Page 5 of The Christmas Letter

Jack turned to leave and Holly made her way back to the table where Lily was sitting.

‘Well, that took longer than expected,’ Lily said, looking up and giving Holly a knowing look.

‘He was just being polite,’ Holly said primly. Though she couldn’t help the glance over her shoulder to where Jack was now leaving the coffee shop. He had a nice back, she decided. A back she really wouldn’t mind seeing without that jacket on. Stop that, Holly!

‘This might just be me,’ Lily said mildly, ‘but I don’t make a habit of handing out my number when I’m just being polite to someone.’

Holly glanced at the number scrawled on her coffee cup. ‘It will probably come to nothing. I mean, I can’t actually call him, can I? I’m about to start a new job and I’ll have to move and—’

‘And?’

‘And it’s complicated,’ Holly finished with a shrug.

‘Look,’ Lily said, taking a sip of her mint tea, ‘I never thought I’d meet Steve the way I did, but when I bumped into him outside that club—’

‘Your eyes met across the smoking area and you knew he was the one. I know, Lils, I was there.’

‘I’m only saying . . . sometimes fate steps in and you have to—’

‘Yes, yes.’ Holly didn’t like it when Lily started playing the ‘fate’ card – it was a way for people to justify the bad things in life, in her opinion. ‘Come on, let’s go – aren’t you worried about the parking?’

Lily rolled her eyes but got to her feet. Holly knew it was ridiculous – Lily was only a few months pregnant after all – but she couldn’t help watching her extra carefully as she did so.

She glanced at Lily’s stomach. ‘How’s my little Talula doing? Soaking up all this Christmas atmosphere?’

Lily gave her a look. ‘She’s not going to be Talula. I’ve told you that.’

‘Well, I’m calling her that,’ Holly said, as they walked out the café.

‘Even if she’s a boy?’

‘Yes, even then.’

‘I’m sure you’ll get tons of auntie points for that.’

‘Pfft!’ Holly waved a hand in the air. ‘As if I have to worry about that – I’ll obviously be favourite auntie.’

‘You’re the only auntie.’

‘Yes, exactly – that’s why it’s obvious.’ She made it into a joke for Lily, but Holly couldn’t disguise it – she was very excited about becoming an auntie. She was so far off even thinking about kids of her own, but she loved the idea of having a little niece or nephew to play with – and to buy copious amounts of art supplies and colouring books for, of course. She’d actually already started working on a little sculpture to give him or her on the day they were born. It would be a little giraffe, she’d decided, because Lily loved giraffes, and small enough that the baby could clutch it in little hands – and she’d paint it with bright, bold colours, like Elmer the elephant, who both Holly and Lily had loved growing up.

Holly switched on the ignition and cranked up the heating the moment they got into the car – it was definitely colder down here than in London. It wasn’t yet four p.m., but it was already getting dark, and small misty droplets of rain were clinging to the windscreen. Holly wrinkled her nose – not exactly ideal driving conditions. Still, it was only forty-five minutes; she could manage that in the dark and rain.

Lily was strapping herself in and looking at the coffee cup Holly had put down in the cup holder. ‘Seriously, Holly, this guy could be the one – you should send him a message now.’

Holly rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, because that wouldn’t come across as overly keen.’

‘Those games are ridiculous – if you like someone, you like them.’

‘Says the happily married woman who doesn’t have to worry about it anymore.’

‘At least save his number then.’

‘Lily!’ Holly adjusted her rearview mirror. It was only seeing the headlights on the car behind them that made her remember to switch her own on.

‘I’m just saying . . . You’re always complaining that you never meet anyone. This is why – you don’t take chances, even when they’re offered up to you on a coffee cup.’

‘I take plenty of chances,’ Holly said, trying not to sound defensive. And she did – she usually said yes if someone asked her out, didn’t she? Fine, she wasn’t on all the apps, but Lily hadn’t done that either – really, what chances had Lily taken? Met her husband aged twenty-one, stayed together five years, got married, two years later she was pregnant and on the way to a 2.4 lifestyle. And though she knew her sister was genuinely trying to be supportive, it did sometimes feel like Lily was telling her to hurry up – meet someone, follow the same pattern. But she kept quiet – it would only turn into an argument if she said more.