She had to admit that she’d put Amy out of her mind entirely. She and Oliver had existed for the past two days in a little bubble. It was fleeting, unexpected and Lois knew that she’d feel absolutely gutted when it was over because whatever she’d told herself, she’d allowed herself to get close to Oliver again. To almost imagine that they were together. The only thing missing was the physical side of things. Otherwise, it was exactly as she imagined their relationship would be if they’d been able to find out.
She sighed and threw back the duvet. The jumper which she’d worn the day before was on the chair but even though they’d both been in their pyjamas for most of the past couple of days she needed to give the appearance of having made a slight effort, so she pulled a different one out of the drawer.
Oliver was still asleep, or at least the door was shut. Lois put her ear to the door, just to check and could hear him talking in hushed tones.
‘You should have said you were planning to come back today. I would have made sure to be there when you got back… I know, I know… just a mate in Worcester…No, I’ll leave now… no, no…Ames…look… okay.’
Lois crept as quickly as she could down the stairs and started making the eggy bread. A few minutes later, Oliver appeared in the kitchen with his coat on and his bag over his shoulder.
‘Oh, you’re making breakfast.’ He looked frazzled and ran his hand through his unbrushed hair.
‘It’s only eggy bread. Are you leaving?’
‘I’m so sorry Lois. Amy’s back at the flat. I didn’t know she was coming back today but the roads are better now, so she left early this morning. I’m so sorry.’
She couldn’t have felt sadder, but she didn’t want him to feel bad about having to leave so suddenly. ‘Honestly Oliver, I can easily eat your share. Go, it’s fine.’
He came over to her. ‘Thanks, Lois. It’s been the most amazing Christmas.’ He leant towards her and kissed her gently on the lips.
It was the only good thing about him leaving. The kiss was perfect. A perfect ending if there had to be one.
‘It has, thanks for suggesting it,’ she said brightly. If he didn’t leave soon, she was going to start crying right in front of him.
‘Okay. Well, come into the coffee house when you’re back at work.’
‘Yep, I will.’ She managed to smile.
‘Bye.’ He backed out of the kitchen, pulling the door to behind him.
Lois managed to finish cooking her eggy bread and get settled on the sofa before the tears started running down her cheeks.
She’d known it would end like this for her, but she didn’t care. It hurt but she wouldn’t have changed a single thing about any of it. The last two days had been worth what was to come, and the memory of the kiss would stay with her for a long time. Today and maybe the next day, she’d let herself wallow while she could still use the excuse of Christmas to get away with lying on the sofa all day watching television without feeling the need to get dressed. And after that, she’d go back to pretending she wasn’t in love with Oliver and hope that eventually, she’d start believing it.
42
Steph was at the Hive loading the library van. It was New Year’s Day, and she wasn’t feeling a hundred per cent after a heavy night of drinking and endless talking with Tom but the van needed loading ready for the next day. At least she had the place to herself, and she had managed to get the books ready the week before so it wasn’t anything she needed to think too hard about. Tom had offered to come and help her, but he was in the middle of lesson planning and they’d seen enough of each other over the past two weeks. She was ready for some time to herself.
‘Hey, Steph.’
‘Lois! You made me jump. What are you doing lurking around here?’
‘I thought I’d come and give you a hand.’
Lois looked pretty miserable. Steph felt a pang of guilt that she’d hardly given her friend a thought since before Christmas.
‘Good Christmas?’
‘Yes, amazing actually.’ Her face lit up for a second but then went straight back to glum.
‘So, what’s up? You wish you were still at Jim’s?’ It seemed unlikely.
‘The trains were cancelled because of the snow so I had Christmas at home.’
‘By yourself? Oh, Lois, I wish you’d rung me, I would have come and hung out with you after Christmas.’
‘I wasn’t alone.’ She looked furtive. ‘Oliver came to stay for a couple of days.’
‘Oliver? Bloody hell, Lois! He finally got his act together and dumped Amy?’
