Page 91 of The Winter We Met
‘No… not until… you and I got our wires crossed…but now it’s too late,’ I said, still speaking to his face reflected in the glass.
An arm draped around my shoulders. ‘Not going by the way he looks at you.’
‘But Krish—’
‘Have you actually asked him about her and where they are heading? Or has my very good English friend suddenly become telepathic?’
I blushed and turned around to face him but Glenda was calling him and he’d gone. The choir started up and tuneful words like Bethlehem and manger mingled with the residents and their guests. Krish handed out coffees. Oliver stood near her with a plate of cookies.
I went over, smiled and took a cookie. He smiled back. Sometimes I’d thought about what it would be like to kiss a second time. Yes, I’d been tipsy during that snog, but the memory wasn’t blurred. Clearly, I remembered the softness, the warmth, the racing of my heart, a sense that I was truly home. I thought about the other men in my life. Seb was a great guy and good-looking and I hadn’t known he was gay for a while but still never imagined the two of us together. As for the guys I’d dated, slow-burn was the best adjective for those relationships. Whereas I’d been drawn to Oliver right from the off, on that pavement, outside my flat – I couldn’t peel my eyes away and that was the real reason I’d slipped in the snow.
I bit into the cookie, not sure what to say. Crumbs tumbled down my chin and Oliver brushed them away. It was such an easy, familiar movement, yet his touch sent tingles down my neck. He pulled his hand back quickly as if he’d made a mistake.
That sensible box in my head had well and truly flipped its lid open.
‘Speech!’ someone called. Gran, Lynn and I looked at each other. Somehow I made it to the front with the others. Gran beckoned Nik to join us. I cleared my voice and was about to try and assemble some words in an order that everyone would understand when a knocking came from outside. The entrance door creaked. Then footsteps. A tanned man with sunshine hair and open arms strode in.
‘Nik Talvi, mate! I’ve come to take you home!’
41
‘Mate? Is that any way to speak to your boss?’ Nik grinned and hurried over. He and the man hugged and clapped each other on the back. ‘But how did you find me? I thought you’d already gone back home?’
‘Someone called Rob in the flat next to yours – he said you’d gone to a party, at a place called Willow Court.’
Nik looked around. ‘Sorry everyone – let me introduce Lachlan. He’s a colleague of mine who’s also been travelling around Europe.’ He shook his head. ‘I had no idea you were coming to England.’
‘Your mum told me to,’ he said sheepishly. ‘She knows what you’re like.’
‘Tell us more,’ said Alf taking out his notebook.
Nik took Lachlan’s coat and put it on a chair. Oliver headed over with a Snowflake Martini that had been left over.
‘Cheers,’ he said and grinned. ‘Well, Nik has a habit of not knowing when to stop helping others. Once he’s invested in a project he becomes fully absorbed and loses track of everything else.’ He clapped Nik on the back again. ‘Nik Talvi is one of the kindest, most generous people I know – but I’m guessing you’ve found that out for yourselves.’
Alf shot me and Oliver a smug look.
‘Take the sponsored walks he does and Christmas shoebox appeals. They totally take over Nik’s life to the exclusion of everything else. Joanna says you’re needed back at the factory now – but more than that, I think she wants her son home for Christmas.’
Nik groaned and comically pulled a face. ‘Mum’s apron strings stay tethered even at nine thousand miles away.’
‘I don’t blame her,’ said Glenda, eyes glistening. ‘I think I speak for everyone when I say you’re going to be deeply missed.’
‘Damn decent man you are,’ said Fred.
Nik’s cheeks flushed. ‘I’m no saint.’
‘Really?’ piped up Alf. ‘I find that hard to believe. You see I’ve had this theory – it’s as tight as a drum now – that—’
‘No really. He’s not joking,’ said Lachlan and he chuckled. ‘I’ve known Nik since we were at school together. Talk about drama.’
‘It’s true. I never studied. Was always outside the head’s door. I even got caught shoplifting once.’
He and Lachlan preceded to laugh over some of the escapades he’d got up to in his youth.
Alf’s face fell.
‘Why, what’s this theory?’ asked Lachlan.
