Darby nodded. ‘I’ve heard that. I should be honoured then. I guess I can consider myself a local now.’
‘Yeah, absolutely. Your house is lovely, you work locally, you shop in the same places as everyone else. What more is there to do to be a local?'
'I don't know. Everyone knows everyone. Sometimes I feel as if I washed up in Pretty Beach because everything else fell apart.' Darby regretted saying that, but sometimes she felt as if it was the truth and she was nothing if not honest.
'Right, yeah. That’s the good part of it, though. The Pretty Beach Way and all that. It helps when you’re washed up…'
Darby chuckled. ‘Actually, I guess that’s how we met. The smoke detector episode was you helping me out.’
Archie rolled his eyes. 'Most people would have panicked about the smoke alarm and called the fire brigade. You just goton with trying to sort it out. You made me laugh that day. You were covered in flour. Lola was howling!'
'I was having a domestic crisis.'
'Too funny when you look back on it.'
Darby sipped her wine and looked out at the twinkling lights of Pretty Beach in the distance. It was funny with hindsight, but at the same time far from funny. She didn’t laugh at the fact that she had a new lease of life. She absolutely loved it. The alternative hadn’t been pleasant.
33
It was a few weeks or so later. Darby was sitting at the dining table in front of her laptop and feeling pretty pleased with herself. More than pleased, actually: over the moon. It had been an age since things had felt as if they were going right. Her time had come. Archie and she had quickly fallen into a bit of a routine and had seen each other more than often.
Here she was in what felt as if it was going to be a relationship. That in itself felt as if a miracle had occurred. But that wasn’t the only good thing. Nope. Not only that, she was editing a video to upload to her channel, which had, oh, you know, only over five thousand subscribers. In not very long at all, she had come alongway. How funny it was how life turned out sometimes? Mostly, too, it had come when Darby had least expected it. At the end of the previous year, there would have been no way on earth she would have believed that she would start to feel better. Furthermore, the idea that she would actually date someone would have been bizarre. Broadcasting herself online for the whole of the planet to see, and to be successful at it, had been a pipe dream she hadn’t even known she’d had. All of it, however, was true and sitting right in front of her. She and her channel were proof that she was not, in fact, dreaming.It was for real. Let me tell you: Darby Lovell was going to milk it to the hilt. All the way to the bank.Allthe way. The happy feeling that had first sprinkled her with its gold in the pub on her first date with Archie had continued. Long may it last. She would continue to make it happen and keep it in her midst.
As she began to go through the videos she’d taken over the previous week or so for a vlog, she started to drop sections into the editor. In the process of a week in her life vlog, the video was going to showcase the progress of the kitchen, some lovely pots in her garden and would end with the night markets. Pressing, clicking, cutting and editing her life didn’t look half bad on her laptop screen and perhaps, actually, her lifeitselfwasn't half bad. She’d pulled herself up by her bootstraps and made it happen.
Clicking through the footage she’d captured over the previous few weeks, she was surprised by how much material she’d accumulated without really thinking about it. It appeared she quite liked filming herself and rambling on and on to the camera. Who would have thought? It was pretty obvious as she watched stuff back that the camera had become what had been sorely missing in her life: a friend. There were clips of her morning routine in the kitchen, the ongoing saga of her bathroom renovation plans, a rather chaotic attempt at making pastry that had not ended well, and several conversations with Lola about the merits of various dog treats. All the ordinary detritus of daily life. Oddly, it all felt somehow more significant when viewed through the lens of her camera, which was precisely why she loved watching other people doing the same.
Starting with the footage of the kitchen, the new shelving looked genuinely good on camera, and she’d captured her copper pans beautifully. Very satisfying to see a job well done, documenting her effort made it all the more rewarding.
After editing her debatable pastry-making skills, she watched herself speak. 'I still cannot quite believe that five thousand people want to watch me ramble about house renovation and the complexities of life in your forties, but here we are, and I am grateful to every single one of you who takes the time to watch these videos and share your own experiences in the comments. It makes me feel considerably less alone with all the ridiculous situations I seem to get myself into.'
The night market footage was where the video really came alive. Darby loved watching it back. For sure, Pretty Beach was a good backdrop for a video to shove online. It didn’t disappoint. The market and the harbour looked amazing; twinkling lights more or less love bombed the place, tree trunks and boat masts sparkled, puffs of bunting fluttered just about all over the scene. The perfect backdrop for what had turned out to be a genuinely lovely date.
After editing the video as she watched it through, there was one small section where Archie was shown, albeit slightly out of focus, when in the beer tent, and he was passing her a drink. Wondering if she should check with him first, she decided he wouldn’t care. He wasn’t identifiable, not really, and it meant nothing to a casual watcher. As she rewatched, he appeared in brief glimpses throughout the market footage, but nothing dramatic or particularly intimate. A casual interaction that meant she was with someone, perhaps, but nothing more than that. Watching it back on her laptop screen, Darby could see actions in their body language that suggested something between him and her, but nothing anyone else would pick up. The way Archie leaned slightly towards her as he offered the drink, the way she unconsciously moved closer to him as they stood looking out at the harbour, the ease of two people who were clearly enjoying each other's company.
She watched the clip several times, trying to decide whether it revealed too much. The footage didn't show anything overly personal, but it definitely suggested that she was spending time with someone who made her happy. Given that her channel was supposedly all about the real her, she decided to leave it in. Would he be comfortable appearing in her content, even briefly and without being identified? He was so laid back, she made the decision that he would be fine.
Watching the finished video through from beginning to end, Darby was struck by how much her life had changed since she started making the weekly uploads. The woman on screen looked more confident and engaged than the person who had made that first accidental confession about feeling lost and purposeless. Not dramatically different, but subtly, there were many shifts; she could see it on her actual face. She appeared more present, more connected to her own life, less lost, more in control. A sparkle showing here and there.
Popping a title on the video, she began the upload process, and while it uploaded, she made herself another cup of tea and checked the comments on her previous uploads. The response continued to be overwhelmingly positive. Who would have thought?
Watching your videos has helped me realise that feeling lost in your forties doesn't mean you are broken, it just means you are ready for something new. Thank you for showing us that it is possible to start again, even when you have no idea what you are doing.
Darby nodded, pleased as punch. Comments like that reminded her why she had started making videos in the first place, and why the channel had become important to her senseof purpose. As the upload processed, completed and then went live, Darby wondered how the night market content would go. She had a little bit of a surprise from the universe coming her way.
34
Darby grimaced as she looked at a message on her phone. She didn’t know what she’d done to deserve a message from the father of her middle child, but she knew it wasn’t going to be good. Whenever he was involved in anything, it was nearly always negative. Half of her didn’t want to open the message, knowing that more than likely it would involve either drama or money or, quite frankly, both. Neither of which she wanted a bar of.
Michael:We need to have a word.
Darby:What’s up?
Michael:Are you free to speak?
No, I am not free to speak. I do not want to talk to you, associate with you or look at you ever. I cannot stand you in my orbit or even close to it. Go away. Crawl under a rock.
Not that Darby was bitter or anything, of course not.
