The Sweet Life (26 page)

Celia nodded. ‘I understand. Though I can’t promise Freddy and I will still be based in Rome when you decide to come back to us.’

She hugged Janey tightly. Em, Gabs and Ness descended on Janey and linked their arms through hers before the four girls waved their final goodbyes to Luca, Celia and Freddy and swept through the departure gate together.

‘What was the best bit about it all, do you think?’ said Em as they lined up to board their plane.

‘The food,’ sighed Gabs.

‘The accessories,’ said Ness, who’d almost been slapped with extra duty on her back-breakingly heavy luggage, but had managed to charm the ticketing officer into making an exception. Just this once.

The three of them looked over at Janey. ‘All of it,’ she declared mistily. ‘It’s just like Libby told Celia. It’s
Rome
. It’s practically spelt the same way as
romance
.’

She hugged the possibility of her brilliant future to herself and gave her friends an enormous smile. ‘But for now,’ she said, ‘let’s go home.’

About the Author

Rebecca Lim was born in Singapore, and grew up in Melbourne via a short, toddlerish stint in Warwick, Queensland. She has always loved reading everything from poetry and trashy thrillers straight through to cookbooks and Shakespeare. She is also an affirmed trash mag and fash mag hag, and hopes that her expensive habit has been adequately reflected in
The Sweet Life
.

Rebecca worked as a commercial lawyer for way longer than was sensible before leaving to write full-time. She is the author of the
Whiffy Newton
detective series, as well as a number of books for pre-schoolers.

She lives in Melbourne with her husband, son and daughter, and hopes to return to Rome one day without having to take a nappy bag or a stroller.