‘Yeah, you always have guilt in your eyes when you’re up to something.’
‘Oh, is that right?’
‘Yep. Been like that since you were a kid.’
‘Well, I wasn’t being shifty. I just wanted dinner to be perfect.’
Alice swallowed some chicken. ‘You don’t have to go to all this trouble with me, but I know where you’re coming from, and I appreciate you.’
Jamie grinned. ‘I appreciate you — and this was important to me. Every Christmas in prison, I used to pretend I was sitting with you like this. It helped get me through the day. I knew I wouldn’t always see you on Boxing Day, so my imagination was all I had. It was a hard time of year.’
‘You won’t ever have to have another Christmas like that again.’
‘I know, but I needed one like this with you.’ He picked up a small red box from the chair by his side. ‘I even bought you a present for today.’
Alice’s heart fluttered on seeing the affection in his eyes.
‘I want you to know how much you mean to me. How my life is better because of you.’ He passed her the box. ‘Open it. This one can’t wait till Christmas.’
Taking a silent steady breath, Alice opened the box to see a gold necklace inside with a small angel attached. ‘Oh, it’s lovely! Thank you.’ She put it on at once. ‘I feel like I should have bought you something for tonight now.’
‘No, this was about me living my Christmas dream.’
Alice held her angel as she glanced at the candle. ‘So, is this how you saw us, right here in this spot?’
‘Mostly. Sometimes in the dining room, other times we’d be in a cottage.’ He gave a small shrug. ‘It didn’t really matter where we were. It was about sharing the day.’
‘I used to think about you a lot that day. I always hoped you were happy, that the day wasn’t too bad.’
Jamie reached for her hand. ‘I have so many regrets, Alice.’
She gave his fingers a gentle squeeze. ‘I know you do.’
He sniffed and sat back. ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting this dinner to take a nosedive. Right, let’s perk up.’ He handed her a Christmas cracker to pull. ‘We have good times now.’
Alice picked up the silver paper hat that fell out of the cracker and placed it on her head. ‘We do. But it’s okay to get things off your chest.’
‘I don’t really need to get anything off my chest. It’s more the past haunting me every so often.’
‘You haven’t been out five minutes. Give it time. You’re still adjusting.’
‘I just get annoyed with myself when I think about how much we’ve missed out on because of me.’
Alice had him pull the other cracker so he, too, could wear a festive hat. ‘If we were both thinking of each other on Christmas Day, we were kind of together.’
Jamie smiled. ‘You always make everything sound better.’
Alice bit into a potato and grinned. ‘It’s true though,’ she said, through her mouthful.
‘Well, I much prefer this kind of together.’ He put on a red hat and winked.
‘Perfect.’
Jamie chuckled. ‘You look adorable.’
‘Silver hats are my thing.’
‘How’s the dinner going down?’
