Page 41 of The Christmas Holiday
‘All right. But that doesn’t really matter, does it?’
‘No. Not at all. Liv, honestly, I probably won’t even see him again after this is over. Even if I get to move on – rather,whenI get to move on – I’m highlyunlikely to be working with him again. And I’m not sure he’d choose to work with me again either. He didn’t want to this time.’
‘Is that true? Or are you just assuming?’ I sat down at a table for four on the terrace, and Liv took the seat next to me. ‘I mean, I know we can all be a bit paranoid about ex boyfriends and things like that,’ she continued.
I put the naan on the bread plateand wiped my fingers on a linen napkin.
‘Not paranoid. Heard it from the horse’s mouth.’
Liv pointed her fork in the rough direction of Hunter, her eyebrows raised in silent question. I nodded and set about loading up my own fork.
‘Well, that was kind of mean.’
‘No. It’s all right. Honestly. I probably shouldn’t even have told you. It’s all done with now and I’m here so it doesn’tmatter.’ I took a mouthful and savoured the flavours. ‘Mmm, this is good.’ I pointed at the curry with my cutlery, hoping to change the subject.
Olivia took her own taste and soon agreed. We glanced over to where Hunter and Sandeep were still politely suffering being pinned to the wall by the couple.
‘Why don’t they just say they have to leave?’ Olivia asked, as only someone who was usedto things being a little easier could.
‘It’s a British thing, isn’t it? Polite. Don’t cause a fuss.’
‘I’m going to cause a bloody fuss in a moment if they don’t get their backsides over here and have some dinner with us before the display.’
I opted to keep silent.
‘And Hunter’s not even British! He’s South African. He has even less excuse!’
‘He’s lived in the UK for a longtime. I guess it rubs off.’
Liv tore off a bit of naan. ‘So you two were really engaged?’
‘Yep.’
‘For how long?’
‘About a year.’
‘Really?’
I took a deep breath. ‘Yep.’
‘Oh. I didn’t mean to sound like I was surprised you and he were together. That’s not how it came out, is it?’
A bit. Yes.
‘No. Not at all.’
‘It’s just that Hunter’s so… anti-commitment!’
At her comment, I swallowed quicker than I’d planned and began trying to cough quietly as some rice stuck halfway. Olivia quickly poured me a water and put the glass in my hand. I downed the lot and shoved the offending blockage on its way.
‘You OK?’
‘Yes. Thanks. Went down the wrong way.’
‘So, like I say, it just really surprised me he was ever engaged. Well, serious at all, tobe honest. Ilana would have had a ring on his finger sooner than you can say I do if she could have.’
‘Oh,’ I said, insightfully.
