Page 83 of The Christmas Express
‘I’d think it’s awesome, of course,’ she whispers.
I can’t help the smile that sweeps over my face. I lean closer into her, a rush of love for my friend. ‘You don’t think it could cause problems, you know, for the group?’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’m talking about how last time, everything was amazing between the six of us, and then he and I got together and everything changed, and people got mad at us, and then each other, and then, well, you remember the rest.’
‘I don’t think history is going to repeat itself in that way.’
‘You don’t think it would . . . alter the dynamic? Irreparably?’
Bryn sits up and pulls me into a hug. ‘Is this what you’ve been thinking the whole time we’ve not been friends? That you and Luke finally boning each other caused the whole fallout?’
I pull back and look at her. ‘Didn’t it?’
‘No!’
Joss snorts in her sleep in the seat behind me, waking herself up. ‘Are we there yet? What are we talking about?’
Bryn turns in her seat. ‘Did you know Cali thinks she’s the reason we all got the hump with each other for five years?’
‘Vain, much?’ Joss says, then winks a sleepy eye at me.
‘Alright, we need to clear this up.’ Bryn reaches over and shoves Luke awake, then back, lightly smacking the knees of both Joe and Sara. When everyone’s alert and caught up, Bryn faces me, taking my hands in hers.
‘You think everything was daisies and roses right up until the holiday, specifically, when you told us you and Luke had become a couple.’
‘Right.’
‘That is not the case.’
I glance at the others in turn, and they nod. ‘It isn’t?’
‘I’m not saying we were arguing, but my God, we were a co-dependent little cohort in that house. Our lives were that friendship bubble, and only that friendship bubble. And it was lovely, for a long time, but I think I speak for all of us when I say we’d come to a standstill in our lives, so keen were we not to change a thing. But actually, we were ready to grow and move forward, and that’s not a bad thing. Even you.’
‘I didn’t want to grow,’ I grumble.
‘Then why did you finally make your move on Luke? Doesn’t that tell you something?’
‘Now hold on,’ I say. ‘He made a move on me . . . no . . . actually I did make the first move. Keep talking.’
‘Hey, I initiated the first kiss,’ Luke says, holding my gaze.
I smile at him, sweet thing. ‘That’s what you think.’
‘Why do you think Joe and I started that business?’ Joss interrupts.
‘Which Sara and Bryn invested in,’ chips in her brother.
‘ . . . And which then failed,’ adds Joss. ‘You don’t think that caused some of the tension?’
‘And I was applying for jobs outside of London,’ Sara pipes up, rolling her shoulders. ‘I would have moved out soon after the holiday anyway, even if what happened hadn’t happened.’
Bryn nods. ‘Same. I wanted more space. I might have stayed another year, perhaps, but no more. Of course, I wish we could have stayed friends, but I truly think we needed a bit of space from each other. Unfortunately, we let the tension rise too much, too fast, and that bit of space turned into a ridiculously long and petty silence. But,’ – she claps her hands together – ‘we’re here now, all together, and also, at your humble abode.”
The car crunches to a stop, the headlights beaming through the dark at a structure I can only describe as the type of place Airbnb advertises on their main page. It’s a gigantic cabin made of thick, gleaming wood, with billowing snow cascading over the lips of the roof and along the window ledges. Porch lights, surrounded by thousands of white Christmas lights, illuminate the front door, which has frosted glass panels and the biggest wreath I’ve ever seen. White ribbons tied onto the porch railings flutter in the soft night breeze.
‘We’re actually staying here?’ I can’t quite lift my jaw off the ground. The photos Bryn sent before we arrived didn’t even begin to do this place justice.
