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But he wasn’t here. He was hundreds of miles away, in Italy.
I missed him so much my body ached. I’d wanted to call him so many times, to tell him the news, but each time I’d resisted. I had to be strong. It was up to him now. He needed to come to me. To fight for us. For me and Leo. The ball was in his court.
The phone rang. As I walked over to the table to pick it up, my heart beat faster. Maybe it was Lorenzo?
I glanced down at the screen. It was Roxy. Calling rather than texting. This had to be important. I answered quickly.
‘Hi, everything okay?’
‘No! Not really!’ she said sharply. I sat down to brace myself for bad news.
‘What’s up?’
‘Well, I was just on Insta, you know, checking out the profile of some guy I’ve been chatting to online,as you do, in between workingvery, veryhard of course, and I saw a post pop up from BeCome. It was of the team out celebrating last night. With the new owner. What’s her name? Rhonda or something? It said the deal had been done. Is that true?’
‘Yep.’ Rhonda had invited me along, but I already felt like I’d said my goodbyes to everyone.
The day before the deal had gone through, I’d met the team individually at the office to thank them for their hard work and answer any final questions they had about the takeover. Then I took them out for an all-expenses-paid slap-up meal at Sushisamba, which they’d loved. I’d also given them all cards and gifts. It was the least I could do. Even with all the ups and downs since I’d moved to Italy, without them I wouldn’t have had a business to sell, so I wanted to show my gratitude. But last night was Rhonda’s night. She was the boss now, so it was better to leave her to bond with the team without me. Plus, I didn’t feel up to it…
‘WTF!’ Roxy screamed. ‘That’smajor! Why the hell didn’t you tell us?’
‘I was going to… it’s just…’ If I told Roxy I was feeling down because I’d fallen out with Lorenzo, she’d think I was such a wet blanket and I wasn’t in the mood for one of her strong-women feminist lectures. She’d see right through an attempt to use Leo as an excuse too as she’d know my parents would be chomping at the bit to babysit and spend time with their grandson, so that wouldn’t work either. Sod it. ‘I just didn’t feel like it.’ That was true. I didn’t.
‘Youjust didn’t feel like it? For fuck’s sake! What’s wrong with you, woman? You know I’ve had my doubts about you giving up the business,butthis is what you’ve been wanting forages. You should be out. Celebrating.Unless… you better not have thrown a party without me and Bella!’
‘Of course I didn’t. I took the team out, but it wasn’t a party.’
‘That’s work stuff. What did you do personally, for yourself? Have a few drinks with your family? Have a heated phone-sex session with Lorenzo?’ she cackled.
‘No. I didn’t do anything.’
Roxy sighed loudly. Thank God we were having this conversation over the phone. If she was here in person, although she’s not normally violent, she would have made an exception and either clipped me around the ears, slapped my face, shaken me until I justified myself or all three.
‘Wait there,’ she snapped.
I heard her pressing some buttons on her phone. There was silence for a few seconds, then…
‘Hi, Rox, what’s up?’ it was Bella.Oh Jesus.Roxy had added her to the call.
‘Bella, listen up. We have an emergency situation on our hands. Whatever you have planned for tonight, cancel it. Whatever Mike has planned this evening, cancel it. He needs to babysit his son.’
‘Why?’ said Bella. ‘What’s happened?’
‘Sophia is behaving like a lunatic. We need to take her out for an emergency FTA session and belated celebration…’
Here we were, sitting in our favourite seats at one of our favourite restaurants in London, Hush, with a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket in front of us.
I knew that once Bella heard about the deal going through and the fact that I hadn’t celebrated properly, there was no way either of them would let me get away with spending another night at home moping on my sofa. They immediately insisted we go out to celebrate. Even though, like yesterday I wasn’t remotely in the mood, I knew that if I didn’t go along willingly, they’d break down my door and drag me out kicking and screaming. So in the interest of keeping my house intact and my hair firmly on my scalp, I called Mum to ask if she could babysit. Then when Leo had his nap, forced myself to get ready, dropped him off at my parents’ in a taxi and headed to the restaurant.
Bella and Roxy were there when I arrived with the champers already lined up and had jumped out of their seats to give me the biggest hug.
‘Congratulations!!’ they shouted.
‘Thanks,’ I replied, smiling half-heartedly, and then we all sat down on the banquette, which was just as comfy as I remembered. It felt good to be back.
‘You did it, Soph!’ said Bella. ‘You sold the business! You’re a free woman!’
‘Yeah, you must be minted now! Dinner’s on you tonight!’ Roxy cackled.
