‘Well, that was quick! You? Of all people? Miss I Will Never Fall in Love Again! I-I’m speechless.’ Jill gasps again.
‘I know! I can’t believe it myself. I think I’m still in shock,’ I tell her, holding the phone in my two hands up in the air in front of my face.
‘Sparksssssssss, you say?’ Jill asks, holding onto the word.
‘I know!’ I shout for the hat-trick. ‘Oh Jill, so many sparks!’ I heave, shut my eyes tight.
‘This is what you’ve been waiting for since we were teenagers! Airhead Cooper never set any sparks in you! The only sparks he set off were from rubbing two ideas together but nothing ever ignited! Idiot. I’m so happy for you.’
‘But nothing can happen. Dan lives here in Ireland and I live in New York.’ My voice and lower lip both tremble. Hearing the words spoken out loud is even worse.
‘So? Move!’ Jill flings an oversized pillow out from behind her.
‘I can’t just leave my life! What about my mom!’
‘Maggie, I spoke to Dorothy a while ago, I wanted to tell her about the baby myself, and that is one happy woman. She doesn’t need you anymore. George will take great care of her. She’s happy. You need you! This is a huge step for you.’
‘Anyway, he hasn’t asked me to stay! And I quit my job.’
‘Woah, hold on, back up Nelly? What about the article for the magazine?’ Jill sits up, closer to the screen.
‘Frederick was planning on turning Castlemoon into luxuryapartments. It was no longer going to be a hotel! We can’t feature it. It isn’t an ultimate wedding location as far as they are now concerned .?.?.’
‘I won’t say I told you so but I will say I told myself so that Frederick is a shark! And as for Amanda Crosse!’
‘I don’t think Amanda quite knew the ins-and-outs but I’ll need a week to tell you everything. It’s been a rollercoaster, but I have no job to go back to, not to mention no place to live after the holidays.’
‘Even better!’ Jill exclaims.
‘Don’t be ludicrous,’ I say, but my mind is in overdrive.
‘I’m being deadly serious,’ Jill says. ‘Have you kissed him?’ she then asks.
‘Yes.’ I nod my head like one of those bobbing dogs people put in the back seat of their cars.
‘And?’
‘Everything I’d never even imagined .?.?. and there’s something else. Jill?’
‘W-what? And? What else could there possibly be?’
‘Dan owns Castlemoon. It’s his castle. He’s a real-life lord.’ I can barely believe the words that I’m speaking. For a moment, I think the screen has frozen. Jill is completely motionless.
‘Shut up!’ Jill finally comes to, her jaw hanging, mouth wide open.
‘I know. It’s crazy and now that I’m not filing my article to Amanda, I have another idea for it, a big idea about what I want to do with it. That’s where you come in. This is where I need your help.’
‘Anything,’ she says with a determined nod of her head.
‘I want to set up a new Instagram account now for the castle, and I want to use myUltimate Locationsarticle and photos for the grid to tell the story of Castlemoon. I want to sell the folklore of the castle on there. They have a website but it’s old and doesnot do the place, or Heartwell, justice – that’s the surrounding village, which is just as beautiful. It’s so picturesque. I need you to help me. Can I tag you in them so you can share them? Is that possible?’
‘For you, again, anything!’ She keeps nodding in agreement.
‘You’re the best, I better fly. I’ve got so much to do here.’ I sit up.
‘Hang on! Wait! Wait! One sec! When do you plan on posting these?’ Jill swings her legs out of the bed now. ‘Doing stories? Doing an Insta Live? Consider bordering your grid in black and white? We need to think about collaborators to work with.’ I can almost see Jill’s creative mind whirring. She looks just like the old Jill again.
‘Like, tonight! I’m getting to work right away, there is no time to waste! Oh, and I’m also planning a wedding in the cellar under the castle. A cellar that I need to dismantle, deep clean, put back together, design and make spectacular for a wedding a few days after Christmas.’
