Page 101 of Date with Destiny

‘How can you still be denying the truth?’ Myfanwy sounds exasperated. ‘And if you didn’t think Crystal was on the level, why did we even go searching for her? Why are we here today?’

‘I’m not saying I don’t believe it…’ I begin slowly. ‘And I don’t know why I wanted to find her. I think I just wanted answers, I wanted certainty. I thought she could reassure me.’

The truth is, ultimately, I think what I wanted from Crystal Ball wasn’t anything to do with my predictions, really. I think the real, honest – too honest – truth of it is that I wanted to know everything was going to be OK. That’s all. I wanted her to tell me my life was going to work out. That I would be happy and make others happy. I just wanted to know I would be all right.

But none of us can really know that. Life is full of bad and good. Whether there is such a thing as fate or destiny, we have to ride the weird train. If we try to second-guess what’s coming, we’ll never get anywhere because we’ll be too afraid to take the steps we have to take.

‘Well, I think you’re a bunch of cynics,’ Myfanwy declares, folding her arms crossly and slumping in her seat.

Sonali snuggles in. ‘I believe,’ she tells her loyally and my insides turn to lovely mush as I watch them smile at each other in their special way.

They’ve set a wedding date for next summer. I’m the best man. The bestperson.

Oh! And I’m getting a dog! All by myself!

I’m picking Kirstie the Cavapoo up in a few weeks and I can’t wait.

Maybe down the road, if Zach and I end up living together or whatever, we can get Phil, too. But I have a feeling Kirstie’s going to realize she doesn’t need Phil and that she’s perfectly complete and happy without him. I guess we’ll see. You never know what the future holds. Right?

A figure appears beside us and I start to move my legs so they can get past, when I realize who it is.

‘Oh my god,Dad!’ I squeal. I leap up to wrap my arms around him and he laughs.

‘Not too tight!’ he says, sounding a bit squeezed. ‘I’m very jetlagged.’

‘How did you…? Where did you come from?’ I ask, confused and glancing around. Everyone else looks smug, which means they knew he was coming along to surprise me.

‘Happy birthday, darling!’ he ruffles my hair annoyingly and I giggle.

‘I can’t believe you came!’

Myfanwy and the rest all shuffle down one seat as Dad greets Celeste, kissing her on the lips. Their mutual affection is clear to see.

‘Of course, Ginny,’ he smiles fondly at me. ‘And I’m going to be home a lot more from here on out.’ He glancesat Celeste. ‘We’ve decided it’s time to take the plunge with lab-grown diamonds here in the UK!’

I squeal at this. It’s something I’ve been pitching to them for a while now and I can’t believe they’re finally doing it. Dad nods. ‘I know, I know, you’ve been telling us for ages it’s the best way to ethically produce stones, so we’re formally investing in a London lab. We’ve got more money to play with since we shut down the new store.’

Celeste leans in. ‘I took a leaf out of your book, Ginny, and told Daddy the truth about how lonely I’ve been without him.’ She looks at me pointedly. ‘And there’s money rolling in thanks to the huge success of our new engagement concierge!’

Dad beams happily. ‘So I won’t have to travel nearly so much going forward.’

‘That’s brilliant!’ I say, feeling emotional.

‘Itisbrilliant,’ he confirms, glancing at Celeste with big, loving eyes before glancing back at the stage. ‘So anyway, what have I missed?’ he asks, as the audience starts to file back in around us. I spot the lanyard guy watching everyone return, relief on his face.

‘COUPLE OF MINUTES, FOLKS!’ he yells, and people start moving a little faster.

‘Oh, Dad, the first half was awesome. Crystal Ball is amazing,’ I enthuse, waving at the stage. ‘They took a break from filming so we were just chatting about how, er,madmy thirty-second year has been!’ I laugh and Myfanwy leans into my dad.

‘We were talking about her six predictions, y’know? The psychic predictions from when Ginny was a teenager?’ She narrows her eyes at me. ‘And how they weredefinitelytrue and real.’

Dad looks surprised. ‘God, I’d totally forgotten about that!’ He glances at me. ‘Do you remember I was with you that day at the funfair?’

Around us, people are finally seated and the lights get lower.

‘You were?’ I ask, shocked, trying to place him in my memories of that day.

‘You’ve forgotten,’ he laughs. ‘I took you to the fair and then thought I’d have a wander about with you.’ He laughs again. ‘You wereveryembarrassed. But then you were seventeen, so that’s fair enough.’

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