‘Home. I love the sound of that,’ she replied, and Lily could easily imagine the smile on Malie’s face as she spoke. Lily couldn’t wait until Malie was back in Hawke’s Cove. Her friend had travelled all over the world making a name for herself on the surfing circuit, before her godfather offered her a job in Hawaii teaching at a surfing school where she’d finally settled.

Then Malie had found the perfect guy – Todd – who didn’t try to tame her beautiful wildness, but instead complemented it, pacified some of the white-topped waves that made her a force of nature and gave her a safe harbour when she needed it. And they had decided to return to Hawke’s Cove and no one could be happier than Malie’s parents at the news, not even Lily. It had done wonders to chase away the shadows that had hung about them since the loss of their son Koa, who had died from cancer when Malie had been sixteen. It had been such a tough time for Malie and her parents, who had turned their grief into a need to protect Malie at all costs, not realizing that they were stifling her so much that Malie had seized the first chance she’d got to fly halfway round the world for her escape.

But soon she’d be back, and would re-open her parents’ old surfing business. She’d be coming home. It was everything Lily had always wanted. Her friends, back in Hawke’s Cove … And while Zoe was still in Sydney, focusing on her writing, the most that Lily could look forward to was having them all back for the wedding. If there was going to be a wedding.

‘Do you know why Henry said no to the wedding?’ Malie asked, bringing Lily back into the present.

‘No idea.’ Punch, punch, roll. The poor icing.

‘Maybe you should find out why?’ Zoe suggested. ‘Then perhaps you could change his mind?’

Lily pulled up short, the rolling pin hovering mid-air. ‘That’s not a bad idea.’

‘OK, it’s the beginning of an idea, let’s not get carried away,’ Zoe cautioned.

‘No, I think … I think it could work, right?’ Lily said, finally latching on to some plan of action after weeks and weeks of helplessness. ‘All I have to do is find out why and then change his mind, offer him something in return.’

‘Oh yeah? You planning to—’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. Just because you’re all having sex doesn’t mean that—’

‘Actually, it might really help take off some of the tension—’

‘I’m hanging up now!’ Lily cried before Malie could go into any further detail.