Page 100 of Falling for Nicole
I burst out laughing the moment I reveal the contents. Intrigued by my reaction, Dec moves over and follows my stare.
His breath catches the moment his eyes land on the photograph in my hands before he also lets out a laugh. “When the hell did that happen?” he asks.
“I’ve no idea.” In my hands is a small picture frame containing a photograph of three young kids playing dress up. One of the girls has white netting wrapped around her shoulders, and the boy has his dad’s tie around his neck as they stand together pretending to be getting married.
Dec’s hand lands on my cheek and he turns me away from the photograph and towards him. He’s looking at me just like in the photograph. “See,” he says. “I’ve always loved you.” My heart summersaults as he steps towards me and places his lips against mine.
* * *
“Nice trick with the photograph,” I say to Lilly when she arrives at the shack to help me out with the final arrangements.
“What are you on about?” I stare at her, waiting for her to give something away, but she doesn’t even flinch.
“The photo in the box.”
“I don’t remember seeing a photo.” Her face is still deadly serious. Hats off to her, she’s doing a great job here.
“Stop lying, Lills. We know you put that photo of us as kids at the bottom of the box.” There’s no other way it could have been there. Mum thought we hated each other just like everyone else.
“Nicole, I didn’t add anything to that box. I only knew what was in it because of the letter your mum sent with it.”
“You didn’t…” I continue to stare at her. I’m sure she must be thinking I’ve lost my mind. Surely she’s going to laugh or smile in a minute. She must have put that photo in.
“No. I didn’t do anything other than store that box until today. What photo?”
Digging inside my handbag, I wrap my fingers around the small metal frame and pull it out. Lilly’s breath catches the second she sees it. She doesn’t laugh like we did, she just stares with wide eyes at the image of her marrying the two of us when we were about seven.
“Holy shit. How did she know?”
“You really didn’t plant that?”
“No. I’ve never seen this before. I don’t even remember it. How did we manage to get him to agree to this?”
My chin drops. When did she put this in, and how did she know?
“I’ve got goosebumps,” Lilly whispers.
* * *
Thoughts of that photograph don’t leave me as our friends start arriving. When I walked in earlier, I found that Susan had organised to have a cake delivered, so standing pride of place on the bar is a happy engagement surfing themed cake with little icing surfers and everything. It’s incredible. She’s also sent flowers and the place now smells gorgeous with their floral scent. I know she told us to go ahead and do this without her, but I can’t help feeling sad she’s at home ill as we chat and laugh with our friends.
The evening is everything I could have asked for, even if I haven’t managed to find the time to get up on stage and sing yet. It seems Dec has managed to drag my inner performer out from wherever she was hiding in fear, because every time I walk past this stage now, I want to get up and belt out a song or two. I haven’t taken a weekend slot to entertain our evening customers yet, but it’s going to be happening soon.
I’m busy chatting to Liv, who travelled down to celebrate with us, when she suddenly stops talking. Looking at what’s caught her attention, I see Liam up on stage with the microphone in his hand.
Liv stayed in touch after she went back home, and every time I talk to her, I can’t help feeling like she sounds just that little bit more broken. She looked like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders when I watched her walk up the decking towards the shack just over an hour ago.
The room is in silence as Liv and Liam stare at each other.
“Hurry up, bro,” BJ shouts after a few minutes, clearly not realising that something’s going on between them.
After a few more seconds, Liam hits the button to start the music and the sounds of Shawn Mendes’Treat You Betterfills the room.
I see Liv take a step back the moment he starts singing, and she crashes into the chair behind me. Reaching out, I go to grab her arm as she starts to back away, shaking her head, her eyes wide in panic.
