A Christmas Kiss

by Anna Samuels

  ‘Only if you’ll accept mine, because you weren’t doing it alone,’ I said quietly, meeting her eyes.

  ‘Yeah,’ she murmured. ‘About that…’

  I shook my head, ‘No, Alex…not now…’

  She frowned at me, ‘How come?’

  ‘Because you’re in a tricky place right now. You’ve only just broken up with Jenny. I’d like to be there for you now, Alex, but only as a friend. If anything did ever happen between us, I’d want it to be me you were thinking about exclusively, not anybody else.’

  She smiled at me softly. ‘I can assure you that it’d be only you I’d be thinking of, but I do understand your point. I’ll settle for your friendship, Ally…for now,’ she added cheekily.

  I smiled back, quite pleased we had come to an understanding. ‘So, you need a place to stay, friend?’

  She nodded, ‘I do…I was thinking of asking my parents to put me up until I can find a place.’

  ‘Good idea, unless you’d like to stay with me for a bit?’ I offered.

  Her face brightened immediately. ‘Really? Stay with you?’

  ‘I have this huge house to roll around in. I have spare rooms; you’re welcome to use one if you like for a bit.’

  ‘It wouldn’t be weird?’ she asked.

  ‘We’re friends now, right?’ I questioned.

  ‘We sure are…’

  ‘Then so long as you’re happy with just being friends, you’re more than welcome to stay here. I’ve missed you, you know?’ I told her.

  ‘You have?’ she smiled.

  I nodded, ‘I’ve been a bit lonely without my friend,’ I revealed.

  ‘Oh Ally, what a lovely thing to say…ditto. I’ve missed having you around to talk to about nonsense.’

  ‘And order unhealthy take-out,’ I smiled.

  ‘And watch endless old films…’ I added.

  ‘And make sugary cakes which make you feel sick,’ she grinned.

  I smiled at her. ‘Exactly. So we can do all that stuff on a daily basis if you stay here while you’re getting back on track.’

  ‘You really wouldn’t mind?’ she asked.

  ‘No,’ I told her. ‘I’d like the company, in fact.’

  ‘Well I’d love to then,’ she said happily. ‘Thank you so much, Ally.’

  ‘You’re very welcome,’ I told her.

  ‘I do have one problem,’ she said then.

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘My stuff! How on earth am I going to get all my things from the house? I really don’t want to see Jenny whatsoever and especially don’t want to see the other woman she’s been seeing.’

  ‘Okay,’ I said thinking. ‘If you write down your number and address, I’ll sort it for you.’

  ‘You will?’ she frowned. ‘How?’

  ‘I’ll go round for you…I’ll collect your things. Then you don’t have to see her at all.’

  ‘I can’t ask you to do that!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘You haven’t asked at all. I’ve offered and that’s what I’ll do. I’ll phone her today while I’m at the gallery and arrange a time.’

  Alex shook her head in wonder, ‘You’re amazing, you know that?’

  ‘I’m just doing what any good friend would do.’

  ‘Thank you. Really, Ally…thank you.’

  ‘Again, it’s a pleasure,’ I said and turned to look at the clock. ‘Now come on…we need to get our skates on if we’re going to be opening in time!’

  ‘What time is it?’ she asked.

  ‘Seven forty-five,’ I told her.

  ‘Crikey! I need to be there by eight!’

  ‘We will be,’ I said, hurrying off the bed. ‘If we get a move on!’

  We quickly changed, dressed and got ready and were down at the beach with about a minute to spare.

  After I had opened the gallery and lifted the blinds, as there were no customers, I decided to make an early phone call to Jenny. The sooner things were sorted for Alex, the quicker she could relax and begin to recover.

  I dialled the number feeling anger for the woman who had hurt my friend.

  ‘Hello?’ a voice asked.

  ‘Hello, is that Jenny?’ I asked politely.

  ‘Speaking. Who is this?’

  ‘This is Ally Durrington. I own the gallery at the beach.’

  ‘Oh yes, I remember. Why are you calling?’ she asked rudely.

  ‘I’m calling as a friend of Alex’s. I’d like to politely request that you collect and pack up her belongings so that I can collect them as soon as possible,’ I told her and waited nervously for a difficult response.

  ‘Oh great! Can you pick them up today?’ she asked keenly.

  ‘I uh…yes,’ I replied surprised at her eagerness, ‘but won’t you need time to put it all together and pack thing up.’

  ‘Oh I did it last night. Everything’s ready to go,’ she told me. ‘It should only be one car load.’

  ‘You packed her things up last night?’ I asked incredulously.

  ‘Yes! That’s what I said! So when can you collect them?’ she asked.

  ‘I uh…lunchtime? Or after five?’ I suggested.

  ‘Oh lunchtime please. Can you come at twelve? The sooner all these things are gone, I can get on with my life.’

  ‘Yeah…and so can Alex,’ I replied and hung up on her.

  After slamming the phone down, I paced the gallery in annoyance. What a rude, horrible woman! Alex was best out of it, I mused. I would collect her things and help her move on from the end of a bad relationship. The woman had riled me, and I couldn’t seem to shake it. It wasn’t until a kindly old customer came in that I was able to distract myself. I focused on the gallery once again and tried to put the vile, rude ex-partner of Alex out of my mind.

  Chapter 24

  A good friend

  When lunchtime rolled around, I closed the gallery and left a ‘Back in half an hour’ notice on the door.

  I then drove to the address that Alex had given to me and pulled up in the driveway. It was a nice, brick house which was well-maintained but somehow had a cold façade about it. When I knocked on the door, Jenny answered quickly, as if she had been waiting for me.

  ‘Hello,’ I said.

  ‘Hello. Everything is ready…it’s piled in the hallway,’ she told me.

  ‘Great. Get her out of your life as quickly as possible, eh?’ I said bitterly.

  The other woman frowned at me and narrowed her eyes. ‘Excuse me?’

  ‘Oh nothing…you’re hardly worth wasting my breath on, you cheating waste of space. Alex is better off without you, I know that for sure.’

  ‘It is none of your business!’ she said haughtily.

  ‘Oh really? It becomes my business when I have Alex homeless and crying on my shoulder all night!’

  ‘For goodness sake! She’s not homeless! She runs home to her parent’s at least once a week anyway!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Maybe you should look at yourself to understand that one,’ I told her annoyed.

  ‘Oh honestly…I don’t want to stand her arguing with you. I thought you had come to collect her things?’

  ‘I have…go on then…load the car,’ I told her, clicking my keys to unlock the boot.

  ‘What me?’

  ‘Yeah…you want her gone, you load my car.’

  I hadn’t planned on being quite so much of a bitch but something about the annoying woman made me angry. She looked at me for a long moment but then seemed to realise I wasn’t going to give in. With a sigh, she turned and then began carrying suitcases, boxes and bags to my car.

  I watched her load countless items into the car. She must have made about ten trips back and forth but I refused to help. When she was done, she looked satisfyingly hot and bothered, her face red from effort.

  ‘Lovely. Goodbye then…can’t say it was a pleasure knowing you,’ I said to her. Without a single glance back, I got in my car and drove to my house. Satisfaction that I carried all of Alex’s possessions in
the car, I smiled to myself.

  I unloaded everything into the guest room I had been redecorating at home and then headed back to the beach. When I reopened the gallery, I saw Alex heading over carrying sandwiches.

  ‘Hey,’ she smiled.

  ‘Hey!’

  ‘Lunch?’ she asked.

  ‘Yeah great! I’m starving!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘Where have you been? I popped over a little while ago but you were closed.’

  ‘Yeah, I popped out. I went to collect your things,’ I told her.

  She gaped at me. ‘You did? No way!’

  ‘Yep. Well I called her this morning and she was surprisingly keen for me to go and get everything. I said I’d go over this lunchtime, so I did.’

  ‘Wow! So, did you see her?’ she asked.

  I nodded. ‘Yeah…’

  ‘Was it…alright?’ she wondered hesitantly.

  ‘It was…annoying…she was rude, like last time, so I gave her a piece of my mind.’

  ‘You didn’t?’

  ‘I most certainly did,’ I told her fiercely. ‘That woman didn’t deserve you, and I for one, think you will be way better off out of it.’

  Alex stared at me open-mouthed for a long moment and then to my surprise, she smiled. ‘I can’t believe you gave her a piece of your mind,’ she chuckled. ‘Thank you, Ally…I bet she was completely indignant about the whole thing!’

  ‘She was! It was as if she had done nothing wrong whatsoever!’

  ‘Yeah,’ Alex sighed. ‘That was the trouble…the blame was always at my door…never hers.’

  ‘Not any more,’ I reminded her.

  ‘No…not anymore. So did you manage to get my things? My clothes especially?’ she asked.

  ‘Yes. I drove home and put everything in one of guest rooms so you can set yourself up later. I hope that’s okay?’

  ‘That’s wonderful! Absolutely brilliant! I could hug you,’ she smiled, ‘but I won’t…cos we’re friends,’ she said happily. ‘Right…celebrate with a sandwich?’

  ‘Sounds like a plan!’ I agreed.

  We sat down to eat our lunch together and went back to chatting about more mundane matters.

  Alex disappeared back to the café after lunch and I was left to the peace and quiet of my quaint little art gallery. The afternoon passed swiftly, mainly because I felt happier, I thought to myself. Those long days when I hadn’t been speaking to Alex seemed a distant memory now and I was glad that we were back on track.

  I sold well and when I counted the takings, added it up to just over £400. A good day’s work. I locked up at 5.30pm and went in search of Alex.

  ‘Hello?’ I asked, sticking my head around the back door of the café.

  ‘In here,’ she called from her office.

  I stepped inside and walked around to find her sitting at the desk of the office.

  ‘Hey,’ she smiled. ‘Are you done for the day?’ she asked.

  ‘I am, yeah…what about you?’

  ‘I’ve just got to finish up the accounts here…shall I just meet you back at home?’ she suggested.

  At home...it sounded cosy, and somewhat intimate. ‘That sounds like a good idea.’

  ‘Yeah, I think so. I’m probably going to be working for another hour.’

  ‘Okay…I’ll see you back at the house then. Do you have your car?’ I asked, realising we had driven in together.

  ‘Yeah…it’s around the back.’

  ‘Okay then…see you soon then!’

  ‘Yes, bye Ally!’

  ‘Bye,’ I replied and left.

  I drove home, thinking about Alex. It was nice to know that we were friends again after all that had passed between us. I had wondered if it would ever happen at one point and had been mourning the loss of having her in my life.

  With our new friendship brought its own issues though. I had been clear with Alex that we would be platonic friends but I wondered how long it would last. Knowing she was no longer attached to another woman was making me yearn even more for her. If it wasn’t for the fact she had just experienced a break-up, I knew I would be pursuing a deeper relationship with her.

  The fact was, I was extremely attracted to her. I wondered whether living with her would make that more apparent or change how I felt. Maybe we would relax into a good friendship, or maybe the lust would be too hard to contain and we would be unable to help ourselves. Somehow, I had a good idea of which one it might be.

  When I arrived home, I turned on the lights and the heating before going upstairs to make up the guest bed. I covered it with a pretty, butterfly bedspread and drew the curtains too. As I wandered downstairs, there was a knock at the door.

  I opened it to see Alex stood there smiling.

  ‘Come in roomie,’ I said, smiling back at her.

  ‘Thanks! This is so kind of you,’ she said stepping inside.

  ‘No problem.’

  As she came into the lounge, her mobile started ringing.

  ‘Hello?’ she said into the phone.

  I listened as she spoke to the other person who I quickly realised was most probably her Mum or her Dad.

  ‘I’m alright now thanks, I’m just…well, getting used to the idea,’ she was saying into the phone.

  I walked away so she could continue her conversation in peace but then she surprised me by following me into the kitchen.

  ‘Ally?’

  ‘Yes?’ I said turning.

  ‘Would you mind if Mum and Dad popped round just briefly? They’re worried about me,’ she said, rolling her eyes.

  ‘Oh course not! They’re more than welcome,’ I told her thinking that it was a good idea for her to have support at a time like this.

  ‘Thanks…yes, it’s fine,’ she said into the phone and rattled off the address. When she hung up, she turned to me. ‘Thanks Ally, they won’t leave me alone until they know I’m alright!’

  ‘It’s nice that they care so much,’ I commented.

  ‘It is…I’m very fortunate I know. I’m lucky they’re around and supportive.’

  ‘Exactly,’ I said quietly, ‘because until they’re gone, you don’t realise quite what an impact losing them has on your life.’

  She nodded, her eyes on me closely. ‘I can’t even imagine, Ally…it must have been so hard losing both your parents so early on.’

  ‘Yeah…very hard,’ I agreed, but didn’t want to dwell on the subject. ‘I think your parents are lovely as well, so it’s good that they want to help.’

  She nodded. ‘True.’

  ‘I’ll just go and make a few drinks and nibbles for them,’ I told her.

  ‘You don’t have to do that!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘Yes I do…it’ll be nice anyway…we can eat the rest later for tea.’

  ‘Well, only if you don’t mind?’

  ‘I don’t,’ I assured her.

  ‘Okay then…I’ll just change and then come and help.’

  ‘Great…your stuff is in the second room on the right…the guest bedroom.’

  ‘Thanks again, Ally.’

  I watched her go and then set about preparing a buffet to welcome Alex’s parents. They had been so welcoming to me when I had been in their home so I wanted to extend the same kind of welcome.

  I quickly laid out bread, meats and cheeses and then made a salad too. I put out condiments and drinks and laid the table. By the time Alex re-joined me, I was done.

  ‘Oh my goodness!’ she said entering the room. ‘Look at what you’ve done!’

  ‘Is it okay?’ I asked eagerly.

  ‘It’s fantastic! They’ll be so chuffed!’ she told me.

  I smiled, ‘They were so lovely to me when I met them. I want to show them a good welcome.’

  ‘You will,’ she said, returning my smile. ‘Even by just being your lovely self.’

  I smiled, meeting her eyes. I felt the return of the butterflies in my stomach. Her gaze didn’t waver and once again I knew that the electric chemistry between us was not g
oing away.

  The knock at the door was the only reason our eye contact broke.

  ‘I’ll get it,’ I told her.

  ‘Okay,’ she murmured, a little huskily.

  I left the kitchen and went to the door. I opened it with a smile and welcomed in Alex’s parents.

  ‘Come on in…Alex is in the kitchen,’ I told them.

  ‘Thank you, Ally,’ her mother said. ‘It’s so kind of you to be supporting our Alex through this.’

  ‘It’s a pleasure, Laura. I care about your daughter a great deal,’ I said, smiling at her warmly.

  ‘I know you do, honey,’ she said, patting my hand in a motherly way. ‘I know.’

  We walked through the house to the kitchen where Alex was waiting.

  ‘Alex, honey! Oh sweetheart, you look terrible! Come here!’ she said and drew her close to her body.

  ‘Give me a hug,’ her father said after Laura released her. ‘You do look tired, honey.’

  ‘I’m okay, alright? Ally’s looking after me, don’t fuss,’ she chastised them, clearly a little embarrassed. ‘Look, Ally’s made us some food. Let’s sit down shall we?’

  ‘Oh Ally, you shouldn’t of! We were just popping in briefly!’ Laura said.

  ‘It was no trouble, Laura. We needed to eat anyway.’

  ‘Well thank you. This is so kind.’

  The family took their seats and I shifted from foot to foot awkwardly. ‘Alex, would you prefer it if I left you alone with your parents? So you can talk?’

  ‘No! Stay! There’s nothing I wouldn’t tell you that I would speak to them about anyway.’

  ‘Okay then,’ I said, as she smiled warmly at me. I sat down at the table and joined them, gesturing for them to help themselves.

  ‘So, honey! How did you find out?’ Laura asked.

  ‘What? That she was cheating?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘She told me, Mum,’ Alex said.

  ‘Oh it’s so shocking!’ she gasped. ‘I never did like that woman…sorry Alex, but you knew it anyway.’

  ‘I know Mum. But back then, I didn’t know anything was awry.’

  ‘No…so all her business trips…?’

  ‘Not business trips,’ Alex confirmed.

  ‘Who is this woman?’ she asked.

  Alex shrugged. ‘I don’t know and I don’t want to find out either. I’m done, Mum…I’m leaving it behind me. She’s been cheating for six long years! There is no salvaging that kind of betrayal.’