‘Don’t be daft. Not everybody has a dark cloud looming over their youth. Besides, it wasn’t as though you had an idyllic childhood yourself. I’m glad you can enjoy the memories of good times.’
Alice was very young when her mum died, so she can’t really remember the trauma of a parent being there one minute and gone the next, but she remembers the day Francelia swept into her life and everything seemed to change all at once. Her life became unbalanced as they got used to the new dynamics at home, as she became part of a whole new family unit. And just as she was adjusting, her life was turned on its head once again when she was sent away to boarding school. Of course there were the school holidays, but she mostly spent them at the castle, with only brief visits from her father when he could tear himself away from work and his new wife. Alice once told me that when her father married Francelia, she gained a stepmother and lost a father.
‘I always felt safe here,’ Alice says. ‘The place is huge, but every nook and cranny was familiar.’
‘It must feel weird, being back here and it being a business venue rather than your grandparents’ home.’
‘I suppose it is.’ We’ve started to move again, making almost synchronised fairy steps along the fountain’s wall. ‘It’s still familiar, but there are lots of changes – all of them improving the castle for its paying guests, but it’s lost a bit of its charm.’
Alice loses her footing and we both have a major, arms-flailing wobble, our hands losing their grip on each other in the process. My heart is racing, picturing one of us taking a dip in the fishy water. This time there will be no grandfather to do a bit of human fishing. Somehow, however, we both find our balance.
‘Hey, do you know what this is like?’ Alice asks.
‘What?’
Alice stretches her arms out, one in front of her, the other behind, and bends her knees slightly. With the forward-facing hand, she beckons me with her finger.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ I’m frowning but giggling at the same time. ‘You look ridiculous.’ Alice flips the beckoning finger and points down at the fountain’s wall at her feet, and it clicks what she’s up to. I splutter and shake my head. ‘Oh my God, you’re doing the Dirty Dancing on a log thing, aren’t you? No. No way.’ I shake my head. ‘I am not making a tit of myself and dancing with you up here.’
‘Come on.’ Alice pouts. ‘Carolyn and I used to do this all time when we were kids.’
‘I don’t care if you did this with Patrick Swayze himself.’ Alice and I both sigh dreamily. We wore our Dirty Dancing DVD out when we were at uni and too poor to go out on a Friday night. ‘I am not dancing with you, you little weirdo.’
Alice starts to sing the song that plays in that particular scene, moving backwards and forwards along the wall, even giving a little twirl of her foot à la Baby. I am in no doubt that this is something she has done a lot over the years.
‘Hey!’ a voice cries out, the sudden noise almost making me nose-dive into the water. I manage to keep dry only by hopping down onto the path. ‘I can’t believe you’re dirty dancing without me!’
Alice squeals and hops down off the wall too before tearing towards her sister, who is grinning at us despite the spectacle she’s just witnessed. The sisters throw their arms around each other, both babbling over the other.
I’ve met Carolyn only a handful of times over the years, first when she spent the weekend with us during our third year at uni (but I was juggling a waitressing job, a super-brief, super-hot fling with a fellow historian, and my studies at the time so our paths barely crossed), and again during graduation. Shortly after, Carolyn moved to Denmark and when she returned home to visit family, it was usually during the Christmas period, which I’d felt obligated to spend with Mum and Great Aunt Dorothy, even though I knew it would be the longest, most miserable few days for all involved. But I know Alice and Carolyn are close, despite not always residing in the same country.
Alice and Carolyn are very similar in looks. Both are petite with long, strawberry-blonde hair and pale freckles across their cheeks, and they have the exact same shade of green eyes, but Carolyn is a few inches taller than Alice, her face more rounded.
‘You remember my friend, Emily, don’t you?’ Alice says as I approach, and Carolyn smiles in a spookily familiar way.
‘Of course. Thank you for coming, Emily. I hope you’ll enjoy the week I have planned. It’s going to be so much fun, I promise.’
‘I’m sure I’ll love it,’ I say, almost convincing myself with the fib. If Alice has her way, I’ll hate almost every second of it as we hunt out my ‘Prince Charming’. I want to gag at the mere thought.
‘Have you seen her?’ Carolyn asks Alice, lowering her voice.
Alice frowns. ‘Who?’
Carolyn takes a furtive look around us and lowers her voice even further. ‘Francelia.’
Alice pulls a face. ‘Unfortunately. She showed us to our room.’
Carolyn frowns. ‘Room? You’re sharing?’ Alice nods, and Carolyn throws her hands up in the air. ‘Bloody Francelia! Sorry, I had no idea. Francelia put herself in charge of allocating the rooms. I could try to rearrange something…’
Alice shakes her head. ‘It’s fine, honestly. I think it’ll be more fun this way.’
Carolyn gives a slow nod. ‘You’re probably right. Have you got room for one more?’
Alice mock-gasps. ‘Don’t tell me you’re fed up of Piers already.’
‘Never.’ Carolyn sighs, a serene smile on her face. ‘I can’t believe I actually get to marry him.’
Would it be totally rude to make gagging noises right now?
‘But anyway…’ Carolyn’s face is alive as she grasps hold of her sister’s shoulders, giving them an excited squeeze. ‘Have you seen Tom?’
Alice gasps – for real this time – and claps her hands together. ‘Tom’s here? I haven’t seen him in years. The last time was… Well, you know.’ I don’t know, but clearly Carolyn does and senses her sister would rather not elaborate. ‘I didn’t know you were still in touch. I sent him a friend request on Facebook about four years ago, but he never accepted it.’
Carolyn’s hands fall to her sides. ‘He never accepted mine either, and he avoided all my calls and texts after… you know.’
No, I still don’t, actually.
‘But he accepted your invitation, so he must have forgiven us.’ Alice’s gaze locks on to her sister’s. ‘Right?’
Carolyn breaks the eye contact and scuffs the toe of her shoe on the ground. ‘I didn’t actually invite him. We haven’t spoken for so long and everything, so…’ She shrugs. ‘I had no idea he’d be here until I saw him out the front this morning.’
‘But what’s he doing here, if you didn’t invite him?’
‘He works here. Apparently, he took over his dad’s role of head gardener when he retired. It was such a lovely surprise to see him, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had chance to chat to him yet. Shall we see if he’s got a few minutes to catch up?’ Carolyn links her arm through Alice’s, who in turn links me, and we start to head back towards the castle.
‘Who’s Tom?’ I’ve been a bit of a bystander during their conversation so far, but I’m curious.
‘He was one of our best friends growing up,’ Alice says as we head back into the castle. ‘His dad was the head gardener and