Page 78

Halle jumped up, offering her hand to Lydia, who took it willingly. Halle hauled her up and straight into a hug. “Thank you for letting me share this with you, Lyds.”

“I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else.” How true those words were.

After two cups of piping hot tea and several digestive biscuits, Lydia and Halle bid the instructors farewell and left. They had a couple of hours in Nora to get through before reaching Halle’s place. “Jumping out of a plane is less scary than your mini!”

“Hey, stop hating on Nora,” Halle laughed.

“I’m not. I’m hating on your driving.”

“I’m a fantastic driver,” Halle argued playfully.

“Uh-huh. Oh, fancy stopping for some pub grub?”

Halle veered off unexpectedly, taking a sharp left. Lydia hung on for dear life. “There’s a nice pub not too far,” Halle commented, completely unaware of Lydia clinging to Nora’s door. Swinging the car into a parking space, Halle jumped out, racing round to open Lydia’s door. “You okay?”

“Super,” Lydia muttered. “Just need to slot my organs back into place.”

Laughing Halle, led Lydia to the pub by her hand. When had they started getting so touchy? Scanning the menu, Lydia warred with herself. Her stomach and taste buds were crying out for a steak and ale pie. Her waistline, however, required something a little less carb orientated.

“Get the pie,” Halle said, still looking at her own menu. Lydia looked up, confused. “You want a steak and ale pie with chips instead of peas. I’ll make you a salad tonight if you want.”

“How did you—”

“Pie is your favourite food, but you only eat it on a special occasion. Today is definitely special, so I know you want the pie.”

“Wow, busted,” Lydia laughed until Halle looked up, a fierceness in her eyes.

“You look amazing, Lydia.”

“Um—”

“I just wanted you to know that. You have a beautiful body. So have the pie.”

“O-okay.” Holy hell, is it hot in here?

The pie was friggin’ delicious. Hell, Lydia even indulged in a wedge of steamed treacle pudding with custard. Sure, she’d have to be careful over the next few days, but Halle was right. Today was special.

“Shall we get back to yours and start packing?” Halle paid for the meal, standing to hold Lydia’s coat open for her.

“You can just drop me off, Hal. It won’t take me long.”

“I just figured we’d get it done quicker, leaving us time to plan your next adventure!”

“And which adventure would that be?” Lydia smiled.

“Jumping off a massive bridge, obviously.”

* * *

“Is there any reason you have three Furbys?” Halle shouted from inside the built-in closet. That was literally the only redeeming factor to Lydia’s apartment.

“I bought them for the triplets, thinking they’d enjoy a retro toy, but they freaked out. Fe said they didn’t sleep for a week.”

“Oh, shit! I remember that.” Lydia heard Halle moving some more things into a box. Lydia had already packed the majority, so she really didn’t need help, but Halle seemed quite insistent.

“They can go to charity. Most of the stuff in there can!”

“Hey, did you see these photos? Oh, shit,” Halle laughed. “Lyds, you have to see these.”