Page 53 of Always Alchemy

Oh, my darling husband. He may be late to this party—decades late—but at least I can always count on him to bring the confetti when he finally shows.

‘I agree. What’s Pip advocating?’

He casts his eye over the bulleted list at the end of thearticle. ‘Uh, donations to conservation charities, mainly. Avoiding palm oil. Wait—do we use palm oil?’

I shake my head. ‘No, honey. Except for Nutella, but their palm oil comes from a segregated source. Our peanut butter is palm oil free.’

He gazes at me, those reddened eyes affectionate. ‘My darling. You’ve been our little eco-warrior the whole time, and I didn’t even realise.’

I stifle a laugh. ‘Not really. Just, you know, making good choices. Voting with my wallet.’

‘God, you’re amazing. And so sexy.’

He slides a hand around the back of my neck and tugs me closer. I lean over the table so I can reap every gorgeous moment of his soft, loving kiss. There’s even a hint of tongue—fleeting, but so soft, and very promising. I can totally see Cal wanting to release all this pent-up emotion with some seriously intense, intimate sex later.

Yay for me!

‘Maybe we should take the boys on holiday to the Amazon,’ he says suddenly, pulling away. ‘You know, like eco-tourists.’

‘In aplane?’ I ask teasingly, and he stares at me.

‘Shit. God yeah, no. Scratch that. Bloody hell, this environmental stuff’s a lot, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah,’ I agree. ‘It’s a lot to get our heads around. It’s a big responsibility.’

‘I’d love to do a fundraiser,’ he muses now. ‘Something to make me feel better about the whole thing.’

‘That sounds great,’ I agree. Cal’s so childlike, sometimes. Watching him get so worked up about something I’ve been losing sleep over for years and years is pretty adorable.

Concerning, but adorable.

He lets out a gasp so sudden, so loud, that I jump. ‘Holyfuck. I’ve got it. Oh my God, I’m a fucking genius. This is the best ideaever. It’ll raise so much money.’

‘Tell me,’ I urge him.

‘No. Let me think about it for a few hours. But it’s amazing, honestly. And it would be great fun. I’d need to get the whole gang involved.’

‘It sounds intriguing.’ I squeeze his hand and stand up. ‘I’m gonna go slip into something more comfortable before we eat.’

He doesn’t take the bait, which is a first. He’s too busy pulling up a notes app on his phone. He’s already in the zone.

I smile to myself.

I think I’ll just “leaf” him to it.

19

MARK YOUR CAL-ENDAR

CAL

‘We are gathered here today,’ I deadpan, ‘to discuss an exciting project for a cause close to my heart, one I’d like everyone here to get involved with.’

Around me, on the massive modular sofa in Alchemy’s meeting room, are gathered my management team and most of my best mates. My wife is sitting beside me, at her most elegant and sexy in a red work dress that has me wanting to drag her down the corridor to a private room as soon as we’re done here.

Never mind that it’s only ten in the morning.

Also here are Rafe and Belle, Zach, Mads and Norm, Gen and Anton, Adam and Nat and Max, Dex and Darcy. As I glance around at everyone, it occurs to me that some of these people would count their time as pretty fucking valuable. Not Anton—he does fuck all these days, as far as I can tell—but Max and Adam for sure.

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