A hand landed on my shoulder, a weight I recognised.
“I heard the news. Cash has been arrested.” My dad offered me a flute of champagne – clearly the pop wasn’t from the first bottle that’d been opened.
“Thank you. Cheers.” We chinked glasses. “He’s locked up. I don’t know any details.”
“Do you need them?”
I shook my head. “I don’t want them. There’ll be more Peter Cashes for Roe to deal with. I can’t let myself worry about them.”
“Because Zoey’s still staying around here?”
I nodded. “We’re going to put an offer in on that house together.”
“Together together?”
“Together together.” I swallowed. “I wondered whether we’d wasted time just being friends all these years rather than with each other properly, but I’m not sure.” I looked over to where Amelie was serving.
My dad shrugged and I realised it was always going to be like looking into a mirror and seeing myself in a quarter of a century’s time.
“I think sometimes the right thing happens at the right time, and the experience you’ve amassed makes you the person you need to be for something else to happen. Don’t think of it as time wasted, think of it as the things you’ve learned.” He patted me on the back, giving Amelie a nod as she was gesturing him over. “Like this – I’ve learned if I don’t go and see what she wants, she’ll make me do some really horrible job later in the week. Enjoy your evening.”
I looked over to where Zoey was and my chest felt three times bigger. Grinning, I headed across to her, sweeping her into my arms, managing not to spill anyone’s champagne. Just like on the red carpet I dipped her down and kissed her, a round of applause and cat calls lifting the roof, along with a sick noise coming from a couple of the older boys, Grayson’s eldest and Finn’s son.
“This’ll be you one day.” I pointed at them, laughing at the looks of disgust on their faces.
But it would be.
One day.
Four Years Ago
“Where do you see yourself in five years’ time?” We were walking along the beach even though it was dark and cold. The wind that’d blown around the bay had dropped a couple of hours ago and we were making the most of it before hunkering down in front of the fire in the pub for the night.
Zoey smiled, gazing at the now clear sky. “I’ll be thirty-one. I hope I’m with someone I’m in love with, with a house that’s my safe place and maybe thinking about having a family. I want to be a mum who’s completely different to how my mum was. No pressure to go to dance lessons or learn to sing, just to be a normal kid with friends and lots of laughter.”
My chest hurt for her. She’d never talked loads about her childhood but I knew it hadn’t been like mine. My mum had been short of cash but she’d made me the centre of her world as much as she’d been able to. I’d never had any pressure put on me to do anything other than be a good person, and I didn’t disagree with that.
“So you have five years to find the person you want to be with.”
She grinned at the sand rather than me. “Maybe I’ve already found him.”
I didn’t like that. I wasn’t sure how I’d manage when Zoey found someone who was good enough for her and she didn’t need me anymore.
“What about you? Where will you be in five years?” She looked back up at me, threading her arm through mine as we carried on walking, the moon full and bright.
“Here. Probably still living in Amelie’s flat. Maybe I’ll have a promotion at the university and more research trips booked.” I was happy with that to an extent.
“What about your love life? Will any of the women who chase you ever capture your heart?” She tucked her hand in my pocket, and I felt my chest burn a little.
The truth was my heart had already been captured; I just didn’t dare to tell her she owned it.
“Maybe one day,” I lied. “I can’t believe you’re here again for Christmas, third year running. How do you get out of all the Christmas parties down in London?” I’d heard her on the phone to Carissa that morning, explaining that she wouldn’t be going back to London any sooner than what she’d already said.
She laughed, turning us round to head back to the Puffin Inn. “I’ve surpassed the target the record company had set for me to bring in. There are some good sides to success and one is that you can call more of the shots.”
“Like being here for Christmas?”
She nodded. “I have an interview tomorrow but I’m doing it online, so that’s okay. I can manage that. Then that’s it until January the second and it’s back to the recording studio. I’ll have to leave you here in freezing cold Puffin Bay.”
