Page 43 of The Happiness Project

Zoe and I look at each other then, without a word, both of us dive in and tickle Patty relentlessly until she begs us to stop.

‘My ribs hurt,’ she yells through laughter. ‘My feet, my ribs — is there no part of this body that has not been ravaged today? There’s nothing left for Jack.’

At that moment, the bar owner comes over, tells us she’s been following our day online and asks for a selfie with the bar sign in it. Patty readily agrees and stands up to have the picture taken. The owner offers us a free drink but I thank him and say no — I’d much rather pay my way with small businesses and anyway we have to head home.

Zoe drops us off and once back I instantly head for the bedroom to change into pyjamas then into the kitchen to make some camomile tea. I’m surprised to see that Patty has changed too.

‘I thought you’d be keeping Poppy on for your call with Jack,’ I say.

‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ she says. ‘I can’t keep up with her. I’ve locked her in the back of the wardrobe so she can’t cast her silky spell on my man. He’s getting the jammies and cocoa version of me tonight.’

‘I like that version,’ I tell her, then wish her goodnight. It’s been a grand day out but even I’m glad to hear Poppy is back in captivity.

Chapter Twenty-Two: The In Crowd

‘The Vienna holiday is selling itself,’ says Charlie later the following week as he’s checking our performance to date. I stand behind him as he looks at the booking summary; he’s right, the trip is pretty full.

‘I have a golf club dinner tonight and was hoping to drum up some interest there,’ I tell him. ‘Can you keep a couple of spaces open? I’m there primarily to talk about golfing holidays but I’d like to showcase the range of the Mercury Travel Club too.’

He agrees to keep a couple of the email enquiries on hold until the morning and to tell anyone coming in off the street that it’s at capacity but we’re creating a waiting list just in case of cancellations.

‘I have to be honest and say that I wasn’t sure a dance-based trip would have particularly wide appeal,’ he tells me. ‘But after watching all the social media coverage of your weekend, everyone wants to dance like the lady in red — me included if that Felipe is leading.’

‘I’m going to tell Peter you said that,’ I say, smiling. ‘Your fiancé.’

‘God, how I love hearing that word, but he won’t mind. He loves me and both my left feet.’

‘Which I bet haven’t touched the ground all weekend,’ Josie chips in. ‘Did you make any decisions about the wedding?’

Charlie grins like a naughty schoolboy and tells us that he was trying to be professional but they’ve been talking about it non-stop.

‘The brochure you gave me for the honeymoon was gorgeous — an island in the sun and a glorious sunset as the day ends,’ he says dreamily. ‘And I think we’d like to do something a bit different to the normal registry office affair for the ceremony. Perhaps something glamorous or exotic.’

‘I wouldn’t expect anything less. So is that what you’d like? A wedding on an island?’

‘Maybe, but I’d like you both to be there so that might not be feasible.’

‘We can close the shop for a long weekend,’ I say. ‘Think of all the business it could drum up.’

‘Are you planning to pimp my wedding, Ms Shepherd?’ exclaims Charlie in mock horror.

‘Oh, you know me. I pimp my best friend, my mother’s bucket list and my new boyfriend’s golf buddies — I’m shameless.’ I know the word Josie will pick up on.

‘Boyfriend . . .’ she repeats. ‘So you’ve actually ditched Michael for David then?’

I tell her that you can’t ditch something that you haven’t actually started.

‘But David’s a go?’ she persists.

I give a little ‘maybe’ shrug and get a whoop in response.

‘Angie and David sitting in a tree — K.I.S.S.I.N.G.,’ sings Josie childishly.

Happily, a customer walks in and stops any further interrogations, so Charlie and I leave Josie holding the fort while we head out to the staff room and continue our assessment of how the year is going. We’re six weeks in and traditionally this period is peak booking time, so we should be doing well and happily we are. I write up our progress on the whiteboard.

‘Long haul has done tremendously well, so I think we should try and capitalise on that to capture more of the market in autumn,’ I say. ‘Perhaps another focus on safaris?’

‘Add in some culture and relaxation too,’ suggests Charlie. ‘Tigers and Taj Mahal, Zebras and Zanzibar — that kind of thing.’

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