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I feel bad for whoever is calling him. I wince when Oliver swerves around a red Toyota. We’re late for lunch with some important clients of my father’s. I wish he wouldn’t speed, though. Not when traffic in the middle of Sydney can come to a grinding halt without warning at any time of day.

“What do you mean they haven’t got the ones we chose? We ordered them months ago.”

I can’t hear the response, but I can see from Oliver’s reaction he’s not happy.

I should have gotten ready sooner, only I was procrastinating because I hate these things. I hate making small talk with strangers.

Oliver sighs again. “This whole renovation feels like such a headache. I’m tempted to cancel.” On the phone must be the builder who’s renovating our coast house.

“Oh, we can’t cancel. What about the wedding?” The house is an early wedding present from my parents. It used to be our family holiday house when I was a kid, but it’s been years since anyone used it.

Oliver turns to glare at me.“Hang on,” he says to the builder. Covering the phone receiver, he asks me, “Mia, why don’t we have the wedding in Sydney? There are so many great places we could have it, and then we could have a bigger guest list.”

I suppress a shudder. One of the main reasons I want the wedding in Rosella Bay is to keep the guest list down.

“My parents would be so disappointed, though. You know they were excited we wanted to do up the place.” It’s a lie. I don’t think they care one way or the other.

Oliver frowns, but my appeal seems to have worked. He lifts the phone back to his ear. “Fine. What do you propose we do about the tiles?”

He pauses.

“I can’t come all the way to Rosella Bay to go tile shopping,” he snaps. “I don’t have time for that.”

Gently, I put my arm on his leg until he glances over at me. “I could go.”

“What?”

“I could go down. Does he need someone to go choose the new tiles? I can do it.”

“Really?”

I nod. I’d love the excuse to get out of Sydney.

He smiles and my chest loosens.

“When do you need the new tiles?”

A pause.

“Tomorrow!?”

I squeeze his leg. “Drop me home. I’ll drive down this afternoon. I can be there by three. You could come down tomorrow night. We can have a little weekend getaway.”

It could be just what we need. A weekend to reconnect. Things have been hectic lately. Particularly for Oliver. My dad wants to make him partner after the wedding. There have been a lot of late nights and early mornings. When he does get home, he’s always tired.

No wonder he’s so snappy.

“I can’t do that, Mia. I have a thing on Saturday night. I told you that.”

My smile drops. “Oh.” I can’t remember him mentioning it, but maybe I didn’t pay enough attention. “Sorry. Yeah. Well I can sort it out.” I keep my tone upbeat. Thankfully, that seems to mellow him.

“Are you sure you want to go now, though? Don’t you want to come to lunch?”

“I don’t mind.”

Oliver talks into his phone again. “Look, my fiance is coming down to sort out the tiles today. Does that work?”

A pause.

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