Page 66 of All I Want for Christmas

‘Do you build up a rapport with animals if they come in regularly?’

‘For sure. I’ve got a soft spot for a particular dog that was brought into us when she was a juvenile. She’d been abandoned by her owners, who’d tied her up to a stake in a remote field. She was just left to die there which, to this day, I still find unbelievable. Luckily some walkers saw her and brought her in. I don’t really know how she survived, to be honest. She was completely dehydrated and malnourished when we first got her. Just a bag of bones. She wouldn’t look at us, wouldn’t eat. I would go into her crate during my lunch hour and whenever I had any free time to read out loud to her...It soothes them.’

‘That’s cute. What would you read to her?’

‘Whatever was lying around: old copies ofNational Geographic, the sports pages, medical studies.’ He shrugged. ‘It didn’t matter. She just got used to my voice and began to understand I wasn’t going to hurt her. Eventually she came and sat against my legs and started to eat from my hand. She made a full recovery, but man, it hurt when we had to hand her over to the shelter. No disrespect to my ex, but I think it was harder having to let go of that dog.’

‘She must have been so bewildered when she was taken away.’

He shook his head, looking pained. ‘I lasted four days before I went to the shelter to adopt her.’ He pulled a face. ‘Only to be told she’d been chosen by a family the day before.’

‘No!’

‘My fault for hesitating. I’m a chronic procrastinator.’ He took another sip of his beer. ‘But it was for the best and I do get to see her occasionally. The family registered with us, so whenever she comes in for her annual jabs, I’m the one to do her. All the nurses know to book her in on my shifts.’

‘That’s so sweet.’

‘It’s a peril of the job, falling in love with the patients.’

She grinned. ‘Well, I definitely don’t have that to worry about!’

‘No? No hot co-workers, then?’

The image of Max, standing in his doorway last night, flashed through her mind. He didn’t count as her co-worker. He didn’t count as anything.

She shook her head. ‘I’m currently spending all my days with a seventy-three-year-old widower. Don’t get me wrong, he’s fantastic company and I’m really enjoying it, but no – my heart is quite safe.’

‘Good to know,’ he smiled, putting his pint down and leaning forward. ‘So...what shall we play?’

‘I’ll call you,’ Aksel said in the half-second before the cab door shut and she turned back to wave him off, standing staring after the car until it turned out of sight.

Had that gone as well as she’d thought it had? She had a strange sense of abeyance. They had talked and laughed easily all night, the conversation never faltering. In fact, it hadn’t really felt like a first date. He was intelligent and seemingly honest. He had flirted just enough and there were no glaring red flags that she could see; his romantic past was far less chequered than hers. He had been respectful – but had he beentoorespectful? He hadn’t made any attempt to touch, much less kiss, her. Unlike Max Lorensen, who had acquired a proprietary stance within seconds of meeting her...No, he was a gentleman. Decent. He’d paid for their dinner without any hesitation, but unlike most men who did that – Erik – he hadn’t followed it up with an equally unspoken expectation that they would go home together either. He’d simply kissed her on the cheek and told her he’d had ‘a great time’ as the Uber pulled up outside her apartment.

She fished her keys out of her bag and walked into the building, her mind in full evaluation mode. On paper it had been a great date. Not a thing had gone wrong. She had gone in expecting precious little and come away pleasantly surprised. She wasn’t going to pretend it had set her world alight; there weren’t scorch marks on the ground between them, but it felt like they were on the same page. Their values aligned. It was a solid start.

She slid her key into the apartment door and stepped in.Freja was brushing her teeth in the bathroom, a charcoal face mask on and her hair braided and stowed under a sleep cap in an effort to control the frizz. Her head popped around the doorway, eyes wide.

‘You’re back early,’ she said after a moment, seeing that Darcy was alone.

‘You’rehere!’ Darcy fell against the doorframe in mock shock.

‘Day two of my firebreak, remember?’ Freja gave a thumbs-up. ‘I told you, I’m going strong!’

‘Good work.’ Darcy shrugged off her coat and boots.

‘So how was it – dare I ask?’ Freja held her thumb up again, but this time side-on like a Roman emperor.

Darcy did a thumbs-up. ‘Great.’

‘Yay!...So where is he then?’

‘In an Uber back to his place. He’s a gentleman.’

Freja scowled. ‘Did you ask him back here?’

‘No, and he didn’t suggest it either. Which suits me just fine.’ She remembered how Max had asked her for the nightcap on the museum steps. So confident, self-assured. So practised...‘There’s no rush. We talked really easily – like we’d known each other for years. He’s a good listener, too. It was great.’

‘Was there any awkwardness at all?’

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