The One We Fell in Love With (38 page)

‘Of course I want you to.’ Tears fill my eyes.

‘Aw,’ he says, wrapping his arms around me and holding me close.

He feels so amazing, so real. I feel a bubble of something burst inside my chest, and it’s not excitement, it’s more than that.

‘Who was the surfer?’ he asks wryly, and now it’s my turn to tease. I pull away and shrug.

‘Oh, you know, just a guy I’ve got to know.’

He stiffens and I crack up laughing, unable to keep up the pretence.

‘It’s Nathan, Katherine’s nephew! He’s married.’

Toby doesn’t look particularly amused by the joke. I continue to laugh myself silly.

‘You’re so immature,’ he mutters, making me laugh more. He grins and unclicks his backpack, dropping it onto the sand with a thump before pulling me down beside him.

He loops his arms around his knees and stares straight ahead. ‘Seriously, though,’ he begins, looking a little on edge. ‘I don’t want to cramp your style. If you
don’t want me to travel with you—’

‘Toby, I can’t think of anyone else I’d rather go travelling with. I can’t actually believe it, but I’m so happy you’re here.’

‘Thank Christ for that,’ he says, exhaling with relief.

‘How did it come about, though?’ I ask. ‘Were your parents okay about you leaving? How on earth did you even know where to find me?’

He reaches across and takes my hand. Butterflies start up in my stomach at the feeling of his warm, firm grasp. ‘Yes, they were happy about it. In fact, they encouraged me to
go.’

I beam at him, unable to contain my delight about the entire scenario.

‘As for how I knew where to find you, well, I had a little help with that.’

‘Eliza,’ I hazard a guess. ‘She knew when I spoke to her in Paris, didn’t she?’

‘Oh, she’s known for weeks now,’ he replies flippantly, flashing me a grin.

‘Does my uncle know?’ I ask with a frown, wondering if he’ll offer to put Toby up, too.

‘Yeah, he knows. Didn’t you wonder why he sent you down to the beach?’

I shake my head with amazement. ‘I can’t believe you were all in on it.’

He turns his head to look at me, and my stomach flips over as his dark eyes lock me in a stare. Maybe Eliza is right: Prince Charming doesn’t always come in the package you’re
expecting. When you meet someone you really, really like – possibly,
likely
love – then you’d be stupid not to see where it leads.

Toby reaches over and brushes my cheek. ‘Sand,’ he whispers.

‘Not soil,’ I reply, taking his hand and holding it to my face.

He leans forward and kisses me.

We stay on the beach for a far too brief time, with Toby claiming to want to go up to the house to introduce himself. I’d like longer with him alone, but I oblige, and
when we walk up the hill, I notice an unfamiliar car parked on the steep driveway.

‘Is that yours?’ I ask him.

‘Nope,’ he replies, pulling my hand towards the property’s steps. I’m out of breath by the time we reach the ground-floor level of the house, and what little breath I
have left leaves me when I see who’s sitting on the edge of the infinity pool with their feet dangling in the water.

‘How bloody long does it take to walk up from the beach?’ Eliza asks, trying to keep a straight face as Mum beams at me from beside her.

‘OH MY GOD!’ I scream.

‘Here we go again,’ Toby says drily.

‘I can’t believe you all came. I just can’t believe it,’ I say later when Eliza and I are sitting at the table on the balcony, a beer in her hand and a
glass of wine in mine. They dropped Toby to the beach earlier. He carried his heavy backpack to keep up the pretence, bless him.

‘We’ve had it planned for
ages
,’ she says, looking like the cat that got the cream. ‘I had to check you were serious about Toby first, though.’

I laugh and shake my head, glancing into the house at him. He’s helping out in the kitchen, stirring something in a saucepan. Perhaps he senses me watching, because he looks over his
shoulder at me and smirks. My pulse speeds up.

‘Angus couldn’t come?’ I ask, returning my attention to Eliza.

‘No.’ She shakes her head, sadly. ‘He couldn’t get time off work, but you know what he’s like about his mum. He wouldn’t have wanted to leave her on her own
at Christmas for too long anyway.’

‘Do you miss him? No,’ I answer my own question. ‘It’s only been a day or two.’

She shrugs and grins sheepishly. ‘I still miss him, though. But I’m sure we’ll survive without each other for a couple of weeks, and the sex is going to be
crazy
when
I go back.’

‘Too much information!’ I exclaim, making her laugh.

Lucy and Molly come out onto the balcony to join us. I hear the cracking open of bottles and glance inside again to see Nathan passing Toby a beer. They chink bottles and then Sam comes into the
room and they go through the process again.

Mum is sitting beside Simon on the sofa, bouncing a giggling baby Finn on her lap. Molly and Sam’s three kids tear out onto the balcony and then run back inside again with Katherine in
tow.

‘This house is shrinking by the moment,’ I muse, making everyone laugh.

Mum ends up sharing my bed and Eliza kips on the floor of our bedroom on a blow-up mattress. Toby chooses to sleep on the sofa upstairs, having been given the option of that or the second bunk
bed in the kids’ room. By the time we set off backpacking, we’ll probably be desperate to have just each other for company. I’m looking forward to getting to know him better, but
we’ll have plenty of time for that.

Christmas Day is a raucous affair, and although Phoebe is never far from my mind, nor Mum’s or Eliza’s, I am sure, we have a good day and I’m just so very happy that
we’re all together like this. I feel sorry for Eliza that she doesn’t have Gus around – even
I
miss him – but she’ll be back with him soon enough. I imagine
Christmas is hard for him without Phoebe, too, but his mum has a good shoulder for him to cry on.

On Boxing Day, Eliza and I find ourselves sitting alone on the beach. Mum has gone for a wander along the shore with Katherine, and Toby is surfing with Nathan. At the moment, they’re
sitting upright on their boards, waiting for a decent wave. They seem to be having a good chat.

‘Nice view,’ Eliza says with a smirk.

‘Get off,’ I reply.

‘I’m talking about Nathan.’

‘What would Angus say?’ I admonish.

She laughs. ‘He knows he’s the only man for me.’ She pauses, before saying quietly: ‘It’s only ever been him.’

‘Check out the look on your face,’ I tease. ‘You’ve gone all puppy-dog-like.’

She grins at me. ‘You have exactly the same expression when you’re staring at Toby.’

I purse my lips at her. ‘You once said I looked like that over Angus.’

She shakes her head. ‘No, that was different. I’ve seen you go through crushes, but that’s not what this is with Toby. I could tell from the way I saw you together at my gig.
I’m really glad you’re giving him a chance.’

I shrug. ‘We’ll see how it goes.’

‘That’s all you can do.’

We’re going out in town tonight to see a live band – Toby, Eliza, Nathan, Lucy, Sam and Molly. Mum has convinced a slightly freaked out Katherine and Simon that the three of them
will more than be able to handle four kids. Nathan and Sam are the closest things Katherine and Simon have to children – Katherine took them in when they lost their parents, but they were
teenagers at the time. Mum, on the other hand, raised triplets, so she’s more than capable, even at her age.

Triplets...

‘I’m so glad you’re here,’ I say to Eliza, resting my cheek against her shoulder.

‘Me too.’ She wraps her arm around me and draws me close.

‘I miss her so much,’ I whisper.

She hugs me tighter, but I don’t want to cry, and neither, as I well know, does she.

‘Do you remember that time that Joanne Osborn tried to test our telepathic powers and you guessed that Phoebe wanted pizza for dinner?’ I say, trying to sound light-hearted.

Eliza laughs. ‘I do! You were so cross that I got it right.’

Eliza speaks next. ‘What about the time we all went to Hannah Longstaff’s birthday party and everyone freaked out when you and Phoebe said: “Oh
please
can we play
musical chairs?” in exactly the same pitch at exactly the same time?’

I laugh loudly. ‘That’s right! I’d forgotten that one. What about when bully boy Danny Riley said to you: “How do you know which one you are?’” I affect his
dumb voice. ‘And you sarcastically replied: “Gosh, I don’t know. I look in the mirror and even I get confused.’”

She hoots with laughter and we fall back on the sand, staring up at the sky.

It’s my turn next. ‘Remember that time Phoebe went climbing with Dad and you tried to teach me to play the guitar?’

‘You weren’t having it,’ she replies sardonically.

‘I was just jealous that you were so good and I was so crap, but I appreciated your effort.’ I reach across and pat her knee. She makes a swipe for my hand and holds it to her chest.
‘You and I both got our periods that same weekend,’ I recall.

‘That’s right!’ Eliza exclaims. ‘Phoebe was quite put out!’

We both laugh. ‘She didn’t get hers for another few months. She was gutted,’ I say.

‘We’ve been through a lot together, haven’t we?’ She squeezes my hand.

I squeeze hers back. ‘We have. Every single awkward phase. We were meant to be together, right from the beginning.’

‘That’s kind of comforting,’ she murmurs.

‘It is,’ I agree.

A shadow falls over us and we raise our heads to see Mum standing a few feet away on the sand.

‘Look at you two,’ she says warmly. ‘Let me take a photo.’

As Eliza and I press our cheeks together and smile up at Mum, I think of the photo frames on Mum’s bookshelves in her new house. Months ago I wondered if Eliza and I would ever feature in
a photo of just the two of us. And now I know that we will.

It
is
just the two of us now. Eliza and Rose. Rose and Eliza.

But in our hearts, we will
always
be triplets.

It’s been ten years since the publication of my debut novel,
Lucy in the Sky
, and I still want to pinch myself. Thank you to my readers for making me laugh and
cry (usually in happiness – phew) with all of your social media interactions and outstanding online reviews. I feel very lucky to be doing what I love every day, but I wouldn’t enjoy it
nearly as much if you weren’t all so sweet to me, so I’m truly grateful. Please continue to help spread the word about my free book club,
The Hidden Paige
, which I created as a
way of showing my appreciation for your support. Visit paigetoon.com and sign up to receive exclusive extra content from me, including short stories, hidden chapters and competitions.

Thank you to my amazing editor, Suzanne Baboneau, who has helped to make the last ten years some of the best of my life. You’re always there when I need you – and for this book I
needed you quite a lot. You’re my rock.

Thank you to Emma Capron for her brilliance with everything book-related, and indeed to the entire team at Simon & Schuster. I adore each and every one of you and I am indebted to you for
your decade of enthusiasm and support of my books. Cue another Mexican wave!

Thanks also to my fabulous agent Lizzy Kremer and the team at David Higham for everything that they continue to do behind the scenes.

I have a few people to thank for their research help, but Melanie Fowler – wow – you went above and beyond! Mel works on the Aiguille du Midi cable car in Chamonix and she really
brought my characters’ adventures to life by sharing her experiences with me.

Thanks also to Natalie Collingwood for her crazy, fun and insightful account of what it was like to work as a seasonnaire, and to Emma and Justin Guest, whose apartment in Argentiere formed the
backdrop for part of this story (email [email protected] for details).

Huge thanks to Helen Underwood for sharing her vast knowledge of baking and for allowing me to watch her at work. I have a new appreciation of artisan bread. Check out whitecottagebakery.com if
you’d like to see some of her creations.

Thank you also to Keith Chadwick for his help with questions relating to Toby’s mum’s condition.

Huge thanks to Laura Betts for raising money for CLIC Sargent (for children with cancer: clicsargent.org.uk) by entering an auction to see her name appear in this book. She very sweetly donated
the prize as a birthday gift to her sister, Becky, but I managed to include them both.

Heartfelt thanks to all of my lovely friends who have put up with my chatter about imaginary people for the last ten years – so many of you have offered valuable help and I truly
appreciate it. I want to say an extra big thank you to Jane Hampton and Sarah Horsborough for reading the first draft of this book and giving me such valuable feedback.

And of course, thank you to my parents, Jen and Vern Schuppan and my parents-in-law Helga and Ian Toon for all their support.

Finally, thank you to my beautiful little children, Indy and Idha – mostly just for making me smile – and my husband and best friend, Greg. You’ve been pivotal to my career in
so many ways, and frankly, I don’t know what I’d do without you.