Chapter 45
Once their guests had gone, Lili and Dylan finished tidying up and then went to bed, looking forward to eating the leftovers on Boxing Day.
After kisses, caresses, gasps, laughs, and the promise of an early morning bracing walk they both knew they wouldn’t keep, eventually the pair of them fell asleep…
* * *
Lili and Em sit down on a large rock, up on a cliff edge.
They’d both bought new walking boots on moving to Cornwall and have spent many a weekend exploring coastal paths.
It’s August and the middle of a heatwave.
Lili takes out a flask and they both chug back squash before scoffing apple and custard pasties from Crystoffees.
They pack up and head downwards and into nearby woodland.
Em gasps as in a clearing ahead, basking in the sunlight, a beautiful oasis of water sparkles. She runs ahead and Lili follows but trips and falls. One of her laces has come undone. By the time she arrives, Em is nowhere to be seen. Oh no! Had she fallen in?
‘Em!’ Lili hollers.
Whoosh! Suddenly, Lili rises up, above the woods, into the sky, higher and higher until she’s surrounded by pure blue air.
Now she’s on a white fluffy cloud with two swings. She finds herself sitting on one and looks sideways. From the other, Em gazes back with her characteristic jaunty grin and colourful hair.
‘We had fun, didn’t we?’ says Lili, and she gestures down to Earth.
‘Sure did. The travelling. Nights out with friends. Bingeing box sets. Pursuing career dreams. Chasing hot guys.’ Em gives an impish grin. ‘Even arguing with family. We lived life to the full. Not bad for Myrtle Turtle and Lydia Bacteria.’
Lili stretches out her hand. ‘And we loved each other.’
Em’s face softens. She interlocks her fingers with Lili’s and nods.
‘Then that’s all that matters,’ declares Lili. ‘The rest is just ego and followers and likes.’
‘If you say so.’
The two friends look at each other, laugh, and hold the swing ropes again. They move their legs forwards and backwards, the swings going higher and higher, until the two friends’ whoops of joy brighten up the whole sky.
* * *
Lili wakes up, Dylan’s arms around her. A sense of peace envelopes her as well. She looks through the crack in the curtains, up at the starry night sky. A smile crosses her face.