The Twelve Dates of Christmas (5 page)

Claudia squeezed his hand and willed the tears not to overflow. He was such a lovely, sweet liar. It would have taken him at least two hours. She picked up her tea but her shaking hands gave her away. Joe took the mug and put it back on the table. ‘I know Penny’s a mucky pup, but let’s not pour tea all over the place for the sake of it.’ He pulled his daughter in close. She let the tears flow.

Eventually, through bubbles of snot and high-pitched snorts, Claudia explained what had happened. Not the part about the evil willy making an appearance in the toilets, though – she left him zipped away.

Joe listened, smoothing Claudia’s hair. When she’d finished and his polo shirt was soaked, he nodded thoughtfully. ‘This is a good thing,’ he said eventually. Claudia raised her eyebrows and wiped her nose on her hand. ‘Seth was tolerable: always pally towards me and seemed to treat you well enough. Liked the sound of his own voice a bit too much. But he’s only half the man you deserve. He isn’t even that.’ He lapsed into another silence. Claudia looked as his crinkled, handsome face. He comforted her. She hadn’t known it, but he was the best medication she could have taken in the past two days. Good old Dad.

Claudia’s phone jingled and she struggled to slip under the weight of her dad’s arm as he was lost in thought. She smiled as she read the text message.

‘That better not be him … ’ Joe spoke up, unconsciously twitching his hands in and out of fists.

‘No, it’s Nick. He wants to meet up this afternoon. I’ve been kind of avoiding him.’

Joe sat up and grinned, the sparkle back in his eye. ‘Now Nick I like. I like Nick very much, he’s a good chap. Why are you avoiding him?’

‘Avoiding all men, I should say. No offence.’ She quickly typed back,
Not ready to face the world yet, can we give it another day? Sorry I’m crap, miss your face x
.

Joe stood up. ‘Well stop being a wet wipe and go and meet him.’

Her phone jingled again.

I have to see you. Today.

Why??? You’re such a stalker!

‘What’s he saying?’ Joe asked, craning his neck to see her phone.

‘Dad!’ she laughed. ‘I’m just getting rid of him.’

I have something very important to ask you and it can’t wait.

Joe stood and pulled on his coat. ‘Come on, daughter, I’m taking you for lunch at that Hard Rock place you like, then you’re going to see your boyfriend— I mean, your best friend … ’ He threw Claudia a cheeky sideways glance.

By mid-afternoon the temperature had plummeted. The sun was low in the blue sky and frost was forming wherever shadow had settled. Claudia walked briskly between the white-stoned law courts at Holborn, clapping her gloved hands together and burrowing her lips inside her scarf.

What a nice lunch with her dad. She felt calmed but also a pang of homesickness. The wedding of one of her loveliest school friends, Ellie, to her equally scrummy partner Emma, would take place in their hometown on Christmas Eve, and the gap between seeing her dad today and seeing him then seemed like a lifetime.

She rounded the corner onto High Holborn and spied Starbucks, with Nick sitting on a stool by the window.

She stopped on the other side of the street and smiled at the sight – her Nick, in his Christmas-patterned jumper and three-day stubble, engrossed in the battered copy of
A Christmas Carol
he read every year. He lit up at Christmas; everything was about tradition and magic.

She stamped across the road and pushed open the café door, releasing a happy tinkle of bells and a plume of toasty air. Nick looked up and beamed, jumping from his seat and folding her into a bear hug. He steered her to a stool, gave her a big kiss on the forehead deliberately overloaded with spit, and jogged off to the counter.

Claudia wiped her head and picked up his book. The cover illustration showed a pointy-nosed Scrooge by his fireplace, alone and miserable on Christmas Eve. ‘It doesn’t look too bad, Ebenezer,’ she whispered. ‘At least no one’s bothering you.’

Nick returned with two mugs overflowing with a volcano of whipped cream, caramel drizzles and sprinkly bits of chocolate. Claudia laughed. ‘You remembered.’

She took a sip of her gingerbread latte, the spices and sweet smell igniting the memories of a thousand Christmas moments: cooking with her mum, watching
The Snowman
with her dad, present shopping, tree decorating, light switch-ons, singing Band Aid at full volume while trying to recreate these very drinks at home with Nick and Penny …

‘Of course I remembered. Yours is gingerbread, Penny’s is toffee nut, and mine’s—’

‘Salted caramel.’

They drank in cosy silence for a few minutes. She could feel his eyes on her behind the syrupy steam that rose from her giant mug. Nick broke the spell. ‘Are you going to tell me what happened?’

Claudia didn’t want to give him the Dad version; she’d cried enough that day. And she also found that she didn’t want to give him the Penny version, which was basically a list of why Seth was rubbish and why she was unlovable. ‘We were in very different places, it turned out, and I should have—’

‘I don’t want the agony-aunt answer; I want to know how you feel. Tell me through the art of nineties ballads if that would help.’

‘Okay, I
feel
like Seth is a big horrible knobface who ruined not only our first date in for ever but also a night I was really looking forward to – seeing the work you and Penny had put in to this year’s production.’

‘Knobface. Got it. Tell me more, let it out.’

‘First his willy came out, and I swear it was
glaring
at me, you know?’

‘I do know; they can do that. Mine’s not much of a glarer, but it gets a real attitude if I hang out on a snowboard too long.’ He paused. ‘Stop thinking about my junk.’

Too late … ‘
Anyway
, then he accused me of being boring, not who I used to be … ’
Hello again tears, thanks for joining us in the middle of Starbucks.
‘And ended with a rousing chorus of how unsexy I am.’

‘Shut your stupid face!’ Nick raged. ‘I know you better than him, and you’re the same fun, exciting, sexy girl you’ve always been.’ Claudia caught his eye for a millisecond and he pulled her in to him. He tugged up the hem of his jumper and flashed a very un-winterly display of naked flesh as he mopped the mascara from her face. At a nearby table, two younger girls spilled their coffees at the sight of his taught, construction-worker stomach.

She felt just a teeny, tiny, barely-there sense of smugness.
He’s here with me, ladies.
Just a tiny bit. It didn’t mean anything.

He studied her face. ‘Seeing you like this sucks. Seth’s an idiot.’

‘I’m really tired of crying.’

‘I know you are.’

She pointed at his book. ‘I think I want to be Scrooge.’

‘You can’t be Scrooge. If we’re going to live in
A Christmas Carol
, I want to be Scrooge.’

‘Why do you get to be Scrooge?’

‘Why do
you
get to be Scrooge?’

‘Because I’m miserable and alone and I don’t want anyone to be happy.’

Nick thought this through. ‘No. No, you have to be Fred, Scrooge’s nephew.’

Claudia threw a blob of cream at Nick’s face. ‘That’s the worst character! He’s so annoying!’

Nick threw cream back at her. ‘
You’re
the worst character.’

Claudia looked around at the other customers bundled up in their winter woollies, tottering between the counter and the armchairs, laden with hot chocolates and oversized mince pies. The low sunshine streamed through the sticker-covered window, sprinkling the floor and walls with shadows of snowflakes. ‘Thanks for bringing me here, Nick, I love it, it’s so
easy
. No pressures. It would be a nice date place, don’t you think?’

‘What do you call this?’ Nick asked with mock indignation.

‘This isn’t a date. If it’s a date it’s my second one this month, and I got dumped on the first one.’

‘This could be a date; I bought your drink, I’m being charming, and I left just enough stubble for you to think I’m sexy but not trying too hard.’ He raised an eyebrow.

She thought about it. A date … with Nick …

He whooped. ‘You’re thinking about it! You’re thinking about dating me!’

‘No I’m not!’

‘Seriously, why don’t we call this a date?’

‘Nick … ’

‘Answer me, woman. You’re very secretive for a date. Are you trying to be mysterious?’

He was such a pain. ‘Because I haven’t been on any dates for about three years, so two in one week is just … silly.’
And I feel guilty being on a date, but not with Seth. Even though a date
with
Seth wouldn’t be happening.

‘Well it shouldn’t be silly for a lovely girl like you, it should be normal. You should be taken on so many dates you’re like, “Men, leave me be, I need to have a night at home catching up on
New Girl
.”’

She laughed at the image. She did love
New Girl
, though.

‘Consider this your official second date of December.’

Why the heck should she feel guilty? She gave in and nodded, holding Nick’s gaze. He was a tricksy one.

‘Anyway, shut up,’ said Nick. ‘I have to ask you something, if you can manage not to be so self-involved for two minutes.’

‘I can try,’ she offered.

Nick was staring at her with twinkling eyes. ‘I can only reveal half of why I needed to see you today, and half tomorrow.’

‘Get on with it.’

He put his hands flat on her thighs and bent in towards her. He smelled of caramel and coffee. ‘How do you fancy making it three dates in one week?’

She was instantly suspicious. ‘Why?’

‘Will you go on a very important date with me tomorrow?’

‘Three dates? I don’t think my heart can handle it.’

‘You’ll be the most popular girl in school. Or everyone will think you’re the biggest slut-bag.’

‘I wish. What is it, and why do you need me there?

‘I need … ’

‘Yes?’

‘To ask you … ’

Claudia tapped her foot against her stool. ‘Get on with it.’

‘If you’ll—’

‘Hang on.’ Claudia leapt up. ‘Just going to the Ladies.’

She skipped off towards to the toilets, smirking. She was dying to know what the big secret was, but it was fun playing a little cat and mouse with Nick.

Also, did she imagine it or did she go into flight mode, just a little, sensing this was moving into dangerous territory? Just occasionally, flirting with Nick felt like very thin ice.

She slunk back to their table deliberately slowly. He laughed when he saw her. ‘Well played, my dear.’

‘Seriously now, spit it out, what’s the big deal about tomorrow?’

He gazed at her for a moment. ‘I need to ask you if you’ll come with me to the work Christmas party tomorrow night.’

Claudia looked away. ‘With the Royal Ballet? No, I don’t really want to … ’

Nick caught her eye again. ‘Come on, for me? I really need you there.’

‘You don’t need me; those guys are your family.’

‘What do you think
you
are? Please?’

‘No.’

‘
Please?
’

‘No, Nick. Thank you for the offer, but … ’ She hated sounding petty, but she felt inadequate when she was around the whole company of the Royal Ballet. It was a big fat reminder of the life she had missed out on. ‘I don’t want to, I feel weird at those things, you know that.’

‘Claudia, I think it would be good for you.’

‘Why? How could it possibly be good for me?’

‘I think you need a little reminding of what life pre-Seth was like.’

She squirmed.

‘There’s a really good reason that I want you there.’

‘What is this reason?’

‘I can’t tell you yet.’

‘Nick!’

‘Nope,’ he said, looking away and glugging the last of his coffee. ‘My lips are sealed.’

‘Well I’m not coming then.’

‘You mean you’d decided you would come?’

‘Not if you don’t tell me what’s going on.’

He sighed. ‘You are such a Nosy Nora. I’m not going to ruin the surprise now, because it’s something that I want to reveal while you’re in the middle of the magic tomorrow. When you’re all happy and hopped up on mulled wine.’

‘Why would that make any difference?’

He shrugged. ‘You might want to thank me, and it might be a much better thank you if you’re a bit sloshed.’

She stirred the last dregs of cream in her mug, replaying their conversation. She wanted adventure, didn’t she? She wanted to be out of this rut, didn’t she?
Then grow a pair
, she told herself. Who knows what could happen?

‘Come on Claudia, DO IT LIKE YOU WANT TO DO ME!’

‘Fine, fine, I’ll come to the stupid party,’ she laughed, shushing him. ‘
You
should definitely be Scrooge’s nephew.’

Nick grinned his huge, contagious grin. ‘Brilliant, I can’t wait! Now, like I said, I need you there for a very specific, very special reason but I’m not going to tell you what it is so don’t hound me for the next twenty-four hours with questions. That’s very off-putting for a date. As is non-stop crying. Can you pull yourself together by tomorrow?’

Claudia lapsed into thought and Nick leaned closer.

‘I’ll make sure it’s the night of your year … ’

Her heartbeat quickened. ‘That wouldn’t be hard.’

‘Best night of your life?’

She looked into his eyes. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. She trusted Nick. ‘Sold.’

He leapt up happily and went to buy them another round of drinks. ‘Just don’t wear those customised undies Penny told me about,’ he called back across the café.

Claudia watched him at the counter; at ease, confident, making the baristas go weak at the knees. She’d seen it happen a thousand times: women (and men) entranced by his good looks, and then beside themselves when he showed his true colours of a genuinely lovely goofball. Everyone wanted to be Nick’s best friend. She was very lucky to have him as hers.

He glanced back and threw Claudia a whopping, dazzling grin. She felt half the café swoon.

What was she getting herself into?

A Christmas party with the people who made her feel like the world’s biggest failure.