The Office Christmas Party: A fun, feel good Christmas cracker of a romance!. Aimee Duffy

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       Chapter 3

      Natalie’s head was pounding as she woke to the chorus of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer echoing through her skull.

      She fumbled for her mobile and answered, not bothering to open her eyes. Her head wasn’t ready for that yet.

      ‘Hello?’ she croaked.

      ‘Where are you? Do you know how worried I’ve been?’

      Rose’s voice was like knives in her ears and she had to hold the phone away to listen. As she opened her eyes, she saw why her friend was flipping out. Natalie was lying on a sofa she hadn’t seen in years, wrapped in a dust sheet and surrounded by boxes.

      Boxes of her mum’s stuff.

      ‘I’m fine, Rose.’ But that wasn’t true. The pain of her headache was smothered by the agony in her chest. Coming here had seemed like a good idea last night, a way to move on with her life, but she hadn’t even been able to face looking inside one box.

      ‘Natalie Taylor, I have been up all night terrified something happened to you. I’ve called you a hundred times along with every hospital in London! I even called the police. Do you know what they said? You’re not a missing person until you’ve been gone longer. What if you had been stabbed and were lying in a ditch somewhere or fell into the river!’

      Tears filled her eyes and clogged her throat. What had made her think Rose wouldn’t care where she was? ‘I’m sorry Rose, I’m so selfish. You didn’t need to worry, I was—’ Admitting she went home with a stranger was not likely to ease any of her friend’s worry, so she decided to skip that bit. ‘I’m at the storage unit. I came here to try and … I don’t know why. But I wish I hadn’t.’

      She caught sight of one of the boxes. It was bursting with every colour of tinsel in existence and the tears spilled over. ‘I should have come home. I’m sorry.’

      ‘Nat … What’s up with you lately? Something’s wrong and we’re going to make time to talk about it. I might be getting married, but you’re still my best friend and I feel like I haven’t been there for you this last week. I know how hard this time of year is for you.’

      Rose’s sudden concern made her feel like a rotten cow. She wanted so much to tell her friend everything, but she had to stop being so dependent on Rose. Besides, the truth would only cause friction with her friend’s new fiancé. ‘I’ll be okay, I promise. I’m coming home now for a hot bath and something to eat.’

      ‘Do you need me to come and get you? I can make it before the lunch rush,’ Rose offered.

      ‘No, it’s fine. The fresh air will be good for me.’ Or the freezing breeze would kill her, but she couldn’t face Rose like this. It would be too easy to slip back into leaning on her friend.

      ‘If you’re sure. But I’m telling Tom it’s girls’ night tonight. You and I are going to talk. I’ll bring the wine and we can get a takeaway.’

      Wine was the last thing she needed, but it would be nice to have some girl time. ‘Okay, that sounds good. See you later.’

      Natalie hung up and slipped her phone into her bag. The walls felt like they were coming in on her and her heart was going double time. After carefully rearranging the dust sheet over the sofa, she bolted for the door without looking at anything. Outside, she slid down to the ground, panting like she’d just sprinted a mile.

      One thing was for sure, she wasn’t ready to unpack those boxes, but she didn’t want to give up on Christmas either. Which meant she had to find a way to deal with solo Christmas party-crashing that didn’t end in total disaster.

      ***

      The girls’ night wasn’t going exactly as she’d imagined. After apologising to Rose again, they’d had Thai takeout and Natalie had eaten so much curry she thought she might explode, so changed into her Christmas themed pyjamas. She wasn’t up for the wine though, and left that to Rose who was uncharacte‌ristically knocking it back.

      By the time they’d finished catching up on the television shows they’d recorded, Natalie had come to the conclusion that Rose had something she wanted to talk about too. ‘What’s going on? Is everything alright with you and Tom?’

      See, she could be a good friend. She didn’t even call him Tom the Twat.

      Rose shook her head. ‘It’s me, not him. I know you don’t like him, Nat, but you should give him a chance. He’s an amazing guy.’

      Natalie wondered if it was worth lying and saying she did like Tom to avoid a potential argument – or eviction, but that just wasn’t her. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what you see in him. He uses your emotions to get you to do what he wants. That’s why I don’t like him.’

      Rose’s mouth popped open. ‘You think he emotionally blackmails me?’

      ‘When it comes to you going out with me, yes, I think he does.’ She’d said this before, just never as bluntly.

      ‘You’re wrong, Nat. Really wrong. Tom had a hard relationship before he met me. His ex used to go out and cheat on him all the time. He gets nervous when I go out too, so I don’t anymore. I want him to know he can trust me, but he’d never stop me from doing it. It’s my choice to stay in, not his.’

      At least Rose didn’t СКАЧАТЬ