‘Zach, this place is divine,’ Alice says later as we walk through the cobbled courtyard of our hotel. Jazz hums in the background and the smell of lavender drifts up from endless planters. ‘It must have cost you a fortune.’
The truth is it wasn’t cheap, but work’s been going really well for me lately. A couple of big sales and another new commission mean I’m feeling more financially stable than I have in a long time, and it feels good to be able to do stuff like this with someone I love.
‘Come on,’ I say, grabbing her hand and leading her back up to our room. ‘I made dinner reservations so we should get ready.’
‘Let’s hope Natalie chose something suitable,’ she winces rummaging through her suitcase. She emerges from the bathroom half an hour later looking so beautiful my breath catches in my throat. She’s changed into a long, navy dress with thin straps which delicately drapes from her frame. Star-shaped gold earrings hang from her ears and she’s pulled her hair up into a loose bun, a few curls still cascading down past her shoulders.
‘Wow.’
‘Wow yourself,’ she grins, looking me up and down. ‘You’ve put a shirt on!’
I wasn’t sure when I put the navy suit I’d packed on while Alice was in the shower. The white shirt felt quite formal though I’ve undone a button and I’m wearing it with trainers. She walks straight up to me and slips one hand inside my shirt, undoing one more button.
‘You said a while back that you thought I might look good in a suit and as this is a special occasion …’
Alice looks me up and down appraisingly.
‘I can confirm that Past Me was right, you look very sexy.’
As we walk back out of the hotel and into the night, I catch a glimpse of us in the large mirror in the foyer.
‘We scrub up all right, don’t we?’ Alice says at our reflection.
‘You look stunning, birthday girl.’
The glasses on our wicker table are filled with a crisp white wine and Alice is chatting happily as she takes pictures on her phone.
‘This is the fanciest restaurant I’ve ever been too,’ she says when she puts her phone down. ‘Look at us Zach, about to eat haute cuisine … in France!’
I love how happy she seems as she skewers an olive, not quite able to take my eyes off her and feeling so lucky to be here.
‘I’ve never done this before,’ I admit. ‘Plan a surprise trip away for a girlfriend, I mean.’
Her eyes linger on me as I talk. ‘Seriously? That surprises me.’
‘Why’s that?’
‘You’re such a romantic person, Zach. You told me as much when we first met, remember?’ She puts on a deep voice and says: ‘I love love.’
I grin. ‘Is that your impression of me?’
‘Good, wasn’t it?’
‘Well …’ I smile, pulling a face. ‘You’re right, I did say that and I suppose I am a romantic person but the truth is, I’ve never found someone who I’ve wanted to share big adventures like this with. I’ve been on holidays with exes but nothing that’s felt like this.’ I pause, not wanting to get in too deep because I know how Alice can feel about that. ‘Having the alphabet dates to work around has made it all more fun, too. I wanted your thirtieth to be special and first I was thinking about places beginning with T …’
‘I hear Twickenham is nice at this time of year,’ she jokes.
‘Ah, damn, I missed a trick there,’ I grin. ‘When I saw that the Eurostar came all the way down here, I thought, let’s do it.’
‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget the time my boyfriend took me on a whole heap of trains for my birthday,’ she winks. ‘Obviously I’m teasing you. Avignon is so beautiful and honestly, this weekend means so much, Zach. I’ve never been on holiday with a boyfriend before, full stop.’
‘I guess there’s a lot of things we hadn’t done until we met each other. Going to an eighties disco, for example.’
Alice laughs. ‘Going on a 10k run. I should have known back then that I liked you.’
‘Oh?’ I say, chuffed.
‘I can’t think of anyone else I’d agree to run around Sheffield with.’
