Chapter 11
‘Nice hat,’ she says, tugging the brim of Tilly’s sun hat.
‘It wouldn’t fit in my bag.’
‘It might not fit on the plane. Or on Bali, come to think of it. You do know it’s only a small island?’
‘Yeah, sorry you’re actually taking a different flight,’ Tilly teases. ‘I’ve chartered my own plane to accommodate me and my hat.’
‘Nooo. At least tell me you upgraded me to first class.’
Tilly adjusts the hat slightly on her head and in a more serious voice adds, ‘Joe liked this hat.’
At the feel of his name in her mouth her stomach tightens. Is she really about to do this? Is she really going to go on their honeymoon without him? If Harper notices the shift in Tilly’s mood she doesn’t mention it. Instead she wraps an arm around her shoulders and squeezes her.
‘We’ll drop our suitcases and then go get a cocktail. Let’s start this trip the way we mean to go on.’
As they sip cosmopolitans in the airport bar, Tilly quickly checks her email while Harper scrolls through photos of the resort on their Instagram page.
‘Ooh, look, they do yoga lessons on the beach!’ she says, showing Tilly a photo of yoga mats stretched out on white sand beneath a peach sunrise, and toned-looking people contorting their bodies into intimidatingly adventurous shapes.
‘That might be more your thing than mine. You know how bad my flexibility is.’
‘Don’t be so boring, you have to do yoga in Bali. And maybe you’d get more flexible if you … Oh, I don’t know … did some yoga?’
As Harper continues to scroll through the feed of images Tilly spots a new email thread in her inbox.
From: esmerelda@
To: matilda.nightingale@; rachelhardingwrites@
Subject: An idea
What do you think about trying to write the memoir in rhyme? Internet poets are soo hot on socials right now.
*
From: rachelhardingwrites@
To: matilda.nightingale@
Subject: Hell no
Poets might be hot
But your idea is, frankly, NOT
Plus there’s not a word out there
That rhymes with Esmerelda
R xx
Tilly chokes on her cosmopolitan.
‘Are you OK?’ says Harper as Tilly wipes her mouth with a paper napkin.
‘I’m fine, just work.’ She bites down on her bottom lip to contain her smile as she types a quick reply.
From: matilda.nightingale@
To: rachelhardingwrites@
Subject: Re: Hell no
I can’t believe you came up with that masterpiece so quickly. Maybe this idea does have legs after all …
How did your meeting go with her today, by the way? It was your first information-gathering interview, wasn’t it?
The reply comes in quickly.
It was … interesting. When E eventually turned up. She was 45 minutes late. Then there was lots of chat about her celebrity ‘friends’ that we probably won’t be able to include for libel reasons.
But I’ve worked with plenty of Esmereldas. It will be fine! R xx
Tilly’s thumbs dart across the phone’s screen.
I’m sorry she kept you waiting. I’m actually going to be away for ten days now but do message Sade if there are any problems.
*
I hope you’re going somewhere nice. No one deserves a holiday more than you. R xxx
‘OK, time’s up!’ Harper says, plucking Tilly’s phone from her hand. ‘The holiday officially starts now. No more work. Only fun.’
‘OK, OK, no more work.’ Tilly sets her out of office notice and makes a show of putting her phone away in her bag.
It hits her how lucky she is to be here, on her way to a beach resort thanks to Joe.
He wanted her to relax on this trip and she owes it to him to try her hardest to make that happen.
Only fun, Harper said. Maybe for this trip at least, Tilly can stop being Harper’s boring, grieving big sister and actually let her hair down.
‘Do you think we’ve got time for one more cocktail?’
Harper grins in reply. ‘Definitely.’ She goes to stand but Tilly waves her back into her chair.
‘No, I’ll get these. Same again?’
When she returns to the table a few moments later Harper is typing rapidly on her phone, a slight frown on her face.
‘Everything OK?’ Tilly asks as she puts the drinks down on the table.
‘Just texting Raj to let him know we’re nearly setting off.’
‘Is he all right? I haven’t seen him for a while.’
There’s a moment’s pause before Harper replies. ‘He’s fine.’ Her eyes flick to the information screen. ‘Our gate is up! Come on, let’s go!’ She necks her drink in one gulp, placing the empty glass firmly on the table and grabbing her backpack, neck pillow and eye mask swinging.
‘Coming, Tils?’
Tilly takes a breath and lifts her own cocktail to her mouth, tipping her head back in a swift motion.
Her throat burns and she fights back a cough, heat spreading to her stomach.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she puts down the empty glass.
She adjusts the brim of her obnoxiously large hat, trying to imagine what Joe would say.
You’ve got this, Mouse. Now go have an amazing time.
‘Bali, here we come.’