‘They wouldn’t without telling us first.’
He shrugged. ‘What matters right now is whether or not Nicole is prepared to accept our help, because if she isn’t, we won’t have much of a series anyway.’
‘I hope you two aren’t talking shop,’ Jodi complained, coming to plonk the baby in Connor’s arms. ‘Cristy, I’m in love with your brother, always have been, so I think I’m going to run off with him. Do you reckon his wife will have a problem with that?’
‘Never mind her, what about me?’ Connor demanded, rocking Aurora back and forth. ‘Hayley, fancy a spot of babysitting? I pay well.’
‘Give her to me,’ Cynthia insisted, coming to take over. ‘Cristy, David was looking for you a moment ago.’
‘I’m right here,’ Cristy declared, laughing. ‘Where is he?’
Snaring another glass of champagne, and spotting Tom engrossed in a chat with a couple of David’s cousins, she decided to go and join in.
By the time midnight came round and David lit the fireworks outside, Cristy was ready to kick off her heels and sink into the nearest comfy chair, but somehow, she kept going until just past one, when Tom’s taxi turned up to return him to his hotel.
‘Walk on the beach at dawn?’ he suggested.
‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ she cried, and laughed when she realized he was.
‘I’ll be here by ten for brunch,’ he told her, ‘and at some point in the day, I’ll tell you all about my plans to move back to London.’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
As it turned out, Cristy, David and Tom were all up in time for a pre-brunch walk in the morning, so after checking tide times and collecting Tom from his hotel, David drove them all over to Cobo Bay. It was gloriously sunny, freezing cold and windy, but the beautiful, elongated curve of the beach was quiet and calm at this hour, with no one else around apart from a couple of dog walkers and a solitary jogger.
‘So, looks like we could be roomies.’ Tom was laughing as they trod the wet sand, arm-in-arm, with Cristy in the middle and Henry the Retriever racing ahead. ‘Or I guess we should say flatmates being British and all. Whatever, this is an amazing opportunity for you, Cris, to set up a major new podcast company …’
‘What about you, moving to UCL, my alma mater? My brother, Professor Ward, the head of history. You won’t miss Canada?’
‘Of course, but hey, we’re neither of us getting any younger – time for us both to seize the day and make our marks on the world. I’m keener than ever now I know you’re going to be in London too.’
‘I haven’t accepted the job yet,’ she reminded him, ‘but obviously having you around is going to be a huge sway. How does Sandie feel about the move? Aren’t all her family in Toronto?’
‘Or nearby, but that’s my other news. We’ve decided to split …’
‘Oh God, Tom!’
‘It’s all amicable,’ he assured her. ‘We’ve been growing apart for some time, different interests, unshared goals … Lucky, I guess, that we don’t have kids, although I’d have liked them as you know, just that she was never keen … Well, as it turns out, I’ve met someone who is.’
Cristy came to a stop. ‘Jesus, Tom!’ she exclaimed, as he and David turned to face her. ‘This is … mind-blowing! Who is she? I want to know everything.’
Laughing, he said, ‘Her name is Serena, she’s thirty-six, so a little younger than me, Belgian, a lecturer in fine arts at Sint-Lukas in Brussels, and the plan is for her to try and get a position in London at some point in the next couple of years.’
‘So when do we get to meet her? You should have brought her to the party …’
‘Of course David invited her,’ Tom assured her, ‘but she was keen for us to talk without you having to meet her at the same time. She felt it would be overload: new job, marriage break-up, move to London, possibly kids on the horizon, and I guess she had a point, especially after we decided to spring me as the big surprise last night.’
Loving the memory of it, Cristy linked his arm again and hugged it hard as they walked on, while David threw sticks into the waves for the dog. ‘So what’s the immediate plan?’ she asked. ‘How long have I got you for?’
Tom laughed. ‘Knowing you as I do, I’m sure you’re in the middle of some project or other, so my immediate plans are not to disrupt yours.’
‘But …’
‘Which means I’ll fly to Brussels on Tuesday, and from there, Serena and I are planning to go to Paris, our first stop on a two-to-three-month tour of Europe and perhaps the Far East. I’ve already quit my job, so I was always planning to make it over for your birthday, and Serena’s sabbatical has been agreed, so hopefully, by the time we come back, the fourof us will have worked out how to spend a good amount of time together.’
Shaking her head in mock despair, Cristy said, ‘That’s so like you to have everything all worked out then just announce how it’s going to happen.’
‘Is there something you want me to change?’ he asked.
