Boxing Day was usually a quiet one in town. The vast majority of independent business owners, including myself, embraced the opportunity of the extra day off work after the busy run-up to Christmas. A lot of the high street shops didn’t open either so any locals eager to get into shops and bag a bargain in the sales needed to make the hour’s journey into York.
It was a popular day for pub crawls around the town with a tradition of large groups dressing up, while others joined in the activities taking place on the seafront in South Bay. I’d never ventured down there on Boxing Day myself, although I had thought about it. I’d even got as far as pulling my coat on and stepping out onto the cobbles, but I’d always changed my mind and retreated back into my flat to lose myself in the world of crafting instead, not wanting to bump into anyone I knew and have them look at me with sympathy because I was on my own. Silly really.
As Jed disappeared round the corner of the street, I locked up and returned to the flat where Hercules was waiting for me near the door.
‘Time for bed, young man,’ I told him, and he followed me across the floorboards to his crate. I stroked his back and ears andgave him a kiss on his head. ‘Goodnight, Hercules. See you in the morning.’
Ten minutes later, I settled down under my duvet with a contented sigh. The Tara from a year ago would hardly be able to believe what had happened to the Tara of this year and all it had taken was some courage to let people in again.Be brave, Carly had told me.A few minutes of courage might change your life.And it really had. I couldn’t wait to see where more moments of courage might take me.
2
JED
I smiled to myself as the taxi driver pulled away, leaving me standing on the pavement outside Mum and Dad’s house. Fourteen years of living on the other side of the world and the conversations with UK cabbies hadn’t changed:Been busy? What time did you start? When do you finish?Plus the added seasonal one of,Are you working over New Year too?No taxi journey was complete without those questions and the quality of the answers indicated whether or not a conversation was welcome. The one-word grunted responses from my driver told me it wasn’t, but I gave him a generous tip anyway.
Lucy was sprawled out on the rug in the lounge withArthur Christmason the television at a low volume, her fingers flying across the keys on her phone.
‘Hi, Dad,’ she said, looking up and smiling while still typing. ‘Good night?’
‘Great night, but I think the food and drink got to us both. We crashed out on the sofa.’
‘I thought you might have stayed over.’
‘Bit too soonfor sleepovers.’ I plonked myself down on the sofa. ‘But, if I did stay at Tara’s at some point, would you be okay with that?’
Lucy put her phone down and rolled over onto her side to face me, a cheeky grin on her face. ‘Are you asking my permission to have sex with your girlfriend?’
‘Lucy!’
She giggled as she shuffled into a sitting position, legs crossed. ‘Sorry, Dad, couldn’t resist that. I think Tara’s awesome so I’m rooting for you guys. Can’t say I liked Natalie, though.’
‘You only met her a couple of times,’ I said, surprised that Lucy had even mentioned her.
Natalie and I had had an on-off relationship a few years back, which lasted a couple of years. Around the time we started dating, my ex-wife, Ingrid, and her new husband, Declan, welcomed twin girls – Piper and Savannah – to their family. When Ingrid and I split up, Erin and Lucy had wanted to stay with me but Ingrid took them to live with her and Declan, begrudgingly agreeing to joint custody arrangements some time later. The girls didn’t like Declan and kept asking to stay with me permanently, which was shot down in flames until shortly after the twins were born when Ingrid decided the house was getting overcrowded. While the girls were delighted at finally getting their wish to live with me full time, they were both incredibly hurt by being pushed out of their mother’s life like that. I’d described it to Tara as though Ingrid had adopted atwo in, two out policy. Keen to make up for Ingrid’s shortcomings, I’d given them as much of my time as possible, only inviting Natalie to the house when they were having a sleepover at a friend’s house or a rare evening with their mother.
‘Yeah, but it was enough time to suss her out,’ Lucy said. ‘Too into her looks. Not outdoorsy enough. Not right for you. And that whiny voice of hers?’
I couldn’t help but laugh as Lucy placed her hands over her ears and scrunched up her face. I hadn’t really thought about Natalie having a whiny voice but, now that Lucy had said it, I could hear it in my head and she wasn’t wrong.
‘I’m glad you like Tara,’ I said. ‘She’s pretty special.’
‘You mean you love her.’
Lucy had already called us out on it on Christmas Eve before I’d had a chance to say the words to Tara. I hadn’t denied it then and, as I’d since had the chance to sayI love youto Tara in private, I wasn’t going to deny it now either.
‘I do,’ I admitted. ‘And I’ve told her that and she feels the same.’
Lucy’s eyes sparkled as she formed a love heart with her fingers. ‘Aw, Dad, that’s super cute. You both chose well which I’m stoked about because your first choice was seriously questionable.’
It was so hard not to laugh at that too.
‘Mind you, we wouldn’t be here if it hadn’t been for that lapse in judgement,’ she added.
‘Any update on what time you’re going to your grandma and grandad’s tomorrow?’
‘I’ve asked but got no answer. I think Mum’s still mardy that we didn’t see her today.’
Ingrid hadn’t told the girls that she was flying over from Sydney to spend Christmas with her parents until just before she left Australia and, in the same phone call, she’d demanded they spend Christmas Day with her. Even though we’d been living with my parents since the summer, we’d all been looking forward to our first Christmas Day together after so many Christmases apart, so it wasn’t fair of Ingrid to demand the girls spend the day with her, especially with only a week’s notice. The difficult part was that Ingrid’s dad, Billy, wasn’t in the best of health at themoment, about to start treatment for a cancer diagnosis. I’d therefore said it was up to Erin and Lucy and I’d support whatever decision they made. Mum and Dad had kindly offered to host Christmas Day on Boxing Day but the girls had unanimously decided to stick with their original plans and offered to spend Boxing Day with Ingrid instead.
