Chapter 38
38
F leur picked up the kettle from the fancy stove top on top of Cassy’s range cooker in Cassy’s beautiful kitchen and poured hot water into two mugs where she’d already put teaspoons of hot chocolate. The microwave pinged with a jug of hot milk, she whisked it and added it to the mugs, stirred them vigorously, picked the pair of them up and took them into Cassy’s sitting room. Popping them down on the coffee table, she smiled at Cassy, who was sitting with her legs tucked up under her, a throw over her legs.
‘I think I need you to live here with me. You can serve me cosy drinks every night of the week.’ Cassy laughed. ‘How much do you charge for your services?’
‘I don’t think I could cope with your household. It was bad enough having one girl—I don’t know how you’ve coped with three boys. I really don’t.’
‘Yes, it’s manic at times, but I do love them, not when I have to wash their stinky football kits, though.’
Fleur nodded. Cassy’s boys were staying with their grandma, and her husband had a work event, so Fleur had gone over, and they’d had the house to themselves for the night. They’d had a takeaway salami pizza, shared a bottle of red wine, and chatted about everything under the sun. Fleur felt deliciously relaxed, wrapped in best-friend therapy, and a nice night off.
Cassy turned her phone screen around. ‘I’ve just been looking at the pictures of the hotel. I can’t believe we’re going.’
Fleur nodded. ‘I’m so pleased you’re coming.’
Cassy put her hands together and tapped them a few times. ‘I can’t believe I’ve wangled it. The boys go to their grandma's and ten days off work. Bliss is what it feels like is incoming.’
‘I know, it’s going to be amazing.’
Cassy picked up her mug of hot chocolate and sipped. ‘I really need it. I know I sound like a princess and I know it’s your wedding, but I need a break. I feel like I haven’t had any real time off for ages.’
‘I’m hearing you,’ Fleur replied with a nod and wide eyes.
‘Remember when we were in that café and you said I needed a holiday? Now, not only am I getting that, but I’m going to my best friend’s wedding on a tropical island. I mean, you can’t really make it up. Who would’ve thought this would be happening a couple of years ago?’
‘I know, right? You don’t need to tell me. Remember when I moved to Lovely? Now look at me.’ Fleur flicked her eyes upwards and chuckled.
Cassy smiled. ‘Madness. Lovely, gorgeous, happy madness.’
‘Something like that.’
Cassy leant back into the sofa. ‘So, we’re actually doing this. Heathrow to LA, then onto Hawaii, and then Maui. It sounds absolutely ridiculous when you say it out loud.’
Fleur grinned and curled her legs up beneath her. ‘I know. We sound like celebrities. Or like we’re off on some luxury honeymoon show swanning about first-class lounges with sunglasses on, pretending we’re not completely shattered from the flight.’
Cassy laughed. ‘Except, in reality, we’ll be sleep-deprived, dehydrated, and waddling through LAX in compression socks, looking like we’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards.’
‘Exactly. That’s the part no one talks about when they go on about jet-setting. They don’t mention the swollen ankles, the dodgy in-flight meals, or the sheer horror of having to navigate an airport after twelve hours of minimal sleep and maximum discomfort.’
Cassy shuddered. ‘Oh gosh, the airport. I can already feel the stress. The security faff, the repacking of liquids, the existential crisis at duty-free where I start questioning if I need a ￡200 bottle of perfume because I’ve been in the air too long and have lost all sense of reality.’
‘Ahh, it will be worth it when we get there.’
‘Yup. I am kicking back for tropical time.’ Cassy sighed happily. ‘It’s all going to look so beautiful, isn’t it? The wedding bit, I mean…’
‘I hope so. The ceremony on the beach, lanterns along the sand, the sun setting behind us, waves rolling in, blue skies, tropical flowers. What’s not to love?’
‘Oh, stop, you’re going to make me cry.’ Cassy fanned her face.
Fleur laughed. ‘You’ll be a wreck on the day.’
‘I’m fully prepared to sob my way through the vows. I’ll be one of those guests, clutching a tissue, weeping into my champagne.’
‘Brilliant. That’s exactly what I want from you.’
‘Glad to be of service.’
Fleur took a sip of her drink and sighed. ‘It’s actually happening.’
Cassy nodded. ‘It really is. I cannot wait now everything is booked.’
‘Same.’
‘The hotel is going to be amazing. It looks incredible in the photos. That open-air reception, the tropical flowers, the infinity pool that literally looks like it melts into the ocean. I may never come home. I might just conveniently miss my flight back and spend the rest of my life drinking Mai Tais by the pool.’
‘Tempting. We’d never have to deliver a training course in a grotty business centre again.’
Cassy stretched her legs out. ‘Champo, I’m really proud of you, you know. This is huge and you deserve every single second of it.’
Fleur felt a lump rise in her throat. ‘Nah, don’t be silly.’
Cassy clinked her mug against Fleur’s. ‘To Maui, to your wedding, and to my best friend doing all the fabulous things. Here for you, Champo.’
Fleur smiled. ‘To all of it.’
Fleur felt a swirl of happiness in her stomach. For the first time in a long time, a long, long, long time, through ups, downs and roundabouts, everything felt exactly as it should be. She wasn’t going to argue with that.