The sun went down quickly, and the bonfire was up and running before it was even fully dark.
The sisters, along with Jared, Jenny and Gabbi – their pasts – watched the flames crickle-crackle over the wood and leaves. Jared and Emmy clinked their beer bottles together. This was nice. They had one week to go, but it felt like a pleasant ending. A calm ending.
Until there was a snap of branches from further within the woods.
‘Do you think that was Vicky?’ Noelle asked. ‘She is putting on weight…’
‘I can hear talking,’ Rae said, her guard up. ‘Is it out on the road?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Emmy answered her. ‘I think it’s in our grounds.’
Gabbi skittered back towards the house while Jared shifted into SWAT-team mode again, stepping around the campfire and peering into the deepening nightfall. Jenny got out her phone and ducked backwards to make a call.
The voices grew louder, the twigs snapped like machine-gun fire, and out through the trees like a bunch of extras in a zombie movie stepped what felt like half of the Maplewood townsfolk.
‘Well, here’s a lot of familiar faces,’ Rae said, though her heart was beating fast. Despite her façade she didn’t actually relish confrontation, she never had. ‘Have you come back for another party? Come back to drink our drinks and eat our food and have loads of fun until the morning, when you all pretend you were so above it?’
‘Where’s our mayor?’ said Tom Bradleigh, stepping out from the middle of the group.
‘I get it now,’ Emmy spoke up. Her voice wobbled a little, but she was determined to find the words. A little squeeze from Jared and Noelle’s hands as she stepped forward helped. ‘You’re here because you didn’t get an invite to the party, and you’re feeling left out? Unpopular?’
‘I don’t care about your party, we want our mayor back. She’s supposed to kick off the town bonfire tonight, and we’re here to escort her over.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Rae said. ‘You’re here on some glory mission based on nothing but bullshit. If the mayor wanted to go to the bonfire she would, but she’s… sick.’
‘I heard you beat her up,’ that girl from school, Becky, piped up. ‘Show us our mayor.’
‘We did not beat her up,’ Noelle said. The crowd jeered and all started talking over one another.
Jared tapped a rock against his beer bottle until he got their attention. ‘You’re all on private property, and have no right to make these accusations. I have seen Mayor Reynold, and she is fine, just not ready to face you all yet. So please leave, and go to the bonfire without her.’
‘With all due respect, PC Jones,’ Police Officer One appeared, and Jared rolled his eyes, ‘you’re a little too close to the situation. The people of Maplewood are concerned, and I think we have a duty to listen to them.’
‘I’m not too close to the situation, with all due respect,’ Jared said through gritted teeth, while thinking what a patronising twat his colleague was.
‘Yeah, you patronising twat!’ Rae called out, and gave Jared a quick thumbs-up.
‘Would you like to repeat that Ms Lake?’ he replied.
‘Why don’t you just go back home and leave us alone?’ shouted Annette, barging her way to the front.
‘This is our home,’ Emmy retorted, surprising herself. ‘You go home.’
Annette shook her fist like a cartoon baddie. ‘You know what I mean, back where you came from.’
Emmy stood firm. ‘This is where we came from. Our family has lived in this town for thirty-five years; we are not outsiders. Your mayor is also our mayor. This is our home town, just as much as any of the rest of you.’
‘Then why come here and trash it?’ shouted out Kelvin, without a shred of self-awareness that he was, in fact, more trash than they would ever be. ‘Why did you do all that shit at Mayor Reynold’s house, and then take her hostage, and then wreck poor old Annette’s store?’
‘Oi.’ Annette turned her attention to him briefly. ‘Less of the “old”, you.’
‘How many times do we have to tell you, we didn’t do any of that?’ Rae cried. ‘Where’s your evidence? Why are we always guilty until proven innocent, and even then it’s just a matter of finding something else to pick on this family of mine about.’
‘Trouble only comes to town when you three are here, that’s the problem,’ someone shouted.
Jared spoke up again. ‘You and I both know that’s not true, Jonathon. Some of you could do with remembering your own antisocial behaviours over the past decade – did you want me to bring them up now?’
This only prompted more backlash from the crowd, some of whom shouted to get their voices heard and some of whom tried a half-hearted chant of Bring out the mayor! The sisters’ voices rose as well, and Emmy was actually blood-boilingly close to picking up a handful of burning sticks and throwing it at them all, when Gabbi appeared out of the darkness at her side.
‘All right, all right, may I have everybody’s attention,’ called Gabbi, not very loudly, and staying pretty much out of sight. Still the arguing and accusations continued, until she shouted, ‘Maplewood, SHUT UP.’
The noise quietened and everybody turned to face their mayor, who stepped forward so she could be seen.
Her nose was still bulbous and pink, but not too bad. Her hair actually suited her, especially now she’d cropped the rest of it shorter and wore it in a side parting the other side from the shaved bit. And the writing on her face, well, that was still there, and Gabbi had uncovered it. It had faded, somewhat, and she had clearly grabbed a black pen from inside the house and had changed the rude word to ‘dudes’, as Noelle had suggested.
Annette gasped. ‘What did these horrible girls do to your pretty face?’
Gabbi took a deep breath. ‘They didn’t do anything. Nothing. I did this to myself. And you’re just going to have to believe me when I say it looks worse than it is, and it was way worse than that, and the Lake sisters have helped me.’
‘They’ve never helped anyone but themselves,’ shouted out another face in the crowd, someone the sisters didn’t even recognise.
‘Oh, pipe down, Mister, this isn’t an audition for West Side Story,’ Emmy tutted.
Gabbi continued, ‘I came to the Lake sisters’ Halloween party.’ (Cue much gasping.) ‘That’s right, I was there, and I saw a lot of you there too, quite happy to drink their booze and dance to their music and snoop about their house. Well, I got drunk at that party, and don’t you dare gasp at me, Maplewood. I’ve made no secret of my past, and Rae Lake and I have been drunk together on many an occasion in our youth, many occasions.’
Rae, although pleased to see her friend hadn’t turned into a total cowardly cow, made a small gesture at Gabbi to indicate maybe it was okay to tone it down a little and move on.
Gabbi nodded at her. ‘Anyway, some of you seem to have forgotten that fact, and are pitting me and the Lake sisters against each other, which was never a narrative either of us set out to write – that’s on you.’
The townsfolk shuffled in the dark, peering at each other and looking a bit abashed.
‘However,’ Gabbi said, taking a breath. ‘What is on me is what happened after the party. Or more specifically, when I left during the party.’
A hush fell over the audience. Actually, it was already hushed, but Emmy definitely felt this might be the grab-the-popcorn moment.
‘The Lake sisters are not responsible for what happened to my house on Halloween. I am.’ Gabbi looked at Rae, who appeared confused. ‘I asked Rae to go for a walk in the middle of the party, and I led her to my house, because I wanted to get changed. But on the way to my house, in my inebriated state, I’m ashamed to say that I spoke to Rae about how I’d never trick-or-treated anyone. And I – I – was suggesting we, um, did so.’
‘Oh yeah,’ said Rae. ‘I’d forgotten that. You were well up for a bit of egging of front doors.’
‘Yes, I was, thank you, Rae. Anyway, Ms Lake, Rae, wa
s the one to convince me not to do that, but I was very insistent, and I’d like you to remember here that part of why you elected me as your mayor was because of my strong willpower to stick to my goals. And for that reason, the house we chose – I chose – was my own.’
Annette turned to Rae. ‘You plied this poor love with alcohol and forced her to ruin her own front garden?’
‘No, she didn’t,’ Gabbi insisted. ‘Rae didn’t want me to do it; she was the voice of reason. But she also had a kip on my garden swing so I did it anyway. And I might have gone a bit over the top, not sure why I thought breaking a window was a good idea, but at the time I had fun, and it was on my own private property, well – government property, technically, so my responsibility nonetheless – and no harm came to others.’
Rae stepped forward. ‘So you knew it was you all this time?’
‘Yes. Didn’t you?’
‘No, I genuinely couldn’t remember. You let me be questioned by the police about this, several times.’
‘Rae, I’m sorry —’
‘My sisters and I helped shield you from this bloody lot for days, when you knew we had a lot of other stuff going on, and the house to finish. And you remembered everything; you knew we hadn’t done anything wrong.’ And like a shadow lifting, Rae was glad she’d grown up, even if Gabbi hadn’t. Yes, it was fun to revisit some of her rock-chick roots, and she would love that version of herself until the day she died, but she would never have done something like this to a friend.
Gabbi looked uncomfortable. ‘It was just while I was trying to fix all this,’ she waved at her face.
‘Yeah, I get it, you were the priority, what happened to the Lake family didn’t really matter, it never does. But this isn’t school, Gabbi —’
‘Mayor Reynold,’ Police Officer One corrected her.
‘Oh, cock off. This isn’t school, Gabbi, you can’t shit on your friends and expect them to let it just roll off their backs any more. Stand up for us.’ She waved at the ground. ‘Don’t leave it to us to stand up for ourselves. Have our backs.’
Gabbi didn’t know what to say, and Rae knew she was directing this at the wrong woman, really. But still she stared her old friend down.
‘You’re right,’ Gabbi said, eventually. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t make excuses because none of that is relevant to you, but in truth, it felt nice to have a few days off.’ She turned to the crowd. ‘I love being your mayor, I do, but look at you. You’re a handful.’
Someone put down their pitchfork.
She continued, ‘I am sorry, Rae, Noelle, Emmy. I took advantage of your hospitality. It was a proper dick move.’
Jared caught Jenny’s eye and smiled. He quite liked this version of their mayor. A bit humble, but also a bit sweary.
The crowd began to fidget and the mayor addressed them a final time. ‘Please go to the bonfire. I shall join you there. It’s about time I left these sisters in peace.’
‘What about the shop, though?’ Kelvin shouted out, munching on one of their toffee apples. ‘I reckon that was still Rae.’
Something popped inside Rae, and she started laughing. Emmy and Noelle exchanged a look. Rae laughed harder, looking up at the night sky and inhaling deep, meditative breaths. ‘Oh my god, I don’t care any more.’
Kelvin shuffled, and everybody just watched Rae, as if waiting for their cue for the next scene.
She continued, ‘I don’t care about your little games. I don’t care about what you think of me. I don’t care if you don’t like me or my family, because we don’t like you either. I truly don’t care any more, and it feels amazing. Emmy, you of all people need to get on board with this feeling.’
‘You don’t like us, we don’t like you,’ Emmy said, quietly, cautiously. It seemed like an unhappy solution, but it was freeing. And why rely on other people’s thoughts to make them happy? She’d already found more comfort in her own skin just from being back here. The elements of her personality that she thought were weaknesses had actually proven to be her strengths; they’d got her to where she was today. And she’d had so much happiness in this house, she wasn’t going to forget that any more.
And then the last voice they expected to hear spoke up, one that was deep and confident. ‘I’m bored of you now. Get off my property.’
Leaning against a tree, watching the action from the shadows, cigarette in hand and looking like Jessica Lange, was Willow.
‘Mum?’ Noelle whispered.
‘Go,’ Willow snapped at the crowd, and waved her hands at them. ‘Unless you want me to start revealing a few of your secrets as well? Let everybody judge you? Ohhh yes, I’ve known you all for a very long time now. Go.’ The crowd immediately turned, muttering, and began to pick their way back over the sticks and leaves. Willow opened her arms wide, and in rushed the three sisters.
‘What the hell are you doing here?’ Rae said, tears pricking her eyes. ‘I thought you were still in South America, somewhere near the Antarctic by now?’
‘This cruise turned out not to be my cup of tea really. Too many couples. Not enough scandal. So I’m back.’ She kissed her daughters on their heads, holding on tight.
‘How long have you been back for?’ asked Emmy, holding her mum around her middle.
‘I got back yesterday.’
Emmy looked up. ‘What?… What?’
‘Where did you stay?’ Noelle asked.
‘With Jenny. Don’t look at her like that, Noelle, she’s the one that called me tonight when that lot showed up. I asked her not to tell you.’
‘Why? Did you know what we’ve been going through?’
‘Yes, but I also know you. I wanted to give you time to resolve this yourself, and finish the house, without thinking I’d come to rescue you. I knew the three of you could handle it, you can handle anything. As just displayed.’
Jenny touched Noelle’s arm. ‘Sorry for not telling you.’
‘That’s okay.’ Noelle was just so pleased to see her mum – they’d been through so much with this home over the past two-plus months, and now it was like the final puzzle piece had arrived.
‘I’m going to head off then, leave you four to catch up.’
Jenny and Noelle shared a brief kiss, on the cheeks, and Jared excused himself also. Gabbi went off to pack her bag in preparation for leaving for the town’s Bonfire Night, and then it was just the three sisters and Willow left around the dying fire.
‘Mum’s home,’ Emmy said.
‘Yes, I am, and I thought I told you no parties…’
Chapter 27
‘Are you ready, Mum?’ Emmy said, leading her up the steps. ‘Ready for the big reveal? It’s not completely done and dusted yet, but it’s pretty close.’
Willow stopped and looked at the porch. ‘Noey, did you do the outside?’
‘Yep,’ Noelle replied.
‘It looks so beautiful, you did a brilliant job. I can’t wait to see it in all its glory in the morning.’
‘We all helped with replacing the wood.’
The sisters stopped in front of the doorway and looked at each other. This was it.
Rae opened the front door.
‘Wow!’ Willow breathed and looked around.
Rae began the tour, leading their mum slowly from room to room, the sisters talking over each other to point out changes and the decisions they’d made, and to laugh about tiny flaws like paint drips. Willow remained largely quiet as she walked around, a wistful smile on her face.
The house was exactly how the sisters had pictured it, right back at The Wooden Café on their first day in Maplewood. They’d chosen to go with Devon woodland as the theme, and it couldn’t have looked like a cosier country home if it tried. Shades of green and pale, morning yellows coated the walls, chunky wooden furniture and matching accents ran throughout the house, and huge framed landscape photos of all things Devon – from the tors of Dartmoor to the whiskery noses of grazing cows – were hung in every room.
‘So you see,’ Emmy was
saying as they led her along the landing towards her bedroom, ‘we tried to keep it really “countryside” feeling, really Devon. Noelle checked and The Wooden Café can deliver cream tea hampers every time we have someone stay, as a welcome gift.’
‘That sounds lovely,’ her mum replied, distracted.
In her bedroom, Willow stopped and looked around, and then moved towards the bed. She sat down on their father’s side and looked towards the window at the night outside. She was so quiet; at that moment, even she, Willow Lake, appeared vulnerable.
Emmy watched her, her heart breaking, because she wondered how often her mum sat like this when she was at home; lost in thought in this big, quiet house. Emmy vowed there and then to come home as often as she could, as much as she could manage, because home wasn’t just Maplewood, home was family.
‘Mum?’ she whispered, selfishly pulling her mother from her thoughts because she couldn’t bear to see her sitting here, and yet a million miles away, any longer. ‘Mum, what are you thinking?’
‘I’m thinking…’ She dragged her eyes from the window, looking up at her daughters, really looking at them. ‘I’m thinking that your dad would have loved what you’ve done to our home.’
Relief and grief flooded Emmy’s heart, and she leant against the door frame, letting her eyes be clouded by her tears.
Willow smiled a soft smile. ‘You’ve done such a wonderful job. It reminds me why your dad and I fell in love with Devon. I miss him.’
‘We miss him too,’ Rae said, and she reached over to put an arm around Emmy’s shoulders.
Taking a deep breath, Willow stood up and walked over to the sisters. She wrapped them all in a big hug, the biggest she’d given, or received, in a long time. ‘I love it so much, the three of you are very talented indeed. Thank you.’
It had been worth it, then. The ups and downs, the arguments and the rekindled romances, the hangovers and the highlights – it was all worth it to have their mum feel closer to their dad again.
My Sisters And Me Page 24