Starlight Café Pt.2

Millie was nervous. What if Bobby slammed the door in her face? What if he didn’t care that Juliet had never gotten the letter? Millie just wanted to give him some closure. It had been more than 50 years and yet Joan was certain Bobby had never got over Juliet.  

She rang the doorbell and waited, Christmas card in hand. She had no idea how Bobby was going to react, assuming she got as far as actually talking to him about Juliet. She fiddled with the card, wondering if Bobby would even recognise it.

“Hello?”

“Oh, hello! My name’s Millie. Are you Bobby?” 

Millie glanced over the man in front of her. He was quite tall, almost six foot, and had a full head of dark grey hair. If she had to guess she’d say he was maybe in his late seventies. 

“No, he’s inside. I’m Andrew. Did you need something?”

“I- Would it be alright if I came in? I found something that belongs to him, I think.”

“Sure. Would you like some hot chocolate? We just made a batch.”

Millie smiled. She loved the hospitality everyone showed in Appleford.

“That’d be great, thanks!”

Andrew waved her in, and Millie shut the front door behind her. ‘Cosy’ was the first word that came to mind when Millie glanced around the hall. It was decorated in dark tones - oak wood flooring and panels, with minimal furniture. There was a table against the wall that held a bowl of keys, a pile of letters and two pairs of gloves. Millie admired the photos on the walls, the warm yellow light of a lamp casting shadows of the picture frames onto the wall. Most of the pictures were of Andrew and another man, presumably Bobby. There were a few pictures of Andrew and Bobby with a group of people, and a couple of them with two kids - Millie thought it was very homey.  

“Just hang your coat on the rack, I’ll grab you a mug of hot chocolate.”

Millie shrugged her coat off and hooked it on what she thought was actually a hat stand but was full of coats and scarves.

“Come through this way, we’re just in the living room.”

Millie wandered after Andrew, taking note of all the little things that made their house a home. The pile of shoes by the living room door, the fairy lights winding their way up the banister, and the tinsel shrapnel littering the floor from recent decorating exploits. The whole house smelled faintly of cinnamon and something floral, and as she followed Andrew into the living room, Millie picked up the sweet scent of hot chocolate.  

“A guest! Who are you then, miss?”

Millie smiled at Bobby. He had a friendly demeanour about him. He was sat on the floor in front of the coffee table, maroon blanket around his shoulders and mug of hot chocolate in hand. Millie noticed the puzzle he was doing was a Christmas scene.

“Hi, I’m Millie. You must be Bobby?”

“Right in one! What brings you by? Please, sit down.”

Bobby gestured to the sofa and Millie perched herself on the edge before starting her story.

“Well, I just moved into a house of Woodvale Avenue a few months ago, and this arrived in the post a couple of days ago.” Millie handed Bobby the card. “I spoke to my next-door neighbour, Joan, and she said it’s from you.”

Millie saw the spark of recognition in Bobby’s eyes, he remembered the card. He looked wistful, and Millie found herself relieved that he didn’t seem bitter or angry.

“She never got it. That explains some things. I know she married him and went off to London. No one knows what happened after that.”

“Joan said no one saw her again after her mother’s funeral. And, she said that you were so heartbroken by the whole affair that you’re still not over her.”

 Bobby laughed.

“Joan was always so dramatic. It’s true that it took me a while to deal with the heartbreak. But I got over myself. I have Andrew now and, besides, it would never have worked between Juliet and I.”

Millie blinked twice.

“You have Andrew, like you’re…”

She trailed off, not wanting to insinuate anything and quickly gulped down some of her hot chocolate. 

“Yes. We’ve been together since 1978. It’s sort of an open secret round here. You’ll learn a lot of those if you stick around.”

Bobby wiggled his eyebrows at her, making Millie laugh.

“I did love Juliet, but there were other girls after her. Not serious, of course. A couple of boys too, back in the day. Juliet was my first great love, but Andrew will be my last.”

“That’s so sweet. But what makes you think it wouldn’t have worked with Juliet? Joan said everyone used to be jealous of how great you guys were together.” 

Bobby smiled.

“She- how do you young people say it now? Bats for the other team? We were really close friends more than anything. She was never going to love me the other women loved their boyfriends, but we’d both made peace with that. Then, she went away to university in London.”

Millie frowned, remembering what Bobby had written in the card.

“You said she left without saying goodbye?”

Bobby sighed and drained the last of his hot chocolate.

“It was strange. Of course, I knew she’d gotten into university, but she left a month early. Didn’t say anything, she packed all her stuff up and was just…gone.”

Millie slipped her hot chocolate, humming in thought.  

“Maybe we can find her? Something must’ve happened for her to never come back in over 50 years. It might be nice to get closure…” 

Bobby stayed silent, doing some more of the puzzle. Millie watched him, amazed at how quickly he matched the pieces together. It always took her forever to complete a puzzle; perhaps speed came with age.

“We could, I suppose. Truthfully, I never thought about actually looking for her. She disappeared from our lives a long time ago, and she hadn’t got any family left in Appleford so I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“You could start at the university she attended?”

Millie startled, having forgotten that Andrew was sat with them. He’d been sitting silently on an armchair sipping away at his hot chocolate until now.

“What could they tell us, though?” 

Millie pondered Bobby’s question. He had a good point; unless Juliet had remained in contact with anyone at the university after she graduated, they wouldn’t be able to tell them much. Still, they had to try.

“Potentially they could tell us if, and where, she got a job after she graduated, if their records go back that far. Or, if she’s on their alumni list, they might have an address for sending invites and stuff.”

Bobby hummed, continuing with the puzzle; it was over halfway done now.

“Alright. I think it would be good to do it, either way. If we manage to find her, great, and if we don’t then at least I’ve tried.” 

And so, they made a plan. It was too close to Christmas now to contact the university and expect a quick response. Millie would be the one to email UCL and ask them to check their alumni records, as neither Bobby nor Andrew owned a laptop. Depending on the response they got, Bobby realised that they might have to travel to London to get more information or find Juliet.

Millie wondered if this kind of thing happened in all small villages. The mystery was a little bit exciting, and she hoped the outcome would be satisfactory at least, although she was hoping for outright happy. She just had to wait until after Christmas.