It seems churlish to refuse.
A quick peck is all that’s required.
Trey is making whooping sounds on his camel in Morocco. Heather laughs, shrugs and leans in towards him. There’s nothing more he can do. Despite the warning in his head to not let this particular woman get too close, Scott mirrors the action. Their lips skim for perhaps two hundred milliseconds. No time at all to effect change in the world, you would think.
But of course, that’s not the case, is it? As any decent scientific or mathematical analysist would attest. How long does it take for lightning to strike? For a bullet to pierce? For a car to spin on black ice? Because the jolt between them is like twenty thousand volts. It doesn’t feel at all incongruous that their kiss should be followed by the alert of a sharp alarm which pierces its way into the lounge from the kitchen. Heather lurches away from him.
‘Oh. Gosh. Sorry. That’s the oven,’ she says. ‘Happy Christmas, Trey. See you next week.’
She springs from the sofa and practically sprints from the room.
Scott watches her go.
He’d follow had his limbs not decalcified and his brain turned to mush.
FRESHMAN PARENTS' ONLINE FORUM: ST ANDREWS UNIVERSITY
(Admin)
HNY for tonight, everyone. Hope you and your YP can reflect back on all you’ve achieved in the year just gone and look forward to the new one ahead. Exciting times!!
HNY when it comes. Can’t believe this time last year we were focusing on mocks and now look at us! My YP is practically unrecognisable!
HNY, all. My NY resolution is to return to my alma mater in Scotland and do that road trip we always talked about.
Brilliant idea. Let me know when. Do you know my brother’s a tour guide?
Now there’s a plan! XXX
Chapter 19
HEATHER
NewYearisacalmer affair. Heather is in her pyjamas, on the sofa feeling totally at peace with the world. She pulls the rug around her lap, moves the dirty plates to the side and pours herself a glass of champagne. Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is streaming on live TV. One of Scotland’s most popular boy bands is performing on the Princes Street stage, and the camera intermittently pans from close-ups of the performers then out to the audience.
Might she see Georgia, Brianna and Trey in the crowd?
For at least the last twenty minutes, partygoers have jammed city centre mobile signals while sharing their experiences with the rest of the world.
Does she wish she was there? A few years ago, perhaps. But now, at forty-eight, Heather looks at the jam-packed crowds and her dominant thoughts are: Where do they go to relieve themselves? And how will they ever get home? Whilst both Fraser and Claire asked about her plans, she’s happy here, alone, seeing in the New Year with her hair in bunches and her face free from make-up, as she has done the last few years. Heather's New Year ritual is a process she has come to cherish. She reflects on the year that has just gone and considers what the year ahead might bring.
An anonymous contributor on the Freshman Parents online forum summarises the sentiment succinctly. New Year isn’t about mad crazy partying with others; it’s a chance for introspection and manifestation. Heather’s new tradition is to cook herself a nice meal for one, watch the TV coverage and reflect. Over Christmas, Georgia had explained to Scott and Brianna how New Year’s Day is for them, once the partying is over.
‘Mum tells me three things she’s proud of me for from last year and three things she hopes for me in the year ahead. Then we swap and I do the same for her.’
Heather imagines Scott would have mocked this tradition a few months ago, but now he seems more open to considering a different way of doing things.
‘So, you don’t go out drinking with mates from the village and wake up in the morning wondering how you got home?’ he asked on Christmas Day with a playful look in his eye.
‘Sounds like my idea of hell,’ she’d laughed.
