One Week 'Til Christmas by Belinda Missen

Author:Belinda Missen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-10-01T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

6 Days ’til Christmas

Estelle handed me a takeaway coffee before shaking out some sugar packets for hers. I’d waited outside Alfred’s this morning while she’d gone in, instead preferring to fiddle with my camera and the small selection of lenses I’d brought with me.

‘Alfred wanted to know why you didn’t bring your, quote, incredibly handsome friend, unquote, with you this morning,’ she said, licking the froth from her stirrer and tossing it in the bin. ‘I tried to tell him that I was the handsome friend, but he disagreed.’

I turned to the window and waved at Alfred as we began walking towards the gallery. ‘I didn’t bring him because he’s busy this morning.’

‘With?’

‘Huh?’ I asked.

‘What’s he busy with?’ Estelle asked.

‘Oh, he’s got some meetings. He’ll be tied up until about lunch, I think,’ I said.

Tom had sent a flurry of messages this morning. He was glad he’d come by to see me yesterday, glad that we’d talked about my leaving, and he told me I needn’t read anything into the fact that he wasn’t available this morning. Meetings were one of life’s unavoidable pains, he said.

That was great, I’d replied. I had my own life admin that needed catching up on. My inbox was full, my social media was suffering from being ignored, I hadn’t had a chance to indulge in my photography since I’d arrived and I owed my sister Miriam a phone call. Come to think of it, I welcomed the alone time.

‘Everything go okay yesterday?’ she asked. ‘Sorry I wasn’t available for a chat last night.’

I’d arrived home last night to find Estelle asleep on the couch so even though I’d cut short my time with Tom to catch up with her, the most talking we did was when I pushed her upstairs to bed and she mumbled about wanting to be a travel writer again.

‘You don’t need to apologise,’ I said. ‘You’re clearly exhausted.’

‘I really am,’ she replied. ‘I am so looking forward to about one o’clock on Christmas morning. The auction will be over, I’ll have a red wine uncorked and, if I’m lucky, I’ll be in a hot bath.’

‘Is everything okay?’ I asked. ‘Can I help with anything?’

‘Help? No.’ She offered a dismissive wave. ‘You’re on holiday. Unless, of course, you can track down Sarah Day. All the programs are printed, one of her photos is listed for sale, there’s a teeny tiny little picture of it, and people are enquiring about the piece. However, she, along with her piece of art, has disappeared. No one can get hold of her anywhere.’

‘Honestly, I can’t say I know who Sarah Day is.’ I bit the head off a gingerbread person.

‘Not many people will if she doesn’t show up in the next forty-eight hours.’

I cringed. ‘Fingers crossed.’

‘Anyway, I’m more intrigued by how your day went yesterday. I’m living vicariously through you at the moment, so spill,’ she said with raised brows and puckered lips as we turned into the next street.

Sloane Street was home to

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.