Page 117 of Somewhere Only We Know

‘I’ll come round,’ said Lola, and darted off to join us on our side of the barrier.

‘You’re so kind to do this for me,’ I said, giving her a hug.

‘Harry asked me and …’ She looked down at her feet. She was wearing a pair of the Birkenstocks that Brontë got for her last birthday, the ones with the closed-in toes. ‘And I kinda like being part of the story. You’re Insta-famous now.’

I raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘I don’t think so, but thank you, and thank you for agreeing to bring the book back to me.’

She bent down to give Scout some fuss, who promptly rolled onto her back to get her tummy tickled. ‘Seriously. Like, you have almost as many followers as Harry now.’

I stared at her in disbelief. ‘I have?’

She nodded. ‘The whole Mum’s Gap Year thing has caught on. Even my mum knows who you are, and she only follows Michael Bublé and the Royal Family. Can we get a selfie?’

‘Sure.’ I tucked my arm around her waist to get in close.

‘You too, Jackson, and Scout,’ Lola said, waving him to stand next to her.

Jackson picked up his dog and we all huddled together for the picture.

‘I’m gonna get us something to drink. Scout’s thirsty. Anyone else?’ he asked.

We both asked for water and he and the dog wandered over to the vending machine.

‘I’m sending this to Harry,’ said Lola, tapping at the screen. ‘He’s waiting to hear from me.’

‘He’s very lucky to have you as his friend.’

‘Yeah,’ she said quietly.

‘But you’d like to be more than friends?’ I guessed, observing the wistfulness in her voice.

Lola blinked at me. ‘This is so awkward. I mean, you’re Brontë’s mum.’

I nodded. ‘Which is why I know what a decent guy he is and why he deserves a lovely girl in his life.’

‘I think he still loves her.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘Which is cool, but there’s no way I want to come between him and her. Oh God, that sounds crazy.’

I thought about Harry and I stargazing in the Blue Mountains and how we’d agreed that we’d both try to find love again.

‘He might be feeling nervous about starting another relationship, maybe not knowing what a long enough gap is after losing Brontë. So my advice is to tell him how you feel when you get back. What’s the worst that can happen?’

‘He freaks out and runs a mile?’

‘That won’t happen; he’s a nice boy. I’m sure that even if he says no, he’d let you down gently.’ I gave her my most reassuring smile. ‘And the best?’

She visibly melted. ‘He says yes, and we fall in love and … well, you know what I mean.’

I nodded to where Jackson was pumping money into a vending machine. ‘I wished I’d told him how I felt when I had the chance twenty-four years ago.’

She pulled a face. ‘That’s so sad, but it’s not too late, is it? You two seem comfortable with each other, like you’ve been together for, like, forever.’

‘Honestly? I don’t know whether it’s too late or not,’ I said.

Jackson returned with three bottles of water and we both took one. ‘Lola, can we give you a lift somewhere? It’s the least we can do.’

We. He’d said it again. My breath hitched at the implied coupleness of his words. I wondered whether my feelings were as obvious to him as they were to me. Were my pupils dilating, was my chest visibly rising? I needed to make more of an effort to play it cool, at least until I found out more about his personal life.

‘Thanks, but I’m waiting for the rest of my family to arrive,’ Lola told him. ‘Their flight lands any minute. We’re here for my granddad’s third wedding.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Are you okay for me to post this picture?’ She showed us her phone. She’d captured the second that Jackson and I had looked across at each other smiling. Scout was trying to lick Lola’s face. ‘I mean, it kinda looks like we’re a family, which is cool and weird at the same time.’