Epilogue
EPILOGUE
August
Zoe
‘I'm just saying, Lottie, it's a Muslim country so it's important to respect their culture, their laws. So less of the swearing.'
‘I'm not swearing at a person, though. I'm swearing at a mosquito. There is a huge difference. I don't think even Allah would have objections to that.'
Dylan and I both close our eyes at Lottie's volume and sheer gall. I don't want to fight. It's been a long flight through Kuala Lumpur and onwards to Borneo and we're tired, the thick humidity draining us of good humour and energy. It turns out that it was quite easy to persuade two teens to do an adventure holiday in Malaysia as long as it also included some time on a beach to create Instagram content. I look at them now with their trusted backpacks, supping at fizzy drinks we bought from this small restaurant.
‘Hold up,' Lottie tells us, taking her phone out for another selfie. Am I in this one? I guess I am, so I smile in the background. Lottie vets it before saving it. ‘Mum, can I just say with the braid and the boots, you're giving me proper Tomb Raider vibes, yeah?'
I pull her in for a hug. The braid is Lottie's work as we both realised at the airport that this humidity was going to kill our curls into frizz. God bless the teenager who learned how to braid on YouTube.
‘Are you sure it's here, Mum?' Dylan asks, peering out from his baseball cap. A stray dog weaves around the tables of this place and Lottie reaches down to pet him. Please be a healthy dog. Brian will have a field day if I bring Lottie back with rabies.
Who knows? But I've been following Jack's instructions to the letter. A small truck pulls up outside and a woman jumps out who looks vaguely familiar. We all stand up and head over.
‘Sarah?' I ask her.
‘Zoe' she says, a broad grin on her face. ‘And I know you! How are you, Dylan?'
She comes over to hug all of us. ‘This is bloody exciting. Jump in.' We all approach her truck. ‘Kids, just jump in the back, hold on to something. It's all a bit lawless when it comes to seat belts and the like.'
I'd like to say the kids are cautious and worried, but they jump in the back of that truck, Lottie with phone in hand to document this in its entirety. I get in the passenger seat, aware that Sarah is tracking my every move, certainly curious.
‘I have something for you, by the way,' I say, reaching into a zipped pocket in my bag, handing her a baby photo of little Daisy Rogers.
‘Oh, my days, the cuteness. Have you met her?' she asks me.
‘I have and the three of them are just gorgeous together. Mia and Ed are besotted.'
‘I can't believe our Ed is a daddy,' she says, holding a hand to her chest and putting the photo safely in her visor.
‘They send their love and Ed also sent three jars of Marmite.'
‘Which is why we all love Ed.' She turns to the back of the truck. ‘Kids, just hold on – it's a bit bumpy.'
She starts the engine and the truck crawls to a start, through this small town and onwards through forests and dirt roads. I love how the landscape changes almost immediately, palms stretching over valleys that extend for miles, and I smile to think of the different ways Jack would write about this in his letters. I feel the warm air against my face as the truck picks up speed. I turn to see Sarah smiling at me.
‘So you're the famous Zoe…'
‘Famous?' I question.
‘I've known Jack for over ten years, but I've never seen him write letters for anyone.'
It was a letter or postcard for every week he was away. Sometimes long sprawling notes telling me about his childhood, sometimes rude explicit fantasies written in some detail, sometimes a short note about his days. I read every one. I wrote back. I wasn't sure how much he wanted to read about me teaching maths in a greater London comprehensive, but I wrote back.
The landscape suddenly changes, and we stop at a large building with smaller houses in the canopies of the trees. I look back at the kids, still on the truck but fascinated by it all, heads leaning up to the bright blue sky, the heat bearing down on us. This ain't South London and I think that might be a very good thing for them. For me, though, it feels like much more. Like some sort of homecoming despite only having been here in letters.
‘You're here,' I hear a voice say as I get out of the truck. Just hearing his voice makes me smile, despite the heat and the fatigue and I turn to see him standing there, hands in his pockets, casual as ever in loose shorts, shirt sleeves rolled up, buttons not quite done up to reveal a bit of chest. He looks so incredibly well.
‘You have a beard,' I tell him.
‘Do I look like a pirate?' he asks, smiling.
‘It's giving me more castaway.' I walk over slowly, trying to dampen my excitement in front of the kids but as I walk into his arms, he pulls me close and kisses me gently and I swoon quietly to be back here, with him.
I lean my forehead against his. ‘Hey.'
‘Hey,' he says, his eyes shining. ‘And Lottie and Dylan?' he says, looking over to the kids as they climb out the back of the van, bags in tow. Dylan is the first to go up to him and shake Jack's hand. Lottie hangs back, her attention taken by something else.
‘Is that a wheelbarrow of monkeys?' she asks Jack.
I hope that's not the heat making her hallucinate but I peer around the van and true enough, it's a wheelbarrow of orangutans.
Sarah intervenes. ‘That would be a yes. These have all been rescued from destroyed habitats, some really baby ones. Want to come and feed them with me?'
‘Ummm, yeah? Of course. Nice to see you, Jack. Not being rude, but baby monkeys,' she says, pointing down to the wheelbarrow of bright orange fur and sweet baby eyes.
‘Not offended at all,' he says, laughing. ‘Good to have you here, too.'
‘Dylan, go with your sister. Make sure she doesn't steal one?' I ask.
Dylan rolls his eyes but does as he's told. He gives me one final look before he goes, though, a look to say that he's glad he's here, with us. I'm glad you're here, too, kid.
‘So those were my kids,' I tell Jack as they walk away.
He laughs. I look around, feeling the sun on my face and take in this place that my boyfriend calls home. Jack's gaze is fixed on me, his hands in his pockets. His complexion is dirty and tanned, my eyes taken by the curve of his legs in his shorts, the line of his jaw beyond his castaway pirate beard. I smile.
‘I can't believe we're here,' he says, looking me in the eye and it's some feeling to know he still wants to look at me like that.
‘Same.'
He holds out a hand and I take it, interlocking my fingers into his, as he leads me towards the buildings and the thick verdant forest of trees set against that blazing blue sky.
‘Let me show you around. You can meet everyone.'
‘Then?'
He arches an eyebrow at me. I wasn't thinking of that per se. But I laugh to see his expression.
‘Then we'll see what happens, Zoe,' he says, kissing my hand. ‘We've got all the time in the world.'
*
If you were swept away by Zoe and Jack's love story in Textbook Romance ,you'lladore KristenBailey'shilarious and uplifting rom-com Five Gold Rings .
Get it here, or read on for an exclusive extract!