‘Why is she being so shouty?’ Faye asks. ‘Can I vote no for clubbing? I might be up for a bar, but I do need to get some sleep this weekend.’
‘You can sleep when you’re dead,’ Zoya says, suddenly stopping on the street and turning around to face the rest of us. ‘Let’s make a pact right now, that whatever else changes in life – marriage, kids, careers, travel – we’ll always have this. We’ll always make time for each other. I want us to be having nights out like this in twenty, thirty, fifty years’ time.’
‘I already feel too old for nights like this. Can we do a nice pub lunch for my birthday?’ asks Faye. ‘Maybe a relaxing spa day.’
‘Fine, it’s not about where we go, it’s about prioritising each other, whatever else comes for us in life. Men come and go, but this’ – she moves a finger back and forth between us – ‘this is forever.’
‘Count me in,’ I say.
‘Me too,’ says Roisin.
‘Me three,’ says Faye, and we all huddle in for a group hug.
‘Right, seriously, Lucy – where are we going? Club, bar, macramé sex dungeon?’ Zoya asks.
‘Let’s find a karaoke bar,’ I say. ‘I’m in the mood to sing.’
If you enjoyed this book, please leave your review here!
Acknowledgements
Firstly, I need to acknowledge the multitude of classic films this book takes inspiration from; Big, 13 Going on 30, The Family Man and even Freaky Friday. (Wow, the 90s and early 2000s were a great period for cinema, weren’t they?) Rewatching these films got me thinking about life leaps – and wondering if the difference between being a young adult and being middle-aged isn’t just as marked as the leap from being a child to a grown up. I have always loved rom coms with a side of fantasy/magical realism, so once I’d imagined a time leap in the vein of 26 going on 42, it was an idea that just wouldn’t let go. So, thank you to nineties cinema for being so awesome, and yes, I am that woman who sits watching old films muttering to myself, ‘They just don’t make films like this any more. Sigh.’
I must thank my friends Natalie and Rids who are always such helpful early readers. I particularly loved the long conversations I had with you Rids about the logic of magic portals. It’s always good to talk to someone who LOVES time travel books when writing one, as they will pull you up on everything. We talked a lot about what happens in the future timeline when Lucy goes back. I said, ‘But does it matter?’ and Rids said, ‘Yes, it absolutely matters,’ and I conceded she was right. I had to know, even if Lucy never knows, even if it never appears in the book.
A thank you to my children R and B who inspired much of Felix’s conversation. They invented Pocket Day, and we still celebrate it today. Children really do come up with funnier things than I could ever invent, and I could easily have written about fifty more pages of Lucy and Felix chatting. Lucky for you, I didn’t. Thanks to my family for their continued support – especially my mother who still buys everyone she knows my books for Christmas.
Thank you to my editors Kim Atkins and Kate Dresser for holding my hand through rewrites and providing such brilliant notes. I love collaborating with you both. To my agent Clare Wallace, who is not only a fab agent, but also an inspiring friend. All my lovely writer friends, who make this crazy job less lonely and are such an uplifting and supportive community.
Finally, my biggest thank you must go to you, my wonderful readers – especially if this is the fourth book of mine you are reading. Honestly, your messages and posts about my writing mean the world to me. I know there are SO many great books out there, so a huge, heartfelt ‘thank you’ for choosing mine. This is the first book I’ve written that makes me cry every time I read the ending, so I hope some of that comes through in the reading experience. I also know that all these ‘live in the moment’, ‘it’s all the good part’, ‘value every day’ sentiments are easier said than done. So don’t beat yourself up if sometimes you just want to eat cheese toasties, watch Netflix and scroll Instagram. Me too. Meeee too.