That’s surprising.
‘Yes! I thought you were really cool and stylish. And then one day I saw you watching an episode ofBroad Cityon your phone during lunch and, oh my goodness, I love that show.’ Ellie presses a hand to her chest. ‘I mean, I really love it, you know?’
I nod.Broad Cityis sublime. ‘I do know.’
‘So I said to you, I said, ‘Broad Cityis the best, right?’ And you just rolled your eyes and span away from me in your skinny chair.’
I shake my head. I wouldn’t have done that. I may be a grump but I’m a polite grump.
‘Are you sure that happened, Ellie?’
‘Yep. I know because it was the first week back after the Christmas break last year and the heating in the office was on the blink. I remember feeling fed up at your snub and also because I was very very cold.’
I lean onto the bar while I wait to be served and try to remember this encounter with Ellie. January last year was just after the whole debacle with Mitch. I was completely miserable and yes, probably a total bitch.
‘I’m sorry I did that,’ I say to Ellie. ‘I was in a bad place.’
‘And then you ignored me twice more in March and then in August when I tried making a conversation with you.’
March and August? Huh. It’s odd. I always think of my grumpiness as being an insular thing that doesn’t really affect anyone else, but looking at Ellie’s earnest, albeit pissed face, I’ve clearly upset her on more than one occasion. And it feels horrible. Plus she wanted to be my friend? She thought I was cool? That doesn’t happen to me very often.
I put Ellie’s hands back onto my cheeks and put my hands onto her cheeks.
‘I’m genuinely sorry. Let’s hang out in the New Year. Maybe you can come to my house and watch someBroad Citywith me?’
Ellie’s eyes glisten. ‘I would adore it!’
I shrug. Not quite sure why I am inviting a co-worker to my house but noticing that in my stomach, it feels quite nice to be doing so. It must be all these cheesy twinkle lights and people singing having a weird effect on me.
Once Ellie has wobbled off back to the team fromHarmonious Spaces, I finally get served, ordering Adam’s double vodka and coke and the same for me. Taking into consideration the size of the queue, I order a couple more of the same along with some salted peanuts. Gathering the lot on a silver tray I head back to our table. As I’m edging through the crowd I notice Adam politely talking to two women. I say talking but the three of them are completely flirting – Adam doing that smile that everyone seems to be falling over and the two girls touching his shoulder, one of them draping a piece of tinsel around his neck. I squint a little, trying to see what they see. He is very good looking, I suppose, with those dark brown curls and almost black eyes. I mean he definitely looks more attractive to me than he did when I picked him up from the airport. Which is weird because he’s been annoying me all day. I mean, he’s definitely not my type. Then again Mitch was exactly my type and look how that turned out. With him suggesting a vague old age marriage pact that made it impossible for me to stay with him afterwards.
I reach the table and Adam offers a polite goodbye to the two girls as I take a seat opposite him, wriggling into position to avoid hurting the bruised portion of my bum. The girls dance off into the crowd and I take a large sip of my drink, Adam doing the same. Now that we’re here it feels a little awkward. What the hell are we supposed to talk about. Adam is just staring at me and smiling. I feel my cheeks go hot.
‘So! Your fiancée cheated on you?’ I say, at a loss for anything else to say and deeply mortified once the words tumble out of my mouth. ‘Sorry, I mean… shit. Sorry.’
Adam, to his credit, ignores my blabbering apology and answers. ‘Yes. Danielle cheated on me with a friend of mine, in fact. But let’s not talk about that. It’s boring and not a topic of conversation for a lovely Christmas Day with a new friend.’ His voice is breezy and the only thing betraying a hint of pain is the slightest pursing of his lips.
‘Deal,’ I say. ‘But just so you know, I know how you feel and I’m so sorry that that happened to you. At Christmas too. It’s the worst.’
‘You also got dumped at Christmas?’
‘I had to end a relationship I didn’t want to end,’ I explain. ‘We’d been together for over a year and it turned out that he didn’t love me quite as much as I loved him. I was devastated, but I couldn’t stay with him after that.’ I sigh. ‘It sucked, you know?’
‘I do know.’
‘Yep. Last Christmas was horrible.’
‘It was last Christmas?’ Adam narrows his eyes. ‘That makes sense then.’
‘What?’
‘We met at Mum’s office in January last year.’
‘Did we?’
‘Yeah. You were so rude to me and I wondered why. People aren’t rude to me very often.’
I think of Ellie making the same comment.
