Page 71 of One Day and Forever

Kara had managed to repair her friendship with her ex-fiancé, and their working relationship too. When she got back from Hawaii, they’d both sat down and talked honestly for the first time in way too long. When all the high tension and drama had been taken out of the equation, they’d both agreed that they’d been coasting for the last couple of years of their relationship and that the blowout, while painful, had actually been a sign that it wasn’t right. They’d run their course as a couple, but they’d both committed to the friends part. The fact that both their lives had got so much better since then was a definite sign that they’d done the right thing.

‘Dinner sounds good. Is Issy joining us?’ Issy. Josh’s lovely, funny, beautiful girlfriend of the last few months.

‘She is,’ he replied.

‘Great – see you then.’ With a cheery smile, she left the two of them to talk and made her way back through the stone corridors to the area of the academy that had been designated for the wardrobe department. Here they planned to teach design and every aspect of the creation of the costumes that would be worn in acting classes and academy shows. Kara had never been more excited or felt more creative in her work. It was a long way from the everyday street wardrobe that she’d managed in her job atThe Clydeside.

That seemed like such a long time ago, it was hard to believe it was only six months since she’d left. By the time she’d returned from a glorious week in Hawaii, her new contract was waiting for her. They’d offered her job back with a sizeableincrease in salary, and a sincere apology for the incident that had occurred on Hogmanay. Abigail Dunlop had personally met with her to talk the offer through, but in the end, Kara had declined. Like everything that had happened at that time, it felt like she was being somehow nudged onto a new path. She’d decided that it was time to find a role that would inspire her to work to the very edges of her creativity, and she’d found that in the most unexpected place. While she’d been contemplating returning toThe Clydeside, she’d taken a week-long trip to visit a friend, and while she was there, she’d heard that a new production in that city was looking for someone to head up their costume department. It was a historical spectacle to rivalDownton AbbeyandThe Gilded Age, and it was set in eighteenth-century Dublin society.

‘Have I told you how fricking gorgeous you are when you grin like that?’ The Irish accent still got her every time. As did the bloke who was sitting patiently in the corner of the room, looking over the latest batch of contracts and agreements that Calvin had dumped on his lap the minute he got here. Zac Corlan was of course offering his legal advice free of charge as a favour to his girlfriend’s best mate and his business partner.

Zac meant every word of what he’d just said and he still chose to believe that everything that had happened in the last six months was a result of his mum and Aunt Audrey, sitting on that cloud somewhere, rustling up a bit of divine intervention.

Kara getting the job in Dublin had been incredible, although they’d decided to take it slow and make sure that they got to know each other properly before jumping in to anything serious – a plan that had lasted about a month, before they both fessed up to being utterly in love with each other. She’d moved into his Dublin flat and every night since then had felt like the 2ndof January. Their jaunts to Glasgow every couple of weekends were brilliant too – Kara helped with getting the academy’s wardrobedepartment set up, he gave free legal advice, and it gave them a chance to spend time with his cousins, Jill and Hamish, and their families. Of course, they all loved her. As did…

‘Right, Kara, where do you want the lights in this room?’ His dad had a pencil behind his ear, a set of blueprints in his hand, and a twinkle in his eye that had been missing for the longest time after Mum died.

He’d stepped in to help Ollie and Calvin after Kara had told him they were struggling to get a top-tier project manager that could oversee the construction and deliver the academy renovation on time and in budget. Cillian had been running his own construction company for three decades, and he had a brilliant team back in Ireland, so he had been able to split his time between there and here for the last few months, working with local tradesmen to get this place into shape. As Zac watched his dad and Kara pore over the plans and mark out the locations for the lights, Zac could see he was loving every moment of the new challenge. He was also absolutely sure that his dad’s new work environment wasn’t the only reason that he had a renewed zest for life.

‘Found you! Oh my goodness, this place is like a maze.’ Alice gasped, as she came through the door. ‘It feels like we’ve walked for miles, but I think we might have been going in circles.’

‘I haven’t been able to feel ma feet for the last ten minutes,’ Val chirped in, and Alice wasn’t surprised. These stone floors were not made for furry mules.

Alice still felt a flush of bashfulness as Cillian greeted her with a hug and a kiss in front of everyone. The first time he’d kissed her had been in the bar that night at the airport. It had just been a brief but lovely exchange, probably fuelled by the courage of a few pints on his part, and a few gin and tonics on hers, but it had been enough to spark the start of something quite wonderful. Since then, she’d come up to Glasgow on someof the weekends that he was here and gone to Dublin for weekends there too. He’d also come to Reading a few times and he’d been a big hit with Rory and Sophie, who were absolutely delighted for them. As was the woman in the mules who was now taking her turn to hug Cillian.

‘All right, you big handsome devil. You know, I’d love you even if you weren’t a lovely big sod, because you give my pal an excuse to visit me.’

Alice greeted Kara with a kiss, but as she turned to Zac, she spotted a change in his expression as he realised that there was a third person with them. Alice immediately stepped in with the introductions.

‘Everyone, we want you to meet Sandra. She’s going to be working here one day a week, helping with admin, and maybe more than that once the academy is up and running properly.’

Sandra had finally called her from the Emergency Department of Glasgow Central hospital about a month after their January meeting at Larry’s house. Larry had put her there with a broken wrist and it had been one time too many. ‘I can get there tonight, Sandra,’ Alice had promised. It was the weekend, so she had two days off from her new job cleaning the local school. Enough time to get up to Glasgow and back if she caught the last flight that night. ‘But in the meantime, I’m going to call my friend, Bernadette, that I told you about. Hang tight and don’t leave until I get someone to you.’

She’d immediately called Bernadette, who, thankfully, was just about to clock on for her shift at the same hospital. Alice’s next call had been to Val, and by the time Alice made it to Glasgow that night, Sandra was out of hospital and what little belongings she had with her were in Val’s spare room. Over the next few weeks, long after Alice had returned down south, they’d all supported Sandra as she’d escaped Larry for good. Alice had helped her to get work cleaning at the council offices – one of thejobs Alice had left when she’d moved to Reading. Val had given her a place to stay and someone to listen. Bernadette had given her loads of encouragement and practical support. And Alice had called her every night to make sure she knew that people were rooting for her. If anyone thought it strange that she was helping the woman who’d been her husband’s mistress, Alice just reminded them that once upon a time she’d been trapped by Larry McLenn’s bullshit too.

Today was the last step in Sandra’s climb back to her old life. When she’d met Larry, she’d been the office manager in a busy taxi office. Now she’d be working here one day a week and hopefully that would lead to a full-time job that she’d love.

‘Right, well, Sandra and I will get off to go nab good seats at the press conference,’ Val announced.

‘We’ll come with you,’ Kara piped up. ‘I promised Ollie we’d sit in the front row ready to cause a diversion if any of the journalists try to go off course and ask questions about Sienna or about him and Casey.’

‘I’ll be two minutes,’ Cillian told them all. ‘Alice, why don’t you wait with me a second and walk round with me after I mark up these drawings?’

‘Of course,’ she agreed, not giving it a second thought.

The others left while he was scribbling with his pencil on the drawings, but as soon as they were gone, he stopped what he was doing and came towards her, then wrapped his arms around her waist. It had taken a while for her to get used to physical touch again, but now she welcomed it at every stolen opportunity. She’d been in an unhappy, cruel, loveless marriage for so long, it still stunned her that she’d found love again at this time in her life.

‘So, I’ve been thinking,’ he said between kisses. ‘This long-distance stuff, well, it’s not really working for me anymore.’

Wait, was he breaking up with her? Had she got this all wrong?

But no, if he was saying goodbye, his hands wouldn’t be stroking her back right now.

‘So what do you say we do this properly? You move to Dublin or I’ll move to Reading, and I’ll make whatever changes are needed at work to help that happen.’

She didn’t have to think about it.

‘I say yes,’ she replied. ‘To you, to us, to wherever we go, for as long as it takes.’

She meant every word, and as he picked her up and kissed her again. Somehow, she knew that her oldest friend, the much-missed Morag, would approve.