Page 42 of Lessons in Love at the Seaside Salon

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The rain is coming down hard as Trudy flicks on the blinker to turn left out of Evie’s street and head in the direction of Gosford Hospital, where they’re going to visit Josie.

It’s taken Josie being in such a bad way to get her back behind the wheel; she was surprised by how upset she was about it, given that Josie hasn’t been with her that long.

There’s something about the girl, though, that has burrowed its way into Trudy’s heart.

Trudy has been on the phone to Josie’s mum every day since Erin called to tell her that Josie had been in an accident.

Well, Trudy couldn’t believe it. Especially since the road Josie was on wasn’t the road that takes her home from the salon, nor anywhere else she usually travels, it seems. Erin was baffled.

Said her husband was a mess. Paolo, his name is.

Josie’s last name is Martin so Trudy had presumed she had an English background, like a lot of people round here, but it turns out the name is Spanish – Paolo is from Madrid – not that Josie ever said anything about it.

Which made Trudy wonder if Josie thought she couldn’t tell her things about her life.

Except that boy comes around for her and she doesn’t try to hide him. Brett. Nice lad. Trudy won’t mention him to the parents, though, because the fact Josie meets him after work in Terrigal suggests he’s not seeing her at home in Gosford.

Today’s the first day Josie is having visitors who aren’t family, Erin told her yesterday. So Trudy asked Evie if she’d like to come with her, since it’s Sunday and they’re both not working. She also asked Evie if Sam should come too and almost got her head bitten off.

Something’s going on there. That is, something else .

Trudy has been able to see that something is going on between Evie and Sam for a while – mainly on Evie’s part, although she has thought that Sam leads Evie on, with all the chatting and flirting.

Evie’s had a sheltered life and she wouldn’t realise that some flirty men aren’t actually, you know, interested .

Not that Trudy’s had a wildly unsheltered life but she’s older, and with age comes a lot more experience with human behaviour.

‘Everything all right, pet?’ she asks. Evie is staring out the window, saying nothing. She didn’t even put up a fight when Trudy offered to drive her to the hospital instead of the other way around.

‘Sure,’ Evie replies, but it has a tone to it which suggests she’s definitely not sure.

‘That was convincing.’ Trudy peers through the windscreen. ‘Geez, it’s bucketing down. Hard to see anything. And I’ve got these wipers on full,’ she goes on, not that Evie’s likely to care. She’s obviously wrapped up in something. Or someone.

‘Yep.’

‘Evelyn, I don’t know what’s got your goat but I wish you’d just spit it out.’ Trudy grips the steering wheel tighter. She’d rather not have to be driving in such awful weather while she’s doing the agony-aunt thing but you can’t pick your timing.

‘Why?’

Trudy senses Evie’s head turning in her direction but she’s not going to look at her because she has to look at the road.

They drive through a huge puddle and for a second Trudy considers praying that the engine doesn’t stall, but she long ago stopped talking to God so she doesn’t think He’s going to listen this time.

‘Why? Because I don’t want you moping around Josie. The girl has enough problems.’

‘I’m not moping.’

‘What are you doing, then? Because the Evie I know hasn’t shown up to work for a few days.’

‘Sorry.’ She sounds sulky.

‘I didn’t ask for an apology, silly girl. You know you can talk to me. I see you more than my own son. That has to count for something.’

‘You wouldn’t understand,’ she mumbles.

‘Don’t presume things about people. It’s rude.’ Trudy is tetchy, but more at the weather than Evie.

Maybe that makes Evie sulk more, because she makes a huffing noise.

Trudy leaves it – she needs to focus on the road anyway. They can always sort it out later.

For a while the only noise in the car is the sound of rain on the roof and the wipers trying their hardest.

‘It’s Sam,’ Evie says as they drive past Brisbane Water.

‘What’s he done?’

‘Nothing.’

‘Not helpful, Evie. If we’re going to solve this thing, I need details.’

‘I don’t need anything solved,’ Evie says tersely. ‘Don’t you?’

‘I just need it to go away.’

‘What is it ?’

Another huffing sound. Trudy can’t turn to look at her because of, well, the weather and having to be a responsible driver. Plus she’s rusty so she needs to pay extra attention.

They’re almost at the hospital, so time’s running out to get Evie to talk to her, but she really doesn’t want to walk into Josie’s ward with the huffing and puffing going on. Like she said, Josie has enough to deal with.

‘I’m in love with Sam,’ Evie says with such force that it’s almost as if a bomb has gone off in the car.

Trudy nearly rushes to answer but she understands this is a big confession from a shy girl, so she lets it marinate for a second.

‘I see. Well, I can’t say I’m shocked to hear this, pet.’

‘ What? ’

She sounds quite upset but Trudy doesn’t want to pussyfoot around this. In fact, she realises she should have nipped it in the bud when she saw it starting, not that you can stop a person having feelings.

‘Pet, you don’t have a poker face.’

‘But …’

It sounds like Evie’s crying so Trudy risks a glance and sees that she is. Oh dear.

The car park for the hospital is coming up, so Trudy puts on her blinker and finds them a spot. With the engine off, she undoes her seatbelt and turns toward the younger woman.

‘I’ll let you cry for another minute or so, but then you need to stop,’ Trudy says firmly. ‘There’s nothing to cry about.’

‘He doesn’t love me back!’

‘It happens in life. It’s hard and it hurts but it happens. And you need to get a hold of yourself otherwise you’re going to get into quite a state.’

Evie sniffles and her chest heaves. ‘Maybe I want to be in a state,’ she says.

Trudy thinks this is just about the crux of it: the girl hasn’t let herself feel anything for years, just holding things together as a single mum with hardly any help from that moron she had a kid with, and then she sees a handsome bloke and ends up in a tizz and it makes her feel alive.

It’s easier to watch soap operas and let yourself ride the roller-coaster along with the characters – that way you get to feel things and it doesn’t have an impact on real life.

But what would Trudy know? She’s just a slightly old duck who can’t get over her dead husband, so clearly she feels too much.

‘It’s not good for you. You’ll wear yourself out.’

Trudy has seen it with clients: ladies who invest far too much time and energy in a fella who then lets them down and they’re in the salon crying and asking Trudy what hairstyle they should get in order to win the man back.

None , is what she wants to tell them. But it’s not what they want to hear.

They want her to wave a magic wand over them and give them a love potion they can take away with them.

The worst part is that she knows, without ever having met these men, that they won’t be worth the pain.

Even Sam, god bless him, isn’t worth the pain because she’s fairly sure he knows what’s been going on with Evie and he’s enjoyed the adulation too much to stop it.

Until now, of course, which is why she’s so upset.

‘You need to let this go,’ Trudy says firmly, looking at Evie’s blotchy cheeks and her hair that’s all over the place from Evie running her hands through it, as she’s doing now.

‘And I’m being tough on you because it’s good for you.

Any man who doesn’t love you back is not the man for you, I don’t care how good-looking he is.

And that’s something else: good looks are just a fact.

They don’t make a man nice or not, they don’t make him any better for you or not. They’re just a fact .’

‘But he’s really sweet!’

Oh lord, she’s still trying to justify it.

‘In case you hadn’t noticed, pet, he’s sweet to everyone, including the eighty-year-olds and the teenagers. It’s just him.’

Evie looks stricken, but Trudy decides to keep going and really drive the point home.

‘I hate to say this to you, pet, but you’re not special to him. Not like that. I’m sure he cares for you a great deal – I can see that by how he interacts with you – but it’s nothing romantic. It never will be.’

There’s more sniffling from Evie while Trudy starts to wonder if they’ll get drenched going from the car to the hospital building.

‘I know,’ Evie says at last. ‘He told me. That’s why I’m so upset.’

‘It’s going to hurt for a while,’ Trudy tells her kindly. ‘Then it won’t. So the only thing separating hurt from not-hurt is time. That’s the best I can tell you. Also this: distract yourself. Get a new hobby. Make a new friend.’

Evie nods slowly then sits up straighter. ‘I must look awful,’ she says.

‘Pretty bad, yes.’ Trudy laughs. ‘Come on, I’ll fix you up then we’ll try not to get wet and muss it all up again.’