The Broken Hearts Book Club (7 page)

Elle’s face lit up with a smile. ‘You’re on, Harper!’

Chapter Five

Later that night, I found myself firmly ensconced in The Purple Partridge. Elle had been true to her word and dragged us down there, promising to buy shots and sing on karaoke. George had been all for it, of course.

‘Make it
Sex on Fire
and you’ve got a deal!’ he’d said with a cheeky wink in her direction.

So there we were, nursing our drinks and waiting for the karaoke to start. Judging by the garish yellow poster we’d seen on the way in, the ‘extravaganza’ would kick off at seven. Elle was busy filling us in on her travels round the world, most recently Australia and New Zealand. George was looking at her like she was reciting the winning lottery numbers.

‘Bondi Beach was
amazing
, obviously,’ she said, signalling the start of another anecdote. ‘The surfer guys there were out of this world Luce; they were like those hunks on the Australian soaps we used to watch! Look at this.’

She broke conversation to show me an aquamarine bracelet on her tanned wrist. ‘You like it? I made it myself! I’m thinking of starting my own jewellery business in the future. After Bondi, there was the Great Barrier Reef, where I went scuba diving. One day, I was learning to surf from this gorgeous American called Brett and the next, I was snorkelling and seeing all these incredible fish and marine life. Honestly Luce, you should go the first chance you get. I’ve been travelling for pretty much the past eight years; my gap year kind of turned into a gap life. It’s been amazing, but it’s nice to be back in good old Luna Bay too. Though I must admit, it’s strange going from an apartment in Melbourne with views across the entire city to my old bedroom at my mum’s house. I still have posters of Peter Andre on the wall!’

I laughed as more memories began to resurface. Our earlier chat had reminded me of all the good times Elle and I had shared with Vicky. It made a change from the horrid ones that usually filled my head.

‘Remember the three of us singing along to
Mysterious Girl
and planning our weddings to him? Those were the days.’

Elle paused and I noticed the bright smile on her face shrink almost imperceptibly ‘Seems like a lifetime ago doesn’t it?’ A brief pause, then she shook her head and dazzled us with another of her brilliant smiles. ‘Anyway, enough about the past; what about you? Tell me everything about your kick-ass career and the trail of broken hearts you’ve left all over London. We didn’t get to that earlier, so you’d better have some news for me, Harper!’

‘Well it’s not been
quite
like that…’ I trailed off for a second. ‘Guy-wise, there’s been no one really special for ages. I’ve had a few short-term things, but they haven’t worked out. I guess I’m just not very good at letting people in. Always assume they’re going to leave at some point! As for my career… The less said about that the better at the moment. Anyway, tell us more about your travels.’

I wanted to switch the focus away from me and shine the spotlight back on Elle. She belonged there, I didn’t.

‘More drinks anyone? We can do more travel stories in a sec!’

Elle got up and practically sprinted over to the bar, her long legs taking huge strides across the worn, tatty carpet. Once she was firmly out of earshot, George leaned in to me.

‘OK, so she’s absolutely amazing. What do I have to do to get her to go out with me? Like seriously, I’d crawl through pig shit for a date with her.’

‘Oh charming!’ I said with a grin. I hit him playfully on the shoulder and he ruffled my hair, something he knew I hated. ‘She always liked bad boys when we were at school, but I don’t know about now. Haven’t seen her in so long, she’s changed loads since then.’

As Elle waited at the bar, she turned round and grinned at me. There was something different about the way she looked at me. The sparkling confidence she had shown all evening had disappeared and I saw a woman who still carried a lot of guilt. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes and in a blink of an eye it was gone. Except, it was too late and I had seen it. My oldest friend in the world was still bearing the scars of the past and it was up to me to change that.

Although the pub was pretty quiet, a large queue had formed thanks to a barrel needing to be changed. I went to join Elle, leaving George to choose a karaoke song for us – he’d also made me promise to talk him up to Elle. He’d probably pick some obscure song by a band we’d never heard of, but I’d exact my usual revenge of making him sing Destiny’s Child or Girls Aloud later.

‘God this place hasn’t changed!’ said Elle, looking around the room. She was right: the décor was the same, as was the faint smoky musk and rustic, rural charm. ‘It’s just like I remembered it.’ She craned her neck and a smile formed on her lips as she saw Jake buzzing around behind the bar. ‘Then again, they didn’t have people like
him
working here back then, did they?’

‘Who, Jake?’ I tried to sound casual, but totally failed on every level. ‘Yeah he’s OK, I suppose.’

She nudged me in that way all old friends do when they know you’re lying and hunkered down to my level, leaning her elbows on the slightly sticky bar.

‘Just OK? Luce, he’s totally your type from what I remember. Unless you’ve suddenly gone off tall, dark and handsome. I tell you who else would’ve liked him: Vicky.’

My heart froze when her name hit the air, piercing the convivial atmosphere and destroying the uneasy peace I’d felt in Luna Bay over the past few days.

‘Yeah,’ I said with a sharp exhale, ‘she’d have gone mad for him.’

‘She’d have been making wedding plans by now.’ Elle shifted uncomfortably and pursed her lips. ‘It still feels weird talking about her, doesn’t it?’

‘I saw Maggie the other day; she didn’t exactly roll out the welcome wagon when she saw me.’ I laughed emptily: that was the understatement of the year. ‘Have you seen her since you got back, Elle?’

The memory of her gaze casually sliding away from me, as though I was nothing, replayed in my head again. Even as a collection of thoughts, it was deeply unsettling.

She shook her head, sending her blonde waves cascading around her shoulders. ‘I haven’t seen her since the… Well since the thing happened. Listen, could you keep my place in the queue? I’ll be back in a minute.’

She strode off in the direction of the toilets and I was left alone at the bar. My eyes fell to Jake, who was pulling pints and interacting with locals. Every so often, his face would break out into the most wondrous smile I’d ever seen. Elle was right, he was my type. He caught my eye for the briefest second and it did funny, flippy things to my insides.

Sneaking a look back at George, I saw his nose was still buried in the karaoke songbook. He had his ‘let’s find an obscure song’ face on and I made a mental note to choose something super-girly to sing later.

‘I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist a karaoke night.’ I almost jumped out of my skin to find Jake leaning on the bar next to me.

‘You know me,’ I said with a guarded smile, ‘I’m always making bad decisions. Like offering you advice earlier.’

His eyes fell to the sticky mahogany beneath him. ‘I’m sorry about going off on one at you. I was a dick and I shouldn’t have been. You were only trying to help. It’s appreciated, believe me. Another round?’

He started pulling George’s pint when I nodded and suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

‘Listen, I don’t know whether you’d be up for this but there’s a book club that meets every Wednesday called the Broken Hearts Book Club. It’s for people who are going through a hard time; they read books and talk about how they’re coping. Maybe you should come to a meeting? Could help you find a solution for this place.’

‘That’s a really kind thought Lucy, but a book club isn’t really my sort of thing and I can’t just leave this place unattended to swan off to a book club meeting.’

I smiled and nodded, but for some reason I couldn’t let it go, ‘You could bring them to you then, rent them the back room every second Wednesday or something? Then you could still be a part of it, just at every other meeting.’

He pushed himself off the bar with his fantastically muscly arms and folded them across his chest. ‘The renting thing isn’t a bad idea, but I wouldn’t have the time to join the group.’ Placing the three glasses in front of me he smiled guardedly, ‘Here you go. That’ll be eight-fifty.’

My heart sank; I felt disappointed that the club wouldn’t be gaining a new member. Especially one who needed help as much as he did. As I handed over the money I couldn’t help feeling that there was a reason he was resisting my attempts to help him.

‘I just thought you might like the support, that’s all.’

Like the utter legend she was, Elle returned just in time to help me with the drinks and I walked away from Jake, throwing him a glance over my shoulder.

As it happened, George didn’t choose an obscure song to sing. He chose the karaoke classic
Mr Brightside
by The Killers and the three of us belted it out for all we were worth. While I was up there on the makeshift stage, it didn’t matter who was glad to see me back or not. As I danced around the little stage with Elle and George, it was all about having fun and making an absolute fool of myself. I was able to let go and not worry about the secrets lurking in the background, or the voices in the back of my mind whispering that I didn’t deserve to be happy. For four glorious minutes, I was Lucy Harper, normal girl and terrible singer.

Elle and George shared a drunken kiss outside my parents’ cottage while I looked out over the water. The same burning question churned in my mind: should I stay or should I go?

My heart whispered at me to stay and although every instinct I had fought against it, I knew the whisper would soon become a shout I couldn’t ignore.

The only question was whether I was brave enough to listen.

Chapter Six

I woke up the next morning with a mammoth headache and an all-too-clear memory of the night before. The same nagging tug to stay here and lead the Broken Hearts Book Club was still present, ruining any notion that it had been alcohol-fuelled. It had been there since I’d tumbled into the book club meeting and didn’t look like it was going away any time soon. As I got out of bed in search of water and comfort food, I couldn’t fight the urge to make my home here, help these broken-hearted people and possibly myself in the process. I’d been handed this beautiful fresh start; all I needed to do was reach out and grab it with both hands. Luna Bay had always held a special place in my heart, but I still wasn’t sure if I could really come back after all this time.

Would the people let me? Would
I
let me?

The sound of the doorbell ringing disturbed my train of thought and made my head pound even harder.

‘Christ alive, who’s this?’ I murmured, bundling my cardigan tighter as I stomped downstairs to open the door and nearly jumped out of my skin to find Jake standing on the doorstep.

‘Morning,’ he pursed his lips like he was trying desperately hard to suppress a smile. ‘Feeling a bit delicate?’

I groaned and started patting down my wayward hair, which currently resembled a bird’s nest. ‘You could say that. I think it’s safe to say I won’t be going near alcohol again for a long time.’

‘I’ve heard that umpteen times before.’ His smile won the battle and broke out onto his face, I was secretly quite glad. ‘Anyway, I just stopped by because your mate left his jacket in the pub last night. One of the cleaners found it so I thought I’d pass it on.’

He handed me George’s favourite leather jacket and I hung it carefully on the banister. It was his pride and joy and had been since he’d picked it up at a vintage market in Camden.

‘Thanks, he’ll be made up to have that back.’ I was aware I was grinning like a loon but I couldn’t stop myself. ‘Do you want to come in for a cup of tea or…?’

I gestured absently towards the kitchen, unsure what I could offer him apart from some breakfast and my most sincere apologies for doing karaoke.

He shook his head and dug his hands deep into his jeans pockets.

‘Can’t stop I’m afraid, got to get the pub open for lunchtime trading. Thanks for the offer though. Listen, I’ve been thinking about what you said about joining the, what was it called, the Broken Hearts Book Club? I’m still not sure on the whole being-a-member thing, but renting out the back room of the pub to them for meetings sounds good.’

‘Really? That’s great!’ I raised my eyebrows, ‘You do know that one day, you might actually have to admit that I’ve had a good idea?’

‘I’ll hold out on that one for as long as I can.’ He grinned and my stomach did a somersault. ‘Tell the members they’re welcome to use the back room any time eh? I heard someone say you were the leader now. Your nana left you the club or something?’

I opened my mouth to contradict him, but changed my mind. Hearing someone else say I was the leader of the club sounded pretty good to me and I didn’t want to ruin it.

‘That’s right! It’s all taking a bit of getting used to, especially since I’d never even been to a book club before coming here. I don’t know what’s happening at the moment, but the club’s mine to lead if I want it.’

‘So you might be sticking around then?’ His tone was hopeful, which I hadn’t expected given our earlier encounters.

‘Maybe.’ I folded my arms and tried not to smile.

‘Good. I’ve got some making up to do with you after my less-than-welcoming attitude before.’

I nodded and smoothed my hair down. Pointless really because I still looked like I’d been caught in a tornado. ‘Maybe you do.’

We exchanged goodbyes and I watched him walk to the end of the street until he disappeared round the corner. I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what, but there was something different about him today, like he’d had a wake-up call about how spiky he’d been towards me earlier. It made me melt a little inside that he’d had a change of heart.

Just then, Elle came striding confidently towards me, carrying bags full of pastries and doughnuts. As usual, she looked flawless. Elle Nicholls even did hungover well.