Page 16 of The Best Little Christmas Shop
‘She’s plenty girly,’ Cal interjected. ‘Carry on.’
I wiggled my head at Xander in triumph and he ignored me.
‘So, anyway, out pops this one and her poor parents hadn’t even begun to consider girls’ names because, althoughthey didn’t have any scanning equipment down at the little cottage hospital we were born in, everyone was convinced in that mystical way people are, that it was another boy. Her parents had resigned themselves to it. And they’d spent so long choosing a name they just made it into a feminine version. Unlike the human being they produced.’
‘You’re such an arse,’ I mumbled.
‘But once we startedrecognising our names and especially at playgroup, it all got a bit confusing so they got adapted: hers into Lexi. Mine into Xander.’
‘OK,’ Cal said, breaking the leg of the gingerbread man that had now appeared in front of him and popping it in his mouth. ‘That makes sense. But why Muppet?’
‘Because she is one.’ Xander looked at his boss as if this explanation was obvious.
Cal glanced at meand tilted his head. ‘Ask a silly question …’
‘It’s fine. I don’t mind it. It’s all meant with love.’
‘That’s true. But you are a Muppet. You have to admit that. Last year was the perfect example.’
‘Xander,’ Giselle said. Her voice was quiet but there was a definite hint of warning.
‘What person, other than a total muppet, would travel halfway across the world, knowing that by doing so theywere not only going to lose their job but their entire career as well, just to visit a friend.’
I let out a sigh. ‘You know it was more than that.’
‘I should never have called you.’ Xander swirled the last of his wine around the glass.
‘Oi.’ I nudged him. ‘If you hadn’t I’d have never forgiven you.’
‘You’d never have known! And you’d still have a job.’
‘Oh my God, Xander!’ I sat back in thechair. ‘This was not your fault. Or Giselle’s or anyone else’s but mine. You were in a state and Giselle was in emergency surgery for life-threatening peritonitis! You two mean more to me than any job, or any career! Don’t you get that? If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the right thing to do.’
‘But she’s fine!’
‘Yes. Thank God. But we didn’t know that and I felt muchbetter being here at the time and for Giselle’s recovery than I would have done in a pit garage in some far-flung country. So can we just accept that and move on? I will sort out my life but you did the right thing in calling me that day and I did the right thing in coming home, whatever the fallout.’
Xander looked at me for a moment, half stood, and grabbed me in a gentle headlock before plantinga kiss on my temple.
‘See? Told you. Total muppet.’
I knew Xander felt guilty about having called me that day, but it was true what I’d said. If he hadn’t called me, whatever the outcome, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive him, because in the back of my mind, there would always have been the “what if” …
‘He’s been calling her that since I’ve known them both and we met when we were seven so…’ Giselle said, turning to Cal as she did a little shrug and a very Gallic thing with her face and hands.
‘It’s all right. I call him much worse when he’s not here.’
‘That, I believe,’ Xander shot back.
I smirked, downed the last of my wine, and pushed my chair out. ‘I’d better start heading home.’
‘Do you want me to give you a lift?’ Giselle asked, already up and looking for her keys.
‘No! You stay here in the warm. It’s not like it’s far.’
‘It’s sleeting out there now,’ Cal volunteered and I shot him a look. ‘Then I definitely don’t want Giselle out in a car.’
‘I’m pregnant, not an invalid!’
