Read Online Always With Love by Giovanna Fletcher - Free Book Online

perhaps, as my shoulders loosen and my body melts into the calmness, this should be something I do more often. Well, certainly allow myself a break now and then, in any case.
    ‘You looking forward to getting back into the kitchen tomorrow?’ asks Billy, who’s sat forwards on his sunlounger, watching the waves break and crash into foamy nothingness.
    ‘Of course I am,’ I grin.
    ‘You can take the girl out of the teashop, but you can’t take the teashop out of the girl,’ he laughs, glancing over at me.
    ‘Exactly,’ I smile back, proud that my love for the shop is so ingrained in my being. ‘What about you? Looking forward to your party?’
    Billy rolls his eyes as though dreading it.
    ‘Don’t give me that!’ I laugh. ‘I’m the shy and retiring one. You’re the people person.’
    ‘Do I have to be?’
    ‘It’s what you were born to do,’ I grin.
    ‘I’m not so sure … I’m out of practice.’
    ‘Don’t you think it’s funny that your mum’s not even hiding the fact that she’s throwing it especially for you?’ I ask, aware that I’ve heard Billy’s name mentioned a million times over the last few days.
    ‘She’s not really,’ he laughs, squinting back at me. ‘You heard the others – any excuse. I’m just providing the latest reason for her to be the hostess with the mostest. It’s not really about me. Just a chance for her to get out the posh crystal glasses that have been gathering dust.’
    ‘Right …’
    ‘Like we said, it’s not going to be a small gathering,’ he says adamantly, toying with his sunglasses between his fingers before putting them on. The dark lenses make him look every inch the Hollywood star who’s known by millions of teenage girls around the world. ‘Knowing Mum, she’ll want to turn it into the party of a lifetime. One that people will be telling their friends about.’
    ‘Really? Why?’
    ‘This is LA. Being talked about for the right reasons is extremely important.’
    ‘Right …’ I say, aware the calm feeling I’d finally welcomed is rapidly seeping away from me.
    ‘It’ll be lovely though. Just not small. Think big and fancy, then you won’t be too surprised.’
    ‘Well, I’m not sure how a Victoria sponge cake will sit within all that grandeur.’
    ‘Who cares? I’m going to love it!’ he exclaims as a waiter comes over with our lunch – two buckets of crispy fried calamari and chips. A complete over-indulgence on our behalf, but we are on holiday, and it is still Christmas … so we keep telling ourselves, anyway.
    ‘Your mum is so excited about it,’ I say, munching on a hot, salty chip, as an image of matriarch Julie carrying around a mammoth ‘to-do’ list in a notepad flickers across my memory from earlier.
    She’s a lady on a mission.
    Ever since Richard spilled the beans (we’d probably still be kept in the dark if it wasn’t for him), she’s been ticking off every minute detail from her list and barking out orders to get the things that aren’t done sorted.
    The poor staff.
    ‘She loves a party,’ Billy grins, shoving food into his mouth before wiping his hands on a blue cotton napkin.
    ‘Perhaps we should’ve stayed and helped?’ I say.
    ‘And done what? We’d have got in the way,’ Billy shrugs, clearly thankful not to be a part of the whirlwind his mum is creating. ‘Besides, you’re doing your bit tomorrow.’
    ‘You’re helping, too,’ I frown.
    ‘Of course,’ he smiles, reaching over and placing a reassuring hand on my calf.
    Having met Dee, I know that she’s every bit as lovely as Billy described her. The curvaceous and pint-sized Filipino lady is extremely friendly, hardworking and bubbly. So far I’ve not heard her complain once about the millions of extra chores being passed over to her. If anything, she seems to thrive on the chaos that Julie brings her way.
    I’m looking forward to showing her a few recipes, knowing that’ll she’ll pick them up with ease, but I’d still like