Epilogue
The following summer
Luke knew he was driving Grace mad but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. He was so stupidly, unbelievably, uncontrollably … shitting himself.
‘God, Dad, I swear if you ask me one more time if this is going to work, I’ll clock you one.’
He grimaced. ‘Yeah, that might not be a good idea, what with this being quite a public thing I’m about to do.’
They were stood in the centre of quadrangle, the garden area that was surrounded on all four sides by the flats. Luke looked up towards his flat and wondered whether this really was such a great idea after all. Not the plan itself, that was a no-brainer. It was the execution he was getting angsty about.
His phone buzzed with the call he’d been expecting and Luke jammed the thing to his ear.
‘We’re heading back.’ Freya’s voice drifted through to him, along with a bucket-load of car engines and background chat. ‘She’s just gone to the loo so I’ve only got a few minutes.’
‘What time do you reckon you’ll be here?’
‘We’ve been through this.’
‘Humour me and go through it again.’
Freya let out a long, frustrated breath. ‘Fifteen minutes, if she doesn’t want to pop into any more shops.’
‘You’ve been shopping all bloody morning.’
‘Because you wanted us out of the way,’ Freya reminded him mildly. ‘I don’t think either of us really wanted to shop together, we hardly have the same tastes.’
‘Yeah, yeah, I know.’ But he’d been desperate to get Mia out of the way so they could rehearse what he’d planned. Getting Freya to ask Mia if she fancied going shopping had seemed the easiest way. He couldn’t say the pair of them were best buddies now, but they were a lot more comfortable with each other, which counted for a lot.
‘Thankfully we do have the same tastes in coffee houses, so that’s why we’re a little later than planned.’
‘Half an hour later,’ he grumbled, which caused Grace to sigh. ‘Okay, doesn’t matter, you’re on your way. That’s good.’ His throat began to tighten up. ‘It’s all good.’
The moment he ended the call, Sandy bound up to him, walkie-talkie in hand. ‘Are we set? Is the Eagle about to land?’
Grace giggled, and normal Luke (not the Luke who was currently shitting bricks) would have bust a gut laughing. But this Luke was too tense. ‘She’ll be here in fifteen.’
‘Okay, I’ll warn the troops.’
‘She’s kind of bonkers,’ Grace said, watching Sandy as she scurried off into Luke’s block. ‘I guess that’s why you’ve been mates for so long.’ She glanced over his shoulder and her face split into a grin. ‘Mia’s family have just arrived.’
‘Christ.’ All his nerve endings started to twitch. ‘What the hell was I thinking, inviting them along? If this goes tits up—’
‘Which it won’t,’ Grace interrupted. ‘So you can stop the meltdown and put a smile on your face.’
He glanced sideways at his now seventeen-year-old daughter. ‘When did you become the grown-up here?’
‘Since you fell in luuuuurve.’ Flicking him a smile, she started towards Mia’s parents, or more precisely towards little Jacob who was tottering between them; Elle, Dave and Caitlin bringing up the rear.
The next ten minutes was a chaotic whirl of greeting people. It wasn’t just Mia’s family he’d decided, in his wisdom, to mention today to. Phil and Janet were here, and Naomi and Stan, too.
‘Don’t worry,’ Naomi murmured, clearly sensing his jitters. ‘She’ll love it.’
He was about to express his thanks when Stan decided to add, ‘That’s one possibility. The other is, she’ll run away screaming.’ He shook his head. ‘You’ve got to be daft in the head to do it this way.’
Luke was desperate to tell Stan he was talking bollocks, but right now he couldn’t fault the man’s statement.
‘Nonsense. It’s romantic.’
Stan did a double-take at Naomi’s reply. ‘You like the idea of public humiliation?’
‘Christ.’ Luke really didn’t need to hear any more from Stan right now.
Naomi winked at him. ‘I’ll take this mood killer aside and put him straight.’ She reached up to kiss him on the cheek. ‘You relax and enjoy the moment.’
Enjoy. Yes, that’s exactly what he needed to do. And he would. Once it was over.
Mia glanced sideways at Freya as she gripped her arm.
‘Are you going to tell me why we’re in such a tearing hurry to get back to the flat?’
Freya shook her head. ‘We’re not. I just told Luke I’d have you back by one o’clock, and it’s already quarter past. I don’t want to get into trouble.’
Mia laughed. ‘Because he’s soooo scary.’
Freya’s lips twitched. ‘There’s always a first time.’
If someone had told her last year that she’d be sharing jokes with Freya, spending time with her, just the pair of them, Mia would have asked them what they were smoking. But somehow, against the odds, they’d managed to find a way to get on. Mia knew it had helped that she’d kept Freya’s secret and never told Luke how she’d tried to meddle. In one drunken moment Freya had even admitted it had started before the messages, when she’d first heard her voice outside Luke’s flat. And deliberately chosen to take Grace’s key and walk in on them the following morning.
Freya looked again at her watch. And increased the pace as they threaded their way through the car park. When Mia turned towards the stairs, Freya shook her head. ‘I said we’d meet Luke in the quadrangle.’
Odd, but okay. Maybe he was soaking up some sun before his long Saturday shift.
Yet when they stepped into the quadrangle, the oddness went up a few levels. Stan, Naomi? Phil? And oh my God, what were her parents doing here?
That’s when Luke walked into view. Luke of the dazzling eyes, the Greek god-like body, and the … whoa. ‘Is everything alright?’ Her heart began to race as she stared at him. ‘You’re looking green.’
‘Everything…’ He coughed, drew in a breath and started again. ‘Everything’s fine.’ Then he swallowed and reached for her hand.
Now her heart was having a proper thump. ‘What are my family doing here?’
‘Celebrating.’ He swallowed again and gave her a weak smile. ‘Hopefully.’
Okay, that sounded better. ‘Celebrating what?’
He looked towards Sandy, who gave him the thumbs up and spoke into her walkie-talkie. ‘It’s a go.’
‘What’s a go?’ Confused, Mia glanced around, only to find nobody was looking at her. They were all focused on the windows in Luke’s block.
She angled her head up to see what all the fuss was about and the bottom fell out of her stomach.
There, across Freya and Luke’s flats, letters appeared one at a time in each of the windows, quickly spelling out:
W I L L U M A R R Y M E ?