“You do this every year?” I ask.
“Yeah. It started out small but every year it gets bigger and better. We get more volunteers and what with the state the country’s in right now, our guest numbers keep growing,” Eddie explains. “Our Lorna here has been a volunteer from the very beginning. I think it’s safe to say that without her, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Lorna’s a special woman.”
“She sure is,” I agree, letting my eyes linger on her face for a little longer.
It’s only an hour before people start arriving. A lot of them are elderly, I suppose Christmas is a lonely time for them and so they come here seeking companionship. There’s a small number of homeless people, including children who take up the table at the back.
Lorna makes a point of greetings each and every person who passes through the doors, her smile wide and genuine as she takes their hand or embraces them in a hug.
I watch as she helps a little old lady with a walking frame to a seat at one of the tables and then goes off to get her something to drink.
Romeo moves from person to person, bathing in the attention he’s receiving. His mouth hangs open and it looks almost as if he’s grinning. He’s like one of those therapy dogs I’ve read about who visits hospitals and care homes to cheer up the patients and sooth whatever struggles they’re going through. He’s like the canine equivalent of his owner, and it’s as if her kindness has somehow touched Romeo too.
For the next couple of hours, I help Lorna and the others serve out the food, and despite my previous reservations, I’m actually enjoying myself, it makes me feel good to know I’m helping someone and making their day better. Call me selfish, but I’d never thought about it before. I’d never thought about how my actions might have the slightest positive impact on someone’s day. I work with people on a daily basis, but this is a whole different level of people skills, it’s more personal somehow and I have Lorna to thank for that. Not twenty-four hours since I met her, I can already feel her warmth and kindness seeping into my skin, melting the ice around my frozen heart.
Throughout the day, every chance I get I search for her and when I find her, she’s smiling. She’salwayssmiling. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone smile as much as she does.
Her smile not only lights up the room, but it lights a fire in my soul. If I got to see that smile for the rest if my life, I’d die a happy man, especially if I were the reason for it being there. She’s like a ray of sunshine that breaks through the thick layer of cloud on a gloomy day. She’s the rare selfless humanity in an otherwise selfish world. I’m in awe of her. I’m in awe of everything she is and everything she represents.
“Go get her, Son,” Eddie says, pulling me from my thoughts as he comes to a stop beside me.
“Sorry?”
“You haven’t taken your eyes off that girl all day. Go and make her yours.” I turn my gaze to Lorna, where she twirls in a circle with a young girl of maybe two or three in her arms, singing along toI Wish It Could Be Christmas Everydayand an image flashes through my mind of Lorna a few years down the line, holding a little girl with hair the colour of wine in her arms.Ourdaughter.
I can picture it so clearly in my mind. The life we could have together. I’ve never considered settling down with a family before, I’d always put more focus into my work and hadn’t allowed myself such fantasies.
But it’s stupid to entertain ideas of things that will probably never happen.
“I’m not at all sure I’m what she’s looking for,” I reply.
“Are you sure about that? Because she’s been watching you all day, too. I think you’reexactlywhat she’s looking for.”
“She has?”
He nods. “Lorna deserves to be happy, and I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. I have a feeling the reason for that isyou. Now, I don’t know why you ended up here in Haven, but I think you were brought here for a reason.”
“Like fate?”
“Yes, exactly like fate. Our lives are written in the stars and the two of you… I believe you’ve been destined to meet your whole lives, and everything up until this point has been preparing you for that.”
I’ve never believed in fate, I thought it was all bullshit made up to make people feel better about things that are out of our control, but maybe there’s some truth to it.
Everything that’s happened to me in the past twenty-four hours has led me to her…
I look over to Lorna who’s now dancing with an old man, her head tipped back as she laughs at something he’s said.
There’s a jolt to my heart, like someone tied a rope around it and gave it a swift, hard tug, so much so that I almost stumble forward.
I’ve never felt anything like it, it was gone in an instant, like I’d imagined the whole thing, but I know deep down that the person on the other end of that rope is Lorna, though she’s completely oblivious to what she’s doing to me. She’s slowly tugging at the strings of my heart and if she carries on, they might just snap, and I’ll let her.
Before my brain can catch up, my legs are carrying me across the makeshift dancefloor towards her, like a sailor being lured in by her siren call, unable to control my body, totally at her mercy.
“May I cut in?” I ask, and I see Lorna’s eyes flare with excitement. After a moment, the old man steps aside and allows me in.
I place my hands on her waist while she places a hand on my shoulder and the other on my chest as we begin to sway toWhite Christmas.
Lorna smiles up at me, her eyes staring deep into mine. “Thank you for being here today.”
