Page 97 of The Love Hack

‘It’s never too soon to learn,’ Nush said. ‘After all, you might have your own baby’s nappies to change soon, mightn’t he, Lucy?’

‘Steady on! Not for ages yet, if ever. One grandchild’s more than enough for my mum and dad to handle.’

Together, we carried the arch inside and set it up over the kitchen door. Eve offloaded a couple of carrier bags of clanking champagne bottles.

‘Where’s the cake?’ Nush asked. ‘Can we see?’

‘You can.’ I lifted the lid off a large white box. ‘But it won’t give you any clues.’

It was true – the icing was as smooth, white and even as the box itself. Only Amelie, our parents and I knew the colour of the layers of cake underneath.

‘It’s a girl,’ Eve said. ‘I just know it, and I’m never wrong.’

‘Well, you’ve got a fifty per cent chance of being right,’ Ross said. ‘I’m off. Hope you have a great time. Give Amelie my love.’

Soon, my flat was full of girls, just as it had been before my sister’s hen night. Gifts were piling up on the coffee table. Outsize sugar dummies were hung round all our necks. Miranda had brought a batch of her mum’s famous pakora. The air was full of chatter and laughter.

There were no spangles or tiaras this time, though – the most sparkly thing in the room was the diamond on Bryony’s finger, given to her the previous week by Charlie, the guy she’d snogged just before she ended things with Ross.

It was funny how things worked out, I thought. Here was I, the one who’d been single for the longest, with a boyfriend who was about to move in with me and who I was sure as it was possible to be was my forever person. There was Bryony, who’d taken the wrong course but was now as happy as any newly engaged woman could possibly be.

And there was Amelie, more radiant and beautiful than she’d been even on her wedding day, her silk dress stretched over the bump that was Amelie’s baby and my n— but that was still a surprise.

‘So have you even heard from Zack?’ Caitlin asked.

‘Well, obviously my lawyer contacted his lawyer.’ Amelie smiled, but I knew how much stress and heartache had gone into the back-and-forth over their divorce. At times, it had felt like only the excitement of her baby’s arrival growing closer and closer, and the need to stay strong and healthy, had stopped her falling apart completely.

‘Actually,’ Nush said, ‘he went round to Amelie’s parents’ place and begged her to forgive him and take him back, didn’t he, babe?’

‘He did,’ Amelie confirmed. ‘And once I’d finished laughing in his face, I told him no. But I was the bigger person – I said he can have contact with the baby once it’s old enough, and we can co-parent in a civilised fashion. Which wasn’t what he wanted, but it’s all he’s going to get.’

‘You’ll meet someone else,’ Bryony said. ‘Just wait and see.’

Amelie laughed. ‘You know what? I don’t care if I don’t. I’m done with men – as far as I’m concerned they can all go off and watch Andrew Tate on YouTube and wank themselves into an early grave.’

Apart from Ross, I thought.

‘Now,’ Amelie suggested, ‘maybe we should cut that cake.’

Everyone crowded round, their phones held up to capture the moment. Nush put a stack of plates and napkins ready. I found a breadknife in a drawer and handed it to Amelie, who raised it over the pristine white surface of the cake.

‘Wait!’ I said. ‘Stop. I forgot something.’

I grabbed my sister’s arm and hustled her through the crowd of her friends – who felt like my friends too, now – and into my bedroom.

‘What’s up, Luce? Has my lipstick gone wonky? If I look like shit in my Insta story I’ll be fuming.’

‘No, you’re all good. But we need these.’

I rummaged in my bedside table drawer. The envelope of letters from Kieren wasn’t there any more. I hadn’t burned them or anything dramatic like that, just chucked them in the recycling a couple of months before. They were irrelevant now – only a few pieces of paper that had once been important but now meant nothing.

I produced two small lengths of ribbon, one pink and one blue. ‘Here, to tie on the handle of the knife. For the photos.’

Amelie took them from me, gazing at them like they were the most precious thing she’d ever seen. ‘Luce, I… Thank you. Thank you for making all of this perfect for me.’

‘Don’t be daft. It’s nothing.’

‘It is. It’s a lot. You being here – knowing you’ll always be here – it’s everything.’

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