I desperately tried to think of something else to say, to keep them talking for just a few more seconds. “Wait!”
I saw both of them visibly stiffen at my command, then they turned round slowly, giving each other a quick, nervous glance.
I hadn’t planned what to say next, so I said the first thing that came to mind. “Can you tell Veronica that I miss her?”
It wasn’t a ploy to see what they’d say or how they’d react; I just wanted her to know.
As it turned out, neither David nor Laura said anything, but their reactions shocked me. David nodded slowly, with a grave look in his eyes that I’d never seen before, whereas Laura’s eyes filled up, and just before she turned to leave, I saw one single tear run down her cheek.
***
I was just crossing through the food hall to get to the escalators when I saw Jackie Maguire, sitting at a table on her own with a cup of tea in front of her. She was staring into space, looking tired and miserable. I immediately felt sorry for her and went over to say ‘hi’.
She looked up at the sound of my voice but there was no hint of recognition on her face.
“I’m Beth Powers, a… friend of Connor’s. I work at the Little Forest Picture House, I saw you there once?”
It suddenly dawned on her and she smiled back at me. “O’course, sorry Beth. I’m still gettin’ used to names and faces here. Will you join me?”
“Sure!” I sat down opposite her and put my shopping bags on the seat next to me.
“Been having a wee bit of a spree, have we?”
“You could say that. It’s a friend’s birthday in a couple of days and I’m throwing him a surprise party, so I just came to get some supplies really.”
“Ah, isn’t that nice? As long as he likes surprises, mind. I once threw one for my husband; he nearly had a heart attack!” She laughed and then looked into the distance again. I didn’t want to pry but I thought this would be the only opportunity I’d get.
“I’m sorry to hear about Connor’s father. When did he… pass? If you don’t mind me asking?”
I thought she’d be angry and I’d face the Maguire wrath again, but she actually laughed, albeit sadly.
“Connor’s father isn’t dead.”
“Oh… I thought he said…?”
She took a deep breath. “He probably did. I’ve been tellin’ everyone that he’s dead for years, but the truth is, he left me. I just couldn’t bear the humiliation, so I told everyone he died suddenly.” She paused and looked down at her tea. “I know it’s stupid, but I don’t have a lot of close friends or family, so it was only really work colleagues and acquaintances I lied to. O’course, Connor knows, but he’s a good lad, he went along with it for me.”
I must have looked incredibly confused because Jackie smiled kindly and put her hand over mine. “I know I must sound like a mad old bat. It was just my way of copin’, and it got a bit out of hand… but new start and all that. There’s no point lyin’ about it now.”
I nodded and tried to smile. I wasn’t expecting this kind of conversation with Connor’s mum; I could only assume she was lonely and hadn’t had anyone to talk to - apart from Connor - for quite a while.
Then I thought about Norman, and wondered if she knew what was going on.
“So, have you met many people in Little Forest yet? I see Connor’s getting on well with Norman.”
Jackie frowned. “Norman?”
“Norman Carter, the man who lives out on Hill Top Farm? I mean, I’m not sure what they have in common but Connor talks about him a lot.” Well, it wasn’t technically a lie.
Jackie still looked confused but not particularly interested. “Does he? I can’t say I’ve ever met ‘im. I seem to spend my life either working here or catchin’ up on me sleep! I haven’t met many people in the village to be honest.”
I nodded, thinking I’d better stop; she clearly didn’t know anything about her son’s involvement with Norman and she just seemed so sad.
“Well, darlin’… Nice to meet you again, I’d better get back to work. I hope the surprise party goes well.”
I stood up and grabbed my shopping. “You know, you’re more than welcome to come, if you like. Everyone’s getting to the Little Forest Inn on Friday for about seven.”
Jackie looked genuinely grateful that I’d asked. “Well thank you, dear. Maybe I’ll pop in after work.” She smiled and patted my hand again before standing up.
I stood and watched as she walked off, dabbing a tissue at her eyes as she went.
***
I spent the entire next day organising the party and inviting people (including Connor, mainly so I could keep an eye on him), and on Friday I headed to the Inn for about five to make sure I had enough time to set up.
I sent Will a text to meet me outside the Inn at seven thirty (hoping he wouldn’t find it weird that I wanted to meet him on the street) and sent a mass reminder text to everyone else.
I’d managed to rustle up quite a few people; The Couple were coming, possibly Connor and Jackie, some of Will’s work mates, some of the locals, and even his parents, who seemed surprisingly willing to help once I’d explained how much Will wanted to celebrate his birthday. Well, one tiny white lie wouldn’t hurt. I’d even sent a text to Veronica but I obviously wasn’t holding out much hope that she’d turn up.
By seven o’clock the pub was draped in streamers and banners, and there were more than enough balloons dangling from the old wooden beams and stuck to the front of the bar. By quarter past, the pub was more packed than I’d ever seen it, and almost everyone I’d invited - V being the main exception - had turned up. I went to wait outside in case Will was early and after ten minutes of standing in the cold, I was severely regretting it.
A few minutes later, he appeared and I went up to him and gave him a hug. “Happy Birthday, old man!”
He laughed quietly and shook his head. “Thanks.”
He didn’t seem his usual cheery self, and I started to think that he probably wouldn’t thank me for the big surprise. “What’s wrong?”
He shrugged. “Nothing’s wrong… I just told you, I don’t celebrate birthdays. My parents haven’t even mentioned it.”
I tried to hide a smile as I slipped my arm around his. “Well, I’m mentioning it, if I’m allowed. Shall we have a drink?” I led him to the door and then gestured for him to open it. He looked at me suspiciously but opened the door anyway.
I heard the shout of ‘Surprise!’ as he walked in and laughed when he stopped short, mouth wide open. I looked at him sheepishly, said a quick, “Sorry!” and led him over to the table where everyone was waiting for him. The Couple, Connor and Will’s parents were already sitting down and I smiled at Will’s wide-eyed look of disbelief. When he noticed his parents, his eyes became so large they nearly popped out of his head.
He turned back towards me, half happy and half murderously angry. “You did this?”
I nodded and gestured to the empty seat left for him. “Sit down and I’ll bring you a drink over.”
He looked bewildered and did as he was told, but not before he glared at me and said in mock rage, “I’ll get you back for this one day, Powers!”
Rolling my eyes, I walked the short distance to the bar. I ordered a couple of ciders from my mum, being careful not to say any more to her than was necessary, and turned back to face the pub. Will was being handed cards and presents and I couldn’t help but smile again, happy that my plan had worked out.
I took a sneaky glance at Connor. He was gazing around the room and smiling, looking like any other happy party-goer. He was sitting next to Rach, who spoke to him occasionally, but in general he just sat there, taking in the surroundings and not saying a word.
When I took the drinks over, Will was talking to his parents, and his dad was just about to hand over an envelope.
“Son, I’m afraid we haven’t got you a present, but here’s something that we think will come in useful. You know, if you ever wanted to buy a car.”
> Will looked like he was in shock. He took the envelope and opened it to reveal a cheque, and from where I was standing I could see it was quite a sizeable amount; they must have been saving up for this for a while. He shook his head in awe and then hugged his parents each in turn. “Thank you… I don’t know what to say.”
I sat down beside him. “I say, have a drink!”
He smiled and picked up his glass of local Forest Legends Cider.
I held mine up as well. “To Will! Happy twenty-first!”
Most of the people in the pub had been listening and they raised their glasses to repeat the toast. After that, everyone started drifting off into small groups, and I used the opportunity to give Will his present from me.
“Now, Will, I know you love your old one, but it’s time to join the modern age.”
He looked at me curiously and unwrapped his mp3 player and headphones. “Awesome! Thanks Beth!”
“You like it? I thought you might defend your crappy CD player to the death.”
He shook his head, laughing. “That piece of rubbish? No way!” He looked up at me again. “Seriously, Beth. Thank you. You didn’t have to do all this.”
I shrugged, taken aback by his genuine gratitude. “Well, it gave me something to do. And besides, I couldn’t let you use that CD player anymore. Frankly, I was embarrassed to be seen with you and that thing.”
He laughed as he took the mp3 player out of the box.
I leaned over and started pointing things out to him. “The sound quality’s way better on this. You can turn it up here,” I pointed to the volume control on the side, “but you can do it with your headphones, too.”
“Nice.”
“You’d better not use this as an excuse to avoid my calls or anything though!”
He put the player back in the box and took a gulp of cider. “As if I’d ever avoid you.”
He said the last sentence without his usual jokey voice, and when I didn’t respond, he gave me a quick smile.
Looking up at the people sitting around the table - most of whom were having their own conversations - he lowered his voice. “So… why did you invite Irish? I’m assuming that’s Connor over there? The guy who keeps staring at you?”
I glanced over and, sure enough, Connor was looking back at us. Thankfully, unlike my mum and Norman, he had the sense to look away when he realised we were both looking at him.
“I keep forgetting you’ve never met him; how that’s possible in Little Forest I have no idea.”
Will just shrugged. “I know enough about him from you.”
“I just thought it would be interesting to see if he came, see how he reacted.”
Will nodded, not looking entirely comfortable with having him there.
“But you should make up your own mind,” I added, and before he could stop me, I’d raised my glass and shouted across the table, “Hey Connor, come and meet the birthday boy!”
Will’s head snapped round at me and he gave me a hefty kick under the table, one that made me utter a small yelp that I had to try and turn into a cough as Connor shuffled around the table towards us.
At the same time I noticed Rach get up to go to the toilet, leaving Max on his own at the other end of the table. Rach still wasn’t really talking to me since the whole book club fiasco, but I’d begun to see the signs of her rage thawing at work and knew it was only a matter of time until we were friends again.
I still didn’t want her to know about Max’s little tip off though, and I thought this might be my only chance to get him alone.
Connor was now standing next to me and I smiled at him as I stood up. “I’ve just got to talk to Max about something, but Connor, this is Will. Will, Connor.” I gestured for Connor to take my seat and ignored Will’s look of disbelief. I’m sure I’d pay for this later.
I moved to Rach’s now empty seat as quickly as I could and kept my voice low so no one else could hear. “Max.”
He looked at me in surprise, or I assumed he did; his facial expression was hidden under all his unruly hair. I rarely started a conversation with him - there just wasn’t any point most of the time.
“Beth.”
“I got your text.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Thanks for the tip.”
Max looked around the room, checking his other half wasn’t in the vicinity. “Can you not tell Rach? She’s pretty against this whole conspiracy thing you and Will have got going. You wouldn’t believe how mad she gets about it.”
I nodded, believing what he was saying about Rach but in disbelief about how much he was saying. I didn’t think I’d ever gotten this much out of him on any subject, ever. “Sure, no problem.”
We sat in silence for a couple of seconds and I took a sip of my drink. “So, the conversation you overheard… did Connor seem angry? Was he having a go at Norman?”
Max shrugged, and I feared he’d go back to his usual monosyllabic answers. Luckily he had a few more words left in him. “He seemed pretty pissed off, that’s why he got chucked out. To anyone watching, it looked like a young guy verbally abusing Norman, and you know the Inn basically lives off the income Carter brings in…”
I laughed in astonishment. Max wasn’t as stupid or as oblivious to everything as he made out. “And to you? What did you think?”
Max did seem to think, which was another first. “He definitely got under Norman’s skin. He was rattled.”
“And you say they mentioned Emma?”
Max nodded. “Connor did, yeah. Definitely.”
“But you don’t know what they said?”
“No, they were being loud but so was the rest of the pub. The footie highlights were on.”
I sighed. Damn sports, always getting in the way. “Maybe that’s why Norman was rattled; he didn’t get to watch the TV.”
Max laughed, and again I marvelled at how open he was being. “You’d think so, but after Connor left, he just kept staring at his drink. He didn’t even seem to notice it was on.”
I stared at my own drink for a while, trying to get my head around this. Norman not wanting to watch the football was almost unheard of.
I was about to ask more questions when Rach suddenly appeared next to us. She looked suspicious, and I didn’t blame her. Hardly anyone - other than Rach and his brother - could ever get much out of Max. “What are you two whispering about?”
I tried to think of a likely topic but my mind went blank.
Max, however, answered without missing a beat. “Beth was just asking me what we got Will for his birthday.”
I moved out of her chair and smiled as Rach sat down. “What, you couldn’t wait two minutes until he opened our present?”
I opened my mouth, hoping something would come out to explain myself. Sadly, all I managed was a, “Nope!”
I walked off before Rach could say anything else.
***
A couple of hours later I was stuck talking to Will’s boss, Thomas Hours, at the bar. Thomas could talk for England; I’d managed to get about two words into a half hour conversation, and he showed no signs of shutting up any time soon.
Luckily, Will had gotten thirsty enough to warrant a trip to the bar, and therefore managed to save me. “Hey, Thomas, can I borrow Beth for a bit?”
“Oh sure, Will. See you later, Beth.”
“Bye!” I watched him walk off before grabbing Will’s arm melodramatically. “Oh my God, thank you.”
“I think I need to thank you. This is amazing, Beth. No one’s ever done anything like this for me.” He stepped forward and started hugging me, a bit too enthusiastically. He’d had quite a few drinks by this point; people who hadn’t brought him a present kept buying him ciders, beers, shots, anything. The hug went on a bit too long and after I wriggled out of it he kissed me on the cheek, which was also unexpected.
I stood back and smiled shyly.
“You’re welco…” and then I saw her. Veronica was standing behind Will, looking at me with a face like
thunder. “V!”
Will spun round to see her, but she’d stormed off as soon as I’d spoken. I gave Will a despairing look and ran outside after Veronica. She was already halfway down the street. “V, wait!”
She stopped running and turned to face me. “Wait? Wait for what? Wait for you to steal all of my friends?”
I was stunned. “What?”
“God, Beth,” she spat, “you don’t even like Will.”
I was glad she hadn’t said that in front of him when we were inside. “What did you mean, steal your friends? You’re the one who’s ignoring us! V, what am I supposed to have done?”
She paused, looking like she was trying to decide what to say. Then the venom in her voice was replaced with that same sadness I’d heard at the Diner. “You haven’t done anything, if only I could say the same for… I mean… just be careful, Beth. You don’t know…”
“Who? If only you could say the same for who?”
Veronica looked slightly panicked and started backing away from me.
I wanted her to stay, and I said the first thing that came into my mind. “V, you know when I said I saw Emma outside The Pit when we left that night?”
My change in conversation caught her off guard, and she responded automatically. “Yeah?”
“The police told me she died before midnight, while we were still in the club.”
I could see she wanted to get away but her curiosity was apparently making her stay. “Well, that’s…” her brow furrowed, as if remembering a distant memory, “impossible.”
I shook my head. “Impossible doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. We both know that.”
I paused, not wanting to scare her away. She was the only person I could discuss this with. “When I saw her, I had this really strange feeling, it reminded me of…”
Veronica stepped forward, obviously interested despite herself. “Edinburgh?”
I nodded, relieved that she was talking to me. Or sort of, anyway. “And there’s something else…” I braced myself for explaining what John had told me, but before I could get another word out, Veronica shook her head and took a step backwards.
“I’ve got to go, just please leave me alone.” She started inching away.
“But I really need to talk to you, no one else knows…”
It was useless. She gave me one last pained look, then ran off back towards Main Street. I thought about running after her but decided against it; I didn’t want to push her any more than I just had.