This Way to Paradise (21 page)

‘Yeah, cool. Whenever.' And then I couldn't resist. ‘Hey . . . what birth sign are you?'

‘Aquarius. You?'

‘Gemini,' I said, and I couldn't help but grin because I know that they are both air signs and are really compatible.

‘Gemini. That's the sign of the twins, yeah?' asked Joe.

‘Or the schizophrenic. Depends on how you look at it.‘Then I stepped to my side, looked at the spot I'd just been in and said in a deep voice, ‘No, depends on how
you
look at it.' Then I stepped back where I'd just been and said in a high voice. ‘No, depends on how you look at it.'

Joe laughed. ‘You're mad,' he said. Suddenly he stopped
wheeling, put his hand on my arm and took a step towards me. As he looked into my eyes, I caught his scent, citrus clean, and I felt the butterfly flutter that I'd experienced the first time I'd seen him. He really did have beautiful eyes. Now that I was so close, I could see what an amazing colour they were – green with a circle of blue around the outside of the iris. I felt myself begin to blush. He smiled down at me and I closed my eyes and tilted my head up towards him. He was going to kiss me. I just knew it. It was then that I heard a familiar voice.

‘Kate! India!'

I opened my eyes and turned in the direction of the voice. There was Ethan, about a hundred yards away, pushing his way through the crowds, waving like mad.

I looked back at Joe, who shrugged and smiled. His eyes held mine and he leaned towards me again. I closed my eyes for a second time and waited for his lips to touch mine and . . . there they were. On my
forehead!
I opened my eyes and tried to hide my look of disappointment. I needn't have worried. Joe was looking at someone over my shoulder. I turned to look. A handsome man in his late forties at the end of the line was waving at him.

Joe jerked his chin in his direction and took a step back from me. ‘My dad,' he said.

I jerked my chin towards Ethan, who was giving Kate a hug. ‘My step-brother.'

Joe took another step back and we both burst out laughing.

And then we looked into each other's eyes for one last time and just for a moment, it felt like we were the only people in the airport and I knew that he was feeling the same as me. Without breaking his gaze, he stepped forward and touched my hand. ‘Later,' he said.

I thought I had never heard anything more romantic in my life.

‘Later,' I replied. I managed to keep my face cool, but inside a part of me was doing cartwheels.

Joe began to steer his trolley towards his dad. ‘I'll be in touch then, OK?'

‘OK,' I said. I couldn't wait to tell Erin the latest. That I am Queen of Cool. Oh yes. That I had had a proper conversation with Joe without me talking rubbish. That head lice and spilled yogurt were a thing of the past. And that we had done the eye magnet thing three times!

And then Joe was gone and Ethan had taken his place and swept me up in the Ruspoli bear-hug welcome.

‘You're very quiet, India,' said Ethan as we came off the M4 and headed towards Notting Hill. ‘You OK?'

‘Yeah. Fine,' I replied. Kate had nodded off again in the back of the car while Ethan and I had caught up on the latest. We'd swapped all the gossip and it was great to see him, it really was, but I couldn't help but feel disappointed that everyone hadn't come out to the airport to meet me, or Mum and Dylan at
least. I tried to shake the feeling off, but it was there at the back of my mind. I didn't say anything to Ethan though; I didn't want him to think that I didn't appreciate the fact that he'd come out to collect us.

The traffic was bad and London looked so grey and overcast after the light and sunshine of Skiathos. Everyone seemed to be in a rush, a mass of people earnestly going about their business. Watching them reminded me of something Sensei said in his last talk, which was that we have to learn to be human beings, instead of human doings who are always busy
doing
something and never stopping to just
be.
I made a mental note to make time to stop and be, by practising the meditation I'd been taught. To carry a little of what I'd learned in Greece into my London life.

After an hour, we finally drew up in front of the house and, a moment later, it started to rain.

Ethan told Kate and me to make a dash for the front door while he got our bags from the boot of the car. We did as we were told and, as soon as I stepped on to the porch, Mum flung open the door.

‘Kate,
India.
At last! I missed you so much,' she said as she drew me inside and gave me a huge hug.

All my disappointment that it had only been Ethan at the airport evaporated away when I looked over her shoulder. There they all were, in a line, standing and grinning like idiots. My posse of relatives: Lewis, Dylan, Jessica, Lara and Eleanor. The
adults seemed to be holding joss sticks or sparklers in their hands and, for some reason, the curtains in the hall were drawn which was strange because it was only five o'clock and still light outside.

Mum closed the door and Dylan went over to the light switch and turned it off, plunging the room into semi-darkness. He then scrabbled back towards the others.

‘In place, Dylan?' asked Lewis.

‘In place. And a one, a two, a three.'

Suddenly, four flames shot from four lighters and four hands lit the sparklers. Mum, Lewis, Jessica and Dylan frantically waved their sparklers in the air. At first I thought they'd all gone mad, then I realised that they were writing something – it looked like two or three letters each.

Seconds later, the words WELCOME HOME appeared in the dark.

The message hovered in the air in golden letters for a few moments, then faded away to nothing. I closed my eyes for a second and it was still written there, like a snapshot imprinted in my mind.

There was a knock at the door, Mum switched the light back on and Ethan came in with the bags. Then Kate and I were gathered up into a rugby scrum of family. Mum, Lewis, Jessica, Dylan and Ethan with Lara and Eleanor hugging our knees.

I was home.

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