Page 73 of The Christmas Express
Surprise coats her from head to toe and she blinks at me, shaking her head. ‘You have a daughter?’
I nod. ‘She’s a little sweetheart.’
‘Sara . . .’ Joss looks back at my phone, holding it tenderly in her hand, and keeps tapping the screen so the wallpaper photo of Dina stays bright and lit. ‘Congratulations. She’s amazing. She’s you. Why didn’t you tell us?’
‘I was scared of being too open with you all about the things that are most important to me, in case it all went away again. But I think we’ve all grown a bit, right? We can be friends without being in each other’s faces every day?’
Joss gazes back down at my phone, and I watch my friend, her face soft with love for this little person she doesn’t even know. ‘Can we meet her, though, one day? When you’re ready?’
My heart glitters. ‘I’d like that. Maybe you should come and visit me once this whole trip is out of the way?’
A smile crosses Joss’s face. ‘You’d let me?’
‘Of course. Besides, I like to try my hand at new business ideas and I’d love some input from someone who has some experience.’
Joss scoffs. ‘You don’t want to talk to me then.’
‘Yes, I do. You have experience. I can learn what not to do,’ I joke.
Chapter 39
Ember
Six words. Six words that rarely seem to indicate something you want to hear is on its way.
‘I need to tell you something,’ Alex says to me in front of a sky heavy with stars and a vista of deep snow and tall mountains.
‘What?’
‘Do you want to go inside?’
‘No,’ I cry. ‘I want to know what’s happening. Are you married? Do you not like me like that? Are you worried I’m going to try and move to Canada to be with you because I like you, but I just wanted to enjoy tonight and enjoy you and not think about the future.’
‘It’s none of those things.’
I raise my eyebrows at her. ‘If you don’t want to kiss me, just say so and I’ll go back in and warm up and tomorrow we don’t have to see each other ever again—’
‘I told you I was travelling to Vancouver to see family,’ she interrupts me.
‘Yes?’
‘I told you I have a sister. But I never told you her name.’ Alex shuffles, her mouth twitching. She breaks eye contact and looks away, out towards the mountains. ‘Her name is Ruby.’
‘Okay.’ I shrug. ‘What, is she made up or something?’
It’s only when she looks back at me, sadness shrouding her, that I realise what she’s saying.
‘Oh my God. Bryn’s fiancée?’
She doesn’t have to say anything else; I can read it all over her face.
‘Your sister is Bryn’s fiancée,’ I repeat to myself, and face the dark. I swallow through a dry mouth, try to steady my breathing, push down the sickness feeling. I have to hold the railing to stop myself from the weight of this pushing me to the ground. This must be why they call it a crush, because the emotions can be crushing.
‘Em, I don’t want you to think—’ Alex puts a hand on my back but I move away.
‘You know Bryn. You’re going to her wedding. You were . . .’ Oh, God. ‘You were just trying to . . . to distract me.’
‘No.’
