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She turned back to Eliza. ‘Ibiza.’
    ‘Ibiza?’ Eliza echoed.
    ‘You’re only young once. You know what they say—live your life to the full.’
    ‘You’re not wrong there, Ash. You go for it and live it for me too. Two kids kind of puts a stop to holidays in Ibiza,’ she added with a laugh.
    * * *
    That evening after work she went straight home to ring Rachel, Leon and Jules. First she rang Rachel who thought it was a fantastic idea and immediately jumped on the internet for cheap, last-minute deals, finding cheap weeks in clubbing resorts.
    Rachel then rang Jules, spending the best part of an hour trying to convince her to join them, but Jules explained that she had just come back from a hot city and did not fancy the sun, sea or sangria much. Meanwhile Ash rang Leon. Much to her disappointment he was less than enthusiastic about the whole thing. Ash’s excitement sank as she listened to the excuses coming from the receiver. She said nothing, just twiddled the phone cord around her fingers, making the right grunts, mmms and ahhs in the right places, pretending to understand when really she couldn’t understand why anyone would rather not go away to a hot island in the sun to eat, drink and dance.
    Putting down the phone to Leon, she said out loud to herself ‘Just me and Rachel then.’
    Turning to walk into the living room the phone rang and like a gunshot in the distance triggering a thought, she remembered Dave. She had just met a drop-dead gorgeous man and now was planning a holiday away.
    Oh God, what if that’s him ringing?
    The phone kept ringing.
    What do I say?
    She couldn’t invite him if it was just her and Rachel. Anyway she hadn’t known him long enough for a holiday with him. The phone rang on and she knew if she didn’t pick it up soon whoever it was would ring off. Snatching the receiver, Ash placed it to her ear warily.
    ‘Hello?’ Her heart was beating.
    ‘Hello Ash.’
    ‘Dave, hi, what a… nice surprise.’ Her heart was beating hard against her chest.
    Don’t say anything yet , she told herself. Nothing is set in stone, it’s only an idea. Just be normal.
    ‘How’s your day been?’ he asked.
    ‘Normal… you know, just normal.’
    ‘Just normal—hey, sounds good.’
    There was an awkward silence for a while. Ash tried to act as normal as possible but it was making her sound abnormal. She took a slow breath in, composed herself, pushed all thoughts of a girls’ party holiday out of the window and started again.
    ‘It was good. I had my normal lunch with Eliza.’
    God no, did I just say normal again? she thought, then carried on.
    ‘So what did you do today?’
    Ash relaxed after listening to Dave for a few minutes and completely forgot of any hot holiday thoughts. Once again she found herself drawn into his world and it was a feeling she loved.
    * * *
    A week went past, Rachel came over to Ash’s flat one evening to finalise holiday plans and they agreed to stay in San Miguel, a small port on the coast of Ibiza, leaving in three weeks’ time. Now she had to tell Dave but when?
    ‘Oh my God, we are so going Ash.’
    ‘I know just me and you, like old times. It’s a shame the others won’t come.’
    Rachel walked into Ash’s bedroom and pulled out a small floral dress.
    ‘If you take this one, can I wear it?’ She held the dresses up to herself, looking in the mirror.
    ‘I want to look sexy and elegant like you do, Ash.’
    ‘Only if I can wear your little light blue denim hot pants?’ Ash patted her bottom. ‘I want to look hot and sassy like you.’
    Rachel sat back on the bed and tilted her head in thought.
    ‘I’ve got an idea,’ she finally said. ‘Let’s take a day off work, put all our money together and go shopping for holiday clothes.’
    ‘Yeah, we could buy one massive suitcase to take together.’
    ‘Ah,’ Rachel faultered.
    ‘What’s up?’
    ‘How would we divide up the clothes once we got back?’
    ‘Oh yeah, I didn’t think of