So I think I’m going to go to a dating agency. There must be someone in the whole of London who could be the love of my life and would be prepared to go through IVF with me if we did get our happily ever after.
Just not a guy who’s dressed by his mother.
How that tale rambled. Yes, we can talk about dates and dating lives. We had our moment and it was a good moment.
I was thinking of taking you up on your Christmas offer finally. If you’re still having Christmas at Puffin Bay. If not, don’t worry, my next option is to stay with my aunt and her family, which they’ve mentioned about twenty times.
Love,
Iris
One Year After New Orleans and Three Years after Ivy’s funeral.
Dear Iris,
I can’t believe we’ve gone this long without seeing each other. I was gutted about Christmas, but we’d promised our mam we’d have Christmas in Ireland with her and it was really good. She’s planning on moving to Puffin Bay this year, so it was our last Irish Christmas and the end of an era. Roe and Finn and I are talking about buying a holiday home over there as we want the kids to know the country and have that identity, plus it’s good to get to as we can take the car on the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin.
I also can’t believe it’s the third anniversary of Ivy’s death this week. Her publishers are releasing a specially bound edition of her bestselling book, but you know all this already. They asked me to write a foreword for it, which I have done. It was cathartic to do it, partly because it gave me time to reflect on everything that’s happened in the nearly thirty-six months since she died, and also on her life that was well lived.
She didn’t regret anything, Iris. The more I think about it, the more I can see her joy in the smaller moments and that’s what I try to find now.
I don’t have a partner like my brothers do. I don’t have children like they do – or will do because Freya’s pregnant, I think I forgot to mention that. We found out over Christmas – but I have them and that’s a lot more than most people have.
I’m in London in a couple of weeks. I’ve been kind of seeing someone based there. This will be the first time I’ve been to her house though and I’ve no idea where this is going. Probablynowhere because I’m not going to live in London and there’s no way she’ll move to Puffin Bay. She’s an actress and I met her through my theatre director cousin, Maven – the one who gets you the comp tickets.
She’s called Alisandra – yes, it is spelt like that – and she’s fun and we have a good time, but I think that’s all it’ll be, which is fine. I can enjoy it for what it is while it lasts.
How’s the dating agency? I get you having to use that because you’re a shit hot big name now. It’s amazing how far you’ve come in the last couple of years. Maybe my stardom’s rubbed off on you.
You can smack me for that comment the next time you see me. I’ll let you.
My mam has asked me about fifty million questions about what the Royal Family (I’ve been told I have to put it in capitals) was like when you met them. I’m going to text you the list. Feel free to ignore it, but be warned, if you ever meet the real queen, Bernadette, she’s going to hound you for gossip. I apologise in advance and will try to make sure you survive.
Puffin Bay news, Amelie and Roman are finally going to get married. No one knows how he got her to agree, but he’s been smiling very smugly at her so we’re guessing it was a bet that she lost. If he carries on being so smug, he might end up as fertiliser in his granddad’s garden.
On that note, Roe’s here and he’s glaring at me because we’re meant to be going to the Puffin Inn for dinner and I’m not ready yet.
Pray for me.
Love,
Gully
One Year and Three Months after New Orleans
Dear Gully,
You’re lucky, like we said on the phone, you have a family and your nieces and nephews. No matter what you’ll have those and I envy you for that but I’m grateful you have them too. I’ve loved seeing the photos of them and your cousins altogether – that’s something special to have that automatic network and people and places of safety.
I think that’s where I’ve missed Ivy the most – she was my safe person. She was my ride or die or my three am phone call when I’d needed a lift or someone to sort my life out and I knew she’d never say no.
I kind of think of you like that too, because I know you’d get to me in a heartbeat, just like I would for you. It’s funny because I can put that on paper in my handwriting but I’d never say that in a text message.
But I worry that when you have met your forever person, you won’t be able to be my three am because you’ll be hers and she might not want you to a have a me, to have that female friend with whom you have a bit of history.
Vice versa – I could have a partner for whom you’re a threat, needlessly so.
I guess time will tell.
