Page 13 of Christmas at the Movies
Some people thought it was strange that she had been with the same guy for so long, but the jerks Pari dated and the sleazeballs at work like Rupert made her realise how lucky she was to have found James, her soulmate. He was smart, funny and handsome – and most of allkind.
Pari wiped her mouth with her napkin. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have what you have. And goodness knows my mum would love me to get married to a nice guy like James – well, a Punjabi version of him. But if it doesn’t happen, I’m OK with that too. I’m happy being single.’
After settling the bill and wishing Pari luck for her gig, Sarah walked to the Tube station. The Underground was stuffy in the summer heat, so she was sweating by the time she arrived at the British Film Institute.
James was waiting for her inside the lobby. ‘Hello, beautiful,’ he said when he spotted her. ‘I got the tickets already.’
‘Sorry I’m late,’ she said, panting. She went up on her tiptoes to kiss him. ‘Did you come straight from work?’
James nodded. He had been working lots of overtime as well. Everyone in the software industry was worried about the Y2K bug. James and his colleagues at the computer engineering consultancy where he worked were racing against the clock as the new millennium approached. They werepre-emptively working to rectify old software programmes that wouldn’t be able to cope when 1999 turned to 2000.
‘Is the world still grinding to a halt in six months?’ Sarah asked him.
Scaremongering newspapers had been predicting disaster. James’s dad had already stocked up on canned food and toilet paper, to be on the safe side.
‘Not if I can help it,’ replied James.
‘My hero,’ said Sarah, kissing him again, this time more deeply.
‘You’re tipsy.’ His blue eyes regarded her with amusement.
‘A bit,’ admitted Sarah. Mostly she was just happy. Life was good. She had a job she loved, lived in the coolest city in the world and had a boyfriend she adored.
They took their seats just as the movie began. The air-conditioned cinema felt wonderfully cool, as the movie swept Sarah back to the Golden Age of Hollywood. As usual, the ending had her in tears. James took a handkerchief out of his pocket and silently passed it over to her. That was another thing she loved about him – his thoughtfulness. James knew her well enough to know that she would cry at the movie, so he’d come prepared.
‘It’s so romantic.’ Sarah rubbed her eyes on the hankie, leaving streaks of mascara on the white cotton.
When she’d managed to compose herself, they stepped outside into the balmy night.
‘Let’s take a walk,’ she said, not wanting to face the heat of the Underground. As they strolled down the embankment, hand in hand, Sarah hummed the theme song from the movie.
Not far from the cinema, the Millennium Wheel was under construction – a gigantic observation wheel to mark the new millennium.
‘Hard to believe it will be done by New Year’s Eve,’ Sarah said.
‘A mate of mine from Imperial is working on the engineering team. It’s going to be cantilevered. There’s an A-frame to support the wheel, with supporting cables and a spindle to counterbalance the hub.’
‘It’s so sexy when you talk science at me,’ teased Sarah.
James grinned. ‘I’ll get us tickets when it opens.’
In just six months’ time, it would be the twenty-first century. Well, assuming the world didn’t come to an end on New Year’s Eve.
Letting go of James’s hand, Sarah went over to the railing and looked across the sparkling river at the Houses of Parliament. The twenty-first century – it sounded like something out of a science-fiction movie. She wondered what the future held. Would they all be driving around in flying cars? Would people be living on the moon? Would robots do all their chores?
She looked down the river, at the skyscrapers that had recently cropped up in Canary Wharf. A bit further along the South Bank, a new modern-art museum was scheduled to open in an old power station. On the brink of the new century, London buzzed with energy and creativity.
‘I can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else, can you?’ asked Sarah, gazing at the city’s twinkling lights.
When James didn’t reply, Sarah turned to him.
To her surprise, he was down on one knee. Taking the cinema ticket stub out of his pocket, he curled it around Sarah’s finger like a ring. ‘Sarah Goodwin, will you marry me?’ he asked her.
In stunned silence, Sarah looked down at her finger.
Words tumbled out of James in a rush. ‘Maybe you think we’re too young, but I don’t see the point in waiting.
That movie just goes to show – anything can happen in six months. But I’m not going to change my mind about you in six months, six years or even six decades, if we’re lucky enough to live that long.’ Suddenly looking worried, James stood up. ‘I know that you weren’t expecting this. I understand if you need to think about it—’
