Page 118 of Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
“At least with my mum there, Glenda’s eccentricities don’t have the chance to take hold. We’ll probably come home to find Matilda and American Grandma wearing matching pearls and twinsets.”
“But it’s nice that they’re both so enthusiastic?” Nory ventured.
Andrew huffed. “I’d prepared myself for the challenges of raising a tiny human, but nobody told me about the perils of trying to contain two competitive grandmas.”
Nory was trying to get herself into the party zone, but it wasn’t easy. She had booked the work do at Brasserie Zédel, a rather marvelous Art Deco restaurant in Piccadilly. She’d told Ameerah she would meet them there, but her best friend and Dev—recently upgraded from man-Barbie to actual boyfriend—insisted on coming to call for her. Nory suspected this was so that she couldn’t feign an illness at the last minute, which she had considered. It was annoying when your friends knew you so well.
She had given up messaging Isaac. As desperate as she felt, she refused to torture herself further by watching the unread messages pile up. Whatever had begun to bloom between themhad been most assuredly stamped out of existence, and she would just have to face it.
The green velvet swing dress was suitably festive and flattered her body shape in all the right ways. Her hair was pulled into a loose chignon and her makeup was done, the thick liquid eyeliner accentuating her hooded eyes. To an outsider, she would look like a whole person and not the empty decorated shell she felt.
Her phone pinged with a message just as she was about to join Ameerah and Dev downstairs. Her heart leaped and then dropped like a stone when she saw who it was from.
Guy:I don’t blame you for ignoring my messages. I promise you I hate me more than you do. Camille knows everything—including about us. She’s thrown me out, and I don’t blame her. I’m getting counseling. I’m going to make it right, Nory. I’m going to make it right for everyone I’ve hurt, I promise. I’m sorry.
Nory looked up at the ceiling and took slow deep breaths. What did he expect from her? Forgiveness? She didn’t have enough emotional energy at the moment to spare any for Guy. She put her phone in her bag and pulled open the door to find Ameerah wild-eyed and slightly breathless.
“Hello, where’s Dev?” Nory asked, looking out into the hall.
“Downstairs. I told him I needed the toilet.”
“Oh, okay.” Nory stepped aside for her friend to pass into the flat.
Instead, Ameerah grabbed her by the shoulders, pushed her into the flat, and kicked the door shut with a Louboutin-booted foot. She forced Nory down onto the sofa and, still holding onto her shoulders, as though she might float away if she didn’t, she knelt before her friend, eyes wide, her breath coming in shallow little gasps.
“What the hell, Amie? Are you on the run or something? You haven’t been framed for a crime you didn’t commit, have you?”
“It’s worse than that.”
“What could be worse than that?”
“I’m in love with Dev!”
Nory laughed. “Oh, thank god you’ve finally realized. I thought I was going to have to perform an intervention.”
“This is not okay, Nory.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t know how to be in love! I’d only just gotten used to being in like-like. I’ve spent years training myself not to fall in love. I don’t know how I’m supposed to act. I can’t relax around him anymore. How am I supposed to behave?”
“Just behave like yourself.”
“That’s no help!”
Ameerah was becoming frantic.
“Does he know you’re in love with him?”
Ameerah’s eyes bulged with horror. “Of course he doesn’t know.”
“Well, don’t you think you should tell him? You might be able to relax a bit more if you tell him. Because I’m pretty sure he’s been in love with you for quite a while. It’ll be a relief to Dev that you feel the same way.”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Well, love is rarely planned. You can’t help who you fall in love with.”
Nory could feel the dull ache in her chest that had taken up residence since she’d left Hartmead.
