The House Swap: An absolutely hilarious feel-good romance

by Jo Lovett

  Epilogue

  James

  James looked out from the stage at the sea of expectant faces below him, gave the mic a little tap, nodded at Bob and Ken in the band, did a big conducting motion with his arms towards the guests, and started singing, ‘Happy birthday to you.’

  Leila, the birthday girl, leaned out of her mother’s arms, made a grab for the mic and yelled ‘Dadadadada.’

  When everyone had finished singing and clapping, James spoke into the mic again. ‘Just so you know,’ he told them all. ‘Our daughter’s a genius. Not a lot of people take their first steps and say Dada on their first birthday.’

  While everyone cheered again, James felt in his pocket for the box.

  He was going to do it, right now. It was the perfect time, with all the people they loved the most here together in the marquee in the field.

  The box was there. Solid, square, Tiffany.

  He turned and looked at Cassie. She was busy planting kisses all over Leila’s face while Leila laughed and laughed. Could a man’s heart actually burst from happiness?

  He was going to go for it. He cleared his throat and people looked up.

  ‘So thank you, everyone, for being here. Thank you to all our friends on the island, obviously.’ He caught Laura’s eye, and Dina’s, and those of his fishing and poker buddies and grinned at them all. ‘And to everyone who’s flown over here from Scotland, and England, and France, and Jordan.’ A big cheer went up from the European and Middle Eastern contingents. Now was the time to say it. Ask them if they’d come again, maybe next summer, maybe around Leila’s second birthday, for a wedding. He looked at Cassie and imagined saying My wife and I. And then he imagined how awful it would be if she didn’t want to get married. She’d been adamant that they should take things slowly, apparently terrified that he’d leave her otherwise. Obviously having a baby and spending your whole time living together between the island and London was not in practice taking things slowly, but in theory they hadn’t made anything official. He felt the box again. Nope. He couldn’t go through with it. Stupidly high-risk strategy doing it in front of everyone. ‘Have a fantastic afternoon and evening,’ he told them all, and raised his glass. ‘To Leila.’

  ‘Are you okay?’ Cassie asked him when they got a moment together after they’d all had cake – a gigantic, sparkly caterpillar one, which had been pretty spectacular if James said so himself – while Ella was supervising her girls playing with their little cousin on the bouncy castle they had set up on the flat part of the field. ‘You seemed a bit distracted during your speech.’

  ‘Yep. All good.’ James hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

  ‘Okay. Great. If you’re sure.’

  ‘Yes. Really.’ That ring box was burning a hole in his pocket. He really didn’t have the courage to do it, though. Maybe it would end up sitting in a drawer in the house for the rest of time.

  Bob and Ken finished belting out Bruce Springsteen – they were men from a certain era and they liked to play music from that era – and switched to Jennifer Rush’s ‘The Power of Love’.

  James detached himself from Matt, Josh and the rest of their boisterous group and held his hand out to Cassie for a slow dance. He still got a new thrill, every single time, when he took her in his arms. He was so very certain that he’d feel like this for the rest of their lives. And he really wanted to marry her. And he was too much of a coward to tell her.

  ‘Got to love Bob and Ken,’ he said in her ear. ‘I’m pretty sure that this song was released in time for our first birthdays.’

  ‘I know. But everyone’s having a fab time.’ Cassie yawned.

  ‘You okay? Why don’t we go and sit down?’ It had been a lot of work organising this party and if he was honest Cassie had done more of it than he had. Plus they were juggling Leila and work, including their new ecotourism venture involving an island further down the coast. Not surprising that Cassie was tired. ‘Some stargazing?’

  They held hands walking across the field until they were sitting on the wall, pretty much exactly where they’d sat the night of Laura’s eightieth.

  James was about to point out Cassiopeia to Cassie when she nudged him, put her finger to her lips and pointed.

  Two joined-at-the-hips-and-at-the-lips figures were making their way across the field towards the tents. They fell over and rolled around laughing. And then one of them rolled on top of the other.

  ‘Eek,’ Cassie whispered. ‘I think we might be about to witness something very X-rated.’

  ‘Evening,’ James called.

  ‘Evening, mate.’ Josh stood up and heaved his companion up by her hand.

  ‘Good evening,’ Dina said.

  And then she pulled Josh inside one of the tents Cassie and James had set up near the bouncy castle for their guests to stay in, and Josh did the zip up.

  ‘I hope that’s Josh’s tent,’ Cassie said. ‘Oh my goodness.’ The tent was in no way soundproof.

  ‘Mate,’ yelled James. ‘Might as well be right next to us.’

  The tent shook a bit and Josh and Dina emerged.

  Cassie giggled as they disappeared off in the direction of Dina’s house.

  ‘Could be the start of a beautiful relationship,’ James said. ‘His divorce came through this week.’

  They sat very close together, arms round each other, and looked at the stars for a few minutes.

  ‘Remember Laura’s party?’ James said.

  ‘So embarrassing.’ Cassie snuggled further into him. ‘I was so drunk. Want to know a secret?’

  ‘Mmm.’ James was enjoying the snuggling. He was also thinking. He was pretty sure that she’d drunk nothing today. Which was unlike her. She liked a glass or two of wine.

  ‘I really wanted to kiss you that night.’ She angled her face up to his and he leaned down to her, loving the combination of familiarity and temptation as their lips met.

  He sat up suddenly and Cassie nearly fell off the wall and said, ‘Oh.’

  ‘Sorry. But are you…?’ Really, how to ask? But she was tired, and not drinking. They hadn’t been outstandingly careful. They’d basically relied on natural contraception from Cassie’s breastfeeding, and even when she’d stopped a couple of months ago and had a period they hadn’t really taken too many precautions.

  He saw in the moonlight that Cassie had squeezed her eyes shut. ‘If you mean am I pregnant, I think I might be,’ she said. ‘I need to do a test. I was thinking maybe do it tomorrow but I wanted to tell you before I did it but then I didn’t want to tell you in case you were either disappointed or happy at the outcome but then I did want to tell you because we should do it together. Shouldn’t we?’

  ‘Yes, we really should.’ He looked at her more closely. ‘What do you mean either disappointed or happy at the outcome?’

  ‘Well, do you want another baby?’

  ‘Yes.’ It was a really easy question to answer, as it turned out.

  ‘That’s a relief.’

  James nodded, still a bit stunned at the possible baby news.

  ‘I have a question for you,’ Cassie said.

  ‘Mmm?’ He shifted round a little so that he still had his arm round her but they were facing each other a bit more.

  ‘I’d like you to answer this immediately without thinking: five minutes ago, did you know that you wanted another baby? Immediate answer.’

  ‘No, I didn’t.’ Good question. ‘But now I do know. I really do. I love you and adore you and am definitely very excited at the thought that we might be pregnant again and if we aren’t I’d love the opportunity to spend a lot of time trying to make another baby.’

  ‘Good. I love you too. So much.’

  Okay. This was it. He was going to do it. He was going to go for it. Good job he still had the ring in his pocket.

  He fastened his fingers around the box and Cassie said, very fast, ‘James, I really love you and will you marry me?’

  What? He was just about to propose to her.

>   ‘I’m sorry?’

  Cassie looked down at the ground.

  ‘Oh my God,’ James said, panicked. ‘I didn’t mean I’m sorry in a bad way. I meant I’m sorry as in what did you just say, because…’ He had the box firmly in his hand now. He let go of her and knelt down on the grass in front of her and opened the box. ‘I would love to marry you, Cassie.’

  ‘Oh my goodness,’ she said. ‘Oh my goodness, James. Oh my goodness. We’re getting married.’ She leaned down and kissed him and he put his free arm round her waist, pulling her in towards him. He would never tire of holding her in his arms. He really wanted her to try the ring, though.

  He drew back for a moment, took her left hand and slid the ring onto her wedding finger.

  It fit her. Serious relief.

  ‘I love it,’ she said. ‘It’s beautiful.’ Clearly, she liked it. An even bigger relief.

  ‘Not as beautiful as you,’ James told her.

  And then they kissed and kissed under the stars.

  Did you fall head over heels for Cassie and James? Don’t miss Izzy and Sam’s story in The First Time We Met, another heart-warming romance that is sure to leave you smiling.

  Get it here!

  The First Time We Met

  What if you met The One on his wedding day?

  Izzy doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but when Sam walks into the cafe where she works one cold December morning, she knows without a doubt that he’s The One. Too bad Sam’s getting married. Today.

  Nearly a year later, Izzy still can’t stop thinking about Sam, the one that got away, but she knows it’s time to move on: he’s a married man and probably wouldn’t recognise her if he passed her on the street.

  But Sam has never forgotten Izzy, the funny, gorgeous woman who asked him out on his wedding day. If the timing had only been better, he knows they could have had something wonderful.

  When Izzy and Sam’s paths finally cross again, everything has changed. But with the Atlantic Ocean and decades of baggage between them, they are about to find out whether some obstacles are too big for even true love to overcome.

  An unforgettable love story about what happens when the stars finally align. Fans of One Day in December, The Day We Met and Jojo Moyes will fall head over heels for The First Time We Met.

  Get it here!

  Hear More from Jo

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  Books by Jo Lovett

  The House Swap

  The First Time We Met

  Available in Audio

  The First Time We Met (Available in the UK and in the US)

  A Letter from Jo

  Thank you so much for reading The House Swap. I really hope that you enjoyed it!

  If you did enjoy it, and would like to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

  Sign up here!

  I had a lot of fun writing Cassie and James’s story. I loved accompanying them as they changed from near-enemies to lovers, and exploring London and Hawk Egg Island with them. I also enjoyed following their journeys, beginning with Cassie’s desperation to start a family and James’s desperation not to… Trying for a baby is such a hugely emotive issue, shared by so many people in so many ways.

  I hope that the story made you smile or laugh, and that you loved Cassie, James and their friends and family as much as I did!

  If you enjoyed the story, I would be so pleased if you could leave a short review. I’d love to hear what you think.

  Thank you for reading.

  Love, Jo xx

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you so much to Bookouture – such a supportive group of people, both the team and the authors. I owe an enormous thank you again to my wonderful editor, Lucy Dauman. She’s extremely lovely to work with and everything she says makes incredible sense as soon as she says it (always in a very nice way!). Thank you so much also to Celine Kelly, Donna Hillyer, Sarah Hardy and Kim Nash and all the other in-house people who work so hard (a lot of above-and-beyond) to make every book as good as it can be.

  I owe big thanks to many of my friends, but a particular thank you to Nadine Gourgey – she knows why! Thank you also to my friend Ghadir, who’s cooked a lot of amazing hashweh for me over the years!

  And thank you as always to my family. My sister Liz is a fantastic best friend. My husband Charlie has got much better general knowledge than I have and has had the misfortune to be working from home since March last year, so I’ve asked him a lot of questions, because he’s so much easier to ask than Google. We’re in London and a lot of this book was written during various tiers and lockdowns, so I have to apologise to my children again for the fact that I’ve had a lot more interest in my characters than in their home-schooling. Thank you to all of you for being so understanding and for eating so much pasta again (still no time for actual cooking).

  We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.

  Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.

  We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.

  Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.

  Thank you.

  *As reported by the National Literacy Trust

  Published by Bookouture in 2021

  An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  www.bookouture.com

  Copyright © Jo Lovett, 2021

  Jo Lovett has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-80019-507-3

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.