The Night Before Christmas (10 page)

‘All I’m saying is,’ David said, breaking the silence, ‘if anything did happen, we wouldn’t be able to boil water very efficiently without a working boiler.’

‘David,’ Alex snapped at him. ‘Nothing is going to happen, I’m not due for five weeks, remember? Will you please stop bleating on about boiling water!’

‘I’m just saying,’ David repeated under his breath.

‘And how are you this morning, darling?’ Stephen whispered in Lydia’s ear, as Alex and David bickered. From experience, she knew he was being particularly affectionate due to the fact that he couldn’t exactly remember what happened last night, and wasn’t exactly sure how much trouble he was in.

‘David has got a point,’ Katy said, with a now exhausted Tilly nodding off on her lap. What
are
we going to do about the boiler, Jim? No, heating, no hot water?’

Jim shook his head. ‘I tried resetting it, like last time – but there’s nothing. It’s totally dead, and none of the plumbers I know can make it out before next week.’

‘Oh, no.’ Katy looked appalled. ‘I’m so sorry, everyone.’

‘There is this one bloke. I have a drink with him in the pub every now and then. He’s some sort of handyman, from what I can gather, and seems to be a bit of a Jack-of-all-trades. I could mosey on down with the lads, here, and see if he’s in? He lives in the village, so even if he’s not in, he may well be in the pub. I’m sure we could track him down. He might be able to keep the boiler going for a few more days.’

‘A drunk, unqualified Jack-of-all-trades is not exactly the sort of person I was hoping to entrust the lives of my children to,’ Katy said miserably.

‘Mal, in the pub, says he’s great. Says we should talk to him about any stuff we need doing up here. Look, he seems decent enough to me, at least we could get him to take a look at it. See if he can doing anything?’

Katy sighed. ‘Typical that you getting help involves a trip to the pub.’

‘Can I help it if it’s the hub of the local community?’
Jim asked her. ‘You should come down some time, it would do you good to meet a few people.’ In response, Katy kissed her sleeping daughter on the top of the head.

‘Okay, but take Jakey and Vincent with you, a good snowy walk might actually mean Jake sleeps for more than five minutes tonight.’ At the sound of his name, Vincent lifted his head, sighing heavily and looking as though trudging for a couple of miles through snow was the very last thing he had on his mind.

‘Right, lads.’ Jim rubbed his hands together. ‘Who’s coming on a rescue mission to the pub?’

‘I think I should stay here,’ David said. ‘Just in case …’

‘Go to the bloody pub!’ Alex shouted, clapping her hand over her mouth when she remembered dozing Tilly.

‘Fine,’ David said. ‘Only there might not be any mobile service, so …’

‘Just bloody go!’ Alex warned him.

‘What about you, Jack? Want to experience a genuine British pub?’

‘Oh, go on, darling.’ Joanna draped one hand over his shoulder. ‘Once you’re out of the way, I can brag properly about how wonderful you are.’

‘Sure.’ Jackson smiled. ‘Why not? Sounds like fun.’

‘Don’t all die in a ditch, will you,’ Lydia said churlishly.

‘And remember to come back, we’re all freezing here!’ Katy warned Jim.

‘Don’t you worry about us,’ Joanna got to her feet and, producing her capacious Orla Kiely handbag from the side of the sofa, brought out a bottle of fine single malt whiskey. ‘As soon as the sun is over the yard arm, I’m sure we’ll be able to keep ourselves amused for a few hours.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ Alex said, gloomily.

Lydia and Joanna went with the men as they hunted out a sufficient number of boots and coats to protect them on their journey, a very reluctant Vincent refusing to be enthused by the idea of walkies.

‘What kind of dog are you, anyway?’ Jim asked him, as the dog in question looked dolefully at his lead. ‘What normal dog doesn’t always want to go out?’

‘It’s terribly exciting,’ Joanna said, cheerfully, as she zipped up Jackson’s jacket. ‘It’s just like Scott of the Antarctic.’

‘Hopefully not just like.’ David smiled. ‘You will keep an eye on Alex, won’t you?’

‘Hard not to, she does practically eclipse the sun.’ Joanna smiled back at her friend’s husband. ‘Of course, David, Alex will be fine. Her bark is much worse than her bite, you know,’ she told him.

‘Oh, I know! Her bark is part of the reason I love her. Never scared of anything, my Alex.’

Just as they were about to depart, Stephen pulled Lydia to one side. ‘You look beautiful,’ he told her. ‘It seems like a long time since I’ve seen you in anything other than a business suit.’

‘You had your chance to see me in a lot less last night,’ Lydia hissed at him.

‘Oh, God.’ Stephen looked appalled. ‘Did I pass out? Right in the middle?’

Lydia nodded. ‘Well, we hadn’t really got further than second base, but still it was extremely disappointing.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ Stephen said. ‘I’m just not that used to drinking, I suppose. It’s not that I didn’t want to, I did, I do. I really do. You look so great today, I’d like to see you wearing that holey jumper and nothing else.’ Taking Lydia by surprise, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. Surrendering into his embrace, she waited for the fire to kick in, in the pit of her belly, and for her own desire to rise to meet his. She waited. And waited. Perhaps her longing was still frozen solid somewhere in her core, because all she felt when Stephen kissed her were his wet lips and irritating stubble.

‘Bloody hell, you two,’ Jim joked. ‘Get a room – oh, you have.’

As they broke apart, Lydia resisted the urge to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand, and did her best sexy, smouldering smile for Stephen, sensing Jackson’s eyes on her. ‘We’ll have to pick up where we left off
later,’ she purred in a loud whisper, so unlike herself that for a second Stephen looked a little alarmed.

‘Must be something in the water,’ David said, nodding at Joanna, who’d more or less pinned Jackson against the wall and was quite going to town over the business of a goodbye kiss.

‘Honey,’ Jackson spluttered, as she finally allowed him to come up for air. ‘I’m only going to the pub, not Iraq.’

‘I know, it’s just that you are so delicious.’ Joanna let him go, hooking her arm through Lydia’s. ‘Oh, Lydia, isn’t it lovely when your man is such a hunk?’

‘Very,’ Lydia agreed, smiling to see Jackson flush red. ‘Now, let’s go and find some whiskey glasses; in these freezing conditions, it’s practically medicinal.’

‘All I know is,’ Joanna said quietly, a tiny delighted smile on her lips, ‘I have never been so happy. I mean really happy, you know? It’s not like in the past, with Ted or Sebastian, or any of the others. Even from the beginning with those two I could feel it wasn’t quite right. Yes, Ted had a speed boat, and Seb was hung like a racehorse, but since meeting Jack, I’ve realised that none of those things really matter if you love someone. Not that he doesn’t have a massive cock, he totally does.’

Joanna winked at Lydia, who tried her very best not to gag in horror, drowning the impulse with a large sip of whiskey.

‘And do you think he feels the same way about you?’ Katy asked. ‘I mean, do you think he’s serious? Will we all be arguing over your choice of bridesmaids dresses in a few months?’ Joanna said nothing. ‘And can they not be puce?’

‘There is nothing wrong with puce,’ Alex insisted.

‘It sounds like puke, that’s all I’m saying,’ Katy muttered.

‘All I know is that he makes me so happy,’ Joanna said. ‘And I know it sounds corny, but when I’m with him I feel like my life finally means something. You know, some people might think I live an awfully shallow existence, selling Slankets to pensioners and the unemployed, and I suppose in many ways I do. The funny thing is, up until now, I haven’t minded that it’s all been about the glamour and the money, the celebrity …’

‘Celebrity?’ Alex raised an eyebrow.

‘Suddenly none of that matters, and I find that I’m thinking of things I’ve never thought of before. Settling down, baking, children …’

‘Not putting your latest engagement ring on e-Bay,’ Alex added.

Joanna was unperturbed, adding wistfully, ‘It’s like I’ve found my soulmate.’

Lydia watched as Katy sighed and Alex grinned.

‘Wow, Jo-Jo, you really mean it, too, don’t you?’

Joanna nodded, smiling. ‘I know, it’s weird for me to be so serious, right?’

‘Do you think he’s sincere?’ Lydia asked her. ‘I’m just saying, you haven’t really known him very long, have you? And, you know, some men, they play the game and say all the right things, say anything, in order to get what they want. Some men are even in love with the idea of falling in love, just like some girls. They live for the chase and getting girls to fall for them. Then as soon as they know they’ve got you, they move on, leaving you stranded and feeling like a fool.’

Alex and Katy exchanged loaded looks, but Joanna seemed immune to any negative vibe, she was so cosseted in love.

‘I do know what you mean, Lyds,’ she said serenely. ‘I’ve been around the block. It’s not like I haven’t met some slime balls in my time. But Jack’s not like that. It’s different with him, I swear. It’s like we’re meant to be and … I hadn’t mentioned this before, because I don’t want you lot planning a wedding before he’s had a chance to buy a ring, but he’s taking me back to New York in the New Year, to meet his mum! Imagine, me, meeting a mum. How will I know if I’m any good at it? I haven’t met my own mother in the best part of a decade.’

Typical Joanna, Lydia thought, to shrug off the persistent state of estrangement that existed between her and her parents with such marked flippancy, although Lydia knew that their lack of interest in her life cut her friend to the quick. They’d more or less
disowned her when she failed to finish her degree, and point blank refused to acknowledge any of the success she’d had as a model or TV presenter. They found the whole thing terribly vulgar, Joanna told her once, which was mainly why she did it. Some years ago, Joanna had decided she simply didn’t need the constant disappointment of her family’s disapproval, and stropped trying to impress them. What hurt her the most, though, was that they hadn’t seemed to notice or care.

‘He’s taking you to meet his mother?’ Katy gasped. ‘That sounds serious?’

‘Yes, right after my annual New Year party – you are all coming, aren’t you?’ Joanna beamed. ‘This year it’s going to be extra special with Jackson on my arm.’

‘Well, I’ll be working,’ Katy said.

‘And I’ll be pregnant. Still,’ Alex said.

‘But you will be there, won’t you, Lyds?’ Joanna asked her. ‘I insist that you are there.’

‘I wouldn’t miss it,’ Lydia assured her, taking in a deep breath. ‘Well, it really does sound like you have met your perfect man.’

She stared into the amber depths of her whiskey glass, chewing on her bottom lip. Jackson was taking Joanna to meet his mum. And because she knew him, she knew Jackson would only do that if things were serious between him and Joanna, because in the short time she’d known him, she’d learned that his family meant the world to him. So he must really mean all
those things when he said them to Joanna. The realisation hurt her all the more. How rock solid were they? she wondered bitterly. Would Joanna still think her ‘Jack’ was so flawless if she knew about his affair with Lydia? Feeling the whiskey burn the back of her throat, Lydia tried to picture the look on Joanna’s face if she told them all her secret, then and there.

‘Anyway, enough about me and my sickening happiness.’ Joanna grinned. ‘Anything you want to share with us, Lyds?’ She waggled her eyebrows conspicuously, and Lydia knew exactly what secret she wanted her to spill. She shook her head.

‘Me? No, nothing exciting ever happens to me.’ Lydia smiled at Alex. ‘What about you? Does David really drive you up the wall as much as you make out?

‘No, not really … I know he loves me,’ Alex said, as she sipped her ginger tea. ‘And I love him. It’s just that he fusses so much. It’s like the only thing I am to him is pregnant, like I’m just a massive great big incubator for his progeny. He doesn’t see anything but this bump any more.’

‘Oh, don’t be silly,’ Joanna said, sipping the fiery, golden liquid from her glass. ‘That man adores you, of course he’s going to be a bit jumpy. It’s his first baby. Not everyone can be as calm and as in control as you.’

‘Me?’ Alex laughed. ‘I’m bloody terrified, and I can’t even get drunk before lunch to drown out the fear.’

‘Not you, Alex,’ Katy said, stroking slumbering Tilly’s
hair from her forehead. ‘Nothing frightens you, it’s one of the things I’ve always envied most about you.’

‘That’s not true,’ Alex said, cradling her bump. ‘When my mum died I was terrified then. It was the hardest time of my life, a time when I really didn’t know if I could keep going. I don’t think I would have, if it hadn’t been for you lot.’ Lydia reached out, covering Alex’s hand with her own. ‘And then the thought that something might happen to me, that I might get cancer too and have to leave little this little mite. That keeps me up all night, wondering if I should even have got pregnant. What if I die and he or she grows up not even knowing who I was?’

‘Don’t be silly,’ Joanna said gently. ‘Losing your mum so young was awful, but do you think she would have wanted you to have a life half lived? Don’t forget, we all knew your mum. Remember that time she came for a surprise visit in the first year, and made us clean the house from top to bottom, standing over us with a litre of disinfectant? She was just as scary and tenacious as you, and she’d be so proud of everything you’ve done, Alex, and so proud of what a brilliant mum you’re going to be. Besides, you get checked out every year, so if, heaven forbid, they ever do spot anything, you will be treated early and everything will be fine. All that good work you’ve been doing for breast cancer research has started to pay off, you know.’

Lydia smiled, reaching out to hug Alex. That was
the thing about Joanna. Just when you started to believe she was all gloss and surface, she showed her true colours. Deep down, under all the artifice, was a sweet, caring woman, who knew exactly the right thing to say. The woman that all of them had loved as a sister since the moment they’d met her touting for flatmates in Fresher’s Week at university.