Chapter 31 #2
Oh, wow. Considering what he went through with his cheating ex, this is a huge deal. It can’t be easy to trust someone after something like that. Finding out they are cheating a week before your wedding. I’m amazed it hasn’t put him off women and weddings for life.
‘I’ll make it up to you,’ I say, my heart skipping a beat.
He studies me for a second, a kind smile tugging at his lips. ‘You already have.’
‘What’s the not great news?’ I ask.
He half laughs. ‘It can wait. See you soon.’
BEEP. Jorge is on the minibus. He has started the engine. ‘I go now. Not later. Now. Vamos.’
I click off the call, my heart much lighter.
As we throw our suitcases onto the bus in a somewhat violent frenzy, I hurriedly say goodbye to Nacho.
He has an amused grin on his face. I suppose at the very least, there’s never a dull moment when the Dollz are in town.
We line up to kiss him on the cheeks as they all hand back their villa keys.
‘Someone was sick on the bathroom mat, but it’ll definitely come out,’ Tash tells him.
‘Someone also burned a tiny hole on the sunbed mattress with a cigarette, but it wasn’t me,’ says Cherry, kissing him on the cheek.
‘Someone has left brown stains on the kitchen bench and brown footprints on the fake grass. They were already there when we arrived but don’t worry, it didn’t bother us. You can hardly notice. The place is lovely. We’ll five-star it on Tripadvisor,’ says Liam.
Good God.
‘See you soon,’ Nacho says, unsuccessfully trying to mask a worried look. ‘Have a great time in Las Vegas.’
He waves us off as the minibus hurtles down the street.
We are now very late for our flight. Everyone is quiet.
Cherry’s immaculate make-up has run down her cheeks with all the hoo-hah over her baby daddy.
We are all wearing the wrong outfits. They are ill-fitting and stained.
We look uncomfortable and dishevelled. I’m not sure we’ll have time to swap clothes.
We’ll have to do it on the plane somehow.
Cherry is blaming her pregnancy brain for the costume mix-up, which is a bit of a relief for now, but I will have to come clean at some point that it was Ged and Liam, who are looking dangerously jaundiced.
I’ll be surprised if they’ll be allowed to fly.
At least Big Mand and Big Sue are sitting together.
Tash is sitting on her own. She has still not told Sister Kevin, banished to the front next to Jorge, what he has done wrong.
She must be hoping that he will read her mind and telepathically ascertain what he has to do to make amends.
Liberty is the only one who looks half decent. But she has the hump with me about Luke and is the first to break the lovely silence.
‘So, Connie!’ she yells down the bus. ‘What exactly happened between you and Luke last night? What was so important that you felt the need to keep it a secret from us? It looked like you were almost kissing on stage. Call me old-fashioned, but aren’t you supposed to be avoiding him?
You did say he was a stalker weirdo. Or has that changed now? ’
She makes it sound like I’m hiding something, even though she was the one who bloody invited him here.
But I’d rather not think about it right now.
I just want to get to Las Vegas and put this whole week behind me.
Including Luke, and the fact that right after that photo of us on stage was taken by Dan, he kissed me.
In front of the whole crowd at Voices. I was mortified.
I twist my body to look out of the window. We are passing by signs for the historic Alicante castle and the jumbo sex hypermarket, meaning we are almost at the airport.
‘Fine,’ Liberty huffs. ‘Have it your own way. But just so you know, I’m finding seeing images of the two of you together very triggering.’
* * *
Ten minutes later, we have arrived at the airport looking like the Poundland version of the cast of Barbie.
Everyone looks like they’re masking a lot of trauma.
Tempers are fraying as we drag our luggage to the check-in desk.
I have my work cut out for me on this flight.
I have thirteen hours to turn it all around so that we arrive happy, presentable and ready to party hard, work hard and romance even harder. If anyone can do this, I can.
While we are queuing, Ged sidles up to me. ‘Can you please try to speak to Big Sue and Big Mand for us?’ he whispers. ‘We’re gutted we upset them. It was a genuine mistake.’
He has dark circles under his eyes and a stress rash appearing on his yellow cheek. I give him a quick hug. ‘Of course. I’ll do it straight away. As soon as we are on board.’
He brightens and shuffles back to Liam, who is near the front of the queue.
‘Connie,’ Tash hisses. ‘I need you to speak to Kev.’
Why me?
She looks drained, under all of the fake tan and the huge eyelashes. I really hope for her sake she isn’t pregnant. ‘I need you to convince him that having a baby is a great idea.’
She can’t be serious.
‘I’d ask Cherry, but she’s raging right now.
And I’d do it myself, but I’m not speaking to him.
And there’s no way I’m asking Libs. She’ll probably try and get off with him.
That girl has no boundaries.’ Tash shakes her head and gives me a desolate look.
‘And Big Mand and Big Sue have made their opinions very clear.’ She sighs resignedly.
‘So that just leaves you. You’re literally the last person I can ask. ’
I feel so special.
‘But given what Kev just said about Nacho, and being forced into fatherhood without his knowledge, hasn’t that put you off going ahead with the surprise pregnancy?
Unless… unless you’re…?’ My voice is barely audible.
Sister Kevin is standing only feet away, and even though he has his back to us, he is so tall his ears are probably picking up all conversations in a five-mile radius.
It’s a shame she has fallen out with him, because they make a very cute couple.
Apart from the fact that he is parenthood-averse and she wants to surprise him with a baby.
Tash shrugs. ‘I’m not sure. But is it too much to ask that someone is happy for me? Babes, you want me and Kev to be happy, don’t you?’
I nod back even though it is madness. ‘I’ll talk to him on the plane. No worries. But why don’t you lay the foundations for a reconciliation by at least talking to him while we check in? He has come all this way to be with you. He must really like you to want to spend his BIG birthday with you.’
Tash mulls over my pearls of wisdom and finally agrees to let Sister Kevin off the hook for now. I watch her sidle up to him and hug him from behind. Without turning, he reaches for her and sweeps her around to face him. Her eyes light up immediately.
Eventually, all of the bags are placed on the conveyor belt, weighed and tagged, and I am presented with a card reader to pay a massive surcharge for the extra luggage. I take out my credit card with a sweaty palm.
‘Don’t worry. We’ll give you it back once we have the full total,’ says Cherry kindly, her maternal streak making a brief appearance before she goes back to resting angry-beast face.
I try to smile. I’m really digging deep to stay calm, to keep a lid on the turbulent mess of excitement over seeing Matteo mixed with anxiety and responsibility swirling around in my stomach. They all need me to step up a notch. And I will. I will.
‘Fuck me!’ yells Liberty, spinning round to face us. ‘I’ve just seen Luke.’
‘Where?’ I say. This cannot be happening.
‘Over there. He just went through to passport control.’
Deep breaths.
Deep breaths.
He could simply be making his way back to England or Norway now that we have cleared up our misunderstandings. Kind of.
They all turn to stare at me.
‘I’m going to check the departure board for what flight he might be on,’ says Big Sue in an authoritative tone. Big Mand offers to go with her. We watch them race over to the boards at the far end of the concourse.
‘He’ll be going back home. I’m sure of it,’ I tell the group.
PING. It’s Big Sue texting. There are no scheduled departures for the UK or Norway today.
PING. It’s a message from Matteo telling me he has hired a bright pink limo to pick us up from the airport.
He will have it stocked with champagne for all the celebrating.
He is so kind and understanding. He is about to board his flight from LA to Vegas, and he can’t wait to see me.
He thinks the Barbie wig looked sexy. He signs off ‘Mr Window Seat’.
I clutch my phone to my chest, my heart thumping and my pulse racing. Everything will be fine just as soon as we are together.
Deep breaths.
Deep breaths.
Matteo is desperate to see me. He knows we have something very special. He also knows that I am very much a work in progress. I hope he clings to that when I turn up in Las Vegas with my two bridezillas, my broken Dollz… and my royal Norwegian sapiosexual stalker.
PING. Matteo has sent a screen grab of Luke kissing me. Actual lip-to-lip contact. Taken from Voices’ social media last night. His message is simple.
As soon as you land, we need to talk.