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‘I think it’s a very nice thing to do,’ she insisted.
‘You do realise he’s getting paid for it? He’s not doing it out of the goodness of his heart. It’s just a job to tide him over until his gardening work starts up again in the spring.’
She replied, mildly, ‘Why shouldn’t he be paid? I should imagine the organisers aren’t letting children visit Santa for nothing.’ And it wasn’t as though he could be Father Christmas all year round, was it? She suspected that many people who held down seasonal jobs like that, would have other things lined up for the rest of the year.
Tobias shrugged and stood up, nodding at her empty glass. ‘Same again?’
Seren was on the brink of refusing and saying she had to leave, but it wasn’t fair on him to let her love for all things Christmas ruin the evening. Some people, like her, adored the festive season, others not so much. She understood some of Tobias’s cynicism – it was terribly commercialised and most things were barely veiled attempts to persuade people to part with their cash. But wasn’t she about to do the very same thing?
She might kid herself that she was providing a service, but at the end of the day she had to make it viable if she didn’t want to be out of pocket.
‘Go on then, but let me get these,’ she said, slipping inelegantly off her stool and reaching for her purse.
‘If you insist.’ Tobias handed her his empty glass and she made her way to the bar, feeling a little disheartened. This date wasn’t going as well as she’d hoped.
There was no spark on her part, and he seemed a little patronising when it came to Daniel’s job and dismissive of it too, as though it was beneath him. Tobias might be easy on the eye, but there was no connection there, so when he offered to take her home later that evening, she refused.
‘It’s OK, I’ll grab a taxi,’ she said.
‘Are you sure? It’s no bother.’
‘I’m sure. I don’t want to put you out.’
‘You won’t be,’ he said. ‘But if that’s what you want…?’
‘It is.’
‘I’ll wait with you until your ride shows up.’
‘You don’t have to,’ she said, feeling awkward. He was being so nice about it; maybe she’d misjudged him?
‘It was fun,’ he said as they stood outside the wine bar, Seren scanning the road anxiously for any vehicle that looked remotely like a cab. ‘We must do this again.’
‘That would be nice,’ she replied vaguely, then realised her taxi had arrived and she sighed in relief.
Ever the gentleman, Tobias opened the door for her, but just as she was about to get inside, he pulled her into an embrace and went in for a kiss.
At the last moment, Seren turned her head so his lips landed on her cheek, and she gave him a swift squeeze and drew away.
His smile was rueful as he watched her clamber into the car. ‘I’ll let you know when you can pick the van up or if there are any niggles. I’m not anticipating any,’ he added hastily as Seren’s eyes widened in worry. ‘Good night, Seren.’ He shut the door.
‘’Night.’
The taxi pulled away and she glanced back at him, hoping she hadn’t hurt his feelings. She was just in time to see him smiling at two young women who had emerged from the wine bar, and as she watched, she saw one of them peel away from the other and saunter over to him, hips swinging.
Nope, Seren hadn’t hurt his feelings in the slightest.
If it wasn’t for the fact he was working on her van, she had a suspicion that he’d have forgotten she existed the moment he closed the door on her.
Seren sank back into her seat and let out a slow breath: at least she’d got out from under her dad’s feet for a couple of hours even if she hadn’t found true love this evening.
It was strange though, but at that very moment Daniel’s easy smile and crinkly eyes floated across her mind, and instead of thinking about the date she’d just been on, she found herself thinking about the date that was never going to happen.
