Page 58 of One Last Thing
‘Ask me what she brought with her.’
‘All right, what did she bring?’
‘Her owncucumbers,’ she says aghast. ‘She’d grown them herself. Then brought some over when she came round to give to me as a gift. I mean, really.’
‘That is impressive,’ I agree as I look across the vineyard in the sunset.
‘She told me she’s just planted chicory. Chicory, for god’s sake. I had to google what it was after she left,’ she says. ‘You know what? When I grow up, I want to be just like Sarah.’
I burst out laughing and we continue to talk about nothing for a long time because, right now, that’s exactly what we both need.
19
MEGAN
‘Okay, so this one is light, refreshing, perfect for a summer gathering,’ Nico is saying as he pours a pale pink rosé into my glass.
We’re sitting at a table outside beneath the festoon lights, other guests enjoying their dinners around us as we continue to sample a selection of the vineyard’s offerings. Mum isn’t here –she stayed at the spa longer than I did and then must have either come back and gone back out for dinner or stayed to eat at the spa hotel because I haven’t seen her, and Nico told me she hasn’t been down to eat yet.
I’m grateful that she’s not here because if she saw Nico and I alone on a table together, it wouldn’t matter how innocent I make it out to be, even if she said she accepted my explanation, I know she’d have that look in her eye that would instantly annoy me.
‘This is your choice then,’ I surmise, swilling it round the glass and inspecting it because that’s what sophisticated people do with wine and I’m trying not to come across completely clueless in front of Nico.
‘What makes you say that?’ he asks, pouring himself a taster and putting the bottle back into its bucket.
‘Your description. “Perfect for a summer gathering”. Isn’t that what we’re trying to decide on here, which one would be perfect for the ball?’
‘Yes, but all of our wines are perfect for any gathering,’ he argues with a shrug. ‘I would describe the one my aunt wants like this, too.’
‘You’re a terrible liar, Nico. You always were.’
‘I’m not lying.’
‘Remember that year it rained for four days straight and we played Monopoly?’
‘I remember spending the first two days looking for ghosts on the top floor.’
‘Oh yeah.’ I shake my head, chuckling at the memory. ‘We were convinced we’d seen one in that old wardrobe, the one where the door wouldn’t shut and kept creaking open all the time.’
He shudders. ‘I hate that wardrobe. It’s still there, you know.’
‘You’re kidding,’ I say, my eyes wide with delight. ‘It’s still there?’
‘Yes, I would never get rid of it,’ he says, laughing at my expression. ‘I would be too scared the ghost would come back to get her revenge if I got rid of her home.’
‘Oh my god, I want to go see it.’
‘Really?’
‘Really. Will you take me up there later?’
‘Yes, Megan, I will take you,’ he says reluctantly.
‘You won’t wuss out?’ I say, accidentally resorting to being ten years old when I maybe last used the expression ‘wuss out’.
‘No, I won’t “wuss” out.’ He laughs.
‘Because you did once or twice before,’ I take pleasure in reminding him.
