Back to You

by Cathy Cole

  Becca rubbed her eyes. “You know what?” she said. “Forget it. I have a bus to catch.”

  She was dressed for travelling, in her coat and thick boots with her rucksack hung over one shoulder. The bottom dropped out of Eve’s stomach.

  “You’re leaving?” she said in horror.

  Becca shrugged. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

  Eve hunted desperately for the right words that would make Becca stay. Nothing was coming out.

  “You can stay as long as you want,” Becca said, shouldering her rucksack a little more securely. She looked directly into Eve’s eyes. “Just don’t do anything stupid.”

  Eve felt a flush of guilt rushing into her cheeks. It was hard to hold Becca’s gaze. “What … why would I do something stupid?”

  Becca walked past Eve, heading for the road. “You need to get on with your own life, Eve. Let your dad sort out his own mess.”

  “I can’t do that,” Eve whispered.

  Becca shrugged her shoulders. “See you around.”

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Becca couldn’t leave, not now. Not when Eve needed her so badly, when she was just starting to figure out how important Becca was to her.

  “Don’t go. Please!” she said helplessly.

  But Becca had already turned the corner and was out of sight.

  SEVENTEEN

  Eve hardly slept a wink in the cottage without Becca. Every creak was an intruder, every gust of wind a ghost. She got wearily up from the sofa at the crack of dawn, tracked down a handful of stale crackers for breakfast and drank a glass of water from the pump. Then, remembering how Becca had made them the money for breakfast the day before, she hurried down to the bottom of the garden to gather handfuls of fresh wet raspberries and gooseberries to cram into her mouth. Half the raspberries turned to pulp in her fingers. The gooseberries were hard and sour and Eve realized they needed to be cooked.

  Why did I never know that? she wondered. Becca was right to laugh at her. She knew nothing about the real world.

  Thinking about Becca made Eve feel miserable, so she thought about her father’s laptop instead. Tonight she would get it back. He would be out of jail in a matter of days, and everything would go back to the way it was before.

  She washed at the garden pump, biting her lip at the freezing water but determined to look presentable for today’s wedding show at the Heartbeat Café. In her present state of mind, a wedding show was the last thing she needed. But it was a job, and a job meant money, and money meant food. Life was pretty simple when you boiled it down like that.

  Clean and shivering, Eve put on her least crumpled outfit and brushed her wet hair back into a tight ponytail. Then she set off up the track, armed with two baskets of soft fruit to sell. The shopkeeper gave her two pounds, which she accepted gratefully. Then, as the sun rose a little higher in the sky, she caught the bus into Heartside Bay.

  “You’re early,” said Mr Wills in surprise as Eve presented herself at the café ten minutes later.

  “There’s a lot to do,” said Eve. Feeling suddenly light-headed, she sat down at a nearby table and made a show of rummaging through her bag. A handful of stale crackers and some fruit wasn’t much of a breakfast, particularly given that she’d missed dinner the night before.

  She looked up as Mr Wills put something on the table in front of her.

  “I’ve eaten this morning already, thanks,” she said, staring at the packaged sandwich under her nose.

  “Not enough,” said Mr Wills. “The sandwich is left over from yesterday’s chiller cabinet. I’ll have to throw it away if you don’t eat it. Cup of tea?”

  A cheese and tomato sandwich had never tasted so good. Nor had a cup of tea. Eve ate and drank as slowly as she could, savouring each mouthful.

  The catwalk had already been assembled down the middle of the room, but that was all. Eve checked her watch. The wedding show began at 2 p.m. They had four hours to turn the Heartbeat Café from a dark wooden space into a light and airy beachside boardwalk. It was going to take a lot of work, but it wasn’t impossible.

  With the help of a stepladder, they hung the wooden seagulls and fluffy clouds that Eve had sourced from the theatre so that they bobbed gently on the ceiling. Mr Wills put on a beachy CD, and Eve found herself whistling to the cheerful seaside tunes as she mopped the floor. In a strange way, she felt happier than she had in days.

  “Sorry I’m late,” said Rhi, bursting breathlessly through the doors with armfuls of beachside bunting. “Wow, you guys have done loads already! Eve, are you mopping?”

  Eve almost giggled at the shock on Rhi’s face. “There’s a first time for everything,” she said.

  They swathed the red, white and blue bunting from corner to corner among the gulls and the clouds. Eve stood back to admire the effect as Mr Wills folded the stepladder away. It was all starting to look fantastic.

  At midday, the stallholders arrived with bags, boxes and rails, and set up their stalls on the tables Eve had pushed up against the walls. Jewellery, shoes, ribbons, favours, cakes, flowers, photographers: everything anyone could ever want from a wedding was represented. Eve and Rhi stacked the normal café chairs in the back room and set up several rows of brightly striped deckchairs on either side of the catwalk in the space that remained, ready for the fashion show.

  “Just the sand and the wind machine left,” said Rhi as Mr Wills did brisk business at the bar, selling tea and coffee to the stallholders. “Didn’t you want to scatter it on the catwalk?”

  Eve was about to break open the bag of sand when she stopped. “Wait,” she said with a frown. “Sand and a wind machine. Is it just me, or is that a really bad combination?”

  The thought of the transformed café space swirling with windblown sand, getting into everyone’s eyes and vintage teacups and slices of cake, made Rhi snort with laughter. Eve clapped her hands to her mouth and snorted too. They laughed until their sides ached, leaning against the catwalk for support. That had been close.

  At one-thirty, the crowd outside was starting to rattle the doors. Eve felt a flutter of nerves.

  “I’m letting them in!” Mr Wills announced. “Everyone ready?”

  Eve suddenly thought of something. “Where are the models?” she said, looking at the rail of silks, velvets and satins being wheeled backstage. “Who’s going to wear the dresses?”

  “We are,” said Rhi, taking Eve’s hand and yanking her towards the stage door. “Didn’t I tell you?”

  An amazing scene met Eve as they came through to the backstage area. Two chairs sat in front of well-lit mirrors, alongside a large box of make-up and hair products. A tall, skinny stylist pushed her into a chair, produced a hairbrush and clicked his tongue.

  “What have you been using on your hair, duckie? It’s like a bird’s nest!”

  It was like the old days, Eve thought in a haze of pleasure, as the stylist brushed her hair until it lay sleekly down her back in an auburn sheen, then applied layers of pretty make-up before setting a small, sparkling tiara on her head. She almost groaned with pleasure at the feel of the first dress on her skin: the cool, beautiful slipperiness of the satin, the glittering sequins on the bodice and the soft blowing chiffon wrap that the designer placed around her shoulders.

  “You look amazing,” Rhi said warmly.

  Eve tore her eyes from her dress and looked up. Rhi’s hair had been styled so that it lay against her head in a shining cap of black, complete with a twenties-style kiss curl on her forehead. Her dress was a long, elegant column in a silk crêpe the colour of clotted cream, with a swirling train and a scattering of beads that flashed the palest of blues when they caught the light. Eve’s voice dried in her throat. Rhi looked more than amazing. She looked ethereal.

  Rhi took Eve’s hand and squeezed it. “Ready? You’re on first. Good luck.”

  The music started.
Eve felt someone push her gently between the shoulderblades, through the curtain and out on to the stage.

  The room was packed with women, most of whom were already armed with shopping bags from the stalls. Everyone was craning their necks to get a good look at the dress Eve was modelling. It was like dreams she’d had as a child, dressing up in front of her three-way mirror and picturing herself on the red carpet. Hold your chin high, walk, turn, walk back. She could do this. She’d been doing it most of her life.

  The next forty minutes passed in a dream of silks and satins, taffetas and velvets and chiffons, beads and feathers and crystals and sequins. Each dress was lovelier than the last, and each harder to part with when the time came to take it off and put on the next. Eve found herself missing her old life like it was a lost limb. This had been normal, not long ago. Changing several times a day, smoothing expensive silk down her body, wearing sparkling jewels around her neck. Would she ever be her father’s little princess again?

  Thunderous applause broke through Eve’s brooding thoughts as she left the stage in the final piece: a princess confection of hoops, petticoats, frills and crystals. From the sound of things, the fashion show had been a success. Eve felt a flash of something that dislodged the feeling of sadness. Something she hadn’t felt in a while. Pride.

  “Naturals, the pair of you,” said Mr Wills happily as Rhi and Eve, dressed in normal clothes once again, presented themselves at the bar. “The punters loved you. Eve, you’ve done a wonderful job today. I’m very glad I hired you.” He pressed a crinkling brown envelope into Eve’s hand. “Your wages for the day, plus a tip.”

  Eve tried to give the envelope back to Mr Wills, guiltily remembering the hotel bill he had paid, but he wouldn’t accept it. “You worked hard today, Eve,” he said. “You can pay me back once you’re back on your feet.”

  Eve sat with Rhi at the bar for the rest of the afternoon, sipping a juice and watching as the wedding shoppers fought over the rail of dresses she and Rhi had modelled. At last the cupcakes had all been sold, the stalls were stripped bare, the order books for the florists and photographers and cake-makers were bulging and the shoppers drifted out of the café and back to their usual lives. All that remained was the clearing up.

  I made this happen, Eve thought with some wonder, feeling the fold of bank notes inside the brown envelope in her back pocket while Rhi stacked deckchairs and Mr Wills took down the ceiling decorations. She wasn’t accustomed to feeling useful, or earning money. She liked it.

  “I’ve invited the gang over to the Heartbeat to celebrate your big success,” Rhi said as they put the brooms away. “You’ll stay, right?”

  Eve felt a jolt of nerves at Rhi’s words. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face the others just yet. Thinking of the others suddenly reminded her of Lila. She checked her watch. It was already five-thirty.

  “I’ll be back soon,” she said, grabbing her coat. “There’s something I need to do before the others get here.”

  “Promise you’re coming back?” Rhi called after her. But Eve had already slipped away into the street.

  EIGHTEEN

  Eve took up position in a hidden spot up the road from the house and waited for Lila to appear. There didn’t seem to be any police officers on patrol, and everything was quiet. Eve checked and rechecked her watch, glancing frequently at the horizon for signs that she was being observed. Everything was still.

  Where was Lila? It was almost six o’clock. Eve felt sick at the thought that Lila might have broken her word and told her father about the plan to break into the house and retrieve the laptop. Had Eve got this wrong? Lila had seemed so contrite, so desperate to be friends again. She wouldn’t have gone to her father. She couldn’t have. Could she?

  As the minutes ticked by, Eve’s despair grew. She hadn’t trusted Lila from the moment she first appeared at Heartside High, falling into the classroom in Ollie’s arms. Now her father was doomed to jail, her family destined for scandal and bankruptcy for ever. She bit one of her nails so close to the quick that her finger began to bleed.

  There was a flash of movement across the street that made Eve jump. She stared hard at the gate where, a moment earlier, she could have sworn she had seen someone. Had it been her imagination?

  “Psst.”

  Eve forgot everything else as she saw Lila coming down the road towards her. “You’re late,” she hissed, overwhelmed with relief. Her heart rate was all over the place.

  “I thought I’d come the top way,” Lila said. “Fewer people watching.” She glanced around the street. “Quiet, isn’t it?”

  Eve wordlessly took Lila’s arm and dragged her down a small cut-through that ran past the top of her garden. “I said six o’clock. It’s ten past.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” Lila protested. “What’s the plan?”

  Eve tried to calm herself down. “There’s a broken-down bit of fence along here that we can climb over. I don’t think anyone’s in the house, but I don’t know about the garden. When you climb over, double-check no one’s there.”

  “How come I have to go first?”

  “Please just do as I ask!”

  They found the broken piece of fencing. Lila climbed over with some difficulty, and Eve waited, paralysed with anxiety, for a shout, a scuffle – some indication that Lila had been caught.

  “All clear,” Lila said in a low voice.

  Eve’s heart caught in her throat as she stood in her garden for the first time in more than a week. The pristine lawn needed mowing; several of the rose bushes had dead flowers that the gardeners would have pruned off in an instant. Everything was as silent as the grave.

  Taking a steadying breath, she set off down the garden, keeping close to the hedge. She was aiming for the back door, which was tucked around the side of the building. As they reached the glass-paned door, Eve tried her house key in the lock.

  “Does it work?” Lila whispered anxiously.

  Biting her lip, Eve shook her head. That would have been too easy. “Plan B,” she said. “Stand back.”

  She took off her jacket and bundled it around her hand. Then, turning her head away, she punched hard through the glass, which splintered loudly.

  “Did you have to make so much noise?” Lila hissed as a dog started barking somewhere up the road.

  “My apologies for having loud glass,” Eve hissed back. Her nerves were doing nothing for her temper. “Now get inside before someone sees us.”

  She felt around inside the door for the catch and flipped it open.

  “Whoa,” said Lila with a weak giggle as they stepped inside. “We just broke into a house.”

  Eve didn’t want to think too hard about how much trouble they would both be in if anyone caught them. She pelted down the corridor and straight into her father’s study.

  “Keep down,” she warned Lila as she started feeling feverishly along the bookcases. “The window looks out on to the street, we have to be careful.”

  Lila ducked down at once. “What do you want me to do?”

  Eve wished she knew. She looked around the room with some desperation, taking in the pictures still hanging half off their hooks on the walls, the drinks bar, the globe on its mahogany stand, her father’s desk with its drawers hanging open. “Feel around the floorboards, see if you can find a loose one,” she said. “I’ll check the bookcases.”

  Lila heaved hard on the rug and started exploring the floor. The boards creaked loudly. Everything creaked loudly. Eve felt dizzy with terror. They would be caught. This was too hard, they were bound to be caught… The police had done such a thorough job of searching the study, they must have found the laptop already…

  “Ow!”

  Eve hopped on one foot, cursing as loudly as she dared, as she stubbed her toe on the globe’s mahogany stand. Stupid thing. She’d never liked it; it didn’t spin properly, her father had ne
ver let her play with it—

  You mean the world to me, Evie.

  “Morocco,” Eve said suddenly.

  Lila wiped her forehead, smearing her face with dust from the floor. “Shh! What about Morocco?”

  Eve’s hands were already on the big globe, struggling to turn it on its solid wooden stand. It had always been heavy. Now she knew why.

  The moment Morocco appeared beneath her fingers, she pressed on the smooth map surface. There was a click as the globe split smoothly apart, revealing a square black metal safe.

  “Oh my gosh,” said Lila in wonder. “How did you know it was in there?’

  Eve felt like she was in a dream. She slipped her hands to the back of her neck, undoing the clasp on her necklace. The little silver key slithered off the chain into the palm of her hand. Picking it up with shaking fingers, she slid it into the tiny lock on the safe, turned it and opened the safe door. A small black laptop sat crouched inside.

  “This is like something out of a Bond film,” said Lila in awe. “Now what?”

  Destroy it.

  Remembering her father’s instructions, Eve looked around for something heavy enough to smash the laptop. There was nothing. Could she just drop it? Stamp on it? Did her father mean for her to destroy the machine, or the files?

  “I have to delete the files,” she said.

  She picked up the laptop and switched it on.

  Please enter your password.

  Morocco, Eve typed. She hoped she was right.

  As the desktop opened revealing rows of neatly labelled files, there was a crunch of gravel outside the window and the whirl of blue lights. Eve threw herself to the ground, slamming the laptop shut and clutching it to her chest.

  “It’s the police!” Lila moaned, peeping over the window sill.

  Eve felt paralysed with horror. She had the laptop but there was no time to do anything with it. The police were here. She would join her father in jail, and Lila would join her. How had this suddenly gone so wrong?