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

‘Oh, I heard from Jimmy today, said Shelley is like a kid at Christmas waiting for you to get over there,’ he said, pulling me from my thoughts. ‘You ready to head down under?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Ready’ was not exactly how I’d describe it. I was working flat out to get things finished before I took annual leave, and we were hoping to finalise the house move before we left, but it had been dragging on unresolved for what felt like months. There was still so much to do before I could let myself get properly excited for my trip to Australia.

‘I’ll take that as a no then.’

‘I can’t wait for a holiday, but until tomorrow is out of the way, I haven’t been able to give it my full attention.’ I flicked on to the right episode and loaded up my fork.

Our diaries were a military operation to organise at the best of times, but it felt like things had ramped up even more in the last few months. A lot of our popularity had to do with the public support that we’d received since appearing on Wanderlust Warriors, a TV show that I’d persuaded Ben to take part in last year in Chile. I still had to pinch myself at how things had developed since we’d first started both the business and our relationship. It was exciting, stressful, hectic and nerve-wracking all at the same time, but there was no one other than Ben who I wanted by my side through it all.

‘You still okay that I’m not flying over with you?’

I smiled and shook my head. ‘Babe, it’ll be wedding central from the moment we both arrive. It’s not that long till you’re joining me and, anyway, you’ll only be roped in to help out. Plus, we need someone to keep an eye on things here with the move; well, specifically with chasing the waste-of-space estate agent.’ I took a sip of my wine to calm down. Although I couldn’t wait to see Shell, I was secretly worried that this trip would be less sightseeing and more wedding planning.

‘For a girl who’s ticking Australia off her travel bucket list soon, you don’t exactly sound like you’re that excited, babe.’

I scrunched up my nose. The question was innocent enough, but I felt like I wasn’t sure if I had the correct answer. So much had changed since I had been jilted by my ex-fiancé, and even though it was a few years ago, I still felt unsure what my feelings were about weddings. Part of me loved the fact we were going to be hanging out together for a big knees-up with our best mates, and another part of me knew it could easily blow out of control. I’d learnt so much since I’d planned a wedding and been in Shelley’s shoes of balancing budgets and family expectations, wanting it all to be perfect. I wasn’t what you’d call ecstatic at getting back into that world again.

‘Mmm, I just know what it can get like when you’re in that bubble.’

‘Oh, yeah, sorry.’ He fidgeted. ‘You and marriage aren’t exactly best mates.’

‘You could say that.’ I finished off my glass of wine. How had we got through a bottle already?

‘Did I tell you that I’ve got a pre-wedding meet-up with some of Jimmy’s mates who can’t make it over for the big day, but wanted to give me some stories for my best man speech?’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Shelley’s going to love that. Just run them past someone before you tell the whole room how he got his arse tattooed when you went to Laos.’

‘How do you remember that?’ He gasped dramatically.

‘I remember everything.’ I grinned, waving my fork in his direction, and tucked my feet under his legs.

‘Like an elephant,’ he laughed, spooning a mouthful of pasta into his lopsided grin. ‘Also, don’t stress about the house stuff. I’ll be on to them as soon as I get back from this trip.’

‘Thank you, babe. God, it really feels like the end of an era,’ I mused, nodding my head at the mountains of bubble wrap and flattened crates filling most of the room.

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Ben smiled and gave my knee a squeeze. ‘Or the start of a new adventure.’

‘I’ll drink to that!’ I laughed. ‘Right, less talking and more eating, this is delicious.’

‘Told you, perfection.’ He grinned and turned the volume back up.

CHAPTER 2 (#ulink_c09f87e3-2afc-5258-a7df-33b1ef04ac35)

Ardent (adj.) – Enthusiastic or passionate

‘Here you go.’ Kelli passed me over a Styrofoam cup of coffee before perching on the edge of the chair opposite, smoothing down her tailored charcoal-grey dress as she sat. The girl who’d come to us for work experience wearing Avril Lavigne’s wardrobe circa 2005 had blossomed into this confident and competent businesswoman, dressed for success. She was killing it in the office-wear style stakes. I self-consciously tugged on my own deep purple pleated skirt, hoping I didn’t let the team down. I’d read this thing in a magazine a few years ago that if you wanted to be remembered for all the right reasons, then you should wear a pop of bright colour in corporate environments. I was hoping that Cosmo never lied.

‘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?’