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Of course, Enrique was the pilot today, and he was already escorting Vivi across the beach toward the airport. From his animated expression and wild hand gestures, Jenn could tell he was speaking Spanish. As if Vivi wasn’t already borderline ridiculous, she was also fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian. Plus conversational in a smattering of other languages. If she weren’t such a genuinely lovely, kind, funny, and wonderful human being—you’d absolutely hate her. But beneath the glossy, high-achieving exterior, Vivi’s tastes were wonderfully random. She’d happily binge trashy books and rom-coms, eat pickled onion Monster Munch, and holiday in obscure little places that no one else had heard of. Hence the friendship. And when the mood took her, Vivi could be a proper wild child.
“Jen-Jen!” Vivi squealed, running to throw her arms around Jenn—a stark contrast to her polished, graceful appearance.
“Oh my God, am I glad to see you!” Jenn hugged her tightly, tears pricking.
“It’s been too long,” Vivi said, eyes already glistening.
“Hey, Enrique. How are you?” Jenn asked, turning to the pilot.
“Delighted to meet the infamous Vivi,” he purred with a little bow.
“Likewise, infamous Enrique,” Vivi replied mischievously.
“Well, I shall leave you lovely ladies to catch up. It was wonderful to meet you, Vivi.” He kissed her on both cheeks before heading off toward the terminal.
“Oh, he’s a charmer, that one, isn’t he?” Vivi laughed. “You weren’t kidding about the Mills & Boon. Maybe we should set him up with Becky. What do you think?”
“What a pair they would make.” Jenn laughed, picturing their ridiculously gorgeous old uni friend. Becky changed men as often as she changed her underwear—and looked incredible doing it.
“Right, I’ll take you through the café quickly to say hi to everyone, then we can properly catch up,” Jenn said, practically vibrating with excitement. “I’m so happy you’re here. Honestly, they go nuts at Halloween on this island.”
They walked round to the café—arms linked, giggling with sheer happiness—where Abigail and Mairead came through from the back to say hello, while Ealasaid observed their chatter from behind the counter with her usual cool detachment.
“Thank you so much for looking after my beautiful girl,” Vivi said, giving Jenn a warm squeeze.
“Oh, it’s been our pleasure,” Mairead replied brightly. “We love having her here.”
“Sorry, ladies, but I’m going to have to steal this one away,” Jenn said, grinning. “We’ve got so much to see and do.”
After saying their goodbyes, they bundled into Red, bursting at the seams with Vivi’s luggage.
“Wow, so I’m finally getting the full island tour,” Vivi said, settling into the passenger seat with a smile. “Feels very grown-up. Last time was just a blur of vodka and poor decisions.”
“Oh my God. Remember that guy you got off with? He’s now the lead singer in Callanish. Folk in the islands are obsessed with them. I saw something online—they’ve just come back from touring America.”
“Stop it. Are you telling me I could have been a teuchter rock star’s wife?” She cackled. “A shame. I’d have made an excellent celebrity plus-one.”
Jenn laughed. “Honestly though, the way you stepped off that plane—you already looked like a celebrity.”
“You know me.” Vivi shrugged, mock-modestly. “I like to make an effort.”
“You put me to shame.”
“Pfff. Don’t be daft. You totally pull off that hippy-boho, effortlessly-thrown-together thing. Me? If I don’t have my hair done and my outfit planned three days in advance, I literally look like a bag lady. You know that.”
“You do not.” Jenn laughed. “Anyway—what’s the gossip? How’s life in Edinburgh?”
“Pretty much same old, same old.” Vivi sighed. “Work’s been chaos. Charles’s dad has just bought another hotel.”
“How’s it going with Charles? And living together?”
“Better than I expected, actually. I suppose it helps that we live together—otherwise we’d never see each other. Even then, we’re just falling asleep in the same bed. But once the new place stuff settles down, it should calm a bit.” She waved a hand, brushing it off. “But that’s all boring. I want to hear about here! This fabulous island life you’re living. I cannot wait to meet everyone. They better love me.”
Jenn laughed. “They will—I just know it. You’ll get on brilliantly with Lizzie, Màiri, Cathy Ann… Oh, and Lizzie loves dirty books and trashy TV too.”
“Excellent taste. A woman after my own heart. And tell me—shall we be seeing our dishy pilot this weekend?” She waggled her eyebrows at Jenn with a cheeky smile. “Not counting Enrique, obviously.”
Jenn blushed, which only made Vivi shriek with laughter.
