He shrugs before racing down the stairs to the front door.
‘Surprise!’ Ryan and Sasha shout simultaneously.
‘Jesus, this place is like Fort Knox.’ Ryan’s low whistle resounds around the hallway and the sound of feet pad across the carpet. ‘The risk of going deaf from that siren alone is enough to deter any intruders.’
Here’s hoping.
Sasha is the first up the stairs. She throws herself at me, wrapping me in a huge maternal embrace. Her familiar pomegranate perfume wafts in the air around me and a tension I hadn’t realised I’d been holding in my shoulders slips.
If she hadn’t stepped up, taken on the role of mother, guardian, and protector, who knows where I would have ended up.
My mind goes to Lily-May again, the child whose mother died in A&E a few weeks ago.
I’ve thought about her every day since it happened.
Wondering where she is. If she has other family members to care for her.
‘Victoria, look at you!’ Sasha snaps me back to the present moment, stepping back and taking my hands as she inspects me from head to toe.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ My eyes roam over the woman who raised me, absorbing every detail of her immaculately cut summer dress and designer wedges.
‘Evangeline Araceli’s here meeting suppliers and she invited us to join her. It seemed like the perfect excuse to kill two birds with one stone.’ Her sunny beam lights up the room. ‘How have you been? Are you all set for your exams? Do you think you’ll look for your postgraduate placement here or in Ireland? Tell me everything.’
‘Give the girl a chance.’ Ryan sweeps in behind her to hug me, flanked by his security, Pierce, and another equally buff-looking guy I don’t recognise.
Archie winces, presumably at the term ‘girl,’ hovering awkwardly behind them.
‘I can’t believe you’re actually here.’ I didn’t realise how much I missed them, and the warm fuzzy feeling their love creates, until they showed up.
Maybe a postgraduate placement in Ireland wouldn’t be a bad idea after all. ‘Where are you staying?’
It goes without saying they won’t stay here. They never do. They need their own space, which is a polite way of saying they have wild, animated sex most nights and we have an unspoken agreement that I’ve heard enough of it over the years. Hearing those two at it like rabbits all night would have been enough to make me move out at eighteen, even if I hadn’t planned on going to college.
Though Archie and I could give them a run for their money now. Well, we might have done before last weekend, anyway.
‘At the Caledonian.’ Sasha claps her hands together gleefully.
Of course. The most elite hotel in the city, situated at the bottom of Lothian Road in the heart of the West End. It boasts stunning views of Edinburgh Castle.
‘Sit down, please.’ I motion for them to make themselves comfortable while I put on the kettle.
Ryan, Pierce and the other security guard sit at the kitchen table while Sasha and Archie follow me to the kitchen area.
Archie busies himself firing up the Nespresso machine. ‘How are the twins?’
‘They’re amazing. They ask about “Uncle Archie” most days.’
Sasha’s words warm my soul. ‘Huh! What about Aunty Vic?’
‘They can’t wait to have you home in the summer,’ Ryan assures me.
‘Little shits are robbing me blind daily,’ Pierce grumbles good-naturedly.
‘You should wash your mouth out with soap, and you’d be a lot richer for it,’ Ryan sniggers.
‘You’re doing a stellar job minding my sister.’ Sasha sidles up to Archie, winking at him.
Heat flames my cheeks. Is it that obvious?
