‘Great! Next time you’re in Paris, we can have lunch. God,’ Cassie groaned. ‘That sounded so poncy! Let’s do lunch,daarrling!’ she purred in a fake posh accent and I laughed.
‘I know you didn’t mean it like that,’ I smiled.
‘Oh, thank God! When Nico and I first got together I always swore I wouldn’t become one of thoseladies who lunched, so I had to make sure. We might be loaded, but I’m still Cassie from the block, or South London in my case.’ She chuckled.
Cassie was so easy to talk to and I felt comfortable around her.
‘Good timing,’ Nico said as we joined him and Gabriel. ‘I think the show is about to start.’
‘Ça va?’ Gabriel whispered in my ear. I gave him a reassuring smile. It was sweet that he checked on me. Maybe he was also worried that Cassie would give me the Spanish inquisition.
‘All good,’ I said.
‘Ladies and gentlemen.’ Jasmine appeared on the stage. ‘Welcome to the official opening of the Love Hotel Riviera. Thank you for being here tonight. To mark this momentous occasion, we’re delighted that a very special star who was once a guest at the Love Hotel California where he met his soulmate has joined us this evening. He opened the Love Hotel in Paris for us, and now it’s an honour to have him to open our latest French resort. Please put your hands together for Jake Myers!’
‘Oh my God!’ I said. I couldn’t believe the actual Jake Myers was here.
As he performed one of his biggest hits, Gabriel and I danced together. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shaken a leg. Yeah, I was guilty of shimmying around the kitchen or in the shower if a good tune came on the radio, but I mean,really danced. And in public.
Even though there were hundreds of people around us, it felt like Gabriel and I were just here alone, together. When he twirled me around on the sand, I laughed so hard my belly hurt. Especially when he dipped me backwards and it took me by surprise so I almost fell, but of course he caught me in his strong arms.
And when Jake sang some of his ballads, I slow danced with Gabriel and the feeling of resting my head on his chest was so calming.
Once Jake had performed multiple songs the stage went silent. It was only then that I became properly aware of our surroundings again. Cassie was standing in front of Nico and his arms were wrapped around her waist. Cassie was fanning herself so she must’ve been dancing as much as us.
I pulled out a pack of tissues, took one out to wipe my forehead then offered Cassie a fresh one.
‘Merci.’ Jake bowed. ‘It’s a real pleasure to be here. As Jasmine said, I met the love of my life, Halle, when I was a guest at the resort in California. We didn’t get on at first, but when we relaxed and let the hotel work its magic, we realised we’d been brought together for a reason and I’m so grateful that we were. Come on stage and say hi, baby.’
His girlfriend, who could easily pass for Halle Berry’s younger sister, came running on and waved at us, before Jake gave her a kiss and snaked his arm around her waist. The whole crowd cheered.
‘And I’m not the only one here tonight who was a former guest. I’d like to invite Stella and Max, who were guests at the first Love Hotel in Spain, onto the stage.’
Everyone gave the couple a round of applause. The lady had light brown skin and honey-coloured curls, and the guy had white skin and short dark hair. As they stood on the stage, he held his girlfriend’s hand.
‘Wow,’ she said. ‘I didn’t realise there’d be so many people here! Hi, I’m Stella and going to the Love Hotel Spain changed our lives.’
‘Hi, I’m Max. And like Jake said about when he met his partner Halle, it’s safe to say that me and Stell didn’t exactly get off to a good start when we saw that we’d been matched.’
‘Understatement of the century!’ Stella added. ‘He was my ex!’
The whole audience gasped.
‘If I’d been matched with my ex, I’d be horrified,’ I whispered to Gabriel, Nico and Cassie.
‘Are you now saying that you are happy that you were matched with your friend’s son instead?’ Gabriel’s mouth turned up into a cheeky smile.
‘I guess neither is ideal…’ I said diplomatically.
‘But the Love Hotel experts clearly knew what they were doing,’ Stella continued.
‘Amen!’ Cassie shouted then turned to face me. ‘You and Gabe areperfecttogether,’ she winked.
‘They really did,’ Max continued. ‘I’m so grateful that the hotel reunited us.’
Jake walked over to pick up his guitar and started playing another one of his famous ballads. Max dropped to one knee in front of Stella, then pulled a ring box out of his pocket. When he opened it, her mouth crashed to the ground before she brought her hands up to her face in shock.
‘Stella, you’re the love of my life,’ said Max. ‘I’ve wanted to do this for a while and I thought what better way to declare my love for you than in front of a hundred strangers,’ he laughed. ‘In all seriousness, it was the Love Hotel that brought us together, so when they invited us here tonight, I thought this would be a great time to ask you whether you’d do me the honour of becoming my wife.’
