Chapter Five
Ashleigh – The Supermarket
Ashleigh went straight upstairs to get changed out of the elf costume. Seriously, how could she have run into Olivier for the first time in years while she was wearing an ill-fitting elf costume? Life really knew how to screw with you.
After changing, she went out the back of their small garden and jumped into her car to drive down to the supermarket at the marina. She could have walked to the small express shop near the train station for the little she had to pick up but she needed to get out and clear her head from the shock of seeing Olivier.
He was back for Christmas.
It had been so long since the last time she saw him but if she’d thought time would temper her attraction to him, she’d been deluded. He was as easy on the eyes as ever. Maybe even more so because he was such a…amannow. All grown up and broad-shouldered and stubbly.
In the past, if she’d been reminded of him, the first image that usually came to her was of the fourteen-year-old she met across the wall in the front garden. Exactly where they’d been standing tonight. Back then, he’d had the Zac Efron haircut fromHigh School Musicaland the biggest dimple in his left cheek, which seemed to show up when he was eventhinkingabout smiling. Which was most of the time. Her puberty-ridden body hadn’t stood a chance really.
Admittedly,thenher brain would fast-forward a bit to the twenty-two-year-old she’d finally had the guts to dance with when they’d bumped into each other at a nightclub. She had to open the car window for some fresh air, just thinking aboutthat.
It had been ridiculous how hard and fast she developed a crush on him. Like one of those stupid werewolves from theTwilightbooks Ro had insisted she read. Some sad, fated, unrequited love story, because of course, nothing could ever come of it. He lived in France. She lived in England.
There had been no point calling him when he gave her his number, because she’d known she couldn’t deal with pining after another person miles away. It had been easier to cut her losses at the time and the smart thing to do since, of course, he’d moved on. Through the grapevine of his mother, her nan and sometimes Romesh, she’d learnt that he’d gone off and got married just a few years later. Of course he had. It’d only been a teenage crush and a moment of alcohol-fuelled horniness.
Thinking of her best friend Ro, she pulled out her phone once she’d parked up and decided to have a quick catch-up with him as she walked around the supermarket.
‘Oh, hello, sunshine.’ Romesh’s voice was loud and clear down the phone to her as she passed through the electric doors into the fluorescent lights of the superstore. ‘How is yourelfimprovement going?’
‘Ro, seriously, every year you roll out the puns.’
‘Let me have my fun.’
‘At my expense?’ She paused, trying to remember where she needed to go. Everything was decked out in tinsel already, with big cardboard cut-out baubles pirouetting on wires above the aisles, shouting about price reductions on Christmas food and gifts in glittery fonts, and Christmas songs playing in the background.
‘It’s not meant that way. What’s the matter? You sound grumpy.’
‘Do I? I’m not feeling grumpy, just a bit weird…restless I suppose. You know this time of year is always a pain, waiting to see if my mum will bother to come over and visit or not.’ She shook her head and shrugged it off, starting along the seasonal shelving nearest the escalator, which was full of decorations to buy and gaping holes where the advent calendars had been stocked. ‘Anyway, guess who I just bumped into?’
As soon as she said it, she wondered if it was a good idea to bring it up. But why wouldn’t she? Other than the fact she was trying not to act like a moony teenager all over again, Ash and Romesh told each other everything and Olivier was his friend too. He wasmoreOlivier’s friend in fact than Ash was, since Romesh had stayed in contact with him, while she hadn’t.
And, despite Olivier’s mother living next door to Ash, Romesh was the one who’d introduced them. He’d spotted Olivier playing football on his own at the Level, the big recreation ground up their end of Brighton, and asked if he’d wanted to join him and his friends. The Manchester United kit that Olivier had always worn to play may have caught Ro’s attention but honestly, if he’d seen Olivier on his own dressed up like Father Christmas, he still would have invited him over. That was just Ro’s way.
It was how he and Ash had become friends after all. Not that she’d been dressed as Father Christmas, but when she started secondary school she hadn’t known anyone. So many of the kids had gone to primary school together, but having moved over from Eastbourne after her parents’ divorce, Ash was a total loner and, well, she hadn’t felt very inclined to try and make friends. But Romesh wasn’t the kind to see someone on the outskirts and leave them there.
‘Father Christmas?’ Romesh guessed, like he was picking up on her thought patterns. Or just taking the piss.
‘Har har. Ididsee him today actually. He says you’re on the naughty list. But no, not who I’m thinking of. Much closer to home.’
‘Ooh, okay. Hang on, while I get James to take over cooking dinner, so I can concentrate.’ Ashleigh rounded the corner of the aisle and headed along the centre to the far end of the supermarket where the pet food was, while Romesh spoke to his husband in the background. ‘Right, I’m free now. Erm, Chris Eubank?’
‘No.’
‘Fatboy Slim?’
‘Nope.’
‘Ooh, ooh, was it Cate Blanchett? Don’t tell me it was her, I’ll besojealous.’
‘It wasn’t. No one famous.’
‘Oh. Then why is this supposed to be interesting?’ Ash could practically see Romesh pouting.
‘I neversaidit was particularly interesting. I just asked you to guess. Want me to tell you?’
