Page 19 of Lily, Unwritten

“Well, I bet he’ll miss that life one day, and you’ll be stuck at home all frumpy.” She picked up her phone and took a selfie. There was nothing that woman loved more than her own face, and she spent enough on it, between the fillers, dermaplaning, Russian lashes and designer makeup. I had a feeling she was naturally pretty, but nobody would ever get to see her in her natural state. I decided to ignore her and turned to Ella.

“You enjoying the job so far, Ella?”

“Love it,” she said with exuberance. Ella was in her early twenties, fresh faced with shining auburn hair. “Did you meet Zack when you started your job?” Her hazel eyes flashed with excitement as she spoke.

“No, we were already together before I got the job. Why?” I asked. This whole evening was just annoying me by this point.

“Just wondered. I guess we all want to bag ourselves a Zack, don’t we?” she giggled and drank her prosecco.

“What?”

“You know, hot lawyer sugar daddy scenario.” She was wide-eyed and innocent, completely fine with what she was saying.

“That’s not what me and Zack are,” I said.

“I know!” she continued to laugh. “You’re, like, as old as him. I meant if it was me and him, or someone else. I’d be quite happy.”

“Riiiiiight.” I pressed my lips together before I finished my drink. I was about to stop Jake from filling the glass, yet again, when my phone rang with a video call. Not the most ideal time, but I didn’t want to miss Zack.

“Hey beautiful.” He grinned into the camera as he spoke. “Where are you?” Zack’s face made me feel lonely; I missed that face. Not just his face...

Before I could speak, Jake grabbed the phone off me. “Zack!” he yelled into the phone. “Bad news, buddy, I stole your fiancée.”

I grabbed the phone back off him. “Ignore Jake, the prosecco went straight to his head. Just a few of us having a drink. I’m actually about to head home. How’s today been?”

“Amazing.” He looked relaxed, no worry lines on that forehead. “Miss you like mad though.” Anna pretended to gag, and I glared at her.

“Miss you too. Shall I call you when I’m home?”

“We’re going out for dinner in a few minutes, but I’ll call you when I’m back at the hotel tonight?”

“You better had,” I said, as I flashed my best smile. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” He blew me a kiss before he ended the call.

“Aww,” squealed Ella. “Yep, I need to get me one of those.”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “Amira, you OK? You’ve barely spoken.”

She looked up as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yeah, I was just looking into the other side, they seem to be a brand new firm. I can’t see this case taking long.”

“Right, well, I’m off. See you all at work tomorrow.” I ignored all protests and jumped into an Uber, glad to be out of there but sad that I was heading home to an empty house. I really could have done with Zack’s arms wrapped around me, holding me tight.

We continued our old tradition of steamy and delicious bedtime video calls. I missed him like crazy. We briefly discussed my work decision and he agreed it was a good opportunity to take. I’d decided to speak to him when he returned about the egg donation idea. Everything finally felt like it was falling into place. We could do this; we could absolutely do this.

Luke’s absence from my life still struck me unexpectedly, at the strangest of times, but I was better prepared for it now, more able to cope with it. I wondered what he was doing, who he was with, but I knew I needed to stay away for both of our sanities.

Sometimes, though, I swear my brain went into overdrive and began to conjure him up in front of me. As I got off the tram that Friday morning, I headed to the coffee cart; a regular stop for me. My phone betrayed me by playing a very special song to Luke and I directly into my ear buds - The Scientist by Coldplay. There was a point I would’ve had to skip it, but that day I simply listened and smiled at the memories. Remembering us side by side, singing along. It hurt me, but I equally didn’t want to lose those happy memories that the song pushed into my mind.

A long shiver ran down my spine; I shook my head from side to side to try and disperse it, my ponytail flicking across my shoulders as I did so. But goosebumps crawled up my arms; something was having a huge effect on me. I pulled out the ear buds and looked around, suddenly feeling exposed. But everything was normal, nothing was amiss. It must’ve been the song playing tricks on my mind.

I had just over fifteen minutes to get into work. With a final shiver as I paid for my coffee, I sighed and walked away from the station. My mind thinking about what might have been, what so nearly was.

Seven

You’d think Zack had been gone for about a year if you saw us together at the airport. He scooped me up into his arms and pressed his soft lips all over my face before planting one long, intense kiss onto my lips.

“Longest week ever,” he said as he stroked my cheek. He picked my hand up and smiled at my bejeweled finger. “Glad to see it’s still on.”

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