Page 85 of I’m Dreaming of a New York Christmas

‘Hey, the kids are fine, no emergency. But… there is something I need to talk to you about quite urgently. And please don’t be mad at me.’

I’d never been mad at Laurie about anything – ever – so goodness knows what she was about to say if she thought that would be the result.

‘Well, now I’m freaking out. Go on, then.’

‘Are you alone?’

‘For now, yes.’

‘Okay, cool. Right then. So…’ Laurie inhaled audibly. ‘I’ve just found out that Will is in New York…’

WILL IS IN NEW YORK?

A weird feeling erupted from my tummy and bloomed upwards. Was it… relief? Yes, relief he’d finally come to his senses, had heard I was here and had decided to fly over as some big romantic gesture – his very first romantic gesture – to get me back. The trouble was, Laurie hadn’t finished talking.

‘…with his new girlfriend.’

What? WHAT?!

I dropped down to the floor, my mouth agape and my throat blazing with devastation.

‘Flor? Are you still there?’

Laurie’s simple enquiry felt like the most complex question I’d ever been asked.

‘Umm, yeah, I’m here.’

‘I’m so sorry you’re finding out like this.’

‘Can you… can you just tell me what you know? I’m really confused.’ I rested my head on the seat of the sofa and closed my eyes so I could focus on her voice.

‘Yeah, I bet. So, all I know about the New York thing is that, according to Instagram, they landed yesterday and fly back just before New Year’s Eve.’

‘Right. Right. But… who is he here with? I don’t understand.’

There was silence on the line. Too much silence.

‘Laurie?’ My voice was perilously close to cracking.

‘His girlfriend is called Briony. I knew he was seeing her, Flor. He soft-launched her on Instagram a couple of months back. When he posted the photo, I called him to find out what was going on and he told me it was a whirlwind thing from Hinge.’

I sat bolt upright, cricking my neck, although the adrenalin coursing through my body overrode the pain. ‘Hinge?! He signed up to Hinge, like, weeks after he practically left me at the altar?’

‘Apparently so. He’s… invited me and Ben to their place for dinner in the new year.’

‘“Their place”?! They’re already living together? Please tell me you haven’t said yes?’

Laurie sighed loudly. ‘It’s a sore point. Ben’s keen to go. We’ve been friends with him for a long time, Flor.’

Strictly speaking, they’d been friends with me longer, if you counted the hours when it appeared I was the only eighteen-year-old girl moving into a floor full of the opposite gender, before Will showed up.

‘You should have said something, Laurie. This is such a shit way to find out.’

‘I know, I know. I was planning to tell you, I swear. I just wanted you to have this time to yourself over Christmas so you’d be in as good a place as possible to hear it from me. You kept telling me how much you needed this headspace.’

‘Yeah, well, I didn’t get it, did I?’

‘It looks like you’re having fun on Instagram, though?’