The Twelve Dates of Christmas (27 page)

‘I want to, it’s a thank you for letting us stay over, and because I don’t have any pressies with me to give out.’

‘Fine, then as part of the thank you we command you to slide down a hill on a baking tray.’ Claudia pulled on her coat over her pyjamas.

‘Aren’t you getting dressed first?’ Joe asked.

Claudia popped a Chocolate Orange segment in her mouth and headed for the door. ‘Nope, it’s Christmas Day. Can’t be bothered.’

It wasn’t until she stepped outside that Claudia remembered Seth.

‘I just remembered Seth,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘We don’t want him here today, do we?’ There was a rousing chorus of ‘no’s and a growl from Flippers, whose lower body was buried in snow. ‘Right, could one of you call a taxi and I’ll go get him up and send him on his way.’

‘Tell him he’s an absolute idiot for letting you go, but I’m very glad he did,’ said Christine, flushing pink.

‘Tell him if he ever steps foot in my house again I’ll make sure he has
no
friends left, on and off Facebook,’ Joe added.

Then Nick said, ‘And tell him he’s got crap hair and I’ve always thought he’s a dick. Sorry mum.’

‘Oooh, he’s such a dick with a teeny tiny dick!’ Christine clenched her fists.

‘Christine!’ laughed Claudia. ‘I’ll tell him all those things. Back in a mo; save a ride for me.’

Claudia went up the stairs two at a time. She thought back over the last few weeks, at how much had changed. How nervous she had been approaching Seth for a confrontation that night of their date. Even when they first arrived in Frostwood she was afraid of sending Seth home to a Christmas on his own, before he threw it in her face with his behaviour at the wedding. Now she felt nothing but eagerness: he was nothing more than a bug on the windscreen that she was looking forward to washing off.

She threw open the spare-room door and Seth shot up in bed, fully clothed, and immediately gripped his head.

‘Bloody hell, did you pick-axe my head last night? It feels awful.’

‘Nope,’ she said, opening the curtains and picking up his duffel bag. She unzipped it and started chucking his clothes in. ‘Didn’t give you so much as a passing thought last night, to be honest.’

‘What are you doing, hon?’

‘Just helping you pack.’

‘Why?’ It never took Seth long to bore of a conversation, and he was already reaching for his phone. He frowned at the screen. ‘I’ve been popular overnight – got about a million Facebook notifications.’

‘You’re leaving.’

Seth yawned and scratched his balls, still scrolling through his phone. ‘Why? Isn’t it Christmas Day? Did I sleep right through it? Hmm. People have said some very un-Christmassy things to me on here. Not much Christmas spirit …’

‘It is Christmas Day. Merry Christmas. Get out.’

Finally he put down his phone. ‘What have I done now?’

‘I know about the bridesmaid, I know about the other girls on Facebook—’ She held up her hands as he started to protest. ‘Listen to me. I’m not asking for explanations, or excuses, or apologies; believe me when I say I’m not asking for anything from you any more. It’s finally okay that you don’t care, because I don’t care either.’

‘But I want to be your boyfriend,’ Seth sulked, rubbing his head.

‘Boo-hoo.’ She zipped up the bag and pulled back the covers. ‘Bye then.’

She went back down the stairs with Seth close behind, blabbering something that was pretty much white noise. As they exited the house a large snowball zoomed past her and landed with a wallop in Seth’s face. Claudia studied three guilty faces, and then spotted Christine brushing the snow from her gloves.

‘
Bloody hell
,’ Seth fumed. He wiped his eyes and glared at the four of them. ‘Oh, of course you’re here,’ he snarled at Nick.

‘I was always here,’ he laughed. ‘Just waiting for you to cock it up.’

The taxi rolled up outside the house and Seth stamped over to it. He climbed in and miserably got his phone out. As the taxi pulled away Claudia saw realisation dawn and the expression on his face be transformed to mortification, and then rage as he looked back at them out of the window. Joe gave him a thumbs-up.

Christine got so into baking tray-sledding that after getting into a heated race with a child from across the road she had to be coaxed back inside with the promise of a glass of port and first pickings of the chocolates hidden on the Christmas tree.

Once back in the house Joe put on his triple CD of Christmas music and Christine went back to cooking what was sure to be a stonking Christmas lunch.

Claudia excused herself and went to warm her legs by the crackling log fire that Joe had been up early lighting. She dialled Penny, who answered the phone laughing her head off.

‘Claud!’ she cried, between giggles. ‘Happy Chrimbo!’

‘And to you. Are you having a good day?’

‘The best – Billy is hilarious, everyone loves him.’ Claudia beamed inside. Penny hadn’t sounded this happy, this content, for a long time. She asked, ‘How about you?’

‘Really good. Seth’s gone. Nick’s still here. Let’s have a Boxing Day coffee? No cake, though.’

‘Ha! That would be perfect – we have so much to catch up on; I won’t have seen you for a whole twenty-four hours.’

Back in the kitchen, Nick was crouched in front of the oven gazing at the turkey when Claudia reappeared beside him. ‘I have a Christmas present for you.’

‘I have one for you, too, but it’s at home,’ he apologised.

‘That’s okay. Mine’s small, it’s nothing really. I just thought it would be nice to give it to you finally.’ She pulled him out of the kitchen and back up to her bedroom. She handed him an envelope containing a hastily written Christmas card. Inside the card was a folded piece of faded, lilac paper.

‘What’s this?’

‘It’s a letter I wrote to you when I was eighteen, on the day of the leaver’s ball. I never got to give it to you but I kept it here. Sorry about all the hearts instead of dots on the “i”s.’

‘Hi Nick …’

‘Don’t read it out loud,’ she cringed, but looked over his shoulder.

‘This is true, I do always look cool,’ said Nick.

‘I’m so sorry about all the exclamation marks,’ laughed Claudia.

‘I never knew you were such a cheesestring,’ Nick said tenderly.

‘You would have run a mile if I’d given you this at the time, I’m sorry I was such a stalker.’

‘So.’ Claudia took the letter from Nick and set it aside. ‘Some things have changed since then. I don’t want loads of babies – at least not yet – and I know I look awesome in glitter eyeshadow; I don’t need you to validate that any more. But I am still a bit of a cheesestring, so I want this to show you that you have nothing to ever feel insecure about, because, really, it’s always been you. Exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark.’

Nick pulled her into him. ‘Oh Claud, I just don’t know if I can be with someone that says “wassuuup”.’

‘It was 2001. It was cool back then. I was cool back then.’

‘Thank God you’re not cool now, eh?’ He gave her a kiss. ‘Thanks for saving this. I was such a chicken for not kissing you that night. But it’s nice to know you wanted to, and it wasn’t just Malibu and hormones. Now, since we’re up here, how about a bonk before the big meal?’

‘We can’t do that – our parents are downstairs.’

‘Fine. But I’m going to eat a lot so don’t expect anything from me this afternoon.’

Thankfully Joe’s big appetite meant he always bought far too much food at Christmas, so there was plenty to feed the four of them. Christine’s Christmas feast was as good as Nick had been raving about: buttery turkey; big, dark roast potatoes; mounds of seasoned vegetables; the biggest platter of pigs in blankets, which made Nick’s eyes fall out of his head; crunchy chestnut stuffing and endless sherry-spiked gravy.

‘Do you know what the best thing about getting together with you is?’ Claudia asked Nick, whose plate resembled Mount Fuji.

‘Is it my hat?’ His too-small gold party hat sat tall on his head.

‘That’s the second best. I do want that hat. The best thing is that we’ve known each other for years, which means we’ve eaten in front of each other countless times, which means I don’t have to eat delicately or be paranoid about gravy dripping down my chin like I would with a real new boyfriend.’

Nick guffawed. ‘I love it when a girl doesn’t feel she has to make an effort around me.’

When the meal was over Claudia carried the plates back to the kitchen, Christine right behind her with the gravy boat.

‘I’ve always thought you two should be together.’ Christine winked and scuttled out of the kitchen. Claudia picked up the Christmas pudding and was heading back to the dining room when Joe passed with the leftover roast potatoes.

‘I’ve always thought you two should be together,’ he whispered.

As Nick served up the rich Christmas pudding Claudia looked around the table at this funny, snowed-in, makeshift family spending their first Christmas together. If only she’d known that all it took was twelve simple dates to change her life. She’d tried so many subtle things, not wanting to rock the boat too hard, and all she’d really needed to do was be herself. With Nick, she could be herself. With the decision she’d made about her future, she could be herself.

Nick was lying on the sofa holding his stomach like he was about to give birth, his eyes drooping.

‘Before Nick falls asleep, I just have something I want to tell you.’ Nick opened an eye, Joe put down the
Radio Times
and Christine folded up the Monopoly instruction sheet (‘I’m not having Nick making up rules again this year’). Flippers plodded over and sat in front of Claudia, blocking her from everyone’s view. She pulled him in towards her.

‘I’ve decided to try something new.’ She looked at Nick. ‘I’m going to take the Royal Ballet job.’

That woke him up. ‘You are? That’s brilliant news!’

‘It’s just for a year, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Here’s the plan. I’ve decided I want to get back into dancing. I’m not kidding myself, I’m not as skilled as I used to be, though I’m still good. But I’ll need some time to train up. I’m going to use this year as a new adventure, and it’ll allow me to have the time to get some qualifications and get something lined up so that by the end of the year I’ll be ready to teach dancing.’

‘You want to teach?’ asked Joe with a smile. ‘I think you’ll be absolutely brilliant at that, love.’

Claudia blushed. ‘I’ve been thinking about it and I think it would be kind of perfect for me. But I couldn’t just waltz into a dance studio and do it now; I do need some training, to get up to speed.’ She turned back to Nick. ‘I figured, why not have an extra little life adventure in the lead-up. Make a name for myself at the Royal Ballet.’

Nick combat-rolled off the sofa and shuffled over to her, wrapping her and Flippers in a big duvet-like hug. ‘I’m going to annoy the hell out of you next year. I’ll always be there, gagging for a snog, making you put photos of me in your book. I can’t wait.’

‘I can’t wait either,’ Claudia laughed.

Joe handed out some tiny glasses. ‘We don’t have any champagne, but let’s toast with some sherry.’

They’d just clinked when Nick yelled, ‘Stop!’ He looked at his watch. ‘The Queen’s Speech. Places, everyone.’

Obediently they all settled around the TV, sherry in hand.

‘Do you reckon the Royals are doing this right now? Gathering together, quaffing the sherry, rubbing their full stomachs, to watch their Gran on TV?’ asked Joe.

‘Maybe she gives them a live version,’ said Nick.

‘Actually, she watches from a different room,’ Claudia said. ‘She can’t stand seeing herself on TV.’

‘Oooh, neither can I.’ Christine shook her head, as if she’d experienced similar television coverage to the Queen of England.

Nick looked at Claudia. ‘How do you know that?’

‘I just heard it somewhere.’

When the speech was over Joe reached under the tree and passed a neatly wrapped parcel to Claudia. ‘It’s just a little something, love. So you can start building up your own little adventures.’

She unwrapped the parcel and inside were four Rough Guides. One for the UK, one for Europe, one for New York and one for New Zealand.

‘The New Zealand one’s from your mum.’

This was so thoughtful. ‘How did you know to get such a perfect gift?’

‘I know everything.’

‘You really do. Nick, there are so many more dates we can go on now.’ She turned back to her dad. ‘The New York one—’

‘I’m going to take you on that holiday next year, but you can plan the itinerary. Deal?’

‘How about we go next December? We could all go: Christmas in New York is supposed to be amazing – we could see the Rockettes, go up the Empire State Building, go shopping in Bloomingdales, see ice hockey in Madison Square Garden—’

Joe yawned. ‘That sounds perfect. You plan whatever you like love. Merry Christmas.’

Christmas Day stretched to an end. Outside the candlelit houses of Frostwood the sky painted itself bleak again and the snow returned, dusting over the footprints and sled-tracks, preparing a clean palette for Boxing Day fun.