A Forever Family: Their Christmas Delivery. Kate Hardy

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СКАЧАТЬ smiling back. ‘How was your shift?’

      ‘Let’s just say we’ve renamed one of the twelve days of Christmas. “Five Turkey Carvers”,’ he said ruefully. ‘I’ve done quite a bit of stitching up today.’

      ‘Ouch,’ she said.

      ‘So how’s our little one doing?’ Then he realised what he’d said and felt his eyes go wide. ‘Um,’ he said. ‘Sorry. I didn’t quite...’

      ‘I know,’ she said quietly. ‘It kind of feels like being part of a new family.’

      ‘Even though she isn’t ours, and we’re not...’

      ‘...a couple. Yeah,’ she said.

      Josh looked at her. Amy wasn’t wearing a scrap of make-up, but she was naturally beautiful. He itched to sketch her, and it had been a long while since anyone had made him feel that way.

      This was dangerous.

      Part of him wanted to run; but part of him was intrigued and wanted more. To cover his confusion, he asked, ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’

      She shook her head. ‘Hope’s still asleep and I haven’t started cooking dinner yet, so do you want a glass of wine or a cup of tea?’

      ‘As it’s Christmas, let’s go for the glass of wine,’ he said.

      ‘And, as you said you wanted to help, you can open it.’

      He followed her into the kitchen. When she handed him the corkscrew, his fingers brushed against her skin and it felt weird, as if he’d been galvanised. He was shockingly aware of her, but he didn’t dare look at her because he didn’t want her to guess what he was thinking. Had she felt it, too? And, if so, what were they going to do about it?

      He shook himself mentally. They weren’t going to do anything about it. They were neighbours. Acquaintances. And that was the way it was going to stay.

      He opened the wine while she took two glasses from a cupboard; then he poured the wine before lifting his own glass and clinking it against hers. ‘Merry Christmas.’

      ‘Merry Christmas,’ she echoed.

      ‘I haven’t bought you a present,’ he said, ‘and I feel kind of bad about it.’

      ‘I haven’t bought you one, either,’ she said. ‘I did think about wrapping up a bottle of wine for you or something, but it didn’t feel appropriate.’

      ‘Considering we hardly know each other and don’t have a clue what each other likes,’ he agreed.

      ‘We haven’t bought Hope anything, either,’ she said, ‘but it’s fine. Christmas isn’t really about the presents, and perhaps what we’re actually giving each other is a better Christmas than we were expecting.’

      ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I think you might be right. You’re a wise woman, Amy Howes.’

      ‘It goes with the territory of being a maths teacher,’ she said with a smile.

      He liked her sense of humour. And, actually, the more he talked to her, the more he liked a lot of other things about her. Which again set his alarm bells ringing. He wasn’t supposed to be thinking like that. He was newly divorced. Not in a place to start anything with anyone.

      ‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘we can make a kind of present for Hope. A book of her days with us. Photographs, that kind of thing.’

      ‘Add in her feed and sleep charts, too?’ Amy said. ‘That’s a really nice idea. And then she’s got something to keep.’

      ‘So how has it been with the baby today?’ he asked.

      ‘Easier than yesterday. We’ve been watching Christmas movies,’ she said.

      ‘Sounds like a good plan.’

      ‘Love Actually is one of my favourite films. And you really can’t top the Christmas lobster.’

      * * *

      Then Amy remembered that one of the storylines in the movie involved an affair. Talk about rubbing salt in his wounds. How could she have forgotten that Josh’s wife left him for another man, last Christmas Eve? ‘Sorry. I just put my foot in it. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad.’

      ‘I’m not a fan of romcoms,’ Josh said, ‘and you haven’t put your foot in it—even though I get what you’re saying. This is way better than Christmas was last year, believe me.’

      Which didn’t make her feel any less guilty. Just about anything would be an improvement on his last Christmas. ‘Maybe I should start prepping dinner,’ she said awkwardly.

      ‘As the baby’s asleep, is there anything I can do?’

      ‘You can keep topping up the wine and chat to me in the kitchen, if you like,’ she suggested.

      ‘I’d like that. Funny, two days ago we were almost complete strangers,’ he said, ‘and now we’re spending Christmas together.’

      ‘As a kind of blended family with a baby who’s a complete stranger, too,’ she said.

      ‘I still don’t know anything about you,’ he said, ‘other than that you’re a maths teacher and you have a brother who lives in Canada.’

      ‘And you’re an emergency department doctor who’s the youngest of four.’ She shrugged. ‘OK. So what do you want to know? I’m thirty.’

      ‘I’m thirty-two,’ he said.

      Amy started chopping the carrots into matchsticks.

      ‘And you obviously enjoy cooking—or at least you’re good at it,’ Josh said.

      She smiled. ‘Thank you, and I do. Does that mean you don’t?’

      ‘I’d rather wash up than cook,’ he said. ‘Obviously I can cook a few basics—you wouldn’t survive as a student unless you knew how to make stuff like spaghetti Bolognese and cheese toasties—but spending all that time making something that people will wolf down in two seconds flat and then forget about...’ He smiled. ‘Or maybe that’s the medic in me talking.’

      ‘So food’s fuel rather than a pleasure?’

      ‘At work, yes,’ he admitted. ‘Shamefully, I eat a chocolate bar on the run for my lunch way more often than I ought to.’

      ‘So what sort of things do you like doing outside work?’ Amy grimaced. ‘I’m sorry. This sounds like a terrible speed-dating sort of grilling.’

      ‘Speed-dating,’ he said, ‘is something I’ve never actually done.’

      ‘Me neither,’ she agreed. ‘Though I guess, when you get to our age, it’s probably about your only option for meeting someone, if you haven’t already clicked with someone you met at work or with a friend of a friend at a party.’

      ‘And СКАЧАТЬ