‘Jake!’
‘Sorry, didn’t mean to swear.’
Actually, I was reproving him for his lack of discretion and caution more than his bad language.
‘For real?’ Logan asks. His eyes on me; he most likely thinks his dad is playing with him. ‘We’re millionaires?’
‘Several times over,’ I confirm, with a shrug and a smile. ‘Most probably. Our numbers match and we’ve phoned to confirm it, but I—’ My words are cut off because Logan starts to yell, actually squeal like a pig. He jumps up and down on the spot, he runs to his dad and launches himself, so their bodies smash into each other with a ferocious energy. A move that is somewhere between a hug and an attack. He doesn’t know how to contain himself. He is literally overflowing. Effervescent. It’s brilliant.
‘What’s going on?’ Emily is in the kitchen too now.
Logan announces, ‘We’ve won the lottery. We’re millionaires. We’ve won seventeen million and something pounds!’
Emily looks cynical. ‘Yeah right.’ Sluggishly, she reaches for the cornflakes.
‘It’s true, my princess,’ says Jake, picking her up and twirling her around, just the way he used to when she was much younger and less self-conscious.
‘Honestly?’ Emily asks, caution and disbelief swilling in her eyes.
‘Yes,’ I verify, with a beam.
Emily bursts into tears and then we all run to one another, and amalgamate into a big mass of cuddles, screeches and happy tears.
We’ve been saved.
Just My Luck is available now!
Acknowledgements
Thank you, Kate Mills, my utterly brilliant editor and publisher. You are a unique combination of grit, enthusiasm, integrity, and ingenuity. I am so unbelievably fortunate to have you. The same goes for Lisa Milton. How magnificent to have such a wonderful, wise woman at the head and heart of HQ. It is a joy working with you both, it really is.
Thank you, Charlie Redmayne, for being an engaged, inspiring and pioneering CEO.
I’m so delighted to be working with the very best team I could possibly imagine. I am thoroughly grateful for, and appreciative of, the talent and commitment of every single person involved in this book’s existence. I know you all work with passion, perception and supreme professionalism. Thank you all very much. Anna Derkacz, Fliss Porter, Harriet Williams, Sophie Calder, Izzy Smith, Joanna Rose, Claire Brett, Becca Joyce, Rebecca Fortuin, Becky Heeley, Darren Shoffren, Kelly Webster, Agnes Rigou, Aisling Smyth, Emily Yolland, Kate Oakley, Anneka Sandher, Anna Sikorska, Laura Meyer and Abdu Mohammed Ali. This book is dedicated to Abdu because it is true to say, without him it would not have existed!
I want to send massive thanks across the seas to the brilliant teams who publish my books worldwide. You really are making my dreams come true. Thank you Sue Brockhoff, Adam Van Rooijen, Natika Palka, Loriana Sacilotto, Margaret Marbury, Nicole Brebner, Leo McDonald, Rebecca Silver, Lia Ferrone, Carina Nunstedt, Celine Hamilton, Pauline Riccius, Anna Hoffmann, Eugene Ashton, Olinka Nell and Rahul Dixit. There are many others who I have yet to meet but I am so grateful that incredible professionals worldwide are giving my books their love and attention. It’s so ridiculously exciting. Thank you.
Thank you to all my readers, bloggers, reviewers, retailers, librarians and fellow authors who have supported this book.
Thank you Jimmy and Conrad, for putting up with living with an author for another year! I know doing so comes with its challenges, but I hope we can agree that – on balance – living with my weirdness is tolerable. Love you both.
About the Publisher
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