For the Love of Christmas by A.J. Marchant

Author:A.J. Marchant [Marchant, A.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-11-13T22:00:00+00:00

21

THEY STRETCHED OUT side by side on the grass; the ground sloping down to the duck pond. Thea used Nat’s arm as a pillow, Nat’s right ankle pinning Thea’s left foot to the ground.

The bag of grapes sat in the gap between their hips and they were eating them as fast as Mindy could toss them to the ducks, quacks and flurries of wings making the girl squeal and run back up the slope to get another handful.

Eyes closed against the sun, with a cool breeze coming off the water, Thea tried to focus on the surrounding sounds, tried to reel in her endless thoughts and focus on the present moment. Relaxing as it was, after a while she couldn’t keep the question to herself for a second longer, the curiosity killing her. ‘So? How’d it go?’

‘Hmm?’ Nat stared up at the sky, the hint of a smile proving she was being deliberately obtuse.

Thea poked her in the ribs. ‘Your date.’

‘Oh, uh. It was good. A bit too hot to go on a walk, so we went for one of those doughnut sundaes at that little food truck in the picnic area outside Hawke. We talked about all the usual stuff, had a few laughs, Laura told a few stories about the places she’s been, and about this awesome job for an extreme sports company she’s applied for…’

‘So it went well, then?’

‘Until your mum and the others stopped at the same place for ice-cream on their way home.’

‘Uh oh. What happened?’

‘It’s alright, I covered with a story about plans to travel and picking Laura’s brain. She was cool like you said, with the whole fake thing, went along with it. I’m pretty sure no alarms went off, no antennas went up.’

They looked over at Thea’s family congregating around the play equipment. The four boys were double-bouncing each other on the trampoline with the sprinkler spraying water up from underneath. Monty barked and bounced in a circle around the trampoline, distracted then by the goats in the pen nearby. Kate instructed Huntley as he set up the tables for afternoon snacks and drinks, while the others filed in and out of the house with plates and dishes.

Chaos. Complete and normal chaos.

‘I couldn’t think of a believable reason to stay there with Laura, so I followed them home.’

Thea made a little noise of consolation. ‘I’m sorry.’ Was she? No—Yes, she was. Bloody hell. She could kill Tommy for talking them into doing this.

Nat shrugged. ‘We made plans for another time.’

‘Good. That’s great.’ Thea cleared her throat, hoping Nat hadn’t noticed the way her voice had shifted an octave higher, a dead giveaway she was lying.

‘Yeah, it is great. But…’

‘What?’

‘Well. If Laura’s plans fall through, she’s leaving for… somewhere, in a few weeks, and somewhere after that, probably another place after that, so I don’t know…’

‘There’s always long distance.’

Nat snorted. ‘There’s ‘two-hour drive’ long distance, and then there’s ‘international flight’ long distance.’

‘So what?’

‘So. It’s a deal breaker.’

Thea made her own snorting noise. ‘That’s a stupid reason.

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