AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘Aww, bless you, Soph,’ said Fran, who was getting all teary.
‘Thank you to my parents, not just for having me in the first place, but for always being there for me.’ My dad put his arm around my mum’s shoulder and pulled her into him as she was also welling up. ‘To Harrison, thank you for your calmness and your support both in and outside of work—I couldn’t do it without you—and for the killer playlist tonight.’ I then turned to Marilyn and Jasmine:
‘To the best sister and niece a girl could ask for. To my wonderful friends, old and new: Bella, Roxy, Fran, Monique, I love you. Thanks, Aunt Cynthia, for allowing us into your beautiful home, and Aunt Sheri, for the delicious food. There’s too many people to mention—otherwise we’ll be here all night and I’ll get even more emotional—so I just want to finish by saying a big thank-you to youall!’
There was a round of applause. It was strange. I’d presented to audiences of thousands for work and it hadn’t fazed me, but in front of close family, it was different. More nerve-racking. Maybe it was the intensity of the emotions rushing through me.
Aunt Sheri and Aunt Cynthia had already begun passing around the glasses of prosecco and were now making their way forward to start lighting the candles on the large gold and cream cake which had ‘Happy 40th Birthday, Sophia’ written in icing and mini coconut cupcakes around the edges.
On the count of three, Valentino started strumming his guitar as everyone sang ‘Happy Birthday.’
I then took my cue to blow out the candles. It wouldn’t take a genius to guess what my wish was. Well, I cheated a little and asked forthreewishes in one (yes, I was aware that there wasn’t a genie in the room to grant them, but as my dad always said, if you don’t ask, you don’t get), wishing that: 1) I had a healthy baby, 2) that it was Lorenzo’s and 3) that he came back to me.
But maybe wishing wasn’t enough. If Lorenzo truly was the one, I should fight for him.
Finding someone that you have that strong physical and emotional connection with is hard: particularly post-forty, when there’s a smaller pool of men available. So even though I risked looking like a fool, getting rejected, feeling more pain and stressing myself out, which wouldn’t be ideal for the baby, I needed to put my pride and emotions on the line and find Lorenzo.
I’ll contact the restaurant. See if Gino had heard anything or could get a message to him. I’d fly to Italy if I had to. I couldn’t give up on Lorenzo without trying. I needed to know what happened and how he felt. I refused to believe that what we had wasn’t real.
As I snapped out of my thoughts, everyone let out a loud cheer and clinked each other’s glasses before taking large gulps of the chilled prosecco.
Harrison fired up the music, kicking off with a Rihanna and Calvin Harris hit, which instantly got my cousins dancing, and the rest of the crowd began to disperse as they headed back to their chosen spots in the room.
Then, as I looked straight ahead, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I blinked several times just to be sure I wasn’t dreaming.
Stood directly in front of me, glass of prosecco in hand, it was him.
There clearlywasa genie in the room.
And he’d granted one of my wishes.
I wouldn’t have to contact Gino or fly to Italy to start the search.
He was here.
Lorenzo had come back to me.
