Dating For December by Lyndsey Gallagher

Author:Lyndsey Gallagher [Gallagher, Lyndsey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

Any chance you’re free tomorrow for an overnight trip?

Her reply is instantaneous. Thank God she’s not one of these game players.

Depends where … my own bed is really comfy. You should try it out sometime …

Huxley Castle

Hell yes! I was there last Christmas with my brother. I’ve been praying to get back there ever since.

‘Daddy, can we go ice-skating tomorrow? Sarah Snowden went last weekend, and she said it was awesome.’ Phoebe asks from across the dinner table.

Matilda left cashew chicken and rice for us, one of Phoebe’s favourites. She has the sand-coloured sauce smeared across her chin as proof.

‘Not tomorrow sweetheart. Remember Matilda’s coming to mind you? It’s Daddy’s work party.’ I place my cutlery together on my plate.

Phoebe pouts, and my dad guilt strikes my stomach like a tsunami. ‘I promise I’ll take you next weekend, okay?’

‘Do you think Ava could come too?’ Phoebe’s little face looks so optimistic. She has a full-on girl-crush on Ava, and I can’t blame her.

She’s mentioned her name at least twenty times this evening and she’s been carrying around that claret-coloured lipstick like it’s her most prized possession.

‘No sweetheart. I don’t think Ava can come.’ I hate to be the one to burst her bubble, but I don’t want her to get notions about something that will never be.

Phoebe’s face falls. The urge to distract her is overwhelming.

‘Shall we put up the Christmas tree tonight?’ Every year I let her decorate the house with fairy lights and tinsel whichever way she likes. It usually looks like a bad taste party gone wrong, but if she’s happy, I’m happy.

When she was only two years old, she took a shine to a white Christmas tree in Arnott’s Department Store. Kicked and screamed the place down until I bought it. At six, she still adores it, insisting it can only be decorated with pink baubles, and pink striped candy-cane sticks, but if it makes her happy, then I’m happy.

It’s like flipping a switch. The smile is back, the light in her eyes is blinding. ‘Will you put on the Christmas songs? And can we open the Celebrations?’

‘On one condition.’

She fist-pumps the air and lets out a squeal. ‘Anything.’

‘You have to wash your face and put your pyjamas on first, okay?’ Last year she conked on the couch before we finished. I had to put her to bed in the clothes she’d been wearing all day.

‘You’re the best Dad ever.’ Phoebe flashes me her goofiest grin and blows me a kiss across the table. A warm rush of love inflates my heart.

A loud knock on the front door rapidly deflates it.

It can only be Teagan. No one else would get past the gate.

Phoebe leaps up from her seat at the table. I follow close on her heels.

‘Mam.’ Phoebe squeals. ‘This is perfect timing. We’re just about to put up the tree.’

I force down my irritation at Teagan’s arrival. It makes my daughter happy, so I’ll suck it up for tonight, but these erratic arrivals can’t continue. ‘You could have called to say you were coming.

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