SEVENTEEN

Dani

‘Please, I beg you, please!’

‘For Christ’s sake no, Dani! I have a job too!’

We’re at dinner, and I am unsuccessfully begging Toby to take a few days off work and escort Mae to the Lambert Book Fair. It’s a relatively hard sell. I found an affordable hotel for them both to stay in only a street away from the convention, but it is hardly a holiday resort and Climping – where the book fair is held – doesn’t have all that much to offer as a holiday destination.

‘Come on, I will owe you big time!’

Toby scoffs and motions wildly to Mae who is sitting at the kitchen table, sat upright with her ankles crossed drinking lemonade like the time travelling gentle woman that she is.

‘You already owe me big time!’ he exclaims.

The pan on the stove starts to hiss and I pause the argument to stir the spaghetti mince. When I turn back to him, his arms are crossed and he’s wearing one of his infuriating expressions that somehow manages to dance between being a smirk and a frown.

‘Please. This could really solidify my career. I will be kicking off potentially a big branded series. I can’t… I can’t miss this opportunity.’

I see Toby’s eyes soften – and I’ve got him, I know I have.

‘Dani… it’s Climping,’ he whines.

Mae leans forward in her chair. ‘What’s Climping?’

Toby looks toward her and smiles. ‘A weird commuter city filled with boring corporate drones who gather to meet and the Bright Centre.’

I grab his forehead and kiss him. ‘And thanks to you, I will be one of those boring corporate drones!’

Mae half falls out of her chair – scandalized that I have kissed Toby’s forehead.

Toby shakes me off him and laughs, ‘Fine, fine! I’ll do it, but you have to promise me two things.’

‘You name it!’

‘You’ve got to introduce Elle to Mae, and you have to take me and Mae out for Dinner one of the nights of the fair.’

I nod. ‘I was planning on telling Elle anyway, and you guys will have your dinners paid for. That’s a promise.’

Toby lets out another scoff and eyes my spaghetti over my shoulder. ‘Hopefully it’ll be better than the sludge you’re planning on feeding us tonight.’

I roll my eyes, my brain already whirling with how to make the Lambert Book Fair work… how I can afford a carer for my father and thinking of what reservations I can make.

All of my thoughts skirt around just how much the book fair is going to cost me.