A Sea Change (7 page)

Her mum appeared behind her in the doorway.

‘I’ll give you a hand shifting his stuff out. Your brother can do his paperwork in the kitchen.’

‘Thanks.’

Her mum traced the pattern of the carpet
with the toe of her shoe, then cleared her throat.

‘I’m cooking a chilli tonight, if you want some. You can meet Arnie.’

Jenna looked out of the window onto the front garden that she’d stared out at so many times during her childhood. She noticed that the lawn had been cut, and there were two pots of flowers on either side of the front door. Whoever Arnie was, he’d certainly made some changes happen. She couldn’t remember the last time her mum had cooked a proper meal.

‘I’d love that,’ she managed finally. ‘But there’s something I’ve got to do first. Can you lend me a tenner?’

Her mother rolled her eyes. ‘You’ve only been back five minutes,’ she grumbled, but she rummaged in her purse and handed Jenna the money.

Five minutes later, Jenna rooted through the bin bags until she found her favourite dress – a vintage sundress with a full skirt covered in red cherries. She pulled out her make-up bag and drew a sweep of black liner over her eyelids, added mascara, then finished with a slick of bright red lipstick. She brushed her hair out, backcombed it and tied it back up in a high
ponytail. Then she walked out into the street, made her way down to the main road and jumped on the bus. Twenty minutes later she was in Everdene.

By the time she got to the Ship Aground it was jam-packed. Tourists and locals mingled, the tourists pink from the sun. The bar staff poured pint after pint and filled up jugs of sangria. The competition was in full swing. The in-house band provided the music from a list of favourites as contestant after contestant got up to sing.

Jenna signed herself up for the competition before she could change her mind. She read the list of songs to choose from and made her choice. She sat in a corner of the bar and listened. The range of talent was quite varied. Some murdered their songs with good humour, while others took their attempts very seriously.

She was as good as any of them. She knew she was. And suddenly it was her turn. As she stood at the microphone, she remembered all the people who had listened to her sing over the summer, their smiles and their encouragement. She could do it, she knew she could.

She heard the opening bars and her mouth went dry. She grabbed her water and took a quick drink. Then she started to sing. Her voice
wavered at first, and no one took any notice of her, thinking she was just another wannabe singer who couldn’t hit a note. As her confidence grew, and her voice became stronger, they started to take notice. By the time she had reached the first chorus, people in the crowd were exchanging glances of surprise. She could tell they thought she was good. She smiled and shut her eyes, and her voice soared above the crowd as she took the emotion in the lyrics to another level.

Suddenly she felt as if she was on another plane. The crowd swayed and sang with her, raising their fists in the air to show their appreciation. It was the best feeling in the world.

As the closing bars approached, and she gave the final lyrics her all, she looked across the audience and saw Craig standing at the back. His hands were in his pockets as he watched her. She couldn’t read the expression on his face. Her eyes locked with his, and she felt her heart begin to race. Was he going to march up on stage and arrest her? It was what she deserved, after all, but she threw back her shoulders and finished the song, holding the last note for as long as she could.

She finished and there was silence. She met those cool grey eyes defiantly. If he was going
to arrest her, she would walk out with dignity. As she stood there waiting, the audience broke into wild applause. There were whistles and whoops and cheers, ten times more than there had been for the people on before her.

In that moment, he smiled, and as she smiled back he gave an approving nod. She came off the stage and pushed through the crowd towards him. People patted her on the back as she walked past, saying, ‘Well done.’ It was a wonderful feeling.

‘I need to get out of here,’ she told him. ‘I need some fresh air.’

She pushed outside into the cool night air, and he followed her. She stood on the patio outside, the sea breeze ruffling her hair.

‘That was amazing,’ he told her, and she shrugged.

‘Yeah, but what am I?’ she asked. ‘A singer? Or a thief?’

She turned to face him. He smiled at her.

‘You’re whatever you want to be.’

‘You’re not going to arrest me?’

‘I should.’ He looked out towards the shore. The sound of the surf pounding the sand came back at them. ‘But I decided something today. I’m going to hand in my notice. I’m not sure I
know the difference between right and wrong any more.’

She frowned. ‘What I did was wrong. Surely you know that?’

‘Yes. But there’s a part of me that knows why you did it.’ He looked into her eyes. ‘And a part of me that knows you won’t do it again.’

Someone opened the door and whistled over to her.

‘Oi,’ they said. ‘Come back inside. You’ve won!’

Jenna looked at Craig. She couldn’t believe it. Her heart was pounding as he put his arms round her and pulled her to him, holding her tight.

Jenna went back in and collected her prize money. One hundred pounds, all hers and fairly won. Then she had to go back on stage and sing the song all over again. This time she felt confident, and she looked right over the audience and held Craig’s eyes all the way through. He’d believed in her, she thought, and a warm glow filled her heart.

Afterwards, they went outside and sat on the wall to drink the bottle of wine the Ship Aground had given her as part of her prize.

‘I handed in the money you stole to the
beach office,’ he told her. ‘I said I’d found it chucked behind my hut. They said if no one came to claim any of it, they would donate it to charity – the RNLI. They pay for the lifeguards and lifeboats, so it seemed to make sense.’

Jenna nodded her approval. The two of them were silent for a moment. Then Craig put down his glass and took her hand.

‘Come on,’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

They walked back over the sand together and sat on the steps of the beach hut, their bare toes in the sand.

‘This started out as the worst day of my life,’ said Jenna. ‘But it’s ended up as the best.’

Craig said nothing, just slid an arm around her shoulder. In front of them, a silver moon hovered in the deep blue sky and a million stars came out to join it.

‘You’re going to be a star,’ he told her.