There was only one thing for it after all that excitement. Tony opened up The Gin Shack early and everyone gathered to drink tea or gin or gin and tea. Anything went today.
It was quite mental, with all that had gone on, to think The Gin Shack hadn’t even been open a week. Next week they were trying a sloe gin with cherries and a new extra extra dry gin. Olive wasn’t sure what gave it its extra extra, and was pretty convinced it was a marketing move, but she was looking forward to trying it.
‘What I don’t get is, why attack us? What was the point?’ Tony joined them in the snug corner. All the original Gin Shack Club members were there: Olive’s beach-hut neighbours, the whole Salter family, Veronica and Randy. The only addition was Richard and she realised she should have invited him in the first place. She’d been so worried about his disapproval, she’d not seen it as an opportunity to invite him down to spend more time together.
‘I think it was because of the media attention this place was drawing.’ Randy was collapsed on the sofa, tired and in his PJs, but still eager to share his story. ‘Because of the Oakley West residents being a big part of the scoop, the newspapers were contacting the retirement quarters as well. It was only a matter of time before reporters started turning up there. They obviously thought trying to get this place shut down would prevent it.’
‘I’m glad to say it didn’t work. Olive caught the flooding early enough for no real damage to have been done. We only needed to replace some carpet and, as that’s part of the hotel, it hasn’t stopped the bar running, apart from that couple of hours.’ Tony glanced round to check he wasn’t needed at the bar, but it was too early in the day for anyone to be drinking in a rush.
Olive’s stomach grumbled. It was quite rightly complaining about not having eaten since yesterday lunchtime. That was almost twenty-four hours without food. She wasn’t sure she’d ever gone so long without eating. ‘I’m sorry to go off topic, but I need to have some lunch. I’m starving. And I need something more substantial than a gin.’ In fact, the gin she’d accepted to tackle the shock was proving rather too effective. Fresh air would be good as well.
‘Why don’t we get some fish and chips from the beach café?’ Richard said. ‘It’s definitely a fish and chips kind of day.’
Her son was right. It was the perfect day for a lazy lunch in the sunshine. With Tony staying to man the bar while everyone else finished their drinks, and Randy having changed, Olive and the rest of her friends and family headed to Westbrook Bay. Tony would join them once the bar was empty and he was able to close up again.
The walk provided the breeze Olive was in need of to balance the effects of alcohol on an empty stomach. It wasn’t something she’d ever ordinarily do, but today was an exception to the rule. Today was an exception in a lot of ways.
Once they’d purchased their food to takeaway, they all gathered round the beach huts. Skylar took a seat next to Richard and her son Lucas joined them. For a second Olive had a fanciful thought, but that would be too much to hope for. And they were all there: Mark and Lily, Button the dog, Paul the fisherman, the Salter family, Skylar and Lucas – her beach-hut neighbours. But they were more than that. They were her family. And they’d all come to help look for Randy when they’d known he was in trouble. Friends and family – there was nothing better.
‘What will happen at Oakley West now? Will you be able to stay there tonight?’ Skylar asked, playfully feeding her son a chip at the same time.
The conversation about the whys and what-fors had continued all the way along the promenade. Randy was clearly relishing relaying what he knew about everything that had gone on. And Olive was happy to notice he held Veronica’s hand the whole way.
‘I imagine the company in charge will get a temporary replacement in straight away. They’ll get a locum manager until they can get someone more permanent,’ Richard said.
Olive loved how he was so worldly wise. Obviously, being a lawyer introduced you to every walk of life. He seemed to retain facts from every quarter.
‘Will the police let people stay there now it’s a crime scene?’ Esme asked.
Olive tucked into her food and never had an oversalted chip tasted so good.
‘It’d be quite a task for them to have to rehome that many residents all at once. I have a feeling, as most of the criminal activity is restricted to the living quarters, they’ll just close that off to continue their investigations and Oakley West will continue running as normal.’ Richard glanced at Skylar.
Olive was pretty sure she wasn’t imagining that his gaze lingered. Romance truly was in the air. Not for her, though. She was more than happy that her only future relationship would be with the sea. ‘Did we ever establish if they are related?’ Thinking on relationships, the link between the pair had been loose, even if they appeared to have a working partnership.
‘Melanie is Matron’s stepdaughter. She referred to her as that when I was stuck up on the roof. It must be purely coincidental that her middle name is Helen,’ Randy said.
All told, it put the days Olive had hidden gin in the ottoman into perspective.
For a while, they all sat munching their chips in silence. Tony joined them and was equally quiet in contemplation. It really had been an astonishing set of developments, especially as they’d only set out to find out who’d put nappies down the bog. That was a small-fry problem now and hopefully The Gin Shack wouldn’t have any further troubles, other than making sure they had enough gin in stock for the number of customers arriving at their doors.
‘Anyone for a game of cricket?’ TJ asked.
It was usually just the Salter boys and Lucas who tended to play, so it was a nice gesture that he was asking. The children were also feeling the effects of what had happened this week.
‘I’ll play,’ Olive said, the bubble of pins and needles reigniting despite being desperately tired.
‘Me too,’ Richard said.
And soon everyone, bar Veronica and Randy, who were too busy gazing at each other, were up on the sands, dashing around like loons, none of them really knowing what rules they were following.
When it came to Olive’s turn, she managed to hit the ball towards the shoreline and then she ran. She ran like she didn’t know how and, soon after, she fell. She did it without grace or finesse and face-planted in spectacular style.
All at once, the fun and the buzz and the excitement left. The wind moved with the number of audible gasps filling the air.
‘Are you okay, Mum?’
As she lifted her head, the amount of sand in her mouth meant she couldn’t answer. She did the only thing she could do. She laughed. She laughed and she laughed and she laughed. She laughed so hard her sides hurt and her muscles ached, and by the time she was done laughing, even the seagulls were joining in.
And there wasn’t a broken hip in sight.