Page 17 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

“And I’m not going if you’re not here, Matthew.” I repeated firmly. There was a moment of silence and in that time I again pondered my phone bill.

“Fine,” he caved and I high fived my pillow. Hey, these victories counted to me. “I’ll try my best to be home by then, that way we can all be together. Adam doesn’t want to be here any longer than necessary either.”

I yawned and snuggled back down. “I love you.”

“Is that my cue to leave you to your sleep?” he murmured.

“Mhmm.” I yawned again.

“Alright then, I’ll call you sometime tomorrow.”

“Ok. Don’t work too hard.”

“I love you, poppet. Get some rest.” he said softly.

“Bye.” I hung up and turned the bedside light off. My buzz had fizzled out and sleep was calling my name. I answered.

“See you guys on Boxing Day.”

I waved goodbye as the few remaining dancers walked out the side exit. A sigh left my lips as I ran down the check list in my head. It was Christmas Eve. Tonight’s show had been great, in fact, since opening night each subsequent performance seemed to transcend the prior one.

“Madi, the back is all locked up,” Dante advised as he walked down one of the aisles. He stopped to pick up a bit of rubbish left by a member of the audience with a grimace. “The cleaning company is coming early morning on Boxing Day, right?”

I chewed my lower lip and nodded. They had better be here. I rubbed my eyes, sucking my teeth at the uncomfortable fake eyelashes before stretching the kinks out my back. We were always the last to leave.

“What are your plans for tomorrow?” Dante asked on hisapproach.

I shrugged under my coat. There were no plans. Matt was still in Russia and I didn’t really have anyone else to spend Christmas day with.

“You can still join-” he began.

“No.” I stopped him with a pout. “Watching you and Christine smooching under mistletoe is not my definition of a Merry Christmas. Plus, I don’t know her that well and you said it’s going to be a big family thing. No thank you.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being alone tomorrow.” Dante groused and I bit my tongue to avoid blurting out a plea for him to blow off the lovely Christine and spend the day with me.

“I’ll be fine, Dante. Probably spend the whole day in bed or curled up on the sofa watching tv.”

“You haven’t even got a tree,” he continued to complain. “You always get a tree.”

I shrugged my shoulders again. What was the point?

Dante scrutinized my features for a moment then asked the question I knew he’d been wanting to ask but hadn’t up until now. “Have you heard from them?”

My shake of head was accompanied with a bitter twist of lips. There was silence from my estranged family across the pond. And I was still stalking their Facebook pages. Like a freak, I eagerly read Jenny’s and Jamal’s updates, searching for any hidden messages, for any form of tentative contact in my direction…there was none. Aunt Cleo wasn’t a prolific user of the social network, her posts were mainly about Church and work. I still took some comfort in reading them.

“I’m sure Auntie Cleo will come around.” Dante said supportively. “She knows you’re engaged to Matt, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I sent her an email but she didn’t respond. Maybe she didn’t get it, it might have been spammed by accident.”

Dante rubbed his face then smiled at me. “Come on. I’ve got your present in the office.”

I returned his smile. “Is it something big? Something pricey?”

He snorted and nudged my arm. “Don’t get me mixed up with your rich sugar daddy.”

“Fiancé.” I corrected. “I’m going to marry him.”

---