Page 42 of One Hot Summer

Feeling quite nervous about the date, eek! I will tell you all about it when you get back from your holiday, I promise. Just need you to keep an open mind. xxx

An open mind? What could she mean?

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

One day to go. One final day to go. This time tomorrow, we would be on our merry way to beautiful, exotic Crete.

I’d allowed myself a bit of a pamper day today seeing as though I’ve been off work. I am now waxed everywhere I could possibly need to be. My legs have never been so smooth. The underarm wax was interesting and something I would prefer to never experience again. The bikini-line wax went a little further than usual, which was painful, but I don’t want to risk an awkward moment if I’m going to be around a twenty-something who will probably look perfect. Although I have made a deal with myself that I won’t think about that and make myself feel inadequate or insecure. I am feeling great and in absolute holiday mode. Nothing could bring me down today. Not the rain lashing down outside, not the empty fridge meaning there was nothing to eat, and not even the horrifying memory of flashing Fred everything I had to offer (pre-wax… even worse).

All of Bing’s things were ready. I’d bought a new bag of his favourite food and grabbed a few of his toys and favourite blanket so Sarah’s home could be a bit more comfortable for him. Although finding him is going to be an issue. Cleaning and packing up his litter box gave him a clue that he’d be going away somewhere, which was probably a mistake. I’d have to check under my pillow shortly. No doubt he’d be under there, moulting.

Zack wandered into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

“It’s empty,” I said.

“We don’t even have any milk for a drink,” he said with a sigh. “We’ll need a coffee in the morning before we go. And a breakfast of some sort. We need to set off at five o’clock.”

“Say what, now?” I stopped in my tracks.

“We need to set off at five o’clock.” He looked at me as though I should have been aware of this traumatic news. “The flight is at eight, it takes roughly forty-five minutes to get to the airport. I doubt there’ll be traffic at that time, but I need to check my car into their car park as soon as we get there. We’ll want to be setting off at five, if not even earlier.”

“I thought the flight was at eight in the evening?”

“We looked at a few flights, didn’t we?” Did we? “And we decided to go with the earlier one so we’d have more time in Crete.” I vaguely recalled a conversation about flights, but I didn’t remember agreeing to such a demonic time. Zack pulled out his phone and started scrolling through his emails for the booking confirmation. “Here, see?”

He passed me his phone, so I could look at the flight details on his email. Sure enough, we had booked the eight o’clock flight in the morning. Dammit. Day one of my holiday and I’d be up before the birds. I started calculating. I’d planned on a morning shower, but if we’d be leaving here at five, I’d need to get up at four. Actually, no, half three. Half three? Who gets up at half three? We may as well not be going to bed at all.

I started counting the time on my fingers, but could feel myself flapping. Panicking. I’d planned it all out, but now I couldn’t decide what to do. What would I do about taking Bing over to Sarah’s? We’d planned to do it this evening, but if I had to go to bed early…

“Are you all right?” Zack stared at me.

“I’m just trying to work things out, don’t you worry. Silly girly preparation stuff.”

“Okay, well, you ponder over girly stuff. I’m going to pop to the shop for a pint of milk and grab us a pizza for tea. Unless you want to order a takeaway tonight?”

Hmm, a takeaway tonight meant a potentially irritable bowel situation on the plane tomorrow. All this last-minute panic was flipping my stomach already.

“Just grab a pizza from the shop, that’ll do.” Probably the safest option.

He kissed me then grabbed his keys and said he wouldn’t be long.

I decided that I would shower before going to bed, so I could get up a bit later in the morning. It just meant I would need to take Bing over to Sarah’s a little earlier than planned. I checked the time. She would be at work, but I could just take him over now. I had a spare key for emergencies, and I knew she wouldn’t mind.

I tried to call her, but there was no answer. I wandered around the kitchen and tried again. Still no answer. I decided to send her a message and then leave, even if I hadn’t heard back from her.

Hey! Change of plan. I’ll explain later but I’m going to have to bring Bing over now. I’ll leave him in your kitchen with food and water, and I’ll set up his litter box. Really hope he isn’t any trouble for you! Ciaooo Xx

I quickly got dressed and made sure all of Bing’s things were in my car. All that was left to do now was grab the escape artist. I made sure my arms and legs were covered to protect myself from his claws.

“Oh Biiiiing. Bingy Bing.” I crept around the hall and poked my head into the lounge. Nothing. I slowly went up the stairs and into the bedroom, seeing a lump under my pillow. “Come on, Bing, come on.” Nothing. I pulled out the secret weapon. “Dreamies.” I gave the bag a little shake. Like a genie at the rub of a lamp, Bing appeared from under my pillow to drop next to my feet, ears pointing up and tail fluffed. I held out my hand, revealing two of his tasty treats. But Bing was not so dumb.

I stepped back with the Dreamies still in my hand, trying to tempt him my way, but he stayed put. He blinked, whiskers flared, and slowly turned around so his back was facing me. I didn’t have time to mess about. I put the treats in my pocket and lunged forward, grabbing him and risking certain death by a thousand scratches by quickly shoving him in the carrier which I had relocated to the landing.

“There we go,” I said, as he growled at me from his prison. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

My car rolled down Sarah’s driveway at just after twelve. I smiled at her house, admiring how far my friend had come this year. From being so broken thanks to Max the Wanker, she was now a born-again independent woman. And my friend was finally back on the dating scene and had even found someone she liked. I couldn’t wait to hear all about it.

Bing grumbled from the back seat.

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