Chapter 26
My twin sister and I throw our arms around one another.
It feels so good to hold her. I breathe her in, as I have been doing my entire life.
Her energy becomes my energy. She squeezes me even harder and whispers, ‘I’ve missed you so much.
’ Then she takes a look into my eyes and says, ‘You have questions. Me too.’
‘We have to go,’ says Cam. ‘You can fill each other in on the way.’
Lois and I hold hands as we race through the clearing to the jeep that Cam has parked up.
We set off immediately, both of us huddled in the back while Cam drives.
He has to twist in his seat to reverse out.
It’s very tricky, so Lois and I wait before we launch into our mammoth Q and A session.
It gives me a chance to fully appreciate what excellent bone structure he has.
The light bounces off his hair, his lashes and his impeccably shaped eyebrows.
His DNA is truly magnificent. Like Angelina Jolie and her famously symmetrical face, Cam must be the world’s only other human being to have such symmetry.
There’s nothing you would change about his face.
It is all perfect. He is simply breathtaking.
And he is willing to risk everything… just for me.
How have I managed to land someone so magnificent, so courageous and so downright brill—
‘Stop it. Put your stalker eyes away. You’re being way too much,’ Lois leans in to hiss.
This makes me blush even harder. Sisters!
She’s only been with me five blinking seconds and already she’s criticising.
I start giggling because, of course, she’s completely right.
I’m like a giddy teen with a horrendous crush on a kind-hearted global singing superstar.
When we swerve onto the dusty road track, Cam rams the vehicle into first and we race off.
Every now and again, I catch his eye in the mirror, causing me to blush, blink and clear my throat.
‘How are you here?’ I ask Lois. ‘How come you’re with Cam? What is happening?’ I am so disoriented.
‘Cam rang me as your next of kin to say you were leaving the villa. But I was already here at the airport because you had sent me the message,’ she says.
‘Anyway, we were waiting for you to leave the villa, but you never turned up. And the airline lost my luggage.’ She rolls her eyes and does that throwing up of her hands thing that I do too.
‘What message?’
‘The message. The one we planned before you left.’
‘I have no idea what you mean.’
‘You sent me the Chris Martin message.’ Lois is frowning at me. ‘You said in episode three, “If you never know, you’ll never try,” which was clearly code.’
‘Code for what? It doesn’t even make sense. It should be the other way round.’
Cam catches my eye in the mirror. I can’t tell whether he thinks we are both insane, or whether it is just my sister that he thinks has lost the plot.
I throw him a weak smile and try to get to the bottom of why Lois has flown six thousand miles across the planet because she thinks I am incapable of toughing something out.
‘The code that you need me to come and’ – she lowers her voice – ‘fix you.’
It’s no use. I start howling with laughter. ‘Oh, my word. Lois, you are such a bad liar. You have always wanted to come to Mexico, and you have been desperate to go on Love on the Island since the show started! Please don’t use me as an excuse.’
Lois is the picture of guilt.
‘Okay. I really wanted a holiday. But honestly, I do think you need rescuing from yourself because I am not kidding you, sis, that whole “up your bum” thing still has me roaring with laughter. Poor Tyrone pranged his car on a lamp post, he was so busy laughing. Three days it took for him to eventually stop. You’re an actual meme and you’re trending on TikTok. ’
Cam snorts with laughter. ‘Sorry. I’m not laughing. I just got some… dust up my nose.’
I tut loudly. He’s not the worst liar in the car.
‘I appreciate you’ve come all this way but,’ I say sadly, ‘I can’t leave the show yet. Porscha has threatened to…’ I stop talking, unsure I should be revealing this to Cam.
‘Porscha who?’
‘The TV boss lady. The really evil boss lady pulling all of the strings.’
‘What has she threatened to do?’ Lois asks, shuffling closer and taking my hand. ‘Is she bullying you?’
I avoid making eye contact with Cam in the mirror.
‘No. I mean, yes. Kind of. But it’s complicated.’
‘Just leave. You’ve been on the show. You’ve fulfilled the contract criteria. Tyrone has been over it at work and all the lawyers say you can leave now without any repercussions.’
My sister’s face softens at the mention of Tyrone. ‘Ah, tell him thanks,’ I say. ‘I miss him. I bet he’s so jealous you flew out here without him.’
Lois grins. ‘He’s here! He’s at the hotel.
We’ve brought our engagement holiday forward.
As in we’ve put it on the credit card. And those bastards in children’s ICU owe me so many holidays, it’s a joke.
So, we’ll drop you at the villa, pack your stuff up and we’ll get you out of there.
We’ll stay on for two weeks and have a lovely holiday together! ’
‘I wish I could, but it’s not that simple.’
‘It is. Just stand up to this Porscha person. It’s about time you learned to stick up for yourself.’
‘I know. You’re right,’ I say in hushed tones. ‘But I… can’t. I have to go back and finish the show.’
Lois looks confused and leans over to Cam. ‘I thought you said Libby was desperate to leave?’
‘Porscha’s blackmailing you, isn’t she?’ says Cam, his voice flat. ‘It’s about me. She’s forcing you to stay and is using me as bait.’
I nod. ‘Sorry. She said she’d bad-mouth you to everyone in the industry and you’d never work in TV again. She also said she’d edit me to look really bad, and I’d never get another teaching job.’
‘Oh my God. What a nasty bitch.’ Lois turns to me. ‘Give me your boiler suit and your hairband. And your muddy boots.’
‘You can’t be serious.’
She practically yanks the suit from my body. ‘Hell, yeah, I am. I came all this way to make sure you are okay. I’m not going to let her get away with this.’ Lois has steam coming out of her ears. ‘I’ll go in there and give her a piece of my mind. Your mind. I’ll give her a piece of our mind.’
‘How did you get to be so fiery? Anyway, it won’t work. She’ll still sack Cam and she’ll turn whole nations against me, and we’ll both lose out.’
‘Not if we get a proper plan together,’ says Cam. ‘I’m not a producer for nothing. Being creative with the truth is what I do.’
‘We have approximately three minutes,’ I say. ‘There’s no time to come up with a plan.’
‘Okay. How about this?’ Lois says to Cam, wiping some mud onto her cheeks and hair. ‘I swap with Libby for one night to buy you and her some time to figure all this out?’
‘That is a terrible idea,’ I say.
Oh, how the tables have turned.
‘Cam, will I get to meet Destiny?’ Lois says, ignoring me completely. ‘Is she as awesome as she comes across on-screen? Is she really that orange in real life?’
‘Lois, you can’t pretend to be me just to go on the show.’
We all take a beat to let the irony sink in.
‘Libby, let me do this. I swear nobody will notice.’
‘I suppose it would be good to have the night to think about what to do,’ I say, looking at Cam. ‘What do you think?’
It appears Cam doesn’t need to think twice about it.
‘Hide under that blanket while I drop Lois off with the others,’ he tells me. ‘I can see them just up ahead. When all the trucks pull up outside the villa, Lois, you jump out.’
‘Don’t worry, sis. I’ve got this. Cam has told me about the blind spot and the secret meetings.’ She waggles her eyebrows at me. ‘Cam, meet me tomorrow morning. Oh, my God. I’m so excited. I’m going to be on telly!’
‘That was such a fast emotional turnaround even for you, Lois. Rage to excitement in less than a minute.’
‘It’s my trauma training. Nurses learn to move on quickly. I never dwell on the past.’
Within minutes, we have pulled up outside the villa. I am safely hidden on the back seat of the jeep with a bag on top of me. I whisper to Lois, ‘On a scale of one to ten how nervous are you?’
‘About fifty-three.’ She giggles. ‘But I can’t wait! See you soon. Give my love to Ty!’ She slams the car door shut. A few seconds later, I hear Amber and Mimi yelling my name and, as I hear Lois yelling back to them, it all seems so surreal. The voices fade and Cam drives away.
After a short while, the jeep pulls over to a stop. ‘The coast is clear. You can come out now. The hotel is in the opposite direction of the production village so we should be good.’
I climb into the front seat. Cam looks at me with those kind eyes of his.
‘Thank you. Thank you for trying to protect me, Libby. I really appreciate it. But honestly, you don’t have to.
Porscha can do what she likes. I’m not threatened by her.
I have a solid reputation as one of the good guys in this biz. Whereas she doesn’t.’
‘Oh. Right.’
‘The only thing that does bother me is that she could hurt your career… and you.’
‘Oh. Right.’ My face is on fire. My cheeks are burning again. He could fry an egg on them.
‘Listen,’ he says, looking down at his hands on the steering wheel. ‘I know I said that I wasn’t ready for anything. But… I’ve fallen for you.’
‘Oh.’ And there goes that invisible force pulling me towards him.
Where are my words? Where? Where?
‘I’ve never met anyone who makes me feel so…
I just want to spend every minute of every single day with you.
’ He dares to look at me. ‘I’m so excited when I’m around you.
’ He twists in his seat and gently cups my face.
He looks lovingly into my eyes. ‘I just feel like anything’s possible.
I don’t care that we have an ocean between us. ’
I can feel myself welling up. Tears are about to spill. I am so full of joy that I am going to burst.
‘But I’d need to take things real slow.’ He looks shyly at me.
He’s so cute. Incredibly cool and handsome but also so, so cute. How is that even possible?
‘Slowly,’ I say.
‘Sorry?’
Oh, look. I’ve found my words. ‘It should be “take things slowly”. It’s an adverb.’
He raises his hand to smother a laugh.
‘Sorry,’ I say. ‘I don’t know why I do that. It’s like a compulsive disorder.’
Why am I actively putting him off me? It’s the gluten all over again.
‘Oh, man. Am I going to regret this?’ Cam asks, his head flopping onto the steering wheel. I can see he is dying to laugh.
‘Yes,’ I confirm. ‘Yes, you probably will. In fact, I’m certain of it.’
Cam revs up the jeep and we head off to meet Tyrone at the hotel. ‘I like you, Libby. I like you a lot. You make me laugh so much. I haven’t been happy for so long. It kinda feels like… like you were sent to me.’
‘Like we were meant to meet at this moment in our lives?’
He nods. ‘Pretty much.’
‘Perhaps you felt you’d lost something that was irreplaceable but now…’
‘Are you Coldplaying me?’
‘Yes. Sorry.’
‘Okay. How insane are you exactly?’
‘Insane enough. Let’s just leave it at that.’
He puts his hand over mine and pulls a reassuring cross-eyed crazy face. ‘Fine by me.’
I. AM. FLOATING. ON. AIR.