‘Will you stop saying that?’
‘Are you seeing him again?’
‘He said he wanted to.’
‘Do you want to?’
‘Yes. Of course. I like him.’
‘Do you like him enough?’
‘Enough for what?’
‘Oh, come on, Libs. Youlikenearly everyone. You’re a nice person. But do youlikeAlex enough to make it something more than that?’
‘Blimey, Amy! We’ve only met twice. Just because you and Marcus are already halfway up the aisle already…’
‘We are not!’
‘You know what I mean.’
‘Yeah… I do.’ Her voice went all soft for a moment.
‘Look. I’ve got a million things going on at the moment. I had a really nice time with Alex last night. I hope he had a good time too. But we’ll just have to see how it goes.’
‘Libby?’
‘Yes?’
‘You don’t exactly seem thrilled about it all.’
‘Oh, Ames. Really. He’s lovely. He makes me laugh, and he’s fun to be around. I’m just… I don’t know, maybe a little distracted right now.’
‘By work or someone else?’
‘Work, of course. What else would it be?’
‘Nothing. I was just… uh oh. My boss is sending me daggers. Tea break must be over! I’ll call you later!’
‘OK. Have a good afternoon.’
I tucked the phone in my waistband and picked up the drinks I’d now made and walked back into the living room, placing one of the mugs down on Tilly’s desk.
‘Oh, thanks! I was just going to do that when you went off.’
‘No problem. How’s the scheduling coming along?’
‘Good. Do you want to take a look at it and see what you think? I’m not sure about whether to switch these two things around.’ Tilly pointed at a couple of bullet points. I rolled my chair round to her side of the desk and began reading through the list she’d begun compiling. We were pretty good at organisation but with her wedding and then a three-week honeymoon coming up, prep work was definitely key right now.
* * *
The early evening rays of the sun caught the twisted metal of the old West Pier, highlighting its sad state and showing its beauty all in the same moment. The boys were busy colouring in their superhero books as the rest of us chatted over wine and breadsticks. Dad and Gina had driven down from London, booking a room at the Grand for the night, and Matt and Maria had ensured that they both had the evening off.
My birthday dinner was a tradition that seemed to be upheld more by my family than me, but it was a lovely opportunity to get everyone together. And also the one time I could be certain my dad wouldn’t try and find me a date!
Mum’s passing so close to my birthday had made it difficult for a long time and each of us knew that she should still be here with us, celebrating. My family’s insistence on doing this every year, moving shifts, schedules and everything else to ensure that it happened, made me love them even more.
Amy and Marcus came in, having scooted home from work for her to change in record time – something that normally took my dear friend a heck of a lot longer. In order for my nephews to be here, a stipulation that was non-negotiable, the event was always a little earlier than I’d normally have arranged. There was no sign of Charlie yet, but he had promised to leave early and said he’d get here as soon as he could. The boys ran over to Amy and gave her a hug, considered Marcus and soon began giggling at something he said, before running back to the colouring as the new guests came over to me and we exchanged more hugs and Amy handed me a gorgeously wrapped gift.
