My eyes flit to the walled shelves of trinkets next to him, now filled with my eccentric goodies as well as his. My zombie cat teddy bears amongst his sugar skulls. My quartz points positioned around his amethyst geode. And then my eyes keep moving.
“Oh my God!” I point to our collection of plants next to the window. “They made it! They’re still alive!”
“Tiff has a key, remember,” Josh says. “They owe their lives to her. They will forever be in her debt.”
I reach over to the side of the sofa and spin his antique globe, then lean back against one of our purple brocade cushions as the overwhelm begins to hit me. A wave of tiredness rises up from nowhere, and I yawn, eyes struggling to stay open.
I’m safe here.
Safe at home.
“You’re exhausted, baby,” Josh says and takes a seat beside me. He strokes some of my hair behind my ear. “Fancy a hot chocolate?” He pauses. “Scrap that. The milk has probably turned to cheese.”
“I don’t need hot chocolate,” I tell my gorgeous partner. “I need you. I need our bed. I need my big spoon behind me.”
“You’re in luck, because I’m not going anywhere. Belgravia or not, I’ll be wherever you are, big spoon for ever.”
“You could have come back, you know. Snuck in late one night. I wouldn’t have blamed you if you’d have come back for some of your sugar skulls. I almost forgot how cool they are.”
He leans in to kiss my forehead. “I knew they’d be right here waiting for us. No matter what, I knew we’d make it home.”
“I only wish I’d shared your faith.” I tangle my fingers in his.
“It would have been hard for anyone to have any faith in your position, baby. You did great.”
“Only because you were there with me.”
“Nah, you give me too much credit. You’re a far tougher cookie than you think you are.”
“Thanks. I’ll feel like a far tougher cookier now life can go back to normal. Well, our kind of normal.” I look over at the mini gym in the corner, and have to smile. “I don’t think I’ll be taking advantage of the treadmill anytime soon. You’ll have to go gym bunny solo for a while.”
“Hardly a shocker, given where you’ve just come back from. How was the proposal? Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’m cool. Nothing too major.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“Whatever, Ells. They must have fucked you up pretty bad to reschedule both of our calendars.”
I put a finger over my lips.
“Confidential, remember?”
“They kinda broke the confidentiality agreement themselves. Orla said she had permission to talk to me about you tonight. That kinda gives you permission to talk about them, don’t you think?”
“Let me check something out a second.”
I smile at him and grab my phone, calling up my banking app. It still gives me tingles whenever I check the balance, but tonight is something else.
The founders have deposited over £125k in there. My fucking God, it’s madness.
I show Josh my screen.
“They fucked me up enough to deserve this much, in their opinion.”
He does the same with his phone, his eyebrows raised as he shows me the balance.
“They fucked you up enough that I deservethismuch, in their opinion.”
