Page 120 of The Naughty List

How can I focus on the menu? I look him right in the eyes.

“You’re giving me thirty thousand pounds? Just for turning up here today?”

“Straight in your bank account, if you’ll let me.”

“But I don’t deserve that. I only came to help.”

“And that says a lot.”

“Not enough for thirty grand!”

He looks over at the waiting staff, and I curse myself. I need to keep my volume down.

“Plenty enough for thirty grand,” he says. “But please, do keep this between us. This has nothing to do with the agency. I’m a newbie myself. I only joined last week.”

I stumble through giving him my bank details once we’ve ordered dinner, but my stomach is churning so bad, I feel sick. He’s going to give me thirty grand, just like that. And I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say, but he helps with that. He asks about me and my life, and my journey here, and how I made the transition to being an entertainer. He tells me about himself, and his own journey through life in London, and how he was in the same situation as I’d been, many years ago, struggling until he found his route into commercial retail.

User 5639 is quite something. He’s one hell of a man.

We finish up our meal at the allotted time, once we’ve finished talking. I’ve been with him three hours and I’ve barely even noticed the hours flash by.

He stands up and kisses my cheek as we say our farewell.

“Please do keep being yourself, Holly,” he says. “Who knows? Maybe we will meet again under different circumstances.”

I stumble away, with a stream of thank yous – checking my account on the escalator down, and sure enough, my balance has changed. Thirty grand extra, right there.

I just can’t…

I go to the nearest ATM, and withdraw everything I can, hundreds after hundreds after hundreds in different transactions until I reach mytake outlimit, and then I race outside, up and down the street, handing out wedges of cash to the people who need it. I see a woman collecting for charity across the road, and I stuff a load of notes in her collection tin, and I look for more people struggling, handing money out to everyone I can. Women, men, people standing in crappy coats, some on the floor wrapped up in sleeping bags, it doesn’t matter – I give some to everyone, and it hits me in the heart to see the joy on people’s faces. I hand out the cash until it’s all gone. And I’ll do it again. I know I will. I’ll keep being generous, keep being kind, keep doing my best to help other people, just like User 5639 does. Maybe it’ll be me helping him in the grotto next year. It would be an honour to be his little helper.

When I’m done with giving out the cash, I stand with my back to the wall beside a general store with tears in my eyes and such in joy my heart that I’ve never felt before.

When I look up, I see that the store offers cashback on purchases, and I’m grinning like crazy, realising that I’m not done just yet. So, in I go. I load up on purchases. Sandwiches, chocolates, pastries, anything that will fit in my shopping basket.

Then fuck it, I walk down more streets, dishing out sandwiches, chocolates, pastries and cash to the people who need help.

Thank you,Santa, and thank heaven for my good fortune.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Epilogue

“Fancy another sausage, sweetheart?”

I hold back a laugh as I look over at Dad, standing proudly at the barbeque. I’m messaging Josh about sausages right now. Not the kind you have with onions and ketchup in a roll, though…

“Yes, please, Dad. I’d love one.”

The summer sun beats down as I lie happily on the lounger with Mum beside me, thinking how weird it is to be having barbecued sausages for Christmas lunch. And how weird to be basking in the sun in my bikini, with surfers out on the water. So much better than the chilly London streets.

“Come on, then. Who is he, this new guy?” Mum asks, and I turn my head to her.

“What do you mean?”

She nods towards my phone. “You can’t fool me, Ells. You’re grinning like you did over Connor whenever he used to show up at the door.”

God, that was years ago.

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