Chapter Thirty-Three
Thirty-Three
‘Oliver? It’s Sara.’
‘Sara! To what do I owe the pleasure? Not another Norwegian crisis I hope?’
‘More of a personal crisis, this time.’
‘I’m listening.’
‘It was something you said when we had the wrap-up call with the Nilsens and I thought it was worth a conversation. Were you serious about opening a satellite office in London?’
‘Completely. Why? Would you be interested?’
‘CSH are making redundancies and I’ve been offered the option to take a package, which I’m considering. To be honest it’s made me stop to think about what I want the rest of my life to look like, so I might be open to having a conversation.’
‘My firm is tiny compared to CSH, so I couldn’t offer anywhere near the kind of money they’d be paying you.’
‘As I said, they’re offering me a package, so money isn’t my main motivator here. I’m looking for an interesting next move.’
‘OK, well why don’t I send you some more information on what I’ve got planned, and we can have another chat from there?’
*
The door buzzed and the postman called up. ‘One to sign for.’
Weird. I hadn’t had a registered delivery since Mark had sent the decree nisi to kick off the divorce.
Normally everything went to work – because I was never in to sign for anything.
I ran downstairs and scribbled for the brown envelope with the gold handwriting, knowing what it was straight away.
I’d seen Greta and Jonas working away on them at the farmhouse, cutting and gluing and stuffing and sticking each one.
It was a wedding invitation, and I held it to my heart all the way back upstairs, giddy with excitement.
I didn’t want to rip it open straight away. I wanted to savour the moment.
‘Abs!’ I hissed, through the bathroom door.
‘Two more minutes – I’m almost done,’ she shouted, her voice echoing off the tiles.
‘I’ve finally heard from him. From Henrik.’
She cracked the door and one of her eyes looked at me and then at the envelope.
‘What is it?’
‘An invitation.’
‘Looks like a special one!’ she sang, eyeing the gold lettering. ‘Is it from the palace?’
‘Better. A wedding,’ I said, eyes shining. ‘The wedding.’
‘At Firefly Forest?’
I nodded.
‘Why the hell are you waggling it around then? Open it!’ she screamed, slinking out of the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
We ran into the kitchen, and I slit the top open with a knife, like Dad did with all his letters, the pair of us saving the world together, one envelope at a time.
Although this was a special one. I was going to keep this brown envelope forever.
Even if nothing ever happened between me and Henrik – nothing else – it still felt like the most romantic thing that had ever happened to me.
The invite was four big leaves pressed together and sprayed with glue, and I felt like a princess in a fairy tale as I read the words out loud.
‘Ahem. To the fabulous: Ms Sara Pearson – that’s me.’
‘Obvs.’
‘We would love you to join us at our winter wonderland wedding on Saturday 5th December. Dress code: Nymphs and Centaurs. Midday till midnight.’
‘Amazing. Who doesn’t love a fancy-dress wedding? Is it from Henrik? Or Greta?’
‘Not sure,’ I said, pulling out the rest of the bumf. Directions, gift list, RSVP postcard, dried petals… and a flash of bright white that didn’t belong in there. An alien piece of paper folded up at the back. My heart was in my mouth as I opened it.
Hei, Sara,
It’s only been three days and I’m already missing you like crazy. (It’s Henrik, by the way.) Another snowstorm has hit, and our connection and Wi-Fi is now completely dead – no surprises there – so I thought snail mail might reach you as fast while we wait for the technician.
I want to invite you as my guest to Greta and Jonas’s wedding. They would love you to be there and more important – as important – I would love you to be there too. I want you on my arm and in every other way. I keep expecting to see you around and am disappointed daily when I remember you’ve gone.
I’m coming to London to collect your RSVP in person. I’ll be staying at The Soho Hotel on Saturday 31st October – would you join me there for dinner? Say, 8 p.m.? I’ll book us a table and hope to see you.
It’s a lot to ask you to come back again to Firefly Forest so soon for the wedding, I know. I wish I could send a helicopter, like we did for Emma Stone.
Looking forward to your answer.
Henrik x
‘Oh. My. Gadddd!’ Abi screamed, then hugged me. ‘This is so cool and romantic. I LOVE HIM ALREADY. A hot date and then a wedding on top!’
I was in shock. ‘He’s coming to London?’
‘To collect your RSVP,’ Abi said with a wink. ‘And the rest!’
‘Seems a bit much, doesn’t it?’
‘Bloody hell – make up your mind. You’ve been moaning that you hadn’t heard from him for two weeks!’
‘I don’t think I’m ready for a one-on-one date.’
‘What are you talking about? You’ve just spent a whole month with him!’
‘That was different. A date is serious.’
I hadn’t been on a date with anyone other than Mark for four years.
‘A date will be fun. This is his GRG Sara! His grand romantic gesture! I love that he’s coming over here to see you so soon – he’s obviously keen. Don’t put pressure on it – it’s just dinner with a hot guy.’
‘With a really hot guy! Argghhhhh!’
We both screamed.
‘It’s a good recap opportunity – then if the date is a disaster, or you don’t like each other in the cold hard light of London – you can decline the wedding invite and leave it at that.’
‘True.’
‘But if you do accept the invite, I’ll have to do your nymphy make-up.’
‘Yesssss!’
‘Via Zoom though, I’ll be back in LA.’
‘Zoom isn’t really an option with the dodgy Firefly signal.’
‘I’ll do you a get ready with me video then, as backup.
’ She laughed. ‘Get nymphy with me. Honestly, I wish we had a dodgy signal. Tony doesn’t get a second to himself.
We’re seriously considering splitting our time between LA and Italy to get some peace.
But onto more important stuff – what are you going to wear? ’
‘No idea. What does a nymph look like these days?’ I squealed in her ear. ‘Underwear as outerwear and a jacket?’
‘Erm… no. That doesn’t sound wedding appropriate. But actually… you could be in luck, my lucky duck.’
‘How so?’
‘My friend Benji did the wardrobe for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Globe over the summer. He might be able to pull me a favour.’
‘Really?’ I could feel tears in my eyes. I’d been unhappy for such a long time. It was overwhelming to suddenly have something so fabulous to look forward to. ‘That would be incredible, Abs. Thank you so much.’
‘Leave it with me,’ she said, nodding to herself. ‘And in the meantime, I’m ready to show you what I’ve been doing in your bathroom, so to speak.’
I did a happy little wiggle and ran after her, excited to see it.
Jimbo had done an amazing job on the rest of the flat, and the blues and purples had gone.
It was like Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs, with the walls in different shades of green.
He’d put up my floating shelves, which were now covered with floating plants, and added some colour and excitement to the white walls.
I’d spent a fortune on greenery and needed to keep it all alive for as long as possible.
Lil’ Will was doing well at least, enjoying his sunny spot by the window and starting to shoot up already.
‘Right, stand there. Let me do one last check,’ Abi said, disappearing behind the bathroom door.
She had paintbrushes sticking out of her ponytail and flecks of blue all over her dungarees.
She’d been working non-stop for three days, so whatever it was and whatever it looked like, I had to love it.
I mentally prepared myself. ‘OK, come in, come in!’
I walked in smiling, but my jaw dropped when I saw what she’d done.
Abi had painted all three walls as a forest glade.
The shower was running to add to the effect, and she’d worked the water into the design, so it looked like a waterfall.
The bath was on the edge of a thermal pool, and there were conifer trees on either side, dotted with tiny birds in different colours.
It was way beyond anything I’d been expecting.
‘Abi! This is so cool and beautiful! I don’t even know what to say. I thought it’d be a couple of crocodiles painted on the wall.’
She laughed. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence.’
‘I had no idea this is what you meant. I’ve seen your mural, and the one you did for your friend Holly, but that was a nursery; it wasn’t the adult collection.’
‘Sounds a bit dodge.’
I took a closer look. The birds were all different, each one full of intricate detail. A kingfisher, a hummingbird, a woodpecker. I spotted some brown animals snuffling in the trees. ‘Is it a family of deer?’
‘Kind of,’ she said, pointing at their wide snouts.
‘Reindeer. And then, wait for it…’ She pulled on the light cord, which had a dragonfly hanging off it, and the bathroom went dark.
Apart from the ceiling. Tiny flashes of green glowed on and off randomly, giving the illusion of something very familiar. ‘And… my creative vision is complete.’
‘Fireflies?’ I said, gazing up at them in wonder.
‘Yup. I did what I could, using the photos you shared in the group chat.’
‘It’s amazing.’
‘You can light your new candles and imagine yourself there.’
She turned the light back on, and the fireflies disappeared.
‘This is so incredibly thoughtful, Abs, thank you.’ I swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears that were forming.
She smiled. ‘I’m glad you like your place again – it’s my housewarming present.’
‘It might be time to get the boxes over from Mum and Dad’s,’ I said, looking around.
‘Yep,’ she said, giving me a hug. ‘Time to unpack. Me and Kat will help, you’re not on your own, you know. We’re so proud of you.’
‘Are you?’