Page 94 of Never Gonna Happen

‘That sounds perfect,’ said Emily, holding out her wrist so her mum could do up the clasp on the bracelet. She was relieved that Jamie wouldn’t have to suffer Martin’s cooking, and wondering if she could fit in a couple of hours’ sleep before they headed off to the pub.

‘When are you two heading back?’ asked Carol. ‘Is that nice driver going with you? What was his name? Croatian, he said he was, like Nina the cleaner from work, but I asked and he didn’t know her.’

Emily rolled her eyes at Jamie, who covered his mouth to hide a smile. ‘Leon,’ she replied, feeling like her friendship with Mr Hunter’s driver had moved into a new phase. It wasn’t every day you heard a man detail all the things he loved about your best friend’s body like he was providing audio description for the blind.

‘Kelly was all over him last night, poor chap looked scared to death.’

‘Actually he’s popping over to yours later to pick up my car,’ said Emily. ‘He’s going to drive it back to Norfolk for me tonight.’

‘How are you getting back?’ asked Martin.

Emily cleared her throat and looked at Jamie, not quite able to find the words.

Jamie twiddled a spoon between his fingers. ‘I can’t sit in a car with my knee bent for that long, so my dad organised a helicopter. Emily is going to fly back with me first thing tomorrow.’

There was a heavy silence before Carol responded in a voice that had somehow risen several octaves. ‘In a helicopter? You’re going back to Norfolk in a helicopter?’

Jamie smiled awkwardly. ‘Think of it more as an air ambulance.’

Carol looked at her husband. ‘Martin, did you hear that? They’re going back by helicopter.’

Martin shook his head in amazement. ‘I can hear perfectly well, Carol. Can we come and watch you take off?’

‘Of course,’ said Jamie, clearly relieved that Emily’s dad wasn’t going to make a fuss. ‘We fly from the aerodrome at seven thirty a.m. tomorrow. Takes about an hour to get back to Bowford.’

‘We’ll be there,’ said Martin, pouring a glass of orange juice and grinning at Emily.

‘Your brothers are going to be sick as pigs,’ said Carol, scooping marmalade out of a tiny jar with a buttery knife.

‘Don’t make a big deal out of it, Mum,’ said Emily. ‘It’s just because of Jamie’s leg. He wouldn’t have been able to come otherwise.’

‘Still, travelling about by helicopter,’ said Carol dreamily. ‘It’s like Fifty Shades of Grey. Remember Charlie Tango?’

‘It is nothing like Fifty Shades of Grey,’ said Emily firmly, as Jamie snorted into his coffee. Maybe he did know the plot, after all.

Emily’s birthday lunch was held in a village pub outside Chichester that offered a fabulous Sunday roast for fifteen pounds a head, with a selection of local ales that made Martin and his sons extremely happy. They were a happy party of ten – Emily and Jamie, Carol and Martin, Simon and Eric, David and Jo and their two boys. Emily sandwiched herself between her brothers, taking the opportunity to have a proper catch-up with them both before they headed home. She glanced over to check on Jamie every now and then, but he was deep in conversation with Eric and Jo, presumably learning about museum curation and inner-city teaching. Or maybe they were wondering how on earth they all got involved with this unhinged family and were plotting their escape.

He looked up and caught her eye, giving her a smile that made her wish it was just the two of them again, out riding or back on paddle boards in Mauritius. The ten weeks they’d spent together had made her realise what being in love actually felt like, and how much she wanted to make this relationship work. She knew it was early days, but it was hard not to think about what life might be like if she and Jamie lived together, or maybe one day got married and had babies. Perhaps it was tempting fate to imagine herself as Emily Hunter, or even Emily Wilkinson-Hunter, which sounded even more fabulous, but what woman didn’t do that? Obviously she’d never say any of this out loud, even to Kelly.

She watched Jamie lean over to chat to her mum, his face and hands full of animation. She could see how hard he was working to fit in, but it was also obvious that Jamie felt more at home here than he did with his own family. He’d never exploited the Hunter family’s wealth and status the way Adam and Catherine had; none of that seemed to interest him at all. It didn’t take a genius to see how much he preferred this – pub lunches, chatting with people who weren’t looking over his head to see if someone more impressive was approaching, lots of love and laughter in the room. It occurred to Emily that Jamie’s family might have money, but her family were richer in a million other ways.

When they got back to the hotel after lunch, both of them took the opportunity for an hour’s much-needed nap, then went for a swim in the hotel pool. Emily wanted to do fifty lengths in the hope of making a dent in the two slices of caramel and chocolate birthday cake she’d eaten, and Jamie needed to do his daily physio, which mostly involved stretching exercises and walking backwards and forwards across the shallow end. It felt nice to know they had the rest of her birthday free to spend together, and the prospect of a night without listening to Leon and Kelly bang each other senseless.

Talking of which, Emily noticed she’d missed two calls from Kelly while she was in the pool, so she sat on the bed in her fluffy bathrobe to call her while Jamie was in the shower.

‘Hey, birthday girl,’ said Kelly. ‘How’s your day been?’

‘Fab,’ said Emily. ‘Pub lunch with the fam, now we’re back at the hotel. How was last night?’

‘Oh my God, Em,’ said Kelly. ‘We had the best time.’

‘Yeah, we heard,’ laughed Emily.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Jamie and I were on the other side of the wall. Sounded like Leon was really good at taking direction.’

Kelly hooted. ‘Fuck me, he was incredible. Best shag I’ve ever had.’