‘You said your current job is close, but not your dream job. What would you love to do?’
‘Um. Astronaut, I guess,’ she replied. ‘I always fancied going up there with my babies. Aliens are much better than people, after all.’
‘So why don’t you do that? You’d be great!’
‘No, I wouldn’t. I’m much happier in the background.’
‘Not happier, safer.’
Huh.
At that point, Emmy heard a call from up at the house. ‘Emmy?’ Noelle shouted out into the woods.
They emerged from the trees and Jared laid a hand on her upper arm. ‘I’d better let you get back to your DIY, and I need to go home for some sleep. Thank you for the lunch and the wine and the catch-up.’
‘You’ll come back again soon, won’t you?’
‘Absolutely!’ he grinned. ‘Two months back with the Lake sisters? Anyone who’d say no to that is clearly an idiot. I’ll see you soon.’
Jared rounded the house and set off walking down the long driveway, knowing exactly where he was going. Emmy watched him leave, deep in thought.
Eventually, she called back out to her sister. ‘Noey?’
‘Emmy?’ Noelle replied, and then trotted around the side of the house holding an unexpected bundle. ‘I found us a chicken. Meet Vicky!’
Chapter 11
Rae signalled left and turned up a long, curving driveway towards the house that stood proudly at the top of the hill. Columns and gravel and a fancy doorknob greeted her.
Gabbi lived here? This girl meant business. Rae was impressed.
She walked to the front door, feeling self-conscious in a way she hardly ever felt, wishing she’d properly scrubbed up and changed out of the Buffy sweater and hadn’t put so much eyeliner on. She hardly ever wore eyeliner any more. Why did she have to experiment today?
As predicted, the doorbell did a musical twinkle rather than a shrill ring, and Rae waited on the steps thinking that if her family had left granite lions outside the front of their house they would have been nicked in no time as part of the ritualistic pranking of the Lakes.
‘Rae,’ smiled Gabbi, opening the door. She looked a little more like the old her now, dressed in jeans and with her hair, though bobbed now rather than long and straggly, pinned up into a tiny ponytail.
‘When you gave me your address I never put two and two together that you were living in Maplewood’s answer to the White House.’ Rae whistled as Gabbi ushered her in through the grand doorway. ‘Shit, Gabbi, you have it made.’
‘It’s only while I’m in office. You know, I pretty much go by Gabrielle now.’
‘Yeah, okay,’ Rae scoffed. ‘I’ll call you Gabrielle if we’re out in public, but I can’t say it without thinking of your mother screaming at you using that name every time we took your dad’s car. When it’s me and you, can I stick to Gabbi?’
‘That’s fine,’ Gabbi said, relaxing a little.
‘Well, Gabrielle, dreams can come true,’ she muttered, looking around her. Rae stopped gazing about the hallway and turned to her friend. ‘I wish I wasn’t driving, because we need to catch up on a lot of things, and I could do with some alcohol. Right now, it’s like an episode of Round the Twist.’
‘Would a coffee be okay?’ They entered the kitchen, which was massive and bright and very befitting of a mayor.
Rae nodded and took a seat at the kitchen island. ‘Start from the beginning.’
‘What do you want to know?’
Why have you changed? Why has Maplewood not changed if you’re in charge? Why didn’t you leave like you said you would? Why have they forgiven your behaviour when clearly they haven’t forgiven me? ‘You went away to university, didn’t you? Reading, right?’
‘I did. You remember how surprised I was to get in, so I couldn’t turn it down. But it was good for me. I did political science and when I finished I knew that was the route I wanted to take.’
‘But why come back here? I remember you as one of the most confident, opinionated girls in the school – you could have been Prime Minister!’
Gabbi laughed. ‘I still could be, I’m only thirty-four! I have big plans.’
‘Don’t get me wrong,’ said Rae, accepting her coffee and three Jammie Dodgers. ‘I’m blown away that you’re mayor of a town at your age – it’s really, really impressive. I just don’t get why… here?’
‘Because I grew up here.’
‘But you weren’t happy growing up here. At least, that’s what you used to say.’
‘But that’s the point. I wanted my first position to mean something, and to be in the place I thought could do with some help. Imagine a mayor who grew up in a town, who went to the best school and had a great childhood and rich parents and got everything handed on a plate. When that kid becomes mayor, what would she or he change? Probably not a lot, because her view of the town is that it’s great and has ample opportunity. But what about all the other kids in the town – such as you and me – who saw a different side? Who knew what improvements needed to be made, who knew what was missing? I wanted to be mayor of Maplewood because I know what can make it better.’
Rae chewed this over. Making a change. That seemed like a much easier concept now than when she had been constantly in the thick of things, growing up in Maplewood, but perhaps she was too quick to go to war rather than make peace?
‘You make a lot of sense, lady,’ Rae nodded. ‘And do you feel you are?’
‘Making it better? Slowly. There’s a lot of resistance to change here, but we’ve made some good things happen.’ Gabbi munched on her own Jammie Dodger, lost in thought for a moment. ‘And at the end of the day, I’m the mayor so I can do whatever the fuck I want.’
Rae laughed. ‘There’s my foul-mouthed buddy! Is anyone else still around? Of our friends, I mean? I’ve already come across a few blasts from the past, but not in a pleasant way.’
‘You’ve run into Kelvin and Tom, I take it?’
‘Yep.’
‘No, not really from our group of friends, I lost touch with them. Sad, really, we were a close bunch for a while. We were the pre-mobile phone generation, you and I, and my Facebook usage nowadays is almost entirely a professional networking thing. I’m pretty boring, really. It’s good to see you, though. What brings you back here?’
‘My sisters and I are doing up Mum and Dad’s house – Mum is a bit of a professional holiday-taker now, so we’re going to list the house on Airbnb while she’s away, but it needs sprucing up. As you might remember.’
‘I heard about your dad last year; I’m so sorry.’
‘Thanks, it was tough on Mum, and I don’t think she likes being cooped up in that big house on her own for too long if she can help it.’
‘It must have been tough on you guys as well.’
‘It was, but Emmy took it the hardest. She’s been funny about coming back here for this, for various reasons, but Dad is one of them, I can tell.’ Rae stopped for a moment and thought about Emmy. She’d be all right… Rae was sure she would.
‘What are the other reasons?’
‘Well, you know, the fact that we were pretty universally the most disliked family in Maplewood.’
‘No, that’s not true… Well, I guess it was, but not any more.’
‘I don’t think we’ve been replaced, just forgotten. I have a horrible feeling us being back is going to just pick the scab and reopen the wound.’
‘So what if it does? You’re grown-ups now. And you’re successful – an opera singer, did you say?’
‘I did!’ Rae felt a swell of pride. She’d done okay.
‘That’s amazing! I must say, I would have put you fronting a rock band, I never would have dreamed of you being an opera singer.’
‘As unlikely as you becoming Mayor of Maplewank?’
‘Ha ha, point taken!’
‘I can’t believe Mum didn’t tell me you were mayor!’
‘I mean, back when we were at school I met your mum m
aybe three times. That was fifteen, maybe sixteen years ago. I was MUCH skinnier back then, my hair was dyed jet black, I never looked anyone in the eye and I definitely never let anyone – apart from my mum – call me Gabrielle. I’ve basically completely changed, so she probably hasn’t even clicked who I am. Who I was.’
‘Same thing.’
Gabbi stood up to fetch more coffee, and more biscuits. ‘You think?’
‘I don’t know, actually.’ Rae accepted another biscuit. ‘I think I’m quite different from who I was, but who I was shaped who I am, so therefore does that make me the same?’
‘Maybe. And remember that who you were isn’t the same thing as who everyone else thought you were.’
‘Now that’s true.’
‘This is fun, Rae,’ grinned Gabbi. ‘This is the type of philosophical stuff we used to talk about over cigarettes at the top of the cliff. You don’t seem that different to me, you know, and I knew you pretty well.’
Rae smiled. ‘I’m still on the fence about you.’
At that moment, in walked a small girl, no older than six or seven, wearing a sun hat and a feather boa, and carrying a small suitcase. ‘Hello,’ she said, sitting down at the table and reaching for the Jammie Dodgers.
Rae raised her eyebrows at Gabbi, who laughed. ‘This is my niece, Lily. She’s staying with me for a couple of weeks while my brother’s gone on holiday with his wife.’
‘Hello,’ the child said again. ‘My mummy and daddy have gone on holiday, so I’m going to go on holiday too.’
‘You are?’ asked Gabbi.
‘Yep, I’m all packed.’ She opened her suitcase on the table and inside was a T-shirt and a deck of cards, and a lipstick that was presumably Gabbi’s.
‘Are you going to Las Vegas?’ asked Rae.
Lily blinked at her. ‘What’s Lost Fingers?’
‘A good time, amirite?’ Rae sniggered to Gabbi under her breath. Gabbi choked on her coffee a little bit.
‘Las Vegas is in America,’ Gabbi told Lily.
‘Like K.C. Undercover!’
‘Exactly. Lily, this is my friend Rae, we went to school together.’
‘Is she a mayor too?’
‘Actually, she’s an opera singer, do you know what that is?’
Lily nodded, her eyes wide. ‘I saw an opera in London. Do you wear dresses?’
‘On stage I do. Do you?’
‘No. I like dungarees.’
‘Good choice.’
Lily stood up, and looked at a watch she’d drawn in biro on her wrist. ‘Listen, ladies, I have to go or I’m going to miss my boat. Nice to meet you, Rae.’ The little girl picked up her suitcase and wandered into the living room, and Rae and Gabbi heard her chatting away to nobody about what a fine ship they were on and how she hoped they didn’t hit an iceberg.
‘My mum likes to cruise too. Perhaps they’ll meet on deck some day.’
‘She’s a funny kid. Thank god she has a big imagination and plays on her own because I can’t wrap my head around her make-believe games. Do you have kids?’
‘Nope. Maybe one day, but I’m really happy at the moment. I’m married though, and my husband couldn’t take the time off work for this trip, so I miss him.’
‘What’s his name?’
‘Finn. He’s really nice. You’d like him.’
‘Is he an A+ dude?’ she asked, quoting back to Rae what their friendship group used to call the hot guys back in the late nineties.
‘Ha – he sure is, and he makes a great spag bol.’ Rae paused. ‘Gabbi, can I ask you about my mum?’
‘What about her?’
‘It didn’t occur to me until I was back that this… resentment… of my family would still be trickling through this town. Is my mum treated well?’
‘Absolutely! She’s liked. Well, feared is perhaps more accurate.’
Rae laughed. ‘Better to be feared than judged, I guess.’
‘Seriously though, in the nicest possible way, I don’t think people think about you guys much. Your mum doesn’t particularly join in with the community, so she’s just…’
‘Forgotten about?’
‘No, no, that’s not what I mean. The reputation of your family, that’s what’s been forgotten about.’
‘Until now.’
Gabbi laughed. ‘I guess we’ll see!’
Rae stood up. ‘Okay, I’d better get home, my sisters are mad at me because I demolished a door and haven’t done anything to put it back together yet. You should come over sometime! You like painting walls, right?’
Gabbi rose also, and walked Rae to the door. ‘Absolutely, I’d like that. It would be good to see Em and Noelle too.’
‘Noelle’s still gay, in case you were wondering. It wasn’t a phase like Mr Richter from P.E. claimed it was.’
‘Mr Richter was asked to take early retirement after someone put in a complaint about him bullying the kids.’ Gabbi raised her eyebrows.
Rae gasped. ‘Who?’
‘Someone who remembered what a massive ball-sack he was.’
‘Was it you? He was savage to you when you said you didn’t want to change into your P.E. kit because your period had leaked everywhere.’
‘It was an anonymous complaint, so I couldn’t possibly say. But I did send him a thank-you-for-your-service gift following retirement.’
‘You did? What did you send?’
‘A box of tampons. So let me know when you need a hand with painting. I’m pretty busy during the daytime, usually, but maybe early evening at some point would be good, before the evenings get too dark?’
Rae felt uplifted leaving Mayor Reynold’s house, even if being in the mayor’s house in the first place had made her feel a little like she was cheating on her past self. God, it felt good to see something in this town that brought back happy memories – Gabbi looked really well. A little serious, a little in need of a bit of fun, judging by a couple of her comments, but well. Perhaps for old times’ sake Rae could have just a little excitement while she was back in Maplewood…
Chapter 12
‘Noelle, where did you get the chicken from?’
Noelle tried to hand Vicky the chicken to Emmy, but she just dangled mid-air, like Noelle was Rafiki at the beginning of The Lion King and this fat hen was Simba. ‘She was living here, in the woods.’
‘Chickens don’t live in the woods.’
‘This one does. Isn’t she lovely?’ Vicky was the colour of a vanilla latte and big-bottomed like a matron in bloomers. She tilted her head at Emmy. ‘She’s our pet chicken now. Can you check her to make sure she’s okay?’
‘I’m not a vet…’ Emmy replied. ‘We can’t keep a chicken, we’re only here for two months.’
‘She’ll be eaten by foxes if she lives out here.’
Emmy blinked. What was happening? ‘Just put her down and let her go.’
‘No way, Vicky’s one of us now. I’ll find her a proper home while we’re here, but for now we’ll keep her and she can provide us with eggs. You like eggs, don’t you, Em? Poached eggs on warm, buttery toast… The yolk all yellow and runny…’ Noelle knew full well that poached eggs were one of Emmy’s favourites.
‘I’m also pretty fond of chicken drumsticks,’ Emmy said, but she was smiling, and she took Vicky off Noelle to check her over the best she could, based on her limited knowledge of biology.
‘I’m a good person,’ Noelle said, all of a sudden, when Vicky was safely in Emmy’s arms.
Emmy looked up. ‘I know. Vicky can stay, we’ll find her a home.’
‘Yes, but, that’s not what I meant.’ Noelle fiddled with her hair, facing the low afternoon sunshine. ‘I’m a good person, and I try and be kind to everyone, and I try and do everything I can for the planet and to make the world a safe place for everyone to enjoy. And I know I’m a lawyer, and not everyone likes lawyers, but I really try and be a good person.’
‘Noey, what’s wrong?’ Emmy lowered Vicky the chicken on to the porch, and she clucked
about by their feet, clearly very at home there.
‘I’m worried about Jenny. I hurt her and she didn’t ever deserve that.’
‘Hey, you were just kids, she’ll forgive you.’
‘I wouldn’t forgive me. We went through something big together, and then I just left her alone. She was alone. And it was my fault.’ Noelle’s insides squeezed so hard that she wanted to cry but it felt too abstract, too out of reach. She wrung her fingers round and round each other, her breathing shallow. The guilt had always been there but she’d always pushed it aside. Now it was all she could think about and it was so horrible.
Emmy led her inside where she made two steaming mugs of tea, because… tea. ‘I swear I’m not trying to trivialise anything about how you’re feeling, but you’re loading an awful lot of emotions on an assumption about someone else’s heart. You need to see Jenny. This isn’t healthy, and isn’t like you.’
‘But I’m scared.’
‘No, you’re not; you’re excited.’
Noelle stopped as she was bringing the mug to her lips. ‘No, I’m scared.’
‘Rollercoasters are scary, but also exciting, because of the unknown, and the thrill of wanting whatever’s happening to happen. So tell yourself you’re not scared, but excited, and leap on board.’
Noelle pondered this. ‘That sort of makes sense, but I’m not going to be asking you to write my closing arguments anytime soon. Uggghhhh, I’m just not used to spending days and nights thinking about my love life. It feels very silly. I have other stuff going on, you know.’
‘I know. So talk to Jenny and then you can get back to your real life.’
Nodding, Noelle reached for her phone and found Jenny’s Facebook page. ‘I’m going to do it. I’ll message her. I don’t know if she’ll see it or she’ll want to talk to me, but it’s worth a try.’
‘Yes, queen.’
‘Just do it, as Nike would say.’
‘Atta girl.’
‘Let’s go.’
‘Eye of the tiger.’ Emmy was running out of motivational phrases.
‘What do I say?’ asked Noelle, her fingers trembling.
‘Invite her over. Say you’re back in town, you hate how you left things and that you want to apologise.’
My Sisters And Me Page 11