Alice made a show of rubbing her stomach. ‘Mmm, lovely.’ She giggled. ‘I’ll thank Demi tomorrow.’
‘Oi, cheeky!’
‘Eat up, then we can do more Christmas stuff,’ she said.
‘Like what?’
She watched him tuck into his food. He always seemed to eat faster than most. It was as though he was on a timer. ‘Board games. Bit of a boogie.’
Jamie choked. ‘Boogie?’
‘We need to rock around the Christmas tree.’
Jamie shot out of his chair. ‘Let’s do that now. Come on.’
Before she had a chance to respond, he had her out in the foyer by the tree, slow dancing to music that wasn’t playing.
Alice laughed. ‘We haven’t finished our dinner.’
‘I want to do it all with you.’
‘And you can. We’ve got time.’ A sudden unwanted thought occurred, making Alice’s stomach churn. She stopped dancing and pulled back to look into his eyes.
Jamie frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘You tell me.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Why are you rushing?’
Jamie shook his head slightly. ‘I’m just mucking about.’
Alice took a steady breath. ‘Jamie, are you sick again?’
His head tilted to one side as his shoulders dropped. ‘Oh, Alice. Is that what you think?’
‘It just hit me, that’s all. You’re acting like we won’t have another Christmas together. Like you want to wrap it up right here and now because you know something I don’t.’ She blinked back tears at the thought. He reached for her hand but she pulled away.
‘Hey.’ Jamie’s voice was hushed as he moved closer to her. ‘I’m okay. I promise. I would tell you if I weren’t. You have my word.’
She didn’t mean for the tear to escape her eye and quickly swiped it away. ‘Do you plan to leave?’
‘I told you before, I’m not going anywhere.’ He motioned towards the door. ‘The only way I’m leaving is if you tell me to.’He reached for her hand again, and this time she let him hold her. ‘I’m not ill. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just overwhelmed and a little too excited because I wanted this so badly with you.’ He gave a small shake of the head. ‘I didn’t think this would worry you, but I can see how it has.’
Alice inhaled deeply. ‘I just got scared for a moment. I’m sorry.’
He lifted her chin. ‘Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for.’
‘I’ve ruined our night now.’
‘No, you haven’t. We had a misunderstanding, that’s all. And I’ll let you into a little secret — we’ll probably have loads more over the years because we’re going to share a lot of years together.’
She warmed at his soft tone and kind smile. ‘I want all the years, Jamie.’
He lowered his head so their lips were inches apart.
Lizzie opened the front door and stood there staring at them. ‘Interrupting something, am I?’
