‘Will there be room for me in your treehouse? Will Curio mind sharing?’
Aurora giggled. ‘Oh, no! Mum is going to make a wild mushroom quiche. I’ll meet you by my treehouse at three o’clock.’
The thought of dining in a treehouse with Aurora wasn’t a wildly exciting prospect, but the chance of getting a proper meal was. Plus, I’d save some of the food money Sarah had left me.
‘It’s a deal,’ I said, grinning. ‘Julius won’t mind watching the shop.’
The shop bell rang, Aurora frowned and said, ‘Gabriel, what took you so long? I’ve invited Jenna to come to tea.’
‘She’s nagged you to death, then,’ he said, grinning at me.
So his name was Gabriel!
Still grinning, he added, ‘She’s not very good at taking no for an answer.’ He leaned on the counter and looked at my magazine and asked, ‘You interested in books, then?’
I paused, trying to think of an answer. But he answered for me.
‘Silly question when you’re working here.’
‘I’m helping Sarah out,’ I said. Why had my voice gone all soft and quiet?
Aurora jumped up on the counter between us. ‘Ssh, you’ll wake Julius. When is he going to finish that book?’
Julius had nodded off with the book balanced expertly on his lap.
‘He’s been reading it for years,’ Gabriel said with a laugh. His accent was a bit posh, like Aurora’s. Then he glanced over my shoulder at the box of records. ‘Kai still not back, then?’
‘Not for the foreseeable future,’ I muttered.
‘He will be. He wouldn’t take off for ever and leave his precious record collection behind. Can I just have a look?’
He jumped over the counter and headed for the cardboard box. I suppose living in trees made him agile. He crouched down and began flicking through the collection.
‘What’s Kai like?’ I asked. I was interested to know what he thought.
Aurora butted in. ‘Mum says he’s a free spirit with a deep poetic soul.’
Gabriel tugged on one of her plaits and frowned. ‘She did not!’
‘Did too! I heard her talking about him. She said he needed to be free from that millstone.’
I felt a pang. How could anyone describe Sarah as a millstone? You’d have to be pretty lightweight yourself if you thought she was a millstone.
Gabriel nudged Aurora and looked at me as he said, ‘Jenna doesn’t want to hear your prattle, Aurora. Kai’s all right. Sometimes he lends me some of his records. I play in a band and he helps out with the sound checking.’
He said my name like he’d known me for ever.
Chapter Ten
That evening, Ava came round with a fantastic meaty stew. As I stuffed myself Ava settled herself in on the sofa with a large cardboard box.
‘I’m making pom-poms for the Brownies,’ she announced as she took out some pieces of cardboard and began winding wool around them.
As I was finishing my second bowlful she said, ‘I hear you’re a troubled teen.’
I snorted. ‘Don’t spare my feelings.’
Ava carried on, ‘I’m quite good with troubled teens, and babies going through the terrible twos. They’re quite similar really. Lots of screaming and face pulling.’
‘And you are such an expert on troubled teens because … ?’ I arched an eyebrow at her the way Mia always did at supply teachers.
Ava took another sip of her frothy coffee and blinked. ‘On account of having been one myself.’
‘Don’t tell me, you stayed up till midnight and didn’t wear your slippers!’ I laughed.
‘Is that your idea of wildness? What I did was dance naked in the grounds of Netherby Hall, fall in love with the wrong boy and make lots of foolish mistakes.’
I looked away at the thought of a naked Ava. As if on cue Tallulah began to mew loudly. I leaped off my chair and dashed into the kitchen to feed her and to have a quiet laugh at the thought of a ‘wild’ Ava. I composed myself and went back in the lounge.
‘Being a beautiful woman can be a terrible burden,’ Ava continued as she reached into a handbag and pulled out some extra-strong mints and some tatty old photographs.
The first photo was a small black-and-white one of a pretty, dark-haired girl with a familiar grin.
‘If I knew then what I know now …’ Ava’s voice quivered.
‘What does that mean?’ I asked. Grumbling older people always said that.
Ava laughed. ‘You’re right. It is a silly thing to say. It would mean transplanting my old brain into my young body.’
‘Yuck! Sounds like a plot for a bad science fiction movie,’ I said.
‘All the mistakes I’ve made and life experiences I’ve had have created the person I am now. If I hadn’t let my young self do all those daft and crazy things where would I be now?’
‘So it’s OK to be crazy when you’re young?’ I asked.
‘It’s all part of growing up. Then you have to be respectable for about thirty years before you get to be reckless all over again!’ Ava laughed.
I casually flicked through the rest of the photographs.
Ava’s voice went quiet. ‘Some mistakes can be more painful than others. It would be nice to unmake one or two of those painful ones. Mistakes should be like reverse wishes. You should be able to unmake three mistakes in your life.’
I stared at a photograph of a young woman standing in the grounds of Netherby Hall. She wasn’t looking at the camera or smiling. It must have been a cold, windy day because her long, blond hair was blowing about and she was wearing a brown suede jacket. ‘She’s beautiful,’ I said, sighing.
Ava looked at the photo and sighed too. ‘Lavinya had an effortless beauty. Never wore make-up or did her hair, but she always looked just right. Broke his heart, she did. One day she was here and the next she had gone. No one knew where or why. She was a wild spirit. You couldn’t pin her down. I found that picture in an old book in Sarah’s shop. Someone must’ve been using it as a bookmark and forgotten about it. She’d be in her mid-twenties there. She died a few years ago. No one speaks about her now. Especially not the second Lady Netherby.’
‘Lavinya was the first Lady Netherby?’ I asked.
‘Yes, and Gabriel is her son. Aurora is the child from Lord Netherby’s second marriage or it might even be his third. There have been a succession of girlfriends and wives at Netherby Hall over the years and I find it hard to keep track.’ Ava carried on winding the wool.
‘Gabriel and Aurora live at Netherby Hall!’ I gasped. And here was me imagining that they lived in a caravan in the countryside – or in a tree!
‘Aurora’s always lived there and Gabriel visits from time to time. Lord Netherby only found out he had a son when Gabriel was about eleven years old. He’s a nice lad, even if he didn’t inherit Lavinya’s striking blond looks.’
‘Aurora’s invited me round for tea tomorrow,’ I said. Gabriel’s looks seemed just fine to me.
‘That’ll be nice, dear, but you should really be mixing with people of your own age. Why don’t you pop into the youth club in the village hall? It’s on every Monday night. You could call in for an hour or so. I won’t mind.’
I muttered a vague reply. I didn’t take in what she was saying. I was too busy trying to get my head round the fact that Torso Boy was Gabriel, son of Lord Netherby.
I’d seen TV programmes about the aristocracy and seen pictures galore of toffs in magazines, but Gabriel was nothing like them. He was so scruffy for one thing … I suppose if you have heaps of money you don’t need to think so much about your appearance. Then another thought hit me.
What do you wear when you go to tea with a lord?
Ava made another milky coffee, but before she could drink it she’d dozed off on the sofa, making little snorting sounds. When her face was relaxed with sleep she looked a lot younger. I made a mental note to actually listen to her more.
The sound of a key turning in the lock startled
me. I didn’t expect Sarah for another day at least, but you never knew with her.
‘We’re in here!’ I shouted.
‘And who are you, exactly?’ a man’s voice replied.
Chapter Eleven
He looked me up and down and whistled.
‘Jenna, you’ve grown up all of sudden.’
Shame you haven’t, I thought.
‘Sarah not here, then?’ Something in his voice made me think that he knew she wouldn’t be. He was carrying a large canvas bag.
Ava woke up with a start, ‘Kai, love, you’re back! Sarah will be pleased.’
‘I only stopped by to pick up a few bits and pieces. Then we’re off to a festival in Cornwall,’ he said as he bent over and kissed Ava on the cheek.
I’d bet anything the other part of ‘we’ was young and female.
‘Sarah didn’t say you’d be coming round,’ I said.
Kai grinned back at me and asked, ‘Where is she?’
‘She’s gone on a book-buying trip,’ Ava replied.
‘She probably forgot to mention I was coming.’
Hadn’t Sarah gone on and on about how she hadn’t heard from him? Surely Ava would see through him.
‘Ava, you’re looking lovely as usual. Is that a new hair colour?’ He tickled her cheek. Ava turned to mush.
I tried another tactic. ‘I’ll give you a hand, Kai.’
‘No need, unless you’d like to rummage in my underwear drawer.’
He was holding a pretty big bag for just underwear.
‘Wouldn’t have thought you’d wear any,’ I said. Now it was his turn to blush a bit. He came up close and cupped my face in his hand.
‘Quite the sassy lady, aren’t you?’ he said and our eyes locked.
A horn sounded outside. Kai went to the window and waved. I could just make out the hunched figure of a young girl at the steering wheel, looking worried.
‘I’d love to stay and get to know you better, but I’m in a bit of a hurry.’ He left the room.
The upstairs floorboards creaked as he walked around opening and closing drawers and cupboards. I met him at the front door.
‘Any message for Sarah?’ I asked as he was on his way out.
‘Sarah and I don’t need formal conventions to communicate, but tell her I’ll be back for the Netherby Festival.’ As he was leaving, he leaned forward to kiss me on the cheek.
I left Ava to her photos and went out into the garden for some gulps of fresh air. It was a warm, light evening. I’d been away from home for nearly three weeks. I stretched out my arms and spun round in a great big circle. The air was hot and filled with tight gangs of insects. I felt a little crazed, affected by the mixture of emotions that swirled around inside me.
There was something about Kai that made my flesh creep. And there was something about Gabriel that made me feel awkward and unsure of myself.
What was it about Gabriel? He wasn’t the best-looking lad I’d ever seen. Jackson was more handsome than he was. Whenever I met Gabriel it was like an allergic reaction. I was itchy and uncomfortable in my body. Feeling like this was way too much to handle on top of waiting for Mia to speak out.
As it was only half past eight and I couldn’t face an evening in the house with just Ava and the effect of Kai’s visit eating away at me, I decided to go and check out the youth club.
‘Take the box of pom-poms, will you?’ Ava pushed the box at me. ‘Now, I’ll just see if Charlie or Freddie is around. He can escort you there.’ She marched out into the back garden and yelled ‘Yoohoo!’ over the fence.
So, not only did I have to walk into a roomful of strangers carrying a box of pom-poms but I had to have an escort. Lucky for me Freddie was out, so it was Charlie who came to the door.
‘See that you bring Jenna home at a reasonable time,’ Ava called out as we set off down the lane. Charlie grinned.
‘I don’t know who she thinks she is ordering people around like that. Pay no attention to her,’ I said, bristling.
Charlie shrugged his shoulders. ‘Ava’s all right. Just don’t let her anywhere near your hair. Everyone who goes in that shop comes out with the same bouffant hairdo.’
I laughed. ‘I know – I’ve seen Muriel and Gina.’
‘You were lucky to catch me. I should’ve left twenty minutes ago. Our band is playing at the youth club tonight.’
‘Anti-folk music, right?’ I said, trying to sound smarter than I felt.
‘What kind of music do you like, Jenna?’ Charlie asked.
It was one of those trick questions that boys are always asking. Fortunately I had an answer ready.
‘I have an eclectic taste in music,’ I said.
Charlie wasn’t for giving up. ‘OK, name the last CD that you bought.’
‘Howling Wolf,’ I replied. I’d bought it for my grandad’s birthday.
Charlie stopped dead in his tracks and nodded. ‘That’s cool,’ he said.
We’d just reached the front of the village hall. It was a redbrick building with mock Tudor black-and-white-painted beams on the front. The date 1902 was carved above the doorway and a group of kids were hanging around by the entrance.
‘What’s your band called?’ I asked as a battered white van pulled up beside us.
‘Goats in a Spin,’ Charlie replied as the back door of the van opened and my Number-One Fan, Cleo, jumped out and scowled at me. The door to the driver’s seat opened, coming between me and Cleo, and a pair of faded jeans and battered trainers came out. They were Gabriel’s.
‘Hi, Gabe,’ Charlie said. ‘You know Jenna.’
He looked at me and smiled for a split second, then his expression changed and he said, ‘Come on, Charlie, we’ve got fifteen minutes to set up.’ It was like he couldn’t be bothered wasting his time talking to me.
So his friends called him Gabe. Gabriel probably sounded too … angelic.
‘Gabe plays the drums and Cleo sings a few songs from time to time,’ Charlie explained. I put on my most bored expression.
Cleo came over and said, ‘Still working in the bookshop for Soppy Sarah?’
‘Sarah is my aunt,’ I said, hoping that would embarrass her.
‘Worse luck,’ she replied. ‘Relatives always pay you peanuts.’
Gabe (as I now thought of him) deliberately bumped into her with the amp he was carrying. ‘Shut up, Cleo.’ He didn’t look at me.
She laughed like he’d said something incredibly amusing and flicked a speck of dust from his hair in the way that you can only do when you’re really close to someone.
I shook the pom-pom box and said, ‘I’d better go and deliver these.’
‘I’ll give you a hand.’ Charlie made a move for the box.
I pulled the other way. ‘I can manage, Charlie.’
He went on ahead regardless and made a big fuss of opening the doors for me.
‘Cleo is famous for her sharp tongue,’ he told me. ‘You get used to it after a while.’
I didn’t bother to reply. Mia would’ve dealt with Cleo with a put-down or a look. My tactic was not to be impressed by any of them. Apart from Charlie, they didn’t show any interest in me so why should I care about them and their poxy band? It wasn’t as if they were friends of mine. And boys were off my radar at the moment.
I bought myself a packet of slightly out-of-date crisps from the vicar and sat down at the back of the hall as far away from where the band was setting up as I could get.
After a lot of faffing around with cables and endless sound checks they began to play. Charlie was the lead singer. Charlie and Freddie both played guitars whilst Gabe played drums. Cleo joined in with the others with the singing.
A gaggle of kids formed round the front. I stayed obstinately at the back and listened. Freddie had problems keeping time, but there was something edgy about them. The lyrics weren’t bad either. They all took turns singing. Charlie had a soft, soulful singing voice.
I tried not to look at Gabe too much, but when I did he
was playing with a frantic nervous energy. His chest tightened as he punched the beat with strained arms that seemed to move randomly. Sweat made his hair curl round his neck. His eyes were closed and he was totally absorbed in making music.
It took a couple of songs for my ears to adjust to their sound, but my body moved to the rhythm and my heart responded to the lyrics. Goats in a Spin were good. Part of me wanted to rush over and cheer, but another part felt awkward and shy and held me back.
At the end, Charlie came over and handed me a plastic cup of orange squash. I hate orange squash, but I didn’t want to hurt his feelings so I took a sip and tried not to screw my face up.
‘You don’t like it? Shall I get you a can of Coke?’ Charlie said, looking a little hurt by my reaction.
I took a deep breath and was about to say ‘You were good’ when Freddie came over.
‘No, I bet the lady prefers Cristal.’
‘And what is Cristal?’ I asked him. My voice sounded harsher than I’d meant it to.
‘Er … er, a very expensive drink,’ Freddie floundered.
I floundered too as I started to say ‘You were good’ again, but before I could get the words out, another voice cut in.
‘It’s champagne,’ Gabe explained. They probably drink it every day at his house!
Charlie turned to me and said, ‘If you wait till we’ve packed up we can give you a lift home. We’re getting some chips on the way back too.’ I nodded gratefully at Charlie.
‘We could pick up some doughnuts for you,’ Gabe said and everybody laughed.
Cleo imitated Aurora’s plummy voice, ‘Go Jenna, go Jenna!’
Everybody laughed. My face felt scorched with embarrassment.
‘No thanks. I’ve got to go home and do something … I’ve got to change the cat litter tray.’
I marched straight out of the door. I wasn’t going to be laughed at for a moment longer.
Chapter Twelve
It was like that old horror story about a man with two personalities, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. One of them is nice and the other is a murderous monster. That how I felt at that moment. Only I didn’t need to swallow any potion to change. All it took for my personality to wobble was to see Gabe.
Soul Love Page 5