I shake my head. “No, thanks. I’m going the other way. Love you.” I kiss his fingers, one by one.
“Love you.” He nods. A cab stops, and Josh bends to kiss me again before getting in.
“Bye!” I wave as it pulls off, then turn away, hugging myself, zinging all over with triumph. We’re back together! I’m back with Josh!
FOURTEEN
I can never resist telling people good news. I mean, why not brighten someone else’s life too? So by the following morning I’ve texted all my friends that Josh and I are back together. And some of his friends, just because I happened to have their numbers programmed in my phone. And the guy at Dial-a-Pizza. (That was a mistake. He was pleased for me, though.)
“Oh my God, Lara!” Kate’s voice bursts through the office door at the same time as she does. “You made up with Josh?”
“Oh, you got my text,” I say nonchalantly. “Yeah, it’s cool, isn’t it?”
“It’s amazing! I mean… it’s incredible!”
She doesn’t need to sound quite so surprised. But it’s nice to have someone pleased for me. Sadie’s such a downer on the whole thing. She hasn’t said she’s happy for me once, and every time I got a text back from one of my friends last night, she huffed. Even now she’s gazing disapprovingly at me from her perch on top of the filing cabinet. But I don’t care, because I’ve got my most important phone call of all to make, and I am so looking forward to it. I dial the number, lean back, and wait for Dad to pick up. (Answering the phone makes Mum anxious, because it might be kidnappers. Don’t ask.)
“Michael Lington.”
“Oh, hi, Dad, it’s Lara,” I say in the casual tone I’ve been practicing all morning. “I just thought I’d let you know that Josh and I are back together again.”
“What?” says Dad after a pause.
“Yes, we bumped into each other yesterday,” I say airily. “And he said he still loved me and he’d made a huge mistake.”
There’s another silence at the other end of the phone. Dad must be too gobsmacked to answer.
Ha. This is such a sweet moment! I want to relish it forever. After all those weeks of people telling me I was sad and deluded and should move on. They were all wrong .
“So it looks like I was right, doesn’t it?” I can’t resist adding. “I said we were meant to be together.” I shoot Sadie a gloating look.
“Lara…” Dad doesn’t sound as happy as I thought he would. In fact, he sounds pretty stressed, bearing in mind his younger daughter has found happiness in the arms of the man she loves. “Are you absolutely sure that you and Josh…” He hesitates. “Are you sure that’s what he meant?”
Honestly. Does he think I’ve made it up or something?
“You can call him if you like! You can ask him! We bumped into each other, and we had a drink and talked about stuff, and he said he still loves me. And now we’re back together. Just like you and Mum.”
“Well.” I can hear Dad breathing out. “That’s quite… incredible. Wonderful news.”
“I know.” I can’t help smiling complacently. “It just goes to show. Relationships are complicated things, and other people shouldn’t barge in and think they know all about it.”
“Indeed,” he says faintly.
Poor Dad. I think I’ve practically given him a heart attack.
“Hey.” I cast around for something to cheer him up. “Dad, I was thinking about our family history the other day. And I was wondering, have you got any pictures of Great-Aunt Sadie’s house?”
“Sorry, darling?” Dad sounds like he’s having trouble keeping up.
“The old family house that burned down. In Archbury. You showed me a photograph of it once. Have you still got it?”
“I think so.” Dad’s voice is wary. “Lara, you seem a bit obsessed by Great-Aunt Sadie.”
“I’m not obsessed,” I say resentfully. “All I’m doing is showing a little interest in my heritage. I thought you’d be pleased.”
“I am pleased,” says Dad quickly. “Of course I am. I’m just… surprised. You’ve never been interested in family history before.”
This is a fair point. He brought out some old photo album last Christmas and I fell asleep while he was showing it to me. (In my defense, I had eaten quite a few liqueur chocolates.)
“Yes, well… people change, don’t they? And I’m interested now. I mean, that photo’s the only thing we’ve got left of the house, isn’t it?”