Page 20 of A Merry Little Christmas
I swallowed hard. ‘Actually, I’ve had a really lovely day,’ I told him breezily. ‘In fact, it’s been one of my best birthdays ever.’
‘Oh. Well, that’s great. I’m so pleased. Look, I’m actually parked outside your flat.’
‘Are you?’ I feigned huge surprise.
‘Yes. I’ve got something for you. I actually bought it ages ago for your birthday and then things just... well, I’m an idiot for having forgotten...’
‘Well, you’d better come up, then.’
‘Is that okay? You weren’t in bed asleep or anything?’
‘No, no. It’s fine. Just close the downstairs door quietly behind you, will you? When you just let it go, it –’
‘It bangs and wakes the neighbours up. I remember.’
‘Of course you do.’
I sprang out of bed, pulled on my dressing gown and dived into the bathroom, and in the time it took for Caleb to bound up the stairs, I’d managed to pull a comb through my hair, give my teeth another quick brush and pinch some colour into my cheeks. I was in the process of discarding my comfy old towellingdressing gown in favour of the skimpy, summery one in the wardrobe when I heard his knock.
‘Hi.’ He smiled at me as I opened the door. ‘I... it’s good to see you.’ He gave a rueful shrug. ‘Sorry for forgetting your special day. I’ve... had things on my mind, which I know is no excuse.’
I felt my heart melt at his words. He looked genuinely sorry.
‘Come in,’ I said softly, and he stepped over the threshold with a rather goofy smile.
I closed the door and when I turned, Caleb took me in his arms and kissed me deeply and passionately until my head was spinning with ecstasy. We were both quite breathless when we finally parted, both of us chuckling a little, I suppose out of a mixture of relief and slight awkwardness.
For my part, kissing him was like coming home and the relief I felt was huge after all the time I’d spent worrying that day that he might be going off me.
I would have liked to drag him straight through to the bedroom, although I doubted much force would be needed. But instead, I offered him coffee, which he accepted eagerly, and we went through to the kitchen, still smiling and wrapped in the glow of that passionate kiss. As I filled the kettle, I could feel him behind me, his eyes drinking me in, and I felt very glad of my last-minute change of dressing gown.
‘Happy birthday,’ he said softly, holding out a small, glossy white bag with black ribbon for handles and the name of a local jewellers in fancy script on the side. ‘Hope you like it. The very helpful shop assistant assured me that we can exchange it if it’s not right.’
I smiled at him, my heart beating ridiculously fast as I drew out the small package wrapped in white tissue paper. ‘I’m sure I’ll love it.’
Even if it was ghastly, I would love it because Caleb had bought it, thinking of me!
It wasn’t ghastly. Not in the least. In fact, it was the most beautiful, delicate, gorgeous bracelet I’d ever seen in my life and my heart was beating like crazy as Caleb offered to fasten the silver clasp for me. A series of leaf-shaped links circled my wrist, enamelled in a beautiful forget-me-not blue, my favourite colour.
‘It’s gorgeous. Thank you,’ I whispered, holding out my arm to admire it.
‘I’m glad you like it. I thought it was your colour as soon as I saw it.’
I nodded, we smiled at each other, and as I melted into him again, holding up my face to his for another kiss, his arms slipped around me again and he pulled me against him.
His mobile rang right then, cutting rudely into the moment.
He hesitated for a second, then he let me go and drew the phone from his pocket. One glimpse of the screen and I saw how his expression changed... the way the notch between his eyebrows deepened.
He rejected the call, thrust the phone back in his pocket and reached for me again.
‘Who was that?’ I whispered.
He shook his head. ‘No one.’ He smiled down at me. ‘Now, where were we?’
The phone rang again and this time, he cursed under his breath and instantly rejected the call without looking at the screen.
I looked at him, puzzled. ‘Someone’s keen to get hold of you.’
