by Sandy Barker
I love Josh. I love Josh. I love Josh.
And he loves me.
I wiped tears from my face with my napkin. “You know I love you too, right?”
“I had hoped.” We shared another smile, and I couldn’t believe it was possible to feel that happy—or that desperate to get a man naked.
“So, is now a good time to tell you that I packed a toothbrush in there?” I gestured towards my clutch.
“Oh yeah?” he replied, his eyes playful. God, he was sexy.
“Yep, and a clean pair of knickers.”
He grinned, then stood and reached for my hand. “Well then, let’s get outta here.”
Eight months later …
“Hellooo,” I call out.
We’re standing on the dock, each of us with our shoes in one hand and a backpack in the other.
A head pops up from below deck and I squeal, dropping everything on the dock. I scamper over the railing and climb onto the boat clumsily, almost slipping over as Siobhan and I throw our arms around each other and bounce up and down.
“Oh, my god! I can’t believe we’re here!” I exclaim.
She makes a noise that sounds a lot like, “Eeee,” but with an Irish accent. We pull apart and grin at each other.
“I know. I’ve been counting down the days for so long now. I actually started at a hundred and fifty. It drove my family mental” I laugh. God, I adore this woman.
“Josh!” she cries.
“Hey!” he calls back.
I realise I’ve abandoned him with the luggage, and carefully step back to the railing, taking first my backpack from him and then his. He climbs onto the boat, dropping our shoes on the deck.
“Hi Siobhan.” He envelops her in a big hug. “Great to see you.”
“You too! Joshivarah, back together again!” She lets him go just as Duncan climbs up on deck.
“Hey you two,” he says.
“Duncan! Hi!” I am grinning like an idiot.
Duncan and Josh do that man thing where they sort of shake hands and half hug, slapping each other on the back. Then Duncan grabs me in a bear hug and lifts me up, shaking me from side to side.
“Hey! She’s taken, you know,” jokes Josh.
Duncan puts me down. “Hah! Yeah, mate, so am I!” He holds up his left hand and a gold band glints in the bright sunlight.
“What?” I smack him playfully on the arm. “All those frigging emails and you didn’t tell us?”
“We wanted it to be a surprise,” says a voice I recognise.
“Gerry!” She climbs up onto the deck and we hug tightly. Then she hugs Josh and shows off her own rings, a white gold band and a simple solitaire diamond. Duncan looks more pleased with himself than I’ve ever seen him.
I’m reeling with excitement. These are some of my favourite people in the world, and we’re together for the next ten days to sail the Croatian coast.
“So, we’re just waiting on one other couple,” says Duncan. I kind of feel sorry for whoever they are, because there’s a lot of love amongst the five of us, and I hope they won’t be overwhelmed by it.
Just then, I hear another voice.
“Hey, Sez.” What? No! My mind can’t decide if it’s a trick or real, but when I turn around, Cat and Jean-Luc are standing on the dock.
I stand stock still, my mouth gaping.
“Surprise,” she says, grinning and throwing an arm into the air.
“Ahhh,” I yell, jumping up and down so vigorously, the boat starts to rock on its moorings. I pick my way carefully over to the railing and climb over, then ensconce my sister in a massive hug, nearly suffocating her. Her little arms wrap tightly around me and we bounce up and down.
“Did we surprise you?” she asks, her voice muffled by my shoulder.
I finally let her go, a sob escaping my throat.
“Yes, but how?” I seriously can’t believe she’s here. I last saw her and Jean-Luc at Christmastime in Sydney, but we’d barely got a chance to catch up before I flew off to Hawaii.
“Lots of emails.” she wipes a finger under each eye, laughing.
I finally tear my eyes from her and stare up at Jean-Luc. “I—” I’m still speechless and he leans down to kiss me on both cheeks.
“So, Sarah, we have, eh, pulled it off, the surprise, n’est-ce pas?”
“Uh, yeah, I’d say that’s a big fat yes. Oh, hey—” It suddenly dawns on me that I may be the only one who wasn’t expecting them, and I look at the tableau of people standing on the deck of the boat. Siobhan is clapping softly and bouncing on the spot, Gerry’s head is tilted as she beams at me, and Duncan and Josh share a look that I can only describe as “well pleased with themselves”.
“You all knew!”
“They did,” says Cat simply.
“But, how? How did you …?” I cannot finish a coherent thought.
“It was Josh’s idea.”
I look from my sister to my love, who shrugs his shoulders as though it’s nothing. But it isn’t nothing. It’s everything.
It’s the best surprise I’ve ever had.
I laugh with glee, touching my fingertips to my mouth, then wrap my arm around my sister’s shoulder. “Come on, then. And take your shoes off before you come on board.”
The tableau breaks and there’s a flurry of activity as Cat and Jean-Luc are welcomed onto the boat and officially meet Duncan, Gerry, and Siobhan.
I sidle up to Josh. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“I—thank you. I—”
“You don’t have to say anything more. You’re welcome.”
“I love you.”
“I know,” he deadpans, Han Solo to my Princess Leia. I roll my eyes and shake my head as his face breaks into a cheeky grin.
“Who’s up for cocktails?” calls Duncan, raising a plastic pitcher over his head.
Siobhan calls out, “Me!” and Duncan starts pouring into plastic cups.
“You ready for Duncan’s cocktails?” asks Josh in a low voice.
“Oh, god, no. Is anyone ever?”
Gerry hands us cups brimming with greenish-yellow liquid and I sniff mine. Hmm—like lemonade and paint thinner had a baby.
“To friends and family,” says Duncan, holding his cup aloft.
“To you,” says Josh in my ear.
“To us,” I say, tapping my cup against his. We share a smile, then I take a sip. Yep, exactly like lemonade and paint thinner had a baby.
THE END
Don’t miss Sandy’s next book The Christmas Swap, an uplifting and heart-warming Christmas novel. Get your copy here.
If you enjoyed A Sunset in Sydney be sure to follow Sandy Barker on Twitter @sandybarker, on Facebook @sandybarkerauthor, and check out their website at Sandbarker.com for all the updates on their latest work.
You can also find us at @0neMoreChapter_ on Twitter and @0neMoreChapter on Facebook where we’ll be shouting about all our new releases.
A Note from the Author and Acknowledgements
After finishing One Summer in Santorini, I knew I wanted Sarah’s story to continue and that she’d eventually extricate herself from her love triangle. What I didn’t know when I started writing this book was if she would end up with Josh or James—or even on her own, although being a hopeful romantic, that the last option was highly unlikely. And not just for Sarah’s sake but for my own.
I wrote most of this book while perched on a sun lounger in Bali—yes, really. It was Spring 2018, and I was on a year-long sabbatical, living in Bali with my partner and love, Ben. For readers who don’t know this, Ben and I met on a pier in Santorini just as we were about to embark on a ten-day sailing trip around the Cyclades Islands. If that story sounds familiar, its because our real life “meet cute” was the inspiration for One Summer in Santorini, although in reality, there was no silver fox (sorry “Team James”).
The sabbatical was Ben’s idea. And after some cajoling and reassurance that it would be amazing, I put on my big-girl knickers and we
quit our jobs, gave away a lot of our stuff, packed the rest into a storage cage, and bought a one-way ticket to the rest of the world, first stop Bali.
If it wasn’t for Ben’s bravery, support, and intrepid spirit I would not have gone on sabbatical and I wouldn’t have written this book (or That Night in Paris). You see, while on sabbatical I gave myself “permission” to be an author, to throw myself into writing, editing, and querying, and to seek out writing as a career.
So, a huge thank you to Ben.
You will have seen that this book is dedicated to my bestie, Lindsey, and there is an excellent reason for that. She is one of the most generous, loyal, big-hearted people I know, and she has championed my writing since the (very) early days when I was self-published and dreaming of something I never thought would actually happen. She’s the person who designed and ordered merchandise for my first book, who had my indie covers printed and framed, and who this past Christmas gifted me a pendant with “One Summer” written in silver. She has believed in me every step of the way, even when I didn’t, and she has never, ever given up on my dream.
Thank you, Lindsey. You are an exceptional human being and I am so grateful to have you, Sam, and Evie in my life—our Melbourne family.
As always, thank you to my parents, Lee, Ray, and Gail, my sister, Victoria, and the rest of my wonderful family. I am one of those lucky people who is actually close friends with my family members, and I so appreciate their love, guidance, and support.
Thank you to my dear friends who are scattered across Australia and the globe. Though we don’t get to catch up as often as I’d like, you are always in my heart and mind, and your incredible warmth, good humour, love, and brilliance fuel me. I am in awe of the talent, kindness, and cleverness you bring to this world, and it is all the better for having you in it.
To my author friends and colleagues, thank you. Thank you for welcoming me into the fold, for supporting me, and championing me, even though I have only met a handful of you in person. Thank you for trusting me with early versions of your masterpieces, and with your frustrations and triumphs.
Thank you especially to Julie Caplin, who provided the cover quote for my last book. Thank you also to Lynne Shelby, Emma Robinson, Mandy Baggot, Jenni Keer, Ella Hayes, Rachel Dove, Sue Moorcroft, Julie Houston, Kiley Dunbar, Daisy James, Lucy Coleman (Linn B Halton), Sarah Louise Smith, Ella Allbright (Nikki Moore), and Katie Ginger for being early readers and supporting my book babies. I am in awe that you would read my books, and I am so grateful to you.
A special shout out to Nina Kaye (Nina Kwiatkowski), Fiona Leitch, and Andie Newton. I love you gals, my fellow renegades, and I look forward to our daily chats. I know that you have my back, and I definitely have yours—your talented, generous, hilarious, clever, big-hearted backs.
Thank you to the incredible book bloggers and book lovers who support and shout out about my books, especially Rachel Gilbey, Anne Williams, and (fellow author) Anita Faulkner—I couldn’t do this without you. Thank you to the Romance Novelists’ Association, Romance Writers of Australia, Writers Victoria, the Australian Writers’ Centre, the Australian Romance Readers Association, the brilliant #UKRomChat authors, and the incredible #AusWriters.
As always, thank you to my incredible agent, Lina Langlee, the voice of reason, for your guidance and counsel and for championing me and my work, and to the incredible team at Kate Nash Literary Agency.
To my editor, Hannah Todd, thank you for always knowing exactly what will make my writing better and how to nudge me in the right direction, and to those at One More Chapter (and Avon) who support my authoring efforts, thank you—especially Molly Walker-Sharp and Bethan Morgan, and my incredibly talented cover artist, Lucy Bennett.
Lastly, thank you, dear reader. Thank you for travelling with me from wherever you are in the world. Stay safe, be well, and happy reading!
Also by Sandy Barker
One Summer in Santorini
That Night in Paris
A Sunset in Sydney
The Christmas Swap
About the Author
Sandy Barker is a writer, traveller and hopeful romantic with a lengthy bucket list. She loves exploring new places, outdoor adventures, and eating and drinking like a local when she travels, and many of her travel adventures have found homes in her novels. She’s also an avid reader, a film buff, a wine lover and a coffee snob.
@sandybarker
@sandybarkerauthor
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