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“This is the best thing I’ve ever heard,” she said.“I wish I’d been there to see that.”
“Me too,” I told her.“I’m just glad June was here or I doubt anyone would believe it happened.”
“Yeah, all right,” Donovan said, playfully shoving me away.“That’s enough out of you.”
I leaned away from him, laughing, but I caught Louise wiggling her eyebrows at him when she thought I wasn’t looking.He glared back at her, but he was smiling as he did it, and it warmed my insides.I wasn’t sure what the hell was happening here, but I liked it.Liked seeing Donovan so loosened up and talking to his parents again.It brought me back to my thoughts from before about where we would be if we’d had more Christmases together.About what could have happened if we hadn’t been separated.
I wasn’t a big believer in fate, but it was truly crazy that I had wound up living next door to both sets of Donovan’s grandparents over the years.Especially when June and Trevor hadn’t always lived in Devon.They had settled here, and yes, there was a family connection, but it wasn’t their hometown like it was mine.I too had gravitated back there, even though it made more logical sense for me to live closer to my parents and work.
Was there a reason we had found each other, or was it purely a bizarre coincidence?
Zoning back into Donovan’s chat with his parents, I realised they were saying goodbye, and I focused my attention back on the screen, moving a little closer to him again so I was fully back in the frame.
“Nova, honey, it was lovely to see you again,” Louise said.“When we’re over at Easter, we’ll have to have a catch-up.”
“I’d love to,” I said sincerely.“We can go out for lunch or something.”
“It’s a date!”
Once the goodbyes were said, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much, and Donovan placed the iPad on the coffee table, behind our plate of now-forgotten cookies.
“So, you used to sulk when you left me, huh?”I teased, tilting my chin upwards.We were still sitting close beside each other, and he stiffened for just a second before relaxing.
“Fuck off,” Donovan said, laughing.“I will kill my mother for saying that.”
“In her defence, she didn’t know I was here.”
“True.”
I thought back to those days.When he and his family would leave three or four days after Christmas, and I’d spend the rest of the holiday on my own.Considering we had hardly known each other, once he was gone, I somehow felt like I was missing a limb until I went back to school and real life resumed.Playing with my new toys was hollow when he wasn’t around to share them with.
“Well, if it helps, I sulked after you left too,” I told him.
He grinned.“Yeah?”
“Yup.But only for a little while.Once I dived into playing with my presents and eating my Christmas chocolates, I was over it.”
I laughed out loud as he scowled at my lie, but as I went to move back to my side of the sofa, he wound his arm around my shoulder, keeping me in place.I looked up at him, and his eyes met mine, soft but serious.
When he didn’t speak, I softly said, “I always wondered what had happened to you.I mean, notalways, but for a long time.A lot of Christmases.I didn’t know back then, when I first knew you, that anything might change.That I wouldn’t see you again, and when it happened, I was upset.”
He nodded.“I was too.When I went back to my grandad’s and you weren’t next door, I didn’t know what I would do for the holidays.I wondered where you were and if you were still doing the same things with new friends.”
“I wasn’t.Not for a few years, anyway.Every Christmas you weren’t around, I missed you.But I realised eventually you wouldn’t think about me anymore.We were just kids, and we were both growing up and doing different things.So, I made new traditions with my new friends.I have always thought about you every time I watchedHome Alone, though.”
I smiled, but he didn’t.His face remained serious.“After Grandad died...the first one you lived next door to, I shut down.I wanted to forget everything about Dawlish because it was too painful.Christmas made me think of him, and you were so intertwined with that, I set those memories aside.It was easier to forget when we went to Italy.I didn’t realise how much I’d forgotten until you reappeared in my life.”
“Well,” I said quietly, “I hope me being around again is not all bad.”
He shook his head.“It’s not bad at all.”
Our gaze remained connected, and I was very aware his arm was still around me, his hand resting high on my shoulder.It felt...familiar somehow.I wanted to touch him too, but I also wasn’t sure what was happening.Whether we were having a moment of fond reminiscing or if it was something more.
“I meant what I said last night,” he said.“You really did look beautiful.You always look beautiful.”
The butterflies that had been softly flitting around in my tummy picked up their pace, and I drew in a sharp breath at the intensity.
Slowly, I reached forward, resting my hand on his shoulder, my thumb lightly stroking a tiny bit of the exposed skin close to his neck.My eyes dropped to his lips before shifting back to meet his gaze again.
