Page 15 of Lily, Unwritten

“Of course. I miss you already,” Zack sighed. “I’d better go, all the security stuff takes ages.”

I kissed him on the lips once more for luck. “You’re amazing, and they know it, that’s why they picked you. Have a great first week. I love you.”

“I love you more.” He stroked my cheek, his touch tender. “Wedding plans when I get back, yeah?”

I watched him make his way through the security gate before I headed home, paying the extortionate car park fees on my way. It was Sunday afternoon, and I was on my own. It felt weird. Yet not along ago, it would have been my norm.

I messaged Zack’s mum, Lydia, to see if she wanted to come and peruse estate agent windows with me, which, of course, she did. I’d heard so many horror stories about mothers-in-law, but Lydia was fantastic! With five kids and four grandchildren, she managed to still look much younger than her fifty-eight years. Her dark eyes were like Zack’s, and although her brown hair may now be coloured, the whole family had a dark-haired, attractive theme going on.

I earned a lot more since I’d moved to Caddel & Boone, plus Zack’s salary was frankly ridiculous now, although he worked like crazy for every penny, so I knew we were lucky with the budget we had for our first house.

Lydia and I sat down in a local coffee shop with stacks of house booklets from all the estate agents in the town center.

“Let me see that ring again,” she said, her mouth beaming with pride. I held my hand out she stroked a finger over the diamond. “It’s beautiful. Mine was nothing like that, and then we pawned it when the kids were small, we needed the money,” she admitted with a regretful tone.

“Oh no. Maybe you should ask for a new one?” I suggested.

“Ahh, I’d rather get a new kitchen to be honest,” she giggled conspiratorially. “You’ve felt like part of the family since day one, but I’m glad it’s official now.” She patted my hand, her affection clear, before picking her coffee mug up and inhaling the scent of the bitter brew.

I spread all the house booklets out on the table. “Ugh, going to have to narrow these down to ones we want to view. Is it too much to ask to be close to the airport, both our jobs and a nice area?”

“Have you asked about buying your place from the landlord? That fits all those boxes, doesn’t it?”

My cheeks warmed up as I answered, I couldn’t help myself. “Erm, yeah, let’s just say Zack feels we need a lot more than two bedrooms.” Lydia raised an eyebrow at me and looked at my stomach. “No! No, no, no. Not yet,” I laughed. “He definitely has plans though.”

“Just him?”

“No, not just him but I feel like buying a house and planning a wedding is enough for now. Plus, with Zack’s new job, he’s going to be busy while he settles in.”

“I won’t start knitting just yet,” she replied as she cut a huge slice of Victoria Sponge cake in half for us to share. “Hannah mentioned the surprise trip for Zack’s thirtieth?”

I nodded enthusiastically as I reached for my half of the fresh cake. “Yes. I’m going to get my planning head on this week while he’s away. It will be brilliant if we can pull it off.”

“He’d love it. You know, with four daughters, I thought they’d be the soppy ones, but that award goes to Zack. He loves having his family around him. Feels like I’ve got five daughters now anyway.” Her eyes shone with fondness as she spoke.

“See, it’s you he gets it from,” I grinned. “Thanks, Lydia, I couldn’t have imagined a nicer family to be marrying into.”

“Do you know what sort of wedding you want?” she asked. “By the way, this cake is not as good as yours.”

“No, I’ve never thought about it,” I shrugged. “I guess we need somewhere with a lot of space. I know I want peonies, but that’s it. Oh, and a band! Maybe fireworks. If my cake is better, maybe I could bake the wedding cake!”

She laughed at my response. “Sounds like you might have thought about it a little bit. You’re welcome over for dinner any night while he’s away, don’t feel lonely in the house on your own.”

“Thank you, I’ll let you know. I’m not sure if I’ll get chance to be lonely with all this to plan. I know how lucky we are to have each other and the money to do what we want.”

She nodded. “I think the two of you would be as happy in a cheap caravan as you would be in a big house. That’s what matters, being there for each other through everything, good and bad. Not running out on each other, no matter how hard life gets.”

I nodded as I took a long slurp of my coffee; worry scratched at my mind. Did that really describe us? Hadn’t we run out on each other not so long ago?

A couple of hours later, I flopped onto the couch and threw down a pile of house pamphlets, a stack of wedding magazines, and a few travel brochures just for good measure. I poured a large glass of wine, knowing that before I began on those, there was something I’d been meaning to look up for a while now.

Egg Donation.

Cassie and I hadn’t discussed it in a while, she’d not wanted to put any pressure on me. I hadn’t mentioned it to Zack yet because I wanted to get all the facts myself. There just hadn’t been time. So, off to Dr. Google I went.

The medical side of how they got the eggs didn’t bother me, the potential side effects seemed rare, and, let’s face it, everything had potential side effects. I fit all the criteria - I didn’t smoke, I was the right age… Would it be too weird, though? That’s what I needed to think about. I wanted to make Cassie’s dream come true but not if it would ruin our friendship through awkwardness.

I filled up my wine glass as I called Cassie.

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