An Italian Dream

1

STELLA

Stella Shaw had a secret. More than one, actually, but this secret was monumental and exciting, despite her nervousness that it was also new and daunting. Things like this didn’t happen to someone like her.

She’d been building up to this moment for weeks, going through a whole gamut of emotions, wanting to tell her best friend her news. And now, if it wasn’t for the warm bubbling water in the hot tub, her palms would be sweating like crazy.

Fern was looking content, resting back against the side of the tub, gazing up at the night sky. Stella couldn’t help but smile at Fern in her bobble hat and bikini, the water glowing azure blue around them as the steam rising into the chilly air was snatched away by the darkness.

A spa weekend at Aqua Sana in Wiltshire had been a ruse for them to spend time together – Stella’s treat. She’d said she’d won the weekend, but that wasn’t the full truth. Fern had happily gone along with it; it wasn’t as if she treated herself often.

Stella steadied her breathing and gazed up at the lights in the surrounding pine trees twinkling like hundreds of dancing fireflies. A short distance away, along a lit wooden walkway, the Forest Spa glowed invitingly. Apart from the nerves, she was feeling properly relaxed. She turned her focus to Fern.

‘I need to tell you something.’

Fern looked across the hot tub and frowned. ‘OMG, you’re not pregnant, are you?’

‘What? No. As if!’

‘Just checking.’

‘I am so done with having kids.’ Stella gave Fern a knowing look. ‘And I’m not engaged either. I promise.’

‘Okay then…’ Fern said slowly, her beautiful blue eyes fixing on Stella’s face. ‘I’m out of guesses.’

Stella took a deep breath and released a foggy plume into the January evening. ‘I bought a Lottery ticket on a whim. I’d had a knockout appraisal at work and got a bottle of prosecco and a ticket on the way home to celebrate. Turns out I got pretty lucky.’ At the fluttering in her chest, she breathed deeply again. ‘And won.’

‘Are you serious?’ Fern bobbed upright in the water. ‘How much?’

‘A million.’

‘You’ve won a million?’

Stella laughed at Fern’s high-pitched exclamation and nodded. ‘I really have. I’ve won a million on the National Lottery. Well, a bit more than that actually.’

Fern squealed with delight and threw her arms around Stella, the movement splashing water over the side of the hot tub.

‘This is amazing!’ Fern released Stella and readjusted her bobble hat.

‘It sounds crazy, I know, but I just didn’t know how to tell you.’ They’d been best friends since the start of secondary school and had gone through so much together. Apart from Stella’s eighteen-year-old daughter, Chloe, Fern was the only person she trusted with the news. Not her sister and certainly not her parents, not that she saw much of them anyway.

‘This is what the spa weekend has been all about?’

Stella nodded. ‘I wanted us to do something special.’

‘I’m over the moon for you.’ Fern squealed again and looked at Stella with a mix of wonder and shock. ‘It’s a lot to take in though.’

‘Tell me about it!’

Fern shook her head. ‘What are you going to do with a million pounds?’

Stella rested her arms along the edge of the hot tub and looked at Fern thoughtfully. ‘I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Well, how to spend some of the money. It’s a huge responsibility and I want to make good choices.’

‘Hold on.’ Fern frowned. ‘When did you actually win?’

‘October. Well, that’s when I claimed it. I didn’t realise I had a winning ticket for nearly four weeks.’

‘How on earth have you kept this to yourself?’