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‘OK, good, just checking. Sorry to disturb.’ His voice sounded nervous. Minnie smiled to herself.
What was going to happen now? Was she going to go out there, kiss him again and pick up from where they’d left off the last time he’d been in her flat? She closed her eyes under the water. She wanted that, of course, but she also felt nervous – could anything live up to the expectation?
She dried herself in the shower and crept through to the bedroom. She wanted to get changed rather than talk to him with nothing but a towel between them. She threw on her warmest clothes; a green polo neck and yesterday’s jeans, then she went through to the living room. Quinn was sitting on the sofa with Lucky on his lap.
She sat down next to him, suddenly acutely aware of the empty Malteser packets, and the looming face of Margaret Thatcher on her TV screen where she’d pausedThe Iron Lady.
‘Minnie, I am so glad you called tonight. These last few months without seeing you … ’ He trailed off and put a hand up to her face, pulling her gaze to meet his.
‘I promise you, I’m never going to stop you from having that Mustang moment when you need it. And I’m sorry I hurt you, I was scared to feel like this – to not be in control.’ He took a breath. ‘It took me all these months to realise I wasn’t scared of you needing me, I was scared by how much I needed you.’
‘I’m scared too,’ she said quietly. ‘It’s overwhelming.’
They looked into each other’s eyes and in the stillness of the moment, beyond the owls communing with each other, a new dialogue opened up between them. They held hands in the semi-darkness. Suddenly, Minnie knew what she wanted to do.
‘What time is it?’ she asked.
‘Nearly half eleven,’ said Quinn.
‘Let’s go out. Let’s take a picnic to Primrose Hill and watch the fireworks. I’ve always wanted to do that.’
‘Go out? what about the jinx?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
‘What jinx? I make my own luck these days.’ Minnie cocked her head at him. ‘I just want to do one New Year right, one New Year where I’m not stuck in a toilet or an airport or A&E or hiding at home watching TV. I just want one proper midnight, to start this year right.’
She said it tentatively, not sure if he’d understand. Quinn smiled, something behind the liquid of his eyes flashed in comprehension. Minnie’s owls were not happy about whatshe was saying; the owls wanted her to get naked with Quinn as fast as possible, but she overruled them – the owls were short-termist creatures.
‘Let’s go find ourselves a midnight,’ he said, standing up and reaching for Minnie’s hand.
Minnie rummaged around her kitchen cabinets and pulled out a picnic blanket. She threw a few picnic supplies into a canvas bag and then they were out of the door and into an Uber.
*
Primrose Hill was packed. They wouldn’t be able to push their way up through the crowd to get the best view from the top. It was four minutes to midnight – they’d made it just in time. Minnie laid the rug out on the only piece of grass that was free. It was near the bins at the bottom of the hill, next to a group of teenagers drinking beers and playing the guitar. Quinn opened up the bag of picnic supplies she had brought.
‘Milk?’ he said, laughing, as he pulled out a carton.
‘I didn’t have anything else to drink in my fridge,’ she laughed.
‘Weetabix and a banana,’ he said, pulling out the remaining contents of the bag.
‘They go with the milk,’ she laughed again. ‘Look, a picnic’s a picnic.’ She elbowed him gently. ‘We don’t keep champagne and canapés on tap in Willesden.’
Quinn took a bite of dry Weetabix and a swig of milk from the carton, then made an overblown ‘hmmm, delicious’ face.They both grinned. All around them, people started yelling out the countdown.
‘Ten, nine, eight … ’
In the sky there were a few early explosions, light streaming across the sky in bursts of colour. They could just see the top of the BT tower, shining brightly on the horizon.
‘Three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!’ cried voices all around them.
‘Happy Birthday, wonderful, beautiful Minnie,’ whispered Quinn, leaning in to kiss her.
‘Happy Birthday to you too.’
The teenager on the guitar started playing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ and people began to sing along. As Quinn and Minnie kissed, the sky erupted in fireworks from all around the city. Light blazing and bursting high into the air, floating down again in a twinkling canopy of burnished rain.
Then Minnie’s phone began to ring. She pulled back from Quinn, took it from her bag and looked at the screen.
