Page 79 of Happier Days

When he drew level with his family, Jack gave out a yelp. His sister, Cara, flew into his arms. Behind her was his brother, Noah.

‘I didn’t know you guys would be here,’ he said, extricating his sister and swapping her for Noah.

The brothers hugged affectionately, patting each other on the back, and then Jack turned to introduce Ava. But before he could, Noah waved at her.

‘You know each other?’ Jack was flabbergasted.

‘I remember her more as a gangly teenager,’ Noah said.

‘Of course.’ Jack slapped his forehead.

‘Who do you think got us here?’ Cara pointed at Ava.

‘I only emailed them both.’ Ava shrugged. ‘I wasn’t sure they’d take me up on it.’

‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ Cara giggled.

‘Me neither.’ Noah chuckled.

Jack beamed at Ava before kissing her. The last he’d heard was that they had other engagements they couldn’t get out of. Secretly, he’d thought it was selfish of them, but now he knew the true meaning of family.

And fibbing.

Because Jack had a surprise for Ava, too. He beckoned to the young woman who was hiding behind the door.

‘Hi, Mum.’ Georgia tapped Ava on the arm.

‘Georgia! I didn’t think you could make it.’

‘Well, I lied.’ She gave her mum a hug.

Ava mock-scowled at Jack. ‘Was this your doing?’

‘I only emailed her,’ he mocked, repeating what Ava had said to him. ‘I wasn’t sure she’d take me up on it.’

Stella handed him and Ava glasses of champagne. Then she clapped her hands and turned to the gathered crowd. There wasn’t a spare seat or metre of flooring to be had.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please,’ Stella shouted. ‘Thank you all for coming, and I’m sure you’ll want to get this part over and done with so you can tuck intothe buffet we’ve provided. The smell of it is making my mouth water.’

Lots of laughter.

‘We thought we’d make an announcement with as many of you here as we could. First of all, let’s unveil the plans.’ Stella nodded at Max who, with the help of Noah, brought in a whiteboard with a drawing attached to it and propped it up on an easel. ‘As you all know, we lost our son, Dan, just over two years ago. Before he died, he’d started a new project. The rooms behind me were add-ons to the building and were going to be used for events and intimate special occasions. People could hire them out for meetings during the day, clubs during the evening or whatever.

‘When Dan died, a piece of our family went with him, and we found we couldn’t continue with his project. It was crazy, really. Surely the best way to honour his memory would be to finish it, having people using the rooms? But our family didn’t seem whole without Dan. In fact, there had been talk of us selling up as we couldn’t give the business our all.’

‘We’re not having that,’ a man shouted from the back of the room.

There were lots of murmurs of agreement.

Stella put up a hand to continue. ‘There’s no need to panic.’ She laughed.

Ava could see the woman was in her element. She was so pleased her thoughts had helped towards a change of heart for Stella. But it wasn’t only down to her that everything had turned out well. It was a combination of things, just like what had happened to Ava to get to this stage. Who knew, maybe she belonged in the Broadhurst family now. She stifled a laugh as Stella went on.

‘We’re back on track now, the rooms will be finished over the next few months, and the Dan Broadhurst extension will be unveiled.’

A cheer rang out around the room.

‘I’d also like to take the opportunity to introduce our new events manager – Eliza!’

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