, it was then that I checked the pockets and there it was. I think I might have given poor St Anthony a headache,” and seeing her neighbour coming out of the chapel Mrs Beatty took off as fast as she arrived laughing and shouting, “I found it Mrs Kelly, I found it!”
Running late the next day June found that the post office was already open when she got to work ten minutes late.
“I’m so sorry Mac, I didn’t realise the time.”
“Will you stop? Sure aren’t you here every morning to open up you’re grand.”
Mac was going through the post, “Good weekend?”
“Aw, the usual,” June replied as she hung her coat on the back of the door, “Nothing too exciting, and you?”
They both laughed, “Same here, how sad are we, eh?” Mac went back to sorting his post as June took up her usual place behind the desk.
“We’d be thirty years wed today if poor Lily, God be good to her, were alive.”
June had gone round to Walter’s with a bit of dinner.
“Oh Walter, I had no idea,” not usually stuck for words June didn’t know what to say.
“Aw sure we had many a good year, I can’t complain.”
Lily would have been so proud of Walter, he’d missed her terribly but had soldiered on kept the hous
e spick and span dusted all of her treasures on the mantle on a regular basis.
He knew she had taken such pride in her home that she wouldn’t want it any other way.
The clock ticked loudly and other than the kettle on the boil there wasn’t another sound. It must have been so lonely for him at times although having said that Walter did go out and about a lot.
Chapter Thirty-Three
As he shuffled around the kitchen, June thought he’d begun to look frail, she hadn’t noticed before but then Walter was getting on now too. Must be nearing the eighty mark, she thought, he was an active enough man for his age and as he’d say himself he can’t complain.
She would wait and have a cup of tea with him, chat for a little while she remembered Nan used to say, “Take the time to talk, if anything should wait let the work wait.” Maybe she was right, sometimes it’s enough just being there.
“Lily was my second wife you know June?” Walter had taken her by surprise, she hadn’t realised.
“No, I didn’t know that Walter.”
“Was a long time before I moved here, long before I met Lily. We were very young, a lifetime ago.”
June put the milk and sugar in her tea, had tried to give up the sugar but that didn’t last long.
“We were nineteen, the first girl I ever went out with. Used to take her fishing you know. Aw, she was a bonny girl, were only three years married when I lost her.”
June listened in awe.
“That was hard. Time steals June, Time steals.”
Seems Margaret, his first wife had been very delicate as a child. They’d grown up together she’d suffered with cystic fibrosis. “There was nothing back then, not like there would be now,” Walter said, she loved life.
Her condition didn’t get in the way, they used to go fishing and camp out under the stars on summer evenings.
It was hard to imagine Walter young and full of adventure perhaps it was true, what he said, life steals. June only ever remembered him as old Walter.
Margaret had taken ill while he was out on a fishing trip, there was no way of contacting him only to have someone meet him on his return it had been too late, she had gone when he’d got back.
“She loved marigolds. Funny, so many beautiful flowers to choose from, yet she loved the humble marigold.”
Walter went on to talk about Lily, he’d been alone for many years after losing Margaret before he met Lily.
They’d met on the train, Lily was returning from the city after a day trip and Walter was contemplating moving to the seaside, maybe get back into the fishing again. After he’d lost Margaret, he couldn’t bear to go back to the fishing for a long time.
Blamed the sea for his not making it back on time to be there for her. So much bitterness eats you up inside he’d said so he wanted a change of scenery, a fresh start.
They’d got to talking on the train and as it happened Lily’s mother had run a boarding house by the quay.
He worked as a handy man about the place for his board and meals and put a bit aside to eventually get his own boat and make a living once again from the sea. At the end of the day, it was where he was happiest.
Somehow he and Lily got thrown together, maybe it was fate maybe it was convenience, he wasn’t sure but they grew very fond of each other and he asked her to marry him.
A bit long in the tooth for love at first sight, he called it a comfortable friendship that grew into a trusting and loving relationship.
“Ouch,” as often as she had closed that drawer June never failed to catch her finger in it.
“You okay?” Mac was heading to the wholesalers for the monthly stock.
“I’m fine, no stranger to pain, me,” they both laughed as he closed the door behind him.
“Be with you in a moment,” June on hearing the post office door open got up from under the counter where she had attempted to repair the drawer unsuccessfully of course!
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Clodagh!” she screamed at the top of her voice to see her friend standing there, “It’s so good to see you.”
“You too!” Clodagh took a minute to look around what was once her empire, ’
“Where’s Mac?”
“He’s just stepped out to the wholesalers.”
“Business is good.”
“Ya.”
Looking at Clodagh, June thought she looked tired probably up all night travelling, bound to be tired sure.
“You back for good?” just as she had the words out of her mouth the door opened.
Clodagh walked around the counter taking everything in as she went, as if reminiscing.
The customer looked after, June turned her attention back to her friend who had now sat in her old chair behind Mac’s desk.
“It’s like a lifetime ago, so much has happened,” Clodagh smiled.
“You’re back for good?,” June was eager to know how things went so many questions so much she wanted to ask.
“Maybe we can meet later, tell you all about my travels.”
“Come round for dinner,” June knew the post office wasn’t exactly the ideal place to have a chat, not with people coming in and out every five minutes.
“That would be lovely,” Clodagh agreed to call at seven and June spent the afternoon deciding what she would cook. Nothing too complicated, she thought, something handy!
Sitting and chatting like old times, June could see the tears in Clodagh’s eyes as she spoke about the conditions people lived in out where she was a volunteer.
“So much sickness, no medication to speak of,” Clodagh went on to talk for hours, just realising the time she got up to go. “Thanks June, I needed that.”
June was so mad with her booking a place to stay in town when she could have stayed with her. Wasn’t the Ritz or anything like it but she could have stayed, it would have been lovely to have her, she thought as she waved her goodbye at the door.
“Had a better offer then,” Mac was already in when June got to the post office the next morning. For a moment, she hadn’t a bull’s notion of what he was talking about.
Then it clicked, he had asked her for a drink in Tilly’s after work the evening before as he went off to the wholesalers. In the meantime, Clodagh had turned up and sure with all the excitement of seeing her old friend again and rushing home to get the tea ready June just plain forgot about Tilly’s and Mac! “Sorry Mac, Clodagh arrived home unexpectedly and it just went out of my head.”
“Not to worry, how is Clodagh? Still doing her volunteering bit?”
June wasn’t entirely sure if Mac was being sarcastic or really interested in how Clodagh was getting on, he seemed just a bit, well she wasn’t sure what but he wouldn’t know Clodagh well enough, in her books, to comment on how she choose to spend her time.
June longed for the bright evenings, it seemed she was going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark these days.
The only bit of daylight she was seeing was her twenty minutes lunchtime, if it was a fine day she would take a stroll just to get a bit of fresh air.
Clodagh’s two weeks at home had passed all too quickly, it was her last night and June wanted to take her somewhere nice, she would ask Mac to join them, it would be nice for them to meet again.
“That was just delicious,” Clodagh held her glass up to propose a toast, “To old friends.”
Mac smiled and replied, “And not so old,” they all laughed.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Walking her back home after saying their farewells to Clodagh, as her flight was very early the next morning, Mac looked puzzled as he asked June, “What do you think of Clodagh? I mean no money, worries, not a care in the world. Her own little business. Why would she want to go traipsing across the world like that? Is it a calling? What do you think?”
“I don’t know, maybe, I just think people who do that sort of thing are great. They’re so selfless, so concerned for others. I don’t know.”
Mac didn’t say a
nother word on the subject.
They walked for a while in silence then Mac putting his arm around June’s shoulder. More for support, she thought, than anything else.
“So what about you? Anyone special in your life?”
June smiled, “I think we had better get you home Mr Mac Phearson.”
“You’re not bringing me in for coffee?”
You need coffee alright, June thought to herself, black and plenty of it.
Mac stumbled as he went in the front door, fell to the ground and brought June with him in the process, they both laughed.
You’ll be well embarrassed over this on Monday, she thought to herself, well embarrassed.
Eventually getting him off the floor she plonked him in the nearest chair and went to put the kettle on, though she knew in her heart and soul that he hadn’t a notion of drinking coffee, he was asleep already, and she would leave him to sleep it off.
She was right, Mac apologised for a full week after and even still every now and then, he would bring it up.
“I’m a pint man myself, don’t usually drink wine. Must have gone to my head. I was fine at the table, just when we got outside. Wow. I’m sorry June. Did I say anything stupid?”
The first letter from Clodagh arrived about six weeks after she’d gone back to Africa, she was well but finding it harder to settle back than she’d expected but she would be fine after a while. She’d commented on Mac and how she’d noticed a sort of chemistry between him and June that night at dinner.
June was gob smacked, there was no such thing nor would there ever be and she would put her friend right in the next letter, she was so glad Clodagh had included a return address this time.
The weather had turned very cold overnight, June wanted to visit Nan and Pop’s grave, she would make up a nice winter basket. The ground would be too cold to plant but the basket would be nice, winter pansies maybe.
“Plenty of room for you here,” Nan, poor soul would say as they walked away from Pop’s grave. She would hold June’s hand so tightly as they walked away her fingers would go numb and white. Hail, rain or snow they would go up there every Sunday after mass. Not so now, June thought.
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