Page 41 of Will You Stay Another Day?
Whilst Lili rambled on, Dylan gave her a curious look. He took her coat, hung it up, and ushered her into the hallway and she sat in the kitchen whilst he fetched a towel and a jumper. He closed a photo album on the table and shoved it into a kitchen drawer. She dried off her hair and put on his top whilst he made coffee and heated the pie. Ten minutes later she was tucking in. She hadn’t eaten lunch today, unable to stop thinking about last night, about Em’s face, about her friend’s life going to waste. However, the dream had filled her with a different, more positive sensation than in the past, one focused on being proactive.
Lili gave herself a shake. ‘This is delicious. I love cherries and almonds.’
‘Yep, it’s Harry’s favourite. I was looking for a photo in an old album to snap and send to him from when he made his very first pie. I’d forgotten about it. We’d had an argument. I crept up behind him and pushed his face into the filling before he put the pastry lid on.’ Dylan gave a smile at the memory. ‘Like Mum, I’m no pastry chef. This pie was ready-made, all I did was heat it up.’ They fell into silence whilst they ate, rain easing now against the kitchen window. Dylan pushed his empty dish away and gave a sigh of contentment. ‘So, what made you decide to take the trip? You mentioned a dream.’
Without answering, Lili scraped her spoon along the bottom of her bowl.
‘Lili? You okay?’
She hadn’t told anyone about the recurring nightmares. Not even Meg or Tommo, not Mum and Dad either. She met his open, honest gaze.
‘I have recurring dreams sometimes. Em and I are always doing something fun, but then the scene ends with her drowning. I try to save her, but I can’t and have to watch her, right until the end when… It’s as if I’m actually there, you know?’
Dylan got up and crouched by her side. He slipped an arm around her back and looked into her eyes again. ‘That must be so scary. And to keep happening, even one year on…’
She leant her head on his shoulder, didn’t know why, didn’t care. ‘But this time it gave me a clear message: that I should take this break for Em as much as me.’
Dylan sat down opposite her again. He rubbed his hands then scrolled up and down on his laptop. ‘Okay. Vegas – aside from the casinos and great food, I remember Harry talking about visiting the Grand Canyon…’
‘I wanted to go there too and persuaded Em! And December’s a good month to go as the weather is mild. It can reach over forty degrees in the summer.’
‘I wonder if we’ve missed the window for booking a trip.’ He started typing. ‘I should have looked into all this already but, well… I didn’t feel so much of an incentive, going alone. Sappy of me really.’
Dylan was so honest about his feelings, about everything. Like the way he’d invited her to the Bonfire Night evening, saying the few friends he had were married. There was no big ego, pretending to be Mr Popular. There was a sense of sincerity about him that made her trust him.
He shot her a sheepish look. ‘And there’s me assuming you want to do stuff together. It’s fine if you’d rather plan your own activities.’
‘No, let’s do it! We could take a trip to the Grand Canyon on the Monday, that would be a great start to the break. I remember researching it when we booked the hotel. It’s a long day out but should be totally worth it. Quite a drive to get there, but a coach could pick us up from our hotel on the Strip. You can book breakfast at a stop on the way. It should be more peaceful going there at this time of year. It’s… nice to have a… a mate to go with,’ she said brightly.
A mate. Nothing more. Nothing less. Even if she couldn’t take her eyes off him; even if she could have rested her head on his shoulder all evening; even if he did make – okay, heat up – the best cherry pie this side of the Watford Gap. Before she knew it, two hours had passed as they’d researched the best restaurants. The music shows that Dylan said Harry was so keen on were booked up, so they reserved tickets for a burlesque show, instead, at one of the hotels. ‘Well, it is Vegas!’ she’d said as she’d laughingly persuaded Dylan to go to one with her called Naughty Santa.
‘We’re only there for four nights,’ said Lili. ‘The rest of the trip we can fill in spontaneously. I can’t wait to see the Christmas decorations and I bet the festive-themed menus are amazing.’
Dylan still looked at the screen. ‘One of the hotels has an ice rink. There are shops, restaurants, dance shows, casinos, palm trees… Just walking down the Strip, at Christmas, will be something in itself.’
The kitchen clock caught Lili’s attention. ‘God, sorry, hope I haven’t overstayed my welcome – especially on a Friday night.’
‘To be honest, I had a headache coming on, but you turning up seems to have cleared it. You know me though, I always have a full social diary. How lucky you were to find me in.’ He gave one of his self-deprecating smiles.
Everything inside her jingled like happy sleigh bells.
He closed the laptop. ‘And I’m sorry if I rushed you away last time, when you were talking to Jags in the warehouse. Things just got busy and?—’
‘No need to apologise.’ She went to take off his jumper but he insisted Lili keep it on. She followed him into the hallway and picked up her damp coat before heading for the front door.
‘Thanks again for the Vegas ticket. Harry is going to be so jealous.’
‘Jags talked about how it hadn’t been easy for you to keep the business on track, by yourself. I reckon he thought you’d done a great job.’
An odd look crossed Dylan’s face. ‘What exactly did he say?’
‘That was it. Jags seems like a nice guy.’ She touched his arm. ‘You can always talk to me, you know.’
‘I’m okay. My nomadic brother will be home before I know it and then I’ll be complaining about the state he leaves the kitchen in and how he drinks milk straight from the carton.’
‘I like this,’ she said and waved a finger in the air between them. ‘You and me talking honestly about the two most important people in our lives. You meet some people who are afraid of facing their true feelings and it’s so difficult to get to know them. Em…’ She exhaled. ‘Em wasn’t in the best place during the last few months before the boat accident. This dickhead guy had let her down big time by cheating. He was the reason she went to that party, to show him what he was missing. She lost her life because of a liar.’ Lili’s face hardened and she twisted her hands for a second before lifting her head. ‘I know I’m in safe hands with Mario. After all, you are the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom.’
Dylan’s cheeks flushed the same shade as Mario’s cap and his eyes glistened. ‘Mario is always here for you, Princess Lili.’
