‘I love you,’ she whispered against his lips.
‘I love you too.’
‘Then I’ll see you tonight.’
He nodded, gave her another brief kiss and then left the room.
Alex was busily singing along to Christmas songs on the radio as she made a fresh batch of mince pies. Zara had gone to her roller skating party – even though she still seemed a little tired, she didn’t want to miss it. Immy was at her yoga group’s Christmas dinner so Alex was alone. She was going to wrap some of their presents shortly as tomorrow was Christmas Eve.
Quinn had sent her photos of himself as a mad scientist earlier. He was almost unrecognisable as the make-up he’d expertly done on himself made him look forty or fifty years older. She knew he was really looking forward to the evening and seeing everyone else’s costumes.
She put the mince pies in the oven, washed everything up and then went upstairs to start wrapping the presents.
Suddenly she heard a noise downstairs which sounded like someone coming through the back door.
‘Hello!’ called Quinn.
Her heart leapt. What was he doing here? She knew she’d promised him make-up sex but she didn’t think he’d forego his much anticipated party for it.
She quickly ran downstairs to see Quinn in full costume and Zara looking decidedly pale and sorry for herself.
‘Oh my god, what’s happened?’ Alex took her daughter in her arms and looked at Quinn in confusion.
‘I don’t feel well,’ Zara said, tearfully. ‘I feel sick and my tummy hurts.’
‘Why didn’t you call me?’ Alex said.
‘I did, and Immy, but no one answered.’ Zara looked at her in that accusing way that only children could, the kind of look reserved for someone who had utterly betrayed them.
‘What? My phone is here.’ She grabbed it off the table to find that it was off. She switched it back on but it was utterly unresponsive. ‘Oh no, I think the battery is dead.’
‘So I had to phone Quinn.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Alex said to Quinn. He had been talking about this party for months.
‘It’s not a problem,’ he shrugged.
‘Thank you so much for picking her up. You get off – hopefully you won’t have missed too much of your party.’
‘It’s totally fine, don’t worry.’
She turned her attention to her daughter. ‘Let’s get you into bed and I’ll get you a hot water bottle and some Calpol.’ She waved goodbye to Quinn and ushered her daughter upstairs. ‘Have you eaten a lot tonight?’
‘No, I had one sausage roll and a tiny cupcake.’
‘OK, was there anyone else feeling poorly?’
‘No, everyone was having a lot of fun,’ Zara said tearfully, as she plodded up the stairs.
So Alex could probably rule out any kind of food poisoning, although that kind of thing normally took a few hours to take effect. She really hoped it wasn’t something serious like appendicitis but there were so many bugs going around right now, so hopefully it was just one of them.
She helped Zara get changed into her pyjamas and then got her into bed. There was a soft knock on the door. She opened it and Quinn was there with a hot water bottle and a bottle of Calpol. Her heart felt so full of love for him.
‘Here you go, Rocket,’ Quinn said gently, passing Zara the hot water bottle.
‘Thank you,’ Zara said pitifully. ‘I’m sorry about your party.’
‘It really isn’t a problem. You and your mum will always be my number one priority. You two are far more important to me than some silly party.’
