Page 121 of The Wake-Up Call

“Yes. You’re fired. I am firing you. You need to leave now.”

Ollie’s expression turns aghast, but he’ll manage solo. He’s good under pressure. He’s also sensible enough not to object.

“This is three hours of bar work, cash in hand. You can’tfireme. It’s not a job.” She looks around, suddenly aware of the interest of the crowd around us.

My smile stays in place. “If I could have fired you from being my friend, Drew, I’d have done it, but that’s not a thing, so I’m taking what I can get.”

Then I catch the time on her watch: three minutes to six.

“Argh!” I jump.

Drew looks at me as though I am unhinged.

“Bye, Drew! Off you go! Have a nice life!” I say, spinning on my heels and sprinting away. I will not be wasting one more minute on Drew Bancroft—especially when I barely have one minute to spare.

I get to the lobby just in time. Dinah is wheeling the old projector in from the lost-property room, and up on the landing Kaz, Reese, Raheem, and Helen throw white sheets over the bannisters so that when the projector starts up, the video should line upjustright.

Well, we’re out by about a metre. But it’ll do!

“Surprise!” shout Lucas’s family, their image projected on the sheets, just as I spin around to hear a different chorus of voices yell, “Surprise!”

Lucas is standing in the doorway to the hotel, framed by Grigg, Sameera, and Jem.

I can’t compute it. They don’t quite look real. But then they descend on me, burying me in one big hug, and behind us on the makeshift bedsheet screen the da Silvas are yellingFeliz Natal!

“Oh my God!” I say, emerging from the middle of the huddle and swiping my hair out of my face. “How are you all here?”

“Lucas,” Jem says, wearing her widest, warmest smile.

Sameera tucks my hair behind my ears and kisses me on the forehead as my eyes fill with tears.

“You! You!” she says. “Lying to all of us about where you werespending Christmas! This is not the time or place, but as soon as the festivities are over, I am going to have a right go at you. Oh, God, it’s so good to see you!”

“Lucas told on me?” I say, wiping my eyes as Grigg pulls me in for another hug. “You guys! You should be in the Outer Hebrides! Andyoushould be in America!” I say to Jem.

“We fly back tonight,” Sameera tells me, grinning at Grigg. “His mum would kill us if we missed Christmas lunch, and I can’t be away from Rupe any longer or I will literally explode. But Jem is staying, right?”

“Absolutely,” Jem says. “As soon as Lucas messaged me, I thought... What am I doing here, being told it’s not too late for me to turn my life around, when I could be with people who love meandthe life I’ve chosen? So Piddles and I jumped on the next flight.”

I squeeze her arm. I know that will have been a lot harder than she’s making it sound. Behind her, Lucas’s sister is yelling at him in fast Portuguese; Grigg and Sameera move aside so I can see Lucas’s expression, and it’s like going back in time and seeing what Lucas would have looked like as a little boy. His face has justlitup. Pure, stripped-back, childlike delight.

“Izzy!” Lucas’s mum calls. “Izzy, thank you for having us!”

“Oh my gosh, thank you for being here!” I shout up at the giant image hanging above the crowd, all of whom are staring at these goings-on with delight and/or bewilderment. “Withverylittle notice! I know the twenty-fourth is the big day over there, and you’re right in the thick of Christmas, so thank you for taking the time.”

“Always, for Lucas,” she says, looking down at her son. “Love you. Miss you.”

“Saudade,” Lucas says, and he holds his hand to his heart, where the word is tattooed on his skin. “Tô com muita saudade.”

“Tell them about the flights,” I say, coming to stand beside him.

“Feliz Natal!” shouts a little girl, popping up in the corner of the screen. One of the cousins, presumably, and totally adorable.

Lucas laughs. “Helena!Feliz Natal!”

“What flights?” says Ana. She was the one who set this up for me—I found her on Instagram last night. She loved the idea. It was Ana who came up with using the bedsheets.

“We’re coming home in February,” Lucas says, face breaking into another boyish grin.

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