Always Alchemy: The Ever After Book (Alchemy #6)

23. The Spa-ctacular Sisterhood

23

THE SPA-CTACULAR SISTERHOOD

MADDY

‘ I s it weird that we had a couples massage with each other instead of our husbands?’ I ask Belle. We’re lying out in a small, sunny courtyard that’s exclusive to the resort’s spa, both relaxed and glowing from our treatments.

‘Nah. It’d be weird if the boys had one together, but not us. Anyway, I wanted to be able to fall asleep and drool without worrying about whether I’d look attractive.’

‘You snored, too,’ I tell her.

‘I’m pregnant. Leave me alone.’

‘You’re three months pregnant. Not enough to justify snoring. Did Darcy snore, Nat?’

Nat and Darcy have just had their couples massage, as have Aida and Gen. We all grin at each other in smug satisfaction from our loungers in this lovely little sun trap. This is the life. No husbands. No kids. Just the girls.

‘Like a warthog,’ Nat says cheerfully, and we giggle .

‘I passed out so hard. They put me on one of those pregnant-lady beds with a hole for my face and one for my belly. It was epic.’

‘Yeah, but you’re seven months gone,’ I say. ‘Snoring is allowed.’

‘You’re giving me my first nephew,’ Belle says. ‘Everything is forgiven.’

I sit bolt upright and look at her in outrage. She waves a dismissive hand.

‘Relax. My first blood nephew. Jonny’s the OG, obvs.’

I collapse down against my lovely mattress. ‘I’m a little jealous that you guys have enforced sobriety. I feel like shit.’

‘That Whispering Angel was going down far too well last night,’ Gen says.

‘It’s lethal,’ Aida agrees. ‘Drinking it feels like drinking water.’

‘The sobriety stuff is fun,’ Darcy says, ‘except when everyone else is drunk. Like tonight. By the time we get to ten o’clock I’ll just want to escape to bed and avoid all the boring, repetitive drunks.’

‘Do it,’ I tell her. ‘That’s why we made a weekend of it—it’s not just about this evening. And if anyone calls you out tomorrow, just tell them you were there the whole evening. They’ll never remember whether you were or not.’

As she laughs, the door opens, and Athena comes out. Like us, she’s in the spa’s signature white fluffy robe and slippers. I don’t know Athena well at all, but I have a definite girl crush. She is gorgeous. The boys are close to her husband Gabe, who is hot as fuck. They know him through Adam, I think. Or Anton. Or both, maybe? I know Nat’s grown close to her, and Darcy has hung out with her a fair bit, too, but I haven’t had too many interactions with her .

My only real knowledge of her is that she was Anton’s assistant back in the day, that she was shagging him, and she was a part of that orgy in his office. She’s young, though. Probably around the same age as me and Belle.

‘Hey,’ Gen says warmly. ‘Come and have a seat.’ She points to the empty lounger next to her.

Athena hesitates. ‘Are you sure? I don’t want to interrupt.’

‘Of course! Come and chill out. It’s lovely out here,’ Gen insists. She does a quick round of introductions as Athena drops elegantly down onto the lounger, though we all know her to say hi to.

‘Did you get a facial?’ I ask her, because her face looks all glowy and gorgeous.

‘Yeah,’ she says with a sigh. ‘It was so heavenly. I wouldn’t let my therapist do any extraction—I wanted all of the bliss and none of the pain.’

‘Now I wish I’d had a facial,’ I say with a pout. ‘It was so hard to choose. Though my couple’s massage with Belle was very erotic.’

Everybody laughs.

‘I can highly recommend it,’ Athena says, raising her glass of cucumber water to her mouth. ‘And, obviously, I went and bought all the products afterwards. They all smell so good.’

‘They’re incredible,’ Belle agrees with a decadent stretch, raising her arms above her head. ‘Evelyn Macleod is such a great businesswoman.’

‘If you get a chance to meet her husband, do it,’ Gen says. ‘He runs the farm here—he’s the guy responsible for turning the entire place over to biodynamics. Very sweet, very attractive. Angus, his name is. He’s usually on a tractor. ’

‘There’s something about a farmer,’ Aida sighs. ‘Am I right? I bet he has a tonne of integrity.’

‘Yeah, having your man come in from his hard toil in the fields all day…’ I muse. ‘I could handle that.’

‘And yet you went for a spreadsheet freak,’ Darcy observes.

I hug myself. ‘My man is definitely a freak in the sheets.’

‘And Gabe used to be a priest, right?’ Belle asks Athena. ‘What’s that like? I’d never be able to tell from looking at him.’

‘Belle asks this,’ Nat tells Athena, ‘from the perspective of someone who has the biggest raging priest kink anyone has ever had in the history of mankind. Rafe put that confessional in the Alchemy basement specially for her.’

‘And for that, I thank you,’ Athena deadpans, and we all scream with laughter.

‘Wait, have you guys actually used it?’ Belle asks. She groans. ‘Oh my God. You’ve used it with a guy who was actually a priest. I’m so jealous.’

Aida is laughing so hard she can barely breathe. ‘Catholics are so fucking weird.’

‘He’s definitely convincing,’ Athena says with a secret smile.

‘Gabe is way too diabolical looking to have been a priest,’ Nat claims. ‘I thought that the moment I met him.’

‘I totally agree,’ Athena says. ‘That’s why he’s perfect.’

There’s a chorus of gooey ahhhs and then I ask, ‘How did you guys meet? You work with him, right?’

Athena and Gen exchange a look that I’m not quite clear on.

‘That’s right,’ Athena says.

‘Wow,’ I muse aloud. ‘You get some hot bosses. What’s your secret? ’

Before she can answer, Gen says, ‘The woman has an MBA from the Sorbonne, speaks four languages and is bloody good at what she does. I’m not sure she needs a secret. Gabe called Anton up and practically begged him to put a good word in with Athena.’ She gives me the slightest shake of her head, like leave it alone.

‘Fair enough,’ I say, giving Athena a wink. ‘Sounds like Gabe’s the lucky one.’

She gives me a self-deprecating smile, but I could swear the smile she then turns on Gen is drenched in gratitude.

Weird.

‘I want to live here,’ I sigh as Zach and I stroll along the path from our beautiful cottage, The Dovecote, through the gardens of Sorrel Farm to the Main Barn. He laughs and kisses the top of my head as he squeezes my hand.

‘It’s charming, that’s for sure. But I don’t really see you mucking out pigs, sweetheart.’

‘Who said anything about mucking out? We’d have staff for that.’

‘Our new name for Mads is officially Lady Muck,’ he tells the girls.

It’s one of those June evenings that make you believe England is the most beautiful place on the planet. The flowers here are heaven. I bet it’s equally gorgeous in autumn, and I’ve heard it’s magical at Christmas, too.

‘Are you happy? Are you enjoying your birthday celebrations?’ I ask him.

He pauses for a second and gazes down at me, and I shiver, because when Zach French really looks at you, it’s something else .

‘I couldn’t possibly be happier. Here I am, with my beautiful wife and my beautiful daughters, about to spend the evening with all the people I love most in the world. I am a very, very happy man.’ He bends and brushes a kiss over my lips.

‘Except Jonny,’ Nancy points out.

‘Except Jonny,’ he agrees. ‘That kid will sleep like a rock tonight, mark my words.’

I expect he’s right. Jonny had an absolute ball today. He’ll have a quiet bath with Ruth and be perfectly happy.

‘You look gorgeous,’ I tell Stella and Nancy. ‘Both of you.’

They really do. Zach and Claire gave these two seriously good genes. They both have an early summer tan, thanks to our cheeky week in Majorca last month during their mid-term break. Nancy’s retained her dark curls, but they’re way better groomed these days, and Stella will be a real heartbreaker. At fourteen, she’s leggy as hell, toned from her rigorous football schedule, and golden-blonde. As with her mother, the combination of that hair with her dark eyes is downright gorgeous. Both the girls are in silver sequinned dresses from some teenager-focused shop on the Kings Road.

‘No need for disco balls tonight,’ Nancy says, stopping to do a twirl on the pathway.

‘I’ll need you two when I break out my dad dancing moves later,’ Zach warns, and they groan right on cue.

‘No, Dad, please,’ Stella pleads.

‘It’s my fortieth. When Dancing in the Dark comes on, my feet will move of their own accord and drag me right into the middle of the dance floor. I’ll be powerless to help it.’

Zach’s actually a great dancer. Boy’s got serious rhythm, but I can’t help but laugh at the horror on the girls’ faces. Parental embarrassment is alive and well in the French household.

‘You can hang with the young people,’ I say, uncomfortably aware that I sound like an ancient youth camp counsellor or something.

‘They’re idiots,’ Stella says mutinously.

‘What about Cal and Aida’s boys? They seem like nice kids?’

‘Kit is like, a total showoff,’ Nancy pipes up. She’s outgrown her lisp—that bitch, Frances, was wrong about her needing speech therapy. ‘He keeps asking Stella to do keepy-uppy competitions with him, and she keeps beating him. It’s just embarrassing.’

Zach and I glance at each other and grin.

‘He’s a perfect example of toxic masculinity,’ Stella says, and I feel my husband’s hand shake with barely-controlled mirth against mine.

‘I can’t imagine Cal would stand for that,’ I protest. ‘I’m sure he’s just being competitive, though I’m absolutely thrilled that Stel’s been thrashing him. What about Pip? He seems so sweet!’

‘He stares at me too much,’ Stella tells us. ‘It’s weird. And he’s boring. All he wants to talk about is the environment. He and Sam—that’s Evelyn and Angus’ son—have been hanging around with Angus all day looking at manure or something. He’s way too geeky.’

Maybe Pip has a little crush on Stella. How sweet! In an uncharacteristically diplomatic move, I keep my lips sealed. If I even suggested it, she’d go nuts. Her only interest in boys revolves around their football skills.

‘Maybe you’d learn something from him,’ Zach says mildly, ‘if you just gave the poor kid a chance rather than writing him off first shot you get. He strikes me as shy. You girls have strong characters—you can be quite intimidating, you know, especially to someone who’s more introverted. I say make an effort.’

The eye roll Stella gives him leaves no room for doubt as to her thoughts on the wisdom of that particular piece of advice.