Page 52 of The Twelve Dates of Christmas
“No, I do,” said Sarah. “Because you mean the world to Matt and I know you care for him, and I don’t want you to think that because I’m not ready to do a pub quiz with my ex, it means I’m not ready to get serious with Matt. Because I am serious about Matt. I promise you. Matt is everything I’m looking for in a man and more.”
Kate looked at Sarah face on.
“I believe you,” she said. The seedling sprouted tendrils that inexplicably curled themselves around her heart.
They drove home. And when Kate flopped into bed that night, her heart felt a little heavier than it had when she’d set out that evening. There was a nagging pulling at Kate’s insides, like a kitten’s claw caught in fabric. The idea of Matt getting hurt made Kate’s breath catch. She rolled over in bed, pulling the duvet tightly round with her, but the feeling wouldn’t go away, and when she did fall asleep, her dreams were abundant with ghosts of lovers past and farcical encounters of her trying to go to the toilet in clear glass cubicles.
THE SEVENTH DATE OF CHRISTMAS
•••••
Hiking and Hickeys
“Eurgh!” said Laura. “Rather you than me.”
“Well,” said Kate. “You know me, I love a bit of nature.”
They were sitting at the back of the Blexford Manor tearooms. It was Laura’s lunch break and Kate had walked up to meet her. The tearoom was almost deserted; one elderly couple shared an Eccles cake and a pot of tea at the other end of the room.
The sound of hammering and a good deal of shouting could be heard from the courtyard, where the Christmas market stalls were being constructed for tomorrow. Then the tearoom would be full. Blexford Manor’s Christmas fair always pulled in a crowd.
Laura was wearing her uniform: a navy blue skirt and blazer with her name badge pinned on her lapel. Her hair was tied back into a loose but smart chignon. She cut quite a different figure from the harassed mother of two, with mad hair and sick down her top, who went by the same name the other three days of the week.
Laura bit lovingly into her toasted brie-and-cranberry panini.
“I swear to God I come to work for a break,” she said. “I get my foodmade for me. And my coffee. And nobody pulls on my legs or bites my nipples.”
Kate winced.
“I should hope not!”
Laura wasn’t listening.
“I’m going to have to give up breastfeeding,” she said. “Charley’s teeth are like little needles. It’s agony.”
“Laura, you’re putting me off my lunch,” said Kate.
“Sorry,” said Laura. She took another bite of her lunch and moaned with delight. “Maybe I should come back to work full time.”
“You’d miss the kids too much,” said Kate.
“Maybe,” Laura mused. “So anyway, how come you’re hiking? I thought you were down for laser tag on this one.”
“I was,” said Kate. “But I emailed the rep and she said that Oliver was down for laser tag too. So I swapped.”
Laura pulled a sad face.
“But you really liked him,” she said.
“But he’s still hung up on Sarah,” said Kate. “The whole idea is just way too complicated. And you have to admit it’s a bit icky: me with Sarah’s ex-fiancé.”
“Love weaves its magic in mysterious ways,” said Laura, fluttering her hands in front of Kate’s as though she might pull a stream of colored hankies from her sleeve.
“Yeah, well, I think I’ll leave this mystery alone,” said Kate.
“Not even for a bit of fun?” said Laura, making obscene gestures with her hands. “It’s been a while, Kate. He could brush away the cobwebs for you!”
“Laura, you have no boundaries at the dinner table.”
