We headed inside, Seph jabbing me with his elbow behind their backs and we automatically regressed to aged nine and thirteen again.
* * *
By nine that evening,the open kitchen space was full with people. All of my siblings had arrived, every one bar Seph having a partner they’d brought, plus the two babies who were fairly amused with each other and Seph who had designated himself as the responsible adult.
I sat on the sofa, surrounded by noise and banter, feeling almost as if I was looking through a window looking in.
I missed Africa. I missed the colours and the noise and the sounds of the streets and the calls to prayer; the vendors selling their goods and the smell of mint tea.
I missed Wren.
My phone was empty of any message from her and I wondered what she was doing, how her mum was, if she got back okay. If she missed Africa.
Me:Did you get home okay?
I pressed send and waited.Nothing came.
“Where do you go next?”My future sister-in-law Victoria sat down next to me, glass of wine in hand.
“Asia. China, I think. We haven’t been given a schedule yet.” There had been some talk about changing it, trying to make filming shorter because of Jaime’s other commitments. Plus, the production company wanted to air it sooner than planned as there was a buzz about it already.
“It’s exciting. You’re becoming famous. Better get Killian to sort security out near your apartment for all your super-fans.” She stretched out long-legs and nodded towards my brother-in-law.
I shook my head. “I’ll leave them to Seph.”
“How long are you letting him live with you for?”
Maxwell, her fiancé, came and sat next to her, his hand straight onto her thigh. “You can keep him. While you were away we decided it was your turn to look after him for a while.”
“I’m not a pet, you know.” Seph wasn’t deaf either.
“Seph can stay with us if he wants.” Victoria smiled at Max and then at Seph but there was an evil look to her. Goading Max was one of her favourite past times.
“No. He can’t. We don’t have space.” Max shook his head.
“We have six bedrooms.” Victoria patted his knee.
“But none are big enough for his ego.”
Max grinned and Victoria shook her head.
“You realise that you don’t actually get a say?” She pinched his leg. Hard. I remembered how much I liked her.
Max grumbled something unintelligible and Victoria, touched his chin and directed his face to hers, giving him a kiss that probably helped them conceive their first child.
I checked my phone.
Nothing.
My youngest sister showed off her engagement ring, continually glancing at Eli and smiling then looking back at her ring. I was happy for her, them. Eli was a good bloke and given what Ava was like, she’d actually made a decent decision.
“How was Wren?” Ava sat down next to me, resting her head against my shoulder like she’d done since she was a spoilt brat of a toddler.
“Good.”
“You looked good together in your photos. And there were a lot of photos of you together.” Ava knew most of what happened between me and Wren. I’d told her when I’d found out it was Wren who’d also be there for the filming.
“We were together a lot.” I didn’t want to share what had happened between us. It was just mine and if nothing came of it, if our last night had been it, then I didn’t want anyone to know. I couldn’t stand their sympathy.
