Page 59 of One Hot Summer

“I do.”

“Then, there you go. If you guys are happy, and if you’re perfect for each other, it would be stupid to end it. To be honest, I think you’d be great together.”

“I don’t want things to be awkward though. I mean, you and he… Would it be weird for you? For Zack, if we all went out together?”

“It’s all history. I promise. Besides… Oh, hello you. You finally came to say hello.” I stroked Bing’s head. He was chuntering under his breath, which was his way of saying, “Where the hell have you been?” “We need to get your stuff together and compensate Aunty Sarah for her condemned kitchen sink.”

Bing jumped up on the couch and sniffed at my fingers, before stepping on me and rubbing himself on my black T-shirt, leaving a trail of white hair.

“When are you seeing Dan next then?” I asked Sarah.

“I’ll text him in a bit. I think he’s expecting me to call it off, so it’ll hopefully be a nice surprise when I say otherwise. Are you sure it’s going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure. I promise. I’m so glad you’ve found someone decent. Before I went away, you seemed happier. I thought it was because you were getting rid of me for a while, but I guess there was another reason.”

“I haven’t felt this happy in ages. When he texts me, I get all giddy. Just like you did when Zack would message you in the early days. And, that day you found us, that was the first time we’d… you know.”

“Oh, I was witness to a milestone!” I laughed. “I’m glad I can be a part of that memory. You opted to avoid the waterbed then?”

“Jenny, honestly, if this is going to be weird, I will end things with him.”

“You’re not going to end things with him. You’re going to need him around in about twelve months’ time.”

“Why’s that?”

“You’ll need a date. Oh, didn’t I tell you?”

“Tell me what?”

“I can’t believe it slipped my mind.” With my left hand, I rubbed my forehead. “How could I forget to tell her? Bing, I think I’m losing my memory, forgetting something so huge.”

“Wait,” she said, as she glanced at my finger. “Is that a…?”

“Oh, this?” I held out my left hand, clearly displaying the most beautiful engagement ring in the history of jewellery. “Yeah, Zack gave it to me in exchange for promising to be his wife.”

“Ahhhh!” Our tea spilled all over her new couch as she launched herself at me, hugging me. Bing zoomed away in a panic. Sarah examined the ring as I told her everything that had happened on the night of the anniversary dinner.

I pulled a small bag from my pocket and handed it to Sarah, watching her pull out a handmade bracelet made of silver, encrusted with green gems. “Will you be my maid of honour?”

“Jenny,” her voice broke, “I would love to be your maid of honour.” We held each other tightly for what felt like ages, glad to be back in each other’s lives.

“I’m appointing myself chief wedding planner too. We have so much to plan!” Sarah bounced up from the couch, retrieving a notepad and pen from the kitchen. “We need wedding-dress shops, florists, venues, photographers… I’m pretty sure a few of my suppliers would offer me a discount, what with the amount of money they received from me for nothing in return, if you want me to call some of them? I can send you links to their webpages so you can see what you guys think.”

“Absolutely, thanks!” I was full of confidence in Sarah’s planning abilities. Once she was on a mission, there was no stopping her. “So, what else has been happening whilst I’ve been away?”

“So much, I don’t know where to start.” Sarah dropped the notepad in her lap, her expression suddenly looking less than enthusiastic. “Alessandro.”

“What about him? Is he still in touch?”

“Not anymore! It all kicked off. He kept texting and calling, which was great at first, but then he began to get a little bit possessive.”

“Really?” He had seemed so gentle and caring when we’d met him. “What did he do?”

“He kept hinting for me to go back out for a visit, which would have been so nice. I said someday I’d like to, but then he kept insisting. As though I could just pack up and hop on a plane and forget about work. It’s just so easy, right?” she said in an exaggerated Italian accent. “Then I was out with Dan one evening. My phone kept ringing. He was trying to video-call me!”

“Eek, not awkward at all. What did Dan say?”

“Well, I’d told him about you and I going to Rome. I was honest about it all. No point in pretending to be all innocent. We’re in our thirties, right? We have a past. He could see I was bothered though, so suggested I take the call, to get it over with.” She paused.

---