‘Your presents are all waiting for you here,’ he adds.
She remembers the John Lewis voucher he gave her last year, which hardly filled her with festive cheer. Petulantly, she spent it on a non-stick frying pan. ‘Can’t wait,’ she says. Then he passes her on to Martha – ‘Thanks for my presents! They’reamazing.Love you, Mum!’ And then comes Fin, who despises FaceTiming. There’s still that look of abject horror as if he’s defending himself at the Old Bailey. But he tries at least. ‘Happy Christmas, Mum! I love my stuff. Yeah, all of it. We miss you!’
It’s all so unexpected that after their call, Shelley has to take herself away, down to the end of the garden, just to absorb what’s happening.
She chose to run away to Scotland in the week before Christmas and now she’s stranded here. Joel isn’t angry or accusatory; in fact, she believes now that he’ll rise to the challenge and that this unplanned situation might make things so much better between them.
She watches as one of the russet hens potters out of the hen house and takes a drink. Her heart seems to swell as she pictures her family, rallying to prepare for Christmas Day without her. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she pauses, and then texts Joel.
Shelley
Thank you darling for managing everything at home. I love you. Sxxx
Immediately Joel’s message pings back.
Joel
Love you too
Back inside the cottage, she shows it to Pearl. ‘D’you think it’s really him?’ she jokes.
‘Maybe you should go away more often,’ Pearl chuckles, on something of a cloud herself after a blur of happy Christmases with Brandon and Abi, despite Abi reminding her that the loo seat is still broken. They’ve seemed fine each time she’s called, if a little unforthcoming until today. But this morning Brandon was full of how they were preparing Christmas dinner together, and if the kitchen is trashed in the process, well, Pearl can handle that.
Now Harry and Pam’s chickens are roasting in the Aga, along with potatoes, and the cottage is filling with delicious aromas. Soon stuffing will be added, improvised with breadcrumbs and onions and whatever herbs they can find in the pantry. Niall is busily doing something with carrots and butter and honey on the hob, and Roger is announcing, ‘I don’t want to boast but my gravy’s really something, isn’t it, Frida?’ No one seems to care that there aren’t any sprouts or cranberry sauce. In the absence of Alexa or any means of accessing Spotify playlists, Shelley has got to grips with Michael’s rather antiquated stereo, and now a festive complication CD tinkles away in the background.
‘Oh my favourite!’ Frida enthuses when ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ comes on.
‘The last time I heard this was when I was out Christmas shopping with Joel,’ Shelley remarks.
‘Ahh, how romantic,’ Lena teases, feeling pretty loved up herself after an exchange of affectionate texts with Tommy.
Lena
Happy Christmas darling. I know you’ll be busy getting ready for your parents so let’s call later ok?
Tommy
Yes sweetheart, happy Christmas to you my love. I adore you xx
‘I actually wanted to kill him that day,’ Shelley chuckles. ‘But now there he is, manning the fort in a black polo neck like some sixties jazz guy?—’
‘Wow.’ Pearl laughs. And now, with heat rising in Shore Cottage’s kitchen, Lena opens the front door and steps outside. The sky is clear blue, the air sharp and crisp and everything is sparkling white, as if lightly glittered. Lena inhales, fixingher gaze on the snowy mountain tops, until she feels fortified enough to call her mum and dad in Manchester. They want to know all about the Highlands, and make jokes about bagpipes, and has she been chased by any haggis yet? Her heart seems to twang at the sound of all the jollity there.
‘We miss you, Lena,’ her dad announces.
‘I miss you too, Dad. I’ll be up straight after New Year, okay? I promise.’ Then she’s passed around to speak to her brothers and sisters and by the time the call has ended she feels quite dizzy.
So when she sees Daisy’s Instagram she thinks, Oh, that picture must be from years ago. God knows why she’s put it up now. Still, it’s unsettling to be faced with a festive scene of this kind. Of Tommy sitting next to Catherine at a lavishly decorated Christmas table. And there’s Daisy looking stunning in a deep blue dress, and Tommy’s parents, William and Annabelle, grinning and raising glasses to the camera.
Then it dawns on Lena that this isn’t an old photo. Because this isn’t how Daisy looked a few years ago. It’s Daisyright now.
She blinks at it, feeling sick to her gut. What’s going on? Why aren’t Tommy and his parents at her flat in Hackney? Lena doesn’t understand. For one mad moment she thinks: Is this real? Or AI generated? Is it ajoke?There are other people too – Catherine’s brother, she thinks. And that must be her sister-in-law and their kids. But as soon as she registers these other people, they seem to melt away. And all Lena can see is the two people in the centre of the picture. Tommy and Catherine, beaming happily on this Christmas Day, 500 miles from her. And as she reads Daisy’s caption, her heart seems to freeze.
Christmas Day with the fam. Love them so much!!!!!
37
What a morning Joel’s had. First – without any consultation – all of those hastily re-wrapped presents were torn open in a ramshackle fashion, with no sense of occasion and no grandparents present to enjoy the spectacle. Then he’d asked, ‘Could you peel a few spuds for me, Marth?’ She’d glared at him as if he’d told her to eat the turkey’s giblets for breakfast.
