Page 81 of Harper's Holiday Romance

“Honestly, you two are the best kind of crazy. I love you because I know if I was about to do something completely insane you’d support me 100 per cent, no questions asked, but—”

“I don’t like buts,” Sarah said.

“But—sometimes I need you to come back down to earth with me, separate yourself from the rom-coms, and help me figure this whole thing out.”

My head hurt.

“Okay.” Billie put her phone down. “Serious now.”

Oh dear.

“Does itfeel right?” Billie asked.

We were back to that question again. There was nothing else to do other than answer honestly.

“Yes.”

“There’s your answer,” Billie claimed.

“The answer to what?” The state of confusion hung over my head like a cloud of doom trying to spoil my summer sun.

“It’s just the answer. Whatever the question is that is the answer.”

“Okay.” Her answer was disturbingly vague, which was pretty unhelpful. “Why so cryptic?”

“I get it.” Sarah shrugged. “Billie, spell it out.”

“Okay.” Billie took one long slurping sip of her cocktail. I watched the contents diminish before my eyes. She then made me wait a few seconds whilst she cured her brain freeze before delving right in.

“There is no hard-and-fast rule with this stuff, Harps. You don’t need to have everything figured out right away. There just needs to be some strong indicators it’s headed in the right direction. The strong indicator is the question I just asked.”

Huh. I still didn’t understand how the conversation turned from Frank the Iguana to me confessing my undying love for Julia.

“I think I’m freaking out a little bit. I need a minute where I’m not discussing very far-fetched, life altering feelings. Can we do that?” I slumped back onto the sun lounger.

“Absolutely,” Billie said.

Sarah slapped at my bare stomach. “You got it champ.”

The second I closed my eyes, Sarah huffed. “So, about America, do youthink—”

Julia

My parents go home in the morning.

Me

Oh really? How come?

Julia

They couldn’t stay on for the whole trip. My dad has

work commitments.*rolling eyes emoji*

Me

Kind of like a glimpse into your future, huh?