‘I went for it, big time!’ Caitlin said with a sparkle in her eye.
‘Thought so.’ I put my arms around her and began to spin her around. Initially, she looked perturbed but eventually she gave in and threw her head back in elation. I realised this could have been my moment to slip the key back into her bag, but something was preventing me from doing so. Instead, the key stayed put in my back pocket.
As the evening drew to a close around eleven o’clock, the DJ slowed the music right down. Chuck came over and offered his hand out to me.
‘May I have this dance, please?’
I looked around for Caitlin, but I could see she was dancing, albeit awkwardly, with Maxwell; the look on her face was of pure contentment. I took Chuck’s hand as he led me to the dance floor. I felt the eyes of my parents on me and I wanted to die. But once Chuck had placed one hand firmly on my waist and took one of my hands in his then livened things up with a few comedy spins and turns, I was soon laughing off the embarrassment.
I felt happy and warm in Chuck’s arms. His touch was gentle, and he smiled at me and talked to me the whole way through the song. It was a good distraction from how I was feeling about Ava discovering me in her study. Every time Chuck spun me around, I took the opportunity to scan the entire marquee for her, but she was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, Chuck leant in and whispered in my ear, ‘You look very lovely this evening, Sasha.’ But then, as I was trying to calm my pounding heart and think of something suitably complimentary to say back, we both turned to hear a commotion at one of the entrances to the marquee. Some of the adults were gathered at the doorway, and I could hear a lot of shouting. Chuck took my hand and we both began walking over to where quite a crowd had already formed. We were near the back of the group and so we stood on the outskirts, waiting and trying to see by standing on tiptoes, but all the while Chuck kept hold of my hand, and every now and again gave it a quick squeeze of reassurance. Even though some sort of trouble was kicking off right outside the tent, all I could think about was how Chuck’s hand was in mine, and he didn’t seem to want or need to let go.
Eventually, we pushed our way to the front of the crowd and found ourselves on the front lawn, where we could see Hackett holding a young man by the scruff of the neck. The young lad was squirming and kicking out and was shouting quite a few profanities.
My hand slipped from Chuck’s as I stepped closer to Hackett. My suspicions were confirmed. The lad that was hanging from the large man’s grip was Bill.
I strode over without any further thought and touched Hackett’s arm. ‘Put him down, Hackett. It’s okay, I know him.’
Hackett looked confused for a second but then looked at Bill, who had stopped squirming and was giving me some sort of wave. He promptly dropped the boy, who stumbled to the ground and then quickly stood up and brushed himself down.
Maxwell, who I hadn’t noticed was also there, spoke next.
‘Sasha, would you be kind enough to inform us who this ruffian you claim to know is and what he is doing on our property at this hour?’
I realised I had now put my foot in it and that by admitting I knew him, I would also have to admit meeting him the woods and telling him about the party tonight.
But thankfully I didn’t have to say anything because Bill was talking.
‘What she means is, is that we met a few weeks back, out on the road. We exchanged pleasantries.’ Bill said the last word in a tone that was not his, as though he were trying his best to fit in. ‘And tonight, as I have told this chap ’ere over and over, is that my dog has gone missing and I stumbled into your grounds looking for ’er, but this geezer was on me like a ninja before I could even call her name.’
Maxwell looked at me. ‘What do you say, old girl? Do we buy this tall tale?’
‘He’s harmless, Maxwell,’ I said quietly.
Maxwell took a deep breath and nodded his head. ‘Right, well someone get him some refreshments and keep your eyes peeled for “this dog”.’ Maxwell used his fingers to form quotation marks. He was clearly not taken with the story, but was doing a fine job of playing the good host and trying to decrease the tension.
‘Everyone, pop back off to the dance floor and finish up your drinks for the final dance. We have this under control.’ Maxwell adjusted his bow tie and sounded to me rather like someone who did not have anything under control at all.
In fact, what I had learnt in Ava’s study made me realise that none of them had anything under control. The fact that I now had an insight into their life, gave me a growing sense of importance. But there was a slight undertone of worry, that the conversation I had with Ava at the doorway to her study may not have been enough to save my parents’ jobs.
I approached Bill, who was still trying to drag back an ounce of his dignity, and stood next to him.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yep, yep, all good.’ He brushed his trousers down.
‘So this dog, then?’
‘Oh yeah, Dougie.’
‘Dougie?’
‘Yep, Dougie. She’s a collie. Not my dog, but she got scared. There’s some shootin’ goin’ on at the next farm – she’s a rescue dog, so it must have triggered summin.’
‘Dougie sounds like a boy’s name.’
Bill looked blankly at me.
‘Right, well I hope you
