“You’re truly becoming partners. It’s a wonderful thing to witness,” Taya said with a tear in her eye.
“You’re going to make me cry. Stop it,” Evie added, reaching for her napkin to pat her cheeks dry.
“You might want to keep that napkin handy,” Bea said suddenly. “I’ve got some news myself.”
They all sat in silence, waiting. Penny held her breath.
“Aidan proposed, and I said yes. We’re getting married too!”
They all embraced and congratulate her. Penny’s heart felt as though it might burst with happiness. She was getting married to the man of her dreams, and now Beatrice would marry the boy she’d fallen in love with when they were still children. They hadn’t started dating until Bea and Aidan were sixteen, but Penny clearly remembered them all playing together as friends when they were in primary school. Even back then, Aidan Whitlock had only had eyes for Beatrice. And now, after all this time, they were finally getting married. She could hardly contain her joy for her lifelong friend. She kissed Bea’s cheek, her eyes overflowing.
“I’m so happy for you. Who could’ve imagined this is where we’d all end up so many years after we met in the Coral Island State School playground?”
Bea wiped her eyes with her fingertips and laughed. “Definitely not me. I wouldn’t have believed it two years ago. But here we are.”
“If you need someone to help you plan the wedding, Charmaine has been a big help to me. I highly recommend her.”
Bea nodded. “Thanks. I think I’ll give her call. I have so much on my plate, I don’t think I could handle pulling together a wedding on my own. Besides, I’ve already been married once. This time, I want to do something simple. It’s not about the day, but the life lived after it.”
“Wise words to remember,” Penny said, raising her glass. They all toasted again, then got back to the food. Penny ate in silence, watching each of her friends as they discussed the upcoming weddings and what type of dress Bea would wear, who they’d bring as dates and more. And her heart was full.
Thirteen
STYLISH CONDOS LINEDthe hillsides of Airlie Beach, gleaming white against the dark green of the bushy trees they were nestled amongst. Charmaine had caught the ferry over that morning. It was her day off, and she intended to take the money she’d earned by planning Penny and Rowan’s wedding and buy herself a brand-new bike. The bicycle Betsy had given her was so old that the seat had finally rusted off and she could no longer justify riding around town without sitting down — it made her legs ache. Besides, she could easily hurt herself if someone stopped suddenly in front of her and she was forced back onto the rusty metal where the seat had previously been. So, with her newly made cash in hand, she strode down the side street to where the maps app had told her there was a bike shop.
It’d been a long time since she’d saved up to buy something on her own, and the satisfaction of doing that left her with a heady feeling. It wasn’t as though she’d never been able to afford a large purchase before. She’d bought much more expensive things than a bike in her previous life. But these days, a bicycle was all she could afford.
The store was a large one, with gleaming bikes of every size and colour stacked up and down in aisles. Charmaine worried that if she bumped into one, the entire shop would go down like a line of dominoes. She stepped carefully between them, fingering handlebars, testing out seats and checking for kickstands.
“Can I help you with anything?” A pimply-faced teen boy asked the question.
She nodded. “I’m looking for a bike.”
He grinned. “Well, you’ve come to the right place.”
She laughed. “Yes, of course. Obviously.”
“Any particular type of bike?”
“Well, I want one with gears so I can go up hills easily.”
“That’s a good start,” the boy replied thoughtfully. “Anything else?”
“I’d like a basket to carry my cat in.”
“Come this way,” he said, leading her away from the mountain bikes she’d been perusing and over to a set of more upright bicycles with large baskets on the front.
In the end, she chose a bright red bicycle that gleamed beneath the florescent lighting. The salesman let her take it for a spin in the parking lot and she loved the feel of it. She couldn’t believe how beautiful it was and that she’d get to ride it around the island. She also purchased some bike shorts and a Lycra top, helmet and tyre repair kit.
“I hope you enjoy your new ride,” he said as he rang up her order.
She thanked him and wheeled her bike out onto the pavement, then slipped on her helmet and put the rest of her things in the basket. Then, with a quick jangle of the bell on her handlebars, she wove it through the pedestrians swarming down the street and rode back to the ferry terminal. It rolled smoothly and easily, the gears shifted quietly, and once she got the hang of it, she found climbing the small hills on her way back much more manageable.
By the time the ferry arrived on Coral Island, she’d familiarised herself with how to pump up the tyres, which gears were for what purpose, and how every part of that bike felt beneath her fingertips. She wheeled it off the ferry with a smile and then climbed aboard again to ride it back to her flat. When she arrived, she found Watson standing at the bottom of the stairs, tail curled around the pole. He’d recovered completely from the chocolate incident and seemed pleased to see her, miaowing loudly and pushing himself up against her legs as he purred.
She picked him up and hugged him, then placed him in the basket to see how he’d react. He sat, curled his tail around himself and acted as though it was the most natural place in the world for him to be — perched up high, ready to go on an adventure together.
At first, she rode slowly, looking to see how Watson would react. But he didn’t move, instead staring ahead like a sentinel on guard. She laughed into the wind, standing on her pedals to push hard up a small rise, then onto the open road. She pedalled all the way to St James, the small township where Penny’s animal refuge was located. The refuge looked to be closed, so she circled it once, then headed for home. On the way, she spotted Samantha, Betsy’s granddaughter, playing on the side of the road. She pulled her bike to a stop and balanced it in place with her legs.
