Katy Colins - Chasing the Sun - The laugh-out-loud summer romance you need on your holiday!

‘That machine is more complicated than the one Felix has installed.’ She nodded her head to an intimidating neon-blue and stainless-steel coffee machine emitting strange grinding and beeping noises in the corner of the tastefully decorated waiting area. ‘You need a bloody PhD in barista-ing just to figure it out.’

‘Maybe that’s our first test,’ I whispered, stealing a glance at the bespectacled-wearing receptionist. I craned my neck to see if she was surreptitiously observing us and making notes to pass on to the panel of bankers we were about to meet.

‘Well, luckily all those years of making you and Ben coffee means I’m more than qualified.’ Kelli grinned and poured a sachet of sugar into her steaming drink. We’d been sitting here for ages, running through our presentation, and now I just wanted to go and shine. I was about to ask her how she was getting on with the new team of designers she’d been managing when my mobile rang.

‘Georgia, I know you’re just about to go in, but I wanted to let you know that we’ve been given sign-off on the content for Lonely Planet ,’ the high-pitched and excitable tones of my PA, Erin, rang down the line. ‘I’ve also seen that Ben has just passed over Germany and thought you might like to know.’

‘Sorry?’

‘Oh.’ She let out a tinkly giggle. ‘I mean, I’ve been watching his flight on this app to see where he was. To make sure there weren’t any delays,’ she hurriedly added. ‘It’s so cool, it even shows you the view from the camera underneath the plane so it’s like I was there with him!’ she babbled.

I tucked the phone between my neck and my ear, sipped my coffee, and noticed Kelli roll her eyes in mirth. She’d openly admitted that she didn’t have the patience to deal with Erin; their working styles were worlds away from each other.

‘Erm, great, anything else?’

I heard papers rustling. ‘I’ve rearranged all your meetings for when you’re away to be sure that you don’t get hassled on your holiday. Oh, and I’ve set a reminder to check you in online for your flight to Melbourne when it opens. You know that journey takes twenty-three hours!’ She blew air through her teeth.

‘I’m sure it will be fine,’ I said, repeating what was fast becoming some sort of mantra for me.

‘Well, rather you than me. Actually, scratch that, I’d swap places for a break in Australia compared to London. Wait – is Oz even sunny this time of year? Isn’t it their autumn if it’s our spring? No matter. Compared to here I’d give it a go. Did you know there’s another tube strike planned for next week?’

‘Erin?’

‘Whoops, sorry, I went off on a bit of a tandem then.’

‘Tangent,’ I corrected her and smiled to myself.

I’d warmed to her when we’d hired her as she was so bubbly and chatty, but there were times, like when I was about to go and pitch for a huge investment deal and needed to stay focused, when I willed her to wrap things up this side of the decade.

‘Listen, we’re just about to go in so I need to get off the phone.’

‘Ah, of course! Sorry! Oh, one more thing, the estate agents have called because they couldn’t get hold of you, I’m guessing because your calls are diverted to me and then with Ben on a flight too. They said that they have finally sorted a moving date. I’ll add it all into an email for you.’

For a moment I forgot about preparing myself for this pitch and allowed myself a frisson of excitement. No matter how many times I thought about the fact that Ben and I would soon be homeowners, it still didn’t feel real. Life was almost too good to be true. I didn’t dare think about it too much, otherwise I’d convince myself that something just had to go tits up.

‘Got it. Thanks, Erin. Now I do need to go. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.’

‘Great! Good luck with the pitch. Break a leg! Is that what they say? Well, don’t literally do that otherwise your trip down under will have to be called off and, from what you’ve told me, Shelley wouldn’t appreciate that one bit!’

‘K, thanks. Bye.’ I hung up, cutting her off.

‘All good back at the ranch?’ Kelli asked, stifling a smile.

I nodded and popped my phone back into my bag. ‘Fine. You need to get used to her; she’ll be the one helping you while we’re both away.’

Kelli let out a faux groan. ‘I’ll soon have her working efficiently.’

‘She is efficient, just a little excitable sometimes.’

‘A little excitable? A hardcore Justin Bieber fan finding out they’ve got a meet-and-greet in his bedroom is less excitable than her!’ She laughed. ‘So, the big wedding of the year, huh? On a scale of one to ten, how likely are they to play Kylie and Jason at the evening disco?’

‘Hmm, a solid zero I’d say.’

‘What no “Especially for You”? What about “Come On Eileen”? If that ’ s not blasted out and you’re forced to dance with some drunk uncle with bad breath, then the marriage is fair game to be legally annulled,’ she said sagely.

‘Shelley’s already said she doesn’t want anything super cheesy; she was vetting the DJ’s collection a few weeks ago to make sure.’

‘What! But it’s a wedding! That’s like saying you don’t want to say any vows because they’re a bit old-fashioned. I mean I’m all for making it “your day, your way”, but there are some things you don’t mess with, and doing “YMCA” with wedding cake crumbs in your hair and some bloke’s tie around your head is one of them.’ Kelli shook her head in disbelief. ‘I’m guessing she’s gone all bridezilla then?’

‘If you call a daily updated WhatsApp group with me and her cousin Cara, who’s the other bridesmaid, slightly over-the-top, then yeah. Every morning I wake up to at least fifty unread messages from the pair of them. Photos of table centrepieces, links to wedding blogs where there was a real-life shaman performing the ceremony, and conversations back and forth over the preferred height of heels the bridesmaids should wear. The worst thing is they live together, so why there needs to be a text group, I don’t know. I mean, I’m happy to be involved, but I’m just too busy to be as into it as they are.’

‘Not to mention what happened to you with your own wedding.’ Kelli winced.

‘Yeah, that too, I guess.’ I absent-mindedly picked at my nail. It had felt like it had been constant wedding chatter since Shelley had sent out her ‘save the date’ cards.

‘Seriously though, a shaman?!’ Kelli struggled to hold herself together; even the receptionist kept looking over to see what was so funny. ‘A shaman! Oh, I’ve heard it all now!’ she said through chokes of laughter.

‘Don’t, it’s not a joke!’ I flashed the receptionist a nothing-to-see-here-type smile.

‘Sorry. Okay, game face on.’ She tried to straighten her mouth and wafted her hands at her eyes to compose herself. ‘God, you poor thing, going all that way down under to spend time with this marital monster. Tell her from me she needs to get a grip. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be much of a holiday for you and Ben.’

I was about to say that I’d given up trying to remind Shelley that it was for one day, ONE DAY, and instead was making sure not to tip her over the edge when she was so fraught with nerves and constantly consumed by stress. I also secretly hoped that once I got over there she would be a lot calmer and on top of things, but I was pulled from sticking up for her as we were beckoned over to head into the lions’ den.

‘Miss Green? They’re ready to see you now.’

Here goes.

*

We ’ re nailing this. It literally could not be going any better. They ’ re eating out of our hands , loving what we have to offer , and quite rightly so.