Page 84 of Love Unlocked

‘You’re the bridge guy, you have to be there. You should be there on behalf of the company,’ Natasha says. She knows about Al and Melody’s brief fling, he revealed it to her once over another rare heart-to-heart. She seems to have the knack of getting personal information from him.

‘Bridgespan has nothing to do with the Night and Day event. If Tony hasn’t requested that I go then I’m not required to be there.’

‘It would be respectful of you to be there, though, wouldn’t it?

You were the bridge guy who removed the love locks without giving anyone a warning or giving them back. They think the love locks lily design was all Tony’s idea. Being there today could make you look good. They’ll think you care.’

He shakes his head, not buying it.

‘What if Walter goes? What if he ends up being the hero?’

She really knows how to play him. She is fiercely loyal and protective of her boss, despite the fact Walter and Al are speaking professionally, when they have to, at the office, Natasha still refuses to.

‘I don’t see how he could be there. Or why he’d go.’ He frowns. And he’s desperately trying hard not to make life decisions based on what Walter is or isn’t doing. Walter and Tara, Tara and Walter – friends still update him with photos of them in Moate when they return to visit Walter’s dad. Apparently they’re always arguing, or at least that’s what his friends and family tell him. Maybe it’s to make him feel better and it does but he tries not to think about them anymore. He doesn’t want his happiness to be defined by their misery. Not anymore.

‘What’s this really about?’

She sighs. ‘If I come with you for work then I won’t look like a desperado. Pedro might be there.’ Her ex-boyfriend. ‘I sent him a link to the gathering. I even posted him his half of the padlock. I said if he came then we could reunite the locks and put them on the bridge again. And don’t look at me like that, okay? You’re not the grumpy old troll who protects the bridge. He hasn’t responded but you never know, he might show up. You have to come, Al, it was your idea and even if you and Melody aren’t together, you should at least show your support. You pretend not to care about her, but I know you do.’

‘You just knocked a girl out in the ring. You’re the undisputed champion and you’re afraid to show up to this event on the bridge alone?’

‘Yes. I am. Come with me, please.’

‘Your love lock isn’t even part of the new bridge,’ he says. ‘The magic won’t work.’

‘Al, when will you learn, we are the magic,’ she says.

She holds her hands together pleadingly, with one puppy dog eye, the other deformed-looking under a swollen, half-closed eyelid. He can’t leave her to go alone like this.

And so he agrees to go too.

34

MELODY

‘Thank you all so very much for coming,’ Prunella says, into a microphone from the bridge.

Prunella and Melody are standing in the centre of the Grace Plunkett Bridge. Prunella has gone to town on decorating, with two pink and red heart balloon tunnels at both entrances to the bridge. There are tall tables with white table linen and a single lily in a vase on each table. Prunella is wearing a lily white dress and looks as though she’s about to get married, Melody is in red. They speak into microphones to address the large crowd that has gathered on one side of the bridge. Of course they’ve not been able to shut down the bridge for the hour they have held the space for this event and mid-speech a man pushing a toddler in a buggy approaches the bridge from the rear. He stares at them, confused.

Melody turns around. ‘Would you like to pass, sir?’

‘Yes,’ he shouts, annoyed and confused.

Prunella and Melody part ways to allow him to pass and he walks self-consciously, with hundreds of eyes on him, over the bridge, glaring at everyone in confusion, while the toddler points at the balloons with a pudgy finger.

Melody is nervous, which is unusual for her. She’s distracted, jumpy, fidgety. She’s happy for Prunella to lead the speech. She scours the crowd and sees familiar faces. Derek, dressed in black tie with a bouquet of roses and a box of chocolates in his hands. It breaks her heart to see him here looking so hopeful and, while she’d told her mum about the event on multiple occasions, she seriously doubts Belinda will come.

They had many heart-to-hearts over the past few months while Melody was actively ‘working on herself’ as if she was in training to complete a marathon. Though she was in training to be able to go the distance with love. Melody has come to the conclusion that her mum was forcing her to grow up. Forcing her to be alone, to see if that’s what she wants. Then it occurred to Melody that perhaps her mum is doing the same thing herself. Belinda had done Melody a favour: on those nights alone when she wouldn’t stay with her in her apartment, Melody had turned to Al. He had met her with vulnerability and honesty, and meeting him had been the beginning of a startling change in herself. Being comfortable with someone else had been the beginning of her becoming comfortable with herself. It seemed to be the opposite of what pop psychology preached, but it was working for her. Her feelings for Al had given her strength to have a deeper belief in herself. To achieve the kind of relationship she’d had with a man like him, brief and fleeting as it was, had become the goal. She wanted to feel that again, and she was willing to put the work in to get there. She had been doing so for months.

Melody locates Claire’s brother Tom in the crowd. He gives her an awkward salute when their eyes meet. And her friend Gemma is here with her two teenage daughters, which is again heartbreaking because it’s not just Gemma who’s hoping her ex-husband shows up, it’s her children too. A sea of faces look up at Melody and she can see hope on every face, their eyes alight with wonder and expectancy. Melody had believed Night and Day were bringing hope to their lives, but now she realises if these people are not reunited with their loves, then all they have achieved is assembling a collection of broken hearts and hurting them all over again. Are Prunella and Melody equipped to deal with the fallout?

She continues to scan the crowd, really only looking for one person. She can’t find Al. She shouldn’t be surprised that he’s not here; she didn’t invite him but she has attempted to summon him in another way.

‘Despite what my co-host believes,’ Prunella continues, ‘love locks have become romantic tokens, universal symbols for the commitment, strength and constancy of a relationship.’

Ed is standing by, recording everything for the podcast, and a camera too for social media.

Melody was under the impression that Jasper and Prunella were giving their marriage another go, but from the moment they arrived Prunella has been scanning the crowd a little too eagerly, as if searching for someone, Melody can only guess who. But then Melody is searching too.