Page 88 of Always Alchemy

He’s not the tightly wound, self-judgemental ball of stress and grief I first met. This Zach is lighthearted and joyous, with the most immense capacity for love. He’s still the grownup in our relationship—thank fuck—but he lives life hard and fully and open-heartedly.

And he tells me over and over that he’s got me to thank for that.

‘Holiday fucking is the best,’ I slur, and he grins like I’ve just made the cleverest comment of all time.

‘The best,’ he agrees.

I smile and rake his hair away from his forehead. He’s still holding me up. Still inside me.

‘This place is heaven,’ I sigh. ‘I wish we never had to go home.’

His grin changes to anI did a thinggrin.

I stiffen. ‘What did you do?’

‘Happy birthday, darling,’ he says, going in for a kiss.

I oblige and then swat him away.

‘Zach. What did you do?’

‘I wouldn’t make a decision this big without you,’ he begins carefully. ‘But everyone seems to adore this place,and it feels right. So I put an offer in, and they’ve accepted it. If you’d like to go ahead, we’ll buy it.’

I gape at him, momentarily speechless. My eyes fill up the entire rest of the way, instantly. I can’t even—I don’t know what to say. This isinsane.God knows how many millions a villa like this costs in a place this fancy, but?—

‘Say something,’ he says. He nudges my nose with his.

‘Can we afford it?’ I say meekly.

His smile is smug, and powerful, and fucking hot. ‘You know we can.’

‘Oh my God.’ I crane my head, though I can’t see much beyond the shower enclosure. ‘I can’t even imagine it. Coming here over and over?’

‘It makes sense,’ he says. ‘We can get a boat. It’d be lovely out of season, too. We could even come here for Christmas. Bring the grandparents. What do you think?’

‘I’m overwhelmed,’ I say. ‘You’ve got to stop giving me stuff. One person should never be this lucky.’ A fat tear rolls down my cheek as I stare at my impossibly generous, loving husband.

‘I mean, obviously it’s for all of us,’ he says as he wipes my tear away with his thumb. ‘And yeah, it’s extravagant. But honestly, sweetheart, we get one life. And it’s fucking short. You gave me a second shot at happiness, so let’s make a home here and make as many fucking memories as we can, the six of us. Okay?’

Well, it’s hard to argue with that.

31

FIRE ENGINES, FAIRY WINGS, AND FOUND FAMILY

MAX

Ihave everything in my life that a man could want or need. All the blessings I never knew to hope for.

Except for those big, manly, athletic dogs, that is.

There is not a Weimaraner or a Vizsla in sight in these endless grounds in our weekend pad in the South Downs, and it’s a fucking travesty. Instead, I’m constantly at risk of tripping over our two miniature long-haired dachshunds, Mac and Cheese, wherever I go. They’re always under my bloody feet. They’re more spoilt than any emperor and better groomed than a My Little Pony. Worse, it appears they’re virtually untrainable.

Obviously, Dex and I got totally screwed over by our wife. It’s not the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last. She claimed that having big dogs with big exercise needs while living in London during the week was downright cruel.

Personally, I think subjecting two grown men tothesetwo is cruel, as are the knowing sniggers I get when I have toyell for the disobedient little shits by name in Holland Park when they refuse to remember their basic recall training.

Our four-year-old daughter, Amelia, alternates between disdain for their lack of self respect and adoration. Charlie, now five, is endlessly patient with them. Let’s just say our son got his biological father’s sweet nature and our daughter suffers fools even less than her old man.

---