Meet Me Under the Mistletoe. Carla Burgess

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СКАЧАТЬ I love it.’

      ‘Does it get you down? Dealing with murderers and paedophiles?’

      ‘Of course. I wouldn’t be human if it didn’t. I’m primarily fraud at the moment, though.’

      ‘Oh, okay. Presumably that’s less emotionally traumatic to investigate than some other crimes?’

      ‘Yes, I suppose it is.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘There’s no such thing as a victimless crime, though.’

      I nodded, and waited for him to continue, but he just looked at me. I didn’t know what to say next. I didn’t know much about fraud really. ‘Are you investigating anything at the moment?’ I said at last, slightly bewildered by his silence.

      ‘Of course. Fraud’s a massive problem.’

      ‘I expect you have to work long hours?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Hence why you’re really bad at relationships?’

      ‘Absolutely.’ He smiled and took another sip from his glass of beer.

      ‘Not all detectives are single, though, are they?’ I sat back and moved my cutlery to one side as the waitress appeared with our plates of food. ‘Surely some of them are married and have families?’ I smiled my thanks to the waitress.

      ‘Thank you. Yes, of course they are. My friend John is very happily married.’

      ‘So, I suspect the problem is more you than your job.’

      He laughed. ‘That’s true. So, why has your mum gone on holiday without your dad? Are they splitting up?’

      ‘Oh no. At least I hope not. She’s gone with her sister to celebrate her birthday. They don’t go every year or anything. Mum and Dad still go on holiday together, but only in this country. Dad won’t go abroad. He’s terrified of flying.’

      Anthony laughed. ‘Your poor dad.’

      ‘Mmm, I know. I think he’s enjoying having the TV to himself.’ I cut into my salmon and carefully pushed it onto my fork. ‘I’ve been round to keep him company a couple of evenings but I think he’s coping okay. Have you been on holiday this year?’

      He shook his head as he chewed his mouthful of food. ‘I had a week off in the summer but I didn’t go away anywhere. I just visited family really. What about you? You mentioned Paris before?’

      ‘Yes, I went to Paris with Patrick for a weekend but other than that I haven’t been anywhere. I usually go somewhere with my friend Elena, but she’s bought a house with her fiancé so she couldn’t afford it. Besides, I doubt he’d have let her go anyway. They can’t be apart for more than a few hours before they start pining for each other.’

      Anthony wrinkled his nose slightly. ‘That sounds a bit nauseating.’

      ‘They’re very sweet, actually. She was obsessed with him at college. It’s lovely that she finally got together with him.’

      ‘So, was Paris nice?’

      ‘It was lovely, yes. Have you been?’

      ‘A couple of times. Where did you stay?’

      ‘In a hotel near the Champs Elysees. It was lovely. I’d never been to Paris before so it was lovely to see all the sights I’d read about and seen on TV.’

      ‘Did Patrick know Paris well?’

      ‘He seemed to, yes.’ I smiled a little sadly. ‘It was very romantic. He proposed to me, actually. He pulled out all the stops: violins, champagne, roses.’

      ‘He proposed?’ Anthony’s fork paused on its way to his mouth. ‘But I thought you’d only been together a short time?’

      ‘Yes.’

      Anthony put his fork down and looked at me. ‘You said no, of course.’

      I stared at him, wishing I could agree and say ‘of course I said no!’, but I’d said yes, so I couldn’t. I felt a quiver of shame and regret run through me and decided that, in future, I should just lie, or preferably not discuss Patrick at all. Especially with extremely handsome men who were practically strangers.

      Anthony raised an eyebrow. ‘You said yes? So, let me get this straight. You hardly saw or spoke to him, but you still thought it would be a good idea to marry him?’

      ‘I know, it sounds awful.’ I passed a hand across my face, feeling embarrassed.

      ‘Hey, it’s not my place to judge.’ Anthony held up his hands and laughed. ‘I’m just wondering how he got away with behaving like that when I’ve never been able to.’

      I smiled and rubbed my head, still embarrassed. ‘Well, he was behaving better at the time. When I first met him, which was just before Christmas last year, he was really full-on. He phoned me all the time and showered me with gifts. He made me feel special. And then it seemed like as soon as I started falling for him, it all stopped and he started not being able to see me. We had a big row about it around March time, and he said I wasn’t being fair because he had to make time for his daughter too, which made me feel like a monster. Anyway, we sorted that out and he allowed me to meet his little girl, and I felt like he was letting me into his life at last. It was just after that he took me to Paris and proposed. I must have been mad to say yes, but I thought he’d changed and that he must be serious about me to go to all the effort of organising a proposal that grand. I was swept away by it all. But when I got home, he was worse than ever. I hardly heard from him again at all.’

      ‘When did you finish it?’

      ‘He was supposed to come to my mum’s sixtieth birthday party but he let me down at the last minute. Said he was stuck at work. It was a big deal because he hadn’t met any of my friends or family.’

      ‘Really?’ Anthony looked astounded. ‘I need to talk to this man, get some tips from him.’

      ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘He kept you hanging on for months while avoiding spending any quality time with you, and managed to avoid meeting your friends and family. That’s quite a genius manoeuvre. How did he do that? Can I have his number?’

      I knew Anthony was joking, or at least I hoped he was, but his words stung and I felt a frisson of anger pulse through me. ‘He has a big personality and he’s hugely generous. But I can’t give you his number because I don’t have it any more. I made a point of deleting it when we split up.’ I put my knife and fork down and reached for my wine. ‘It also requires your girlfriend to be gullible and slightly mad. I mean, I must have been mad, mustn’t I? I even agreed to get married abroad, knowing my dad won’t fly. What was that all about? I have no clue.’ I took another gulp of wine and blinked away the sudden tears from my eyes. ‘It’s funny because I’d never been taken in by men’s bullshit before. Patrick was the first man I ever really cared about and he played me for a fool. People warned me our relationship didn’t make sense but I wouldn’t listen. I suppose I wanted to believe him.’

      Anthony reached for my hand with a sympathetic СКАЧАТЬ