After her party, Chloe had woken with a dry mouth and made a vow never to consume alcohol again, which she knew would pass far more quickly than she deserved. The burden of her ‘secret’ had been lifted, but now she had a new load to deal with. Whether to act on Drew’s suggestion of making an unscheduled visit to Hannah. One moment she would decide to call Drew and go; the next she’d realise it was the worst idea in the world.

She had no time to dwell on her hangover or anything else over the following week, which flew by as the preparations continued. Bunting had appeared all over town, strung between the buildings and lampposts, adding a party atmosphere overnight. Shopkeepers had put festival-themed displays in their windows and banners had gone up outside the pubs and cafés advertising their special festival menus and events. A hundred emails had gone out to all the stallholders, allocating their pitches and detailing all the hygiene and health and safety regulations they had to comply with. Those forms would come back and all had to be checked, a job which fell to Evie and a friend from her bingo club.

In a flash, the week leading up to the event itself was upon them. It was Chloe’s first festival as a ‘local’ and it amazed her to see how its tentacles spread from the main venue on the harbour through the side streets and up to the marquee field. Overnight, yellow signs warning people about road closures and directing them to festival car parks had gone up. Shouts and clangs drifted across the harbour from the Smuggler’s as the staff erected a party tent over the beer garden, while the Tinners’ was advertising an all-day hog roast.

On the Thursday before the big event Chloe was up early and on her way to a morning meeting in the harbour office with Troy. Two large vans passed her, one of which pulled up on the grassy area next to the inner harbour while the other ground up the hill towards the marquee field. Chloe realised they were the chef’s tent and the festival marquee. It felt as if the Festival Beast was now unstoppable and it made Chloe tingle with excitement and nervous energy.