‘The next prize has been donated by Flynn Carter,’ announced Fraser. ‘This prize is to take a trip on the very first boat that is launched from the Boathouse, which is due to open up in a couple of weeks, followed by an afternoon of water sports.’
Under normal circumstances this prize would have been amazing, however because of the meeting a number of people got up from their chairs and began to filter back towards the bar whilst others just started chatting. Thankfully Flynn wasn’t there to witness the undercurrent of unrest. Julia watched Allie swirl her hand inside the bucket.
Eleni leaned in and whispered to Julia, ‘You could cut the atmosphere with a knife.’
‘Thanks to Hamish,’ whispered back Julia.
‘It’s blue again!’ hollered Fraser taking the ticket from Allie. Julia blinked slowly and laid her one blue ticket on her knee.
‘It’s got to be someone who bought their tickets just after Felicity, the number is 256.’
The room fell deadly silent waiting for the winner to reveal themselves.
Julia swallowed and stared down at the ticket in her hand. She couldn’t believe her luck, lying on her knee was a blue ticket, the number 256 staring straight back at her.
Shit.
The adrenalin was pumping through her veins and her hands were beginning to sweat. Her eyes widened – what the hell was she going to do now? The last thing Flynn Carter would want was to take her on a boat trip after what he’d discovered in the last half hour.
‘It’s you,’ hissed Eleni. ‘It’s you.’
But Julia couldn’t answer, she felt paralysed.
‘Anyone?’ prompted Fraser. ‘We are still looking for blue 256.’
Eleni yanked Julia’s hand in the air. ‘Here!’ she shouted towards Fraser. ‘It’s Julia!’
Julia tried to compose herself quickly and forced a smile, she could feel everyone’s eyes on her. Out of all the tickets in that bucket, why did it have to be hers?
Five minutes later the raffle was over, Fraser and Meredith stood proudly next to Allie, who was close to tears again.
‘Firstly,’ said Fraser, ‘on behalf of Allie, Meredith and myself, we would like to thank everyone who has donated a prize and bought a ticket. Tonight, thanks to you guys, Martha and Aggie have counted the money and would you believe we raised just over one thousand pounds? It’s outstanding!’
The whole room burst into applause.
‘The money will be spent on equipment for the new centre that will be opening up at Clover Cottage in the very near future… watch this space.’ Fraser took a breath and turned towards Allie. ‘That only leaves me to wish our beautiful, clever daughter a happy six months in the big smoke working on the national paper.’ Fraser leant over to the table at the side of him and picked up his glass. ‘Here’s to Allie.’
‘Here’s to Allie,’ everyone chorused.
‘And now I declare the bar back open,’ announced Fraser, switching off the microphone and placing it on a nearby table. Allie stood and hugged her parents whilst the majority of drinkers began to queue at the bar. Eleni followed Julia back to their table where Felicity and Isla were already sat back down and watching Julia with amusement.
‘Do not say a word,’ Julia shook her head. ‘Out of all the raffle prizes it had to be me.’
‘Do you get a plus one? Maybe you could take Hamish?’ joked Felicity.
‘I wish I could be a fly on the wall on that date,’ teased Isla who was waving over at Allie behind the bar. ‘The best thing about one of your mates being the barmaid in your local is you never have to queue for a drink.’
‘Mmm, make the most of it, it’ll be the last time for a while. And for the record, it’s not a date,’ added Julia.
‘The lady doth protest too much.’ Eleni gave Julia a little nudge with her elbow.
Julia knew they were only teasing but began to feel a little restless about the situation. Thankfully, there was a swift change in conversation when Allie appeared at the side of the table with a bottle of wine and glasses. ‘I’m not sure what you are going to do for the next six months without your favourite barmaid, and make sure you lot don’t disappear without giving me one last hug,’ Allie’s voice wobbled. ‘Right, I need to keep busy,’ she said disappearing back towards the bar.
As the girls began chatting about Rory’s TV programme, Julia just wanted to go home. The situation had spoilt her evening and she wasn’t going to rest until she could.
‘I’m sorry ladies, I’m going to get off home. I’m just not in the mood,’ said Julia honestly.
‘Are you sure? Do you want me to come back with you?’ asked Eleni.
‘No honestly, you stay and enjoy the rest of the night. I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Aww don’t go, you can’t do anything now about Flynn. Let him calm down. Everything will seem much better in the morning.’
Julia knew that Eleni was only trying to help but all she wanted to do was to curl up in bed and see what tomorrow might bring. ‘I know but I’m going to go. I’ll say goodbye to Allie on my way out.’
Five minutes later Julia was walking down the High Street heading towards the B&B when she noticed Flynn’s car driving towards her. Andrew was sitting next to him in the passenger seat and it looked like they were heading towards Starcross Manor. They were deep in conversation and Julia noticed Andrew looked concerned.
Without warning Flynn stared straight through the window at her. His eyes were cold and hard as he held her gaze. Julia felt uncomfortable and looked away first. By the look on his face he was gunning for her and she knew she was going to have to have a conversation with him tomorrow. With her heart pounding Julia mentally ordered herself to calm down. She hadn’t done anything wrong, she just needed to explain everything exactly the way it was – but she had no idea who she was going to face in the morning, the old Flynn or the new Flynn. Only time would tell.
Chapter Nine
Julia shot up in bed and began to control her breathing. She’d just woken from the most vivid dream, where she had been strolling along a sandy beach somewhere in the Mediterranean, hand-in-hand with Flynn Carter. She’d been wearing a wedding dress and as they’d waded barefoot through the warm seawater Flynn had turned to her and shouted, ‘It was you, you turned the village against me!’
Last night’s altercation came flooding back for Julia. She gave herself a little shake, the dream had seemed so real, and sitting up in bed she felt not only exhausted but slightly worried about what today would bring. She wasn’t a fan of any sort of confrontation.
After taking a minute to rally herself, Julia reached for her phone. Allie had left Heartcross and had posted a selfie just before she climbed on the plane to Glasgow, with the hashtag #seeyousoonHeartcross. She gave the photo a quick like then read the latest news. Woody was stretched out across the bottom of the bed and Julia gave his tummy a quick ruffle before finally slipping out from underneath the duvet.
The B&B was silent as she made her way downstairs, the guests hadn’t begun to rise yet, so Julia switched on the radio in the kitchen then flicked on the kettle. She placed two mugs on the table ready for Eleni’s arrival.