“Oh, that is lovely. It’s definitely going on the list. Given all our holidays together, it’s hard to believe that we’ve never gone to Australia.”
“Right? Maybe because Chloe always wants to go somewhere new.”
“Speaking of which, I talked to my mum this morning and apparently Chloe went off to London for a few days with Alan—I mean, Archer.”
“Really? So, they’re a thing?”
“Possibly. Do you think we should call her? I’d love to hear all about it.” Lucy giggled excitedly, raising her eyebrows. Her laugh was infectious and Jules found herself grinning, relieved that they were back to being besties again.
“Well, what time is it there?”
Lucy’s eyes flicked to the bottom of her screen. “It’s 8:00am.”
“Let’s do it.” Jules tapped on her phone to bring up Chloe’s profile and connect her to the call. Two rings and Chloe’s face appeared, her eyes wide and her mouth grinning.
“What’s up, bee-arrrches?”
Lucy tutted in mock outrage and Jules grinned back at her. Chloe appeared to be bopping to unheard music, her shoulders working a groove. “Hey, Chlo, you look like you’re in a particularly good mood,” said Jules. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Well, ladies, I suppose the big news is that I’m in lurve.”
If either Lucy or Jules had been drinking something, it would have been a spit-take moment. “Sorry, what?” Lucy smiled. “You are in love?”
“Yep.”
“With Archer Tate?” asked Jules to clarify.
“Uh-huh.” Chloe was still chair dancing, her head bobbling along to a rhythm the others couldn’t hear.
“And, uh, is he also in love?” tendered Lucy. Jules silently gave Lucy props for asking. It was one thing to have a celebrity crush and call it love, but was Chloe talking about actually being in love?
“Yeah, of course.” Chloe stopped her chair dancing. “Ohhh, did you girls think I was just crushing on some poor unsuspecting famous actor?” she asked.
“Well, no, not exactly,” said Lucy.
Jules figured she might as well come clean and raised her hand. “Yeah, I did.”
“Hah! Well, no, it’s way weirder than that.” She filled them in on their jaunt to London, including her two run-ins with Madison and the exchange of “I love yous”.
Lucy and Jules hung on every word, and when Chloe wrapped up her update with, “So, yeah, it’s pretty frigging cool, right?” They both burst out laughing.
“It’s incredible, Chloe!” said Lucy, her enthusiastic voice at full volume.
“Yes, totally. That’s amazing, Chlo.” Added Jules.
There was a murmur from Lucy’s end of the call. She looked off screen and, eyes wide and lips pressed together, looked back at Chloe and Jules. “Um, someone wants to say hello.”
Her screen blurred and a sleepy looking Will replaced Lucy. “Hey, Jules. Hi Chloe.”
“William, hellooo there,” said Chloe, her voice loaded with inuendo. Jules could tell from her expression that she was chanting, “Go, Lucy,” in her head. Jules wasn’t quite that onboard with the “Lucy and Will” thing, but she smiled at her brother.
“Hey, Will. How’s it going?”
Will turned to his left and grinned. “It’s going great, actually.” Okay, that was enough. Jules didn’t want any details of her brother’s sex life, especially now that it included Lucy. He must have caught her expression. “Hey, since we’re up, I’m going to, uh … go make tea or something. Here.” He handed the phone back to Lucy and Jules saw lights come on in the cabin and heard a kettle starting to boil.
Lucy looked off camera, then back at her and Chloe. She flashed a huge grin, her shoulders lifting in a silent “Squee!”
“Lucy, you are adorable,” said Chloe.
As Lucy and Chloe chatted about Penham, Jules watched her friends closely. She had loved these women as sisters for as long as she could remember, and she missed them immensely. They were as important to her as her parents, as Will, as …
Did Matt belong on that list? Perhaps …
“Hey, guys?” she said, interrupting Chloe’s lengthy account of all the delicious food she’d been eating. Two pairs of eyes looked at her expectantly. “Sorry, no big announcement, or anything, just … I miss you guys like crazy.”
“Yeah, me too,” said Chloe.
“Me three,” added Lucy.
“So, next time we travel, it’s together, right?”
“For sure.”
“Absolutely!” declared Lucy.
Chapter 32
Chloe
“I’ve been ruminating,” Archer said, his hands at ten and two on the steering wheel of his vintage MG.
“About?”
“Well, lots of things, actually, but this one in particular is related to the film.”
“Ohhh, the Capels’s love story. I love the Capels’s love story.” Chloe had once made fun of the giddy lovestruck fools who loved everyone and everything. Now she was one of them. She thought back over the conversation with the girls that morning and giggled quietly to herself. She was surprised they hadn’t asked if she’d been body-snatched. Who are you and what have you done with our friend?
“Yes, I know you do,” replied Archer as he lifted the hand at ten o’clock to capture hers and bring it to his lips.
She threw him a coy look over one shoulder, then turned to watch the passing scenery outside her passenger window. She was amazed that only minutes after turning off the M25, one of the largest ring roads in the world, encircling one of the largest cities in the world, they were already surrounded by pastoral scenes, with mist settling into valleys and flocks of grazing sheep oblivious to the wet weather.
“So, you’ve been ruminating,” she prodded.
“I’m thinking of a dual narrative, perhaps one of the characters as an older person, having just lost the other and coming to terms with that loss …” Chloe sucked in a sharp breath. “What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing across at her. “You don’t like that approach?”
“No, it’s not that. I think it would be a great way to tell the story. I’m guessing the other timeline is them meeting and falling in love?”
“Right, exactly, but going back to you … Why that reaction to the modern timeline?”
“It’s just … it breaks my heart to think of them like
