Page 10 of Not Just for Christmas

‘I mean the special day for you and whoever proposes,’ he said quickly, not wanting her to misconstrue his words. ‘Not you singular.’

‘Oh, I see,’ she said tartly, returning to her phone. ‘Yes, obviously it’ll be a special moment for him too. Whatever. The point is, when someone – whoever – asks me to marry them, I want the occasion to be all about me, not another couple. Us. All about us, I mean.’

He hid his smile. He’d only been with his girlfriend for six months, but right from day one, she’d begun to move herself in, leaving more and more stuff at his apartment in Brooklyn. He didn’t mind, he quite liked the ease of their relationship; the more she took upon herself to do, the less he had to instigate. Besides, he had turned forty this year, and according to his mom and sister Rachel he should really think about settling down soon.

God knows he wanted that too. Problem was, he’d never found the right girl. Actually, scratch that: he had found a great girl, but she’d been out of his reach. Still was. Almost twenty years on and he no longer expected to find someone who would take his breath away as she had done. A coup de foudre they say in French. A lightning strike, which was the perfect description of what he’d felt like when he’d first seen her. As if someone had reached inside his chest and squeezed his heart.

But Amelia was great: fun, sexy, ambitious … he thought they stood a chance of making it long term. Which is why he planned to book them a two-week trip to the Maldives over Christmas. He’d already asked her if she wanted to spend the holidays with him and she’d said yes, but other than that he’d been deliberately vague.

Janet appeared beside his seat from the back of the plane. His PA was dressed, as ever, in a smart trouser suit and heeled boots, blonde hair threaded with silver, tightly twisted in a chignon.

‘Hey look,’ Dylan indicated his open laptop, ‘I’m working through the gift list, like you wanted. Is the list shorter than last year?’

‘I took the liberty of ditching anybody who has been in the least bit uncomplimentary or unhelpful this year,’ she confirmed with a conspiratorial smile. ‘That journo from Maine? Toast. The insurance guy who messed up on your payments? Dead to me. Same goes for a couple of others.’

Dylan let out a laugh. ‘Note to self: do not cross Janet.’

Her lips twitched. ‘Very wise. Now, I just have one quick question. There are a few invitations and stuff over the holiday period and I’m not sure how to respond to them. You asked me to keep free ten days in your diary, but I wasn’t sure of your plans. I guess you’re with your family.’ Janet’s expression softened. ‘You can’t beat a family Christmas.’

His PA would be taking two weeks’ vacation to host Christmas with her four sisters and all their respective children and grandchildren.

‘Totally,’ said Dylan, envying her her army of relatives.

All he had was Mom, Rachel and her husband, plus their daughter Lola. None of whom was free to spend the holidays with him. Then of course there was Lucy and Sam. A wave of guilt washed over him. He kept in touch with messages, and a FaceTime call every month or so, but hadn’t made it over to the UK since Jack’s funeral. The one time Lucy had invited him – for Sam’s birthday – he’d had to cancel last minute because of work. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for that. And he had a feeling Lucy hadn’t forgiven him either. He had to do better; he strengthened his resolve to make time for his godson and his dear friend next year. Maybe Amelia would like to come too.

‘Family Christmas?’ Amelia squawked. She sat up and yanked her eye mask off her face. ‘Is that the big surprise? You want me to spend the holidays with your sister and her bratty kid in Hicksville. You’re kidding, right?’

‘Wow.’ Dylan stared at her, taken aback. ‘Firstly, I asked if you wanted to spend Christmas with me and that we’d sort plans nearer the time. I never mentioned a surprise.’

‘I’ll go back to my seat.’ Janet melted away.

‘And secondly – bratty kid? Hicksville?’ Dylan shook his head in disbelief.

‘I’m sorry,’ Amelia pouted. ‘I’m sure they’re all very sweet, yada, yada, but I thought we were going somewhere exotic. Just you and me.’

Truth was, he’d have preferred to spend the holidays with his sister and her husband, but they were away visiting with his family this year, so it wasn’t an option. And Mom had plans at her retirement home.

He stared at her, hurt. ‘You’ve never even met Lola.’

‘Come on, Dylan.’ She ran her fingers down his arm. ‘You know I hate kids.’

‘I did not know that.’ He removed her hand. ‘What sort of person hates kids? You actually were a kid, you know that?’

‘Obviously.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘But some adults don’t like the company of children, I’m one of them.’

‘Well, I’m not,’ he replied. ‘I love them.’

‘Weirdo, but at least you don’t have any.’ She batted her eyelashes. ‘I’ll let you into a secret – the fact you don’t have any of your own was a major attraction for me.’

‘I want kids,’ he said firmly, ‘I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.’

‘Fine, but don’t look at me to be your baby mamma. Not going to happen.’ She stroked her flat stomach. ‘I like my body just as it is, thank you.’

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They might never have discussed the idea of having a family directly, but he’d never for one second guessed she was so anti-kids. His disappointment was immense. This changed everything.

‘Gotcha.’ He nodded grimly.

She smiled sweetly. ‘Glad we cleared that up.’