Page 51 of Another Lucky Number

‘Eh, since when does Lottie’s loyalty to you take precedence over hers to me?’

‘Since she realised that I’m the right man for you?’

‘Or…?’

‘Since I got down on my knees and begged?’

‘That sounds more plausible.’ I laugh.

Looking along the beach towards Cat and Amber, I can see that they’re getting their stuff together. Amber spots me and signals towards a non-existent watch on her wrist, and I give her a wave of acknowledgement in return.

‘That’s my cue to go,’ I say to James. ‘I’ve got interview practice over lunch.’

‘Sounds fun. Where are you eating?’

‘I’m not telling you that. Last thing I need is you and your buddies turning up to watch me get grilled harder than my lunch.’

‘That obvious, was it?’ He gives a sly smile.

‘I may not know you well yet, but I’ve already got a sense of how that mind ticks. Anyway, I’d better get going.’ I squeeze his hand again, before detaching myself from it. ‘See you later on? We’ll be at the pool in the afternoon – apparently with me doing some “personal development”.’

‘What does that involve?’

‘No idea. I’ve been told to leave it to the experts.’

‘Sure. We have no plans this afternoon, so we’ll swing by and you can meet the lads.’

He plants a delicious goodbye kiss on my lips, and I head off in the direction of my friends, my stomach swishing and swirling with all sorts of giddy gooey feelings, which is a nice change to the nausea that’s taken over recently.He’s here.He’sreallyhere. And I haven’t cocked things up. Interview aside, this is anamazingholiday.

By the time I reach Cat and Amber, I’m already lost in a daydream about James and I dancing to one of Lola’s songs, with Lola happily serenading us because I’m lost in James’s eyes, and not Sébastien’s.

‘That seemed to work out well.’ Cat interrupts my little fantasy, her face brimming with excitement.

‘Yes, it did.’ I waggle my eyebrows in response. ‘I’ll fill you in over lunch.’

‘Afteryour interview practice,’ says Amber.

‘OK, Mum.’ I duck out the way as she flicks her towel at me.

We set off up the beach, and as I’m disappearing back into the same delectable daydream, a thought strikes me. Was it such a good idea inviting James and his buddies to the pool later? With this morning’s prep turning out to be what it was, who knows what hell on earth Amber has in store for me this afternoon. Or whether I’ll come out of it with my dignity intact.

We decide to eat lunch in the buffet restaurant (the same place where we have breakfast) so that we can focus on my interview practice without being continually interrupted.

As soon as our bums hit our seats, my grilling starts. Amber and Cat fire question after question at me, pausing only to order drinks and fill our plates. When I say it’s both of them, it’s mainly Amber. They’re not so much ‘good cop, bad cop’ as ‘good cop, nail-your-ass-to-the-wall cop’. This goes on right through our first two courses, until I almost can’t take any more.

‘Are we done yet?’ I wipe away the rivers of sweat trickling down my forehead and push my plate aside. ‘Your questioning style is making me dangerously dehydrated, Amber.’

She shrugs. ‘I’m giving it to you tough so you can cope under pressure on the day.’

‘I get that, but we’ve been at it for an hour. Surely that’s enough for now.’

‘You’re doing really well, honey. You should feel pleased about that.’ Cat offers me some much-neededpraise. ‘Amber, how about we stop there? Emma still needs to complete the rest of her prep today. Let’s not exhaust her in one sitting.’

‘Fine,’ she says. ‘We’ll leave it at that.’

‘Thank you.’ I glug at my water like a parched gun dog.

‘And youaredoing well. You’re not flapping like you normally do.’

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