Page 109 of The Wake-Up Call

“And the young man who is heartbroken and homesick at Christmas, who can’t afford to go back to Brazil.”

Oh.Oh.Oh, shit.

I shoot up out of the chair. “When’s his flight, Mr. Townsend?”

Mr. Townsend looks at the clock. I wait while he does his own calculation—he’s been at the hotel long enough to know the drill.

“It departs for Faro from Bournemouth Airport in an hour and a half,” he says. “I’m so sorry, Izzy. I thought it was a good deed.”

I’m already running to the door. “Don’t worry, Mr. Townsend! Not your fault!” I yell over my shoulder, and then I stop short at the exit, spinning to look at him. “When you say lots of money... You don’t have a spare hundred grand to save the hotel, do you?”

He smiles. “I’m afraid that is rather too much for me.”

I sag. “That’s OK. It’s such a nice thing you do. You’ve made the Hedgerses’ Christmas.”

“And ruined yours,” Mr. Townsend says wryly.

“Not if I drive very fast!” I call, pushing through the door, wincing at the blast of freezing air. “And I always drive very fast!”

•••••

As far as I can tell from googling while driving (do not recommend, extremely dangerous)—Lucas’s flight boards in thirty-eight minutes.

“Move! Move!” I hoot my horn. “Oh my God, Jem, there’s a fucking pony in the way!”

“Ride it?” Jem suggests.

She’s on speaker. She rang for entertainment and distraction—she’s currently hiding in her parents’ spare bedroom with the disgraced Piddles, feeling (as she put it) “about the size of a frickin’ Borrower” after a lunch with her overachieving cousins. She wasdelightedwhen I told her I was actually chasing a man down at an airport, rom-com style.

“Don’t be ridiculous, they go at twenty miles an hour, max,” I say, hooting the horn again. “Oh my God, I’m going to have to get out.”

I yank on the parking brake and tumble out of the car, shooing the horse aside and then running back to Smartie.

“I’m on the move again!” I yell.

Jem gives me a little supportivewhoop. I slam the brakes on as a pheasant trundles across the road.

“Argh, pheasant! Bloody New Forest wildlife!” I shout. “These animals have no respect for an epic love story!”

“Maybe that bird is on his way to his one great love,” Jem says. “Always remember you never know what kind of day someone else is having.”

“Can you not be sickeningly nice, just this one time?”

She laughs. “You’ll make it, little pigeon.”

“I really won’t! He’ll already be through to departures, I don’t knowhowI’m going to find him—how do people do it in films?”

“I dunno, actually,” Jem says thoughtfully as I climb up the gears, the pheasant having finally reached the other side of the road. “It involves a lot of running... and ducking under things. Or jumping over things.”

“I wish I’d gone to the gym more than once in the last six months,” I say, speeding up. “He won’t answer the phone, so that’s out. At least he’s tall. He’ll be easy to spot in a crowd. I’m just going to have to wing it when I get there. Oh, God, what if he neverforgives me for being such a knob?” A wash of fear moves through me. “What if he doesn’t like me anymore? What if he’s just going to reject me all over again, in front of an airport full of people?”

“Then it’ll hurt,” Jem says. “But you’ll handle it.” Her voice softens into its lowest key. “You can cope with so much more than you think, Izzy. You’ve coped with the very worst thing in the world.”

I screech around a corner. “Do you think losing my parents has made me too scared of risking things? I always try to live life to the fullest, you know, but am I not actually doing that at all?”

“You are in so many ways—you’re so brave! But letting someone in, loving someone, that’s hard for all of us. And you’ve got the extra challenge of knowing what it feels like to say goodbye to the people you love most. So...”

“I’m going to do it, though,” I say, the adrenaline soaring. “I’m going to tell him I—I’m going to tell him I’m in love with him.”

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