Page 77 of Wish You Were Here
‘No, I’m good. Thank you,’ I reply, before I take one last look at Jemma, and then I walk away, out of the front door and back towards the train station and home.
I need to start searching for flights to Sydney, and I have to email work. They aren’t going to be happy about it, but then again, they’re also not going to have a choice. I have to do this. I broke up with Jemma, and now the only thing left to do isfly across the world and proclaim my love for Saskia. The thing is, I have decided not to tell Saskia I am coming. I want it to be a surprise. I want to turn up at her door because this is the beginning of my big love story. This is the ending of the romantic comedy film that I want my life to be. I am finally going to play the role of Hugh Grant, the bumbling, rather foppish Englishman, who realises at the end of the film that, actually, he’s madly in love with the girl and he can’t let her go without a fight. So, he dashes to her, proclaims his love with some quite dramatic music playing over the top, and perhaps some dreary English weather – or in this case some Australian sunshine. This is the ending I want for this story.
I get on the train, find a window seat and then relax as we pull away towards London. I take out my phone, go to text messages and I write one to Will.
I’m choosing love.
32
Saskia
‘You know this is crazy, right?’ says Jess.
‘I do.’
‘I think it’s ace!’ says Aaron. ‘Like something from a Hollywood flick!’
We are in Aaron’s car heading to Sydney airport. I got the last – and very expensive – seat on a flight to London and I am heading there to surprise Ben. How romantic – or crazy – is that?
‘Thanks, Aaron. At least one of you supports me.’
‘I support you!’ says Jess. ‘I support you breaking up with that fuckhead Brad. I can’t believe he was cheating on you. What a loser. I also support this, Sas. I’m just worried.’
‘You sound like Mum.’
‘It’s because we love you, and only want what’s best for you.’
‘And this is it,’ I say, but I have to say I have my doubts. The last time we spoke, Ben told me we couldn’t FaceTime anymore because his girlfriend didn’t like it. He literally chose his girlfriend over me, and yet I’m still flying across the world in the hope that in the flesh, he will pick me. But what if he doesn’t? It’s a bloody expensive way of having my heart broken, but I also have no choice. My singing career is basically over, my boyfriend is a cheating loser, Lou died, I turned thirty and have no ideawhat I am doing with my life. The only thing I am one hundred per cent sure about is Ben.
‘Then I support you one million per cent,’ says Jess.
‘Thanks. Right, enough about me, what’s happening with the house?’ I say changing topics because I’m going to have twenty-three hours on a plane to obsess about Ben.
‘Oh, right, the house,’ says Jess awkwardly.
‘What?’ I ask.
‘The house in Dee Why fell through,’ says Aaron. ‘A problem with the foundation.’
‘So, what now?’ I ask.
‘Actually,’ says Jess. ‘We literally just found somewhere new.’
‘Oh yeah, where? Please tell me it isn’t far away again.’
‘You aren’t going to believe it,’ says Aaron with a huge smile on his face.
‘Glebe!’ says Jess suddenly.
‘What? I thought Glebe was out. Too expensive. Not enough space, etcetera.’
‘We thought so, too,’ says Jess. ‘But then something crazy happened.’
‘I’m listening,’ I say, and Aaron tells me what happened.
‘I’m at work, when I get a call from our estate agent. Another of their client’s needs to sell their house in Glebe urgently. It’s not even on the market yet. Something about a marriage break-up, an ugly divorce, she’s as mad as a cut snake, and anyway, they need to get rid ASAP, and they’re willing to let it go on the cheap if we’re quick about it.’
‘We go and see it, Sas, and it’s perfect,’ says Jess. ‘We make an offer, they accept, and it looks like it’s going ahead.’
