A Christmas Kiss

by Anna Samuels

  ‘Nah! They’re rubbish. Boy games are the best.’

  I smiled at him and then cheekiness rushed through me, ‘Here comes the….tickle monster!’ I yelled and began tickling him in all the sensitive spots. He laughed and squealed in sheer joy as I tickled him.

  ‘Hey you two noisy people!’ a voice from the door said.

  I looked up to see Laurie standing in her pyjamas grinning widely.

  ‘Some of us like sleep!’ she said with fake sternness.

  ‘But Mummy! Ally’s here!’ Zachary told her in all seriousness.

  ‘I know!’ she said heading across to the bed. ‘It’s pretty great isn’t it?’ she smiled.

  ‘It’s not great, Mummy,’ he told her. ‘It’s amazing!’ he yelled and began jumping on the bed like a little energiser bunny.

  I felt exhausted just watching him. I looked over at Laurie who was smiling happily at him. Family life, I thought to myself. Just wonderful.

  ‘Mummy?’ a small voice from the door called.

  We all turned to see Katie peeping around the corner to see what all the commotion was about.

  ‘Hey honey…’ Laurie said, retrieving Katie from the door. She whisked her up into her arms and walked her over to the bed. ‘Look Katie…Auntie Ally’s here!’

  ‘Ally,’ Katie repeated, looking at me suspiciously. ‘Where is de ickle monster?’ she asked in her baby soft tones.

  ‘Oh there’s no tickle monster,’ Laurie told her smiling. ‘Ally was just tickling Zachary and telling him it was a pretend monster!’

  ‘Oh,’ she said pouting. ‘Ickle me!’ she said reaching out to me.

  I held my hands out for her and the little two and a half year old landed on the bed. ‘Look at you! You’re so big!’ I exclaimed.

  ‘I a big girl now,’ she told me proudly.

  ‘You are a big girl! Do big girls like tickles?’

  She grinned at me then, showing her baby teeth. ‘Yeah! I love ickles! Ickle me!’ she yelled.

  I tickled her all over while she shrieked and squealed with happiness. When we were done, I scooped her up and held her close, loving the cuddle from the small bundle of fun. They were such gorgeous children and I loved them dearly.

  ‘Right, come on you two, let’s get you dressed and then we can get some breakfast,’ Laurie told them.

  The kids scrambled off the bed and headed off in a noisy rabble.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ Laurie apologised.

  ‘Oh don’t be!’ I exclaimed. ‘They’re wonderful children, Laurie. You’re so lucky.’

  She smiled. ‘I know I am. They’re great…tiring, but great!’

  ‘Well anytime you need a babysitter, I’m your girl!’ I told her.

  ‘Ooh, tempting! We’ll be off out tonight then!’ she joked.

  ‘Yeah do it!’ I said in all seriousness. ‘I bet you haven’t had an evening off in months! Go enjoy dinner with Daniel!’

  She frowned and cocked her head, ‘what…really?’ she said, looking surprised.

  ‘Yes! Do it!’ I encouraged. ‘It’ll make me feel better too…for putting me up this weekend!’

  ‘Oh don’t be silly…well, we’ll see. I’ll mention it to Dan and see what he says.’

  ‘Offers there if you want it.’

  ‘Thanks…right, I’ll get them up and dressed while you get up.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Once Laurie had left, I got myself up. I took a more leisurely shower and got ready for the day. I felt a lot more relaxed after a good night sleep and a good chat with my sister. I had got a lot of worries off my chest and just being able to tell someone how I was feeling was a relief.

  I headed down the stairs with a smile on my face. When I reached the kitchen, all four of the family were already at the table starting breakfast.

  ‘Hey Daniel!’ I smiled.

  ‘Ally!’ he said standing to kiss my cheek. ‘It’s been way too long!’

  ‘I know! How are you?’

  ‘I’m good thanks…busy with work but good. I hear you’re giving us some much needed freedom tonight?’

  I glanced at Laurie who smiled at me, nodding. ‘Absolutely! You two should have dinner or something…go out and enjoy yourselves!’

  ‘Oh you’re a star! Laurie and I haven’t had dinner together alone in about six months!’ he laughed.

  ‘Really? I should come here more often!’

  ‘You definitely should!’ he grinned. ‘Come and join us for breakfast,’ he said holding the chair for me.

  I sat down with the smile still on my face. I loved my sister and her family. They were all so lovely and they made me realise how much more I should aim for in my own life. They were a genuinely happy family and I wanted their dynamic for myself somehow.

  ‘Ally?’ Zachary’s voice startled me from my daydream.

  ‘Yes honey?’

  ‘How long are you here for?’ he asked.

  ‘For the weekend,’ I told him. ‘We’ll have loads of fun!’

  ‘What shall we do? Hey, can I take Ally to the treasure cave?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes of course you can,’ Laurie told him. ‘Now eat up your breakfast.’

  ‘What’s the treasure cave?’ I asked, unable to help myself.

  ‘It’s this cave…down at the beach. I find treasure there all the time!’ he said, wide-eyed.

  ‘Do you?’ I said leaning forwards. ‘What kind of treasure?’

  ‘Coins, pirate treasure, jewels, gold and silver!’ he told me.

  ‘Which means glass, shells, driftwood and the occasional coin,’ Laurie told me, whispering in my ear beside me.

  I smiled over at her. ‘How lovely. That sounds nice though. I miss the beach.’

  ‘Why do you miss the beach, Auntie Ally? It’s just over there!’ he said, pointing out of the window.

  ‘Well, I don’t live here anymore, Zachy, and there are no beaches near me.’

  ‘Oh…did you used to live here then?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes honey. I grew up here in Bournemouth with your Mummy…remember we’re sisters?’

  ‘Oh yeah…well if you miss it, you should just come and live here,’ he said simply.

  ‘Through the mouths of babes,’ Laurie murmured and then carried on with her cereal.

  I pondered his comment as we ate, realising the simple statement carried a lot of weight. I had nothing tying me to Sarah’s city anymore. I should just move home, I thought to myself.

  ‘So, Ally, how’s work?’ Daniel asked.

  Laurie tensed beside me, ‘Dan, not now…’ she warned.

  ‘No, its okay,’ I said turning to him. ‘It’s not great,’ I told him. ‘I’m not doing too well there at the moment.’

  ‘Oh sorry to hear that. What’s going on?’

  ‘Dan!’ Laurie interrupted, clearly exasperated with him asking.

  ‘Laurie, honestly, it’s okay. It’s just…’ I sighed, ‘the head teacher makes my life a misery, the work-load is immense and my class is really hard work. I have a group of boys who are violent and whenever they get into a scrape, somehow it’s my fault. I don’t know…I don’t enjoy it either…I just wish I did, then I might have the motivation to try harder.’

  Daniel looked at me over his glasses. ‘Sounds like you might be best out of there.’

  ‘Dan…that isn’t your decision to make,’ Laurie reminded him.

  ‘Just offering my opinion!’ he said shrugging. ‘We get one life, we might as well enjoy it.’

  I nodded, looking at him curiously. ‘Dan, do you like your job?’ I asked.

  ‘I love it!’ he told me and his eyes lit up.

  I watched him intrigued, ‘See, that’s what I’m missing…I need that light that appears in your eyes when you talk about your job.’

  ‘You most certainly do! Make the changes!’ he said enthusiastically.

  I nodded slowly, ‘Yeah…it’s just how.’

  ‘Let fate take a hand,’ he smiled.

  I smiled back, remembering
why I liked my sister’s husband so much. He was such a kind, loving and intelligent man. ‘I think you might be right.’

  ‘Anyway, let’s just enjoy our breakfast, hmm?’ Laurie suggested.

  ‘Good idea…tell me more about this treasure place!’ I said looking at Zachary and Katie.

  ‘Oh it’s amazing, Auntie Ally!’ Zachary began. ‘There’s shells and we make sand castles and there’s even lollies!’ he said wide-eyed.

  ‘Lollies?’ I said, confused.

  ‘They’ve opened a new place down at Hope Beach, Ally. Lovely café on one side, restaurant on the other. There’s a little book and beach shop and I think it’s still expanding. You must see it, we love it down there, even in winter!’

  ‘Well I’m sold! When are we going?’

  ‘Shall we go today?’ Laurie wondered. ‘Daniel has to work so it would be good to keep the kids occupied.’

  ‘Great idea…then later you can have some time off while I watch the kids.’

  ‘If you’re sure you don’t mind?’

  ‘I don’t mind at all!’ I told her.

  ‘Great. Then our day is planned,’ she smiled.

  Chapter 3

  Hope Beach

  We arrived at the beach a little after ten o clock. Daniel had headed off to work straight after breakfast and we had leisurely milled around talking before bundling the children up in winter coats and wellies for our outing.

  We pulled into the car park and parked by the sea wall. I took a moment to take in the breath-taking scenery around me. Golden sand stretched out in front of me and led down to stormy, blue seas. The waves crashed and slammed into the water again and again, splashing up into the shore. I felt like I was home. This was where I wanted to be.

  ‘Ready?’ Laurie asked me.

  I nodded and smiled at her. ‘I love it here.’

  ‘You always did! Don’t you remember when we were kids?’

  I shook my head. ‘Not really…’

  ‘We came here a lot. Maybe you were too young to remember.’

  ‘I guess so.’

  ‘Come on kids! Let’s show Ally some fun,’ Laurie announced.

  We all clamoured out of the car and Zachary held my hand, clearly with the intent of pulling me along with him as he hustled me down the sand towards the rocks and caves. When we arrived, I could see how the location would work well in his mind. It was easy to imagine pirates stowing their treasures away in the small, hidden caves. It was mysterious as well as picturesque and I found myself keen to play his game.

  ‘So this is what we do,’ he began, hunkering down in the sand. ‘We dig…when you find something you shout ‘treasure!’ he told me.

  ‘Okay. Sounds pretty straight forwards,’ I murmured.

  ‘And then I collect it all up at the end and sometimes Mummy lets me take it home.’

  ‘Does she now? That’s pretty cool.’

  ‘I know! Hey, Katie…are you going to play?’

  ‘Katie play!’ she grinned as she plonked herself down on the sand and began flicking sand around with her spade.

  I quickly realised this was going to get messy so I subtly moved back a little so as to not get completely covered with sand.

  ‘Dig then!’ Zachary insisted, thrusting a spade into my hand.

  ‘Okay!’ I began digging and as I did, reached a hand into my pocket for the coins I had hidden there earlier. ‘Look at that sea-bird!’ I exclaimed dramatically.

  ‘Where?’ Zachary asked, turning.

  As he turned to look for the bird, I quickly dropped a few coins into the hole he was digging and covered them with a quick flick of my hand. ‘Oh…I think it flew off,’ I told him.

  ‘Oh…hey look!’ he said excitedly, digging again. ‘Look what I found! Mummy! Ally! I’m rich! Treasure! Oh ah!’ he sang and stood up to jig about crazily.

  ‘Well done you!’ I said and then glanced at Laurie. She grinned at me and I winked. Turning back to Zachary, I smiled. ‘Keep digging! I reckon there’s more down there.’ And there was.

  An hour later, the children were still happy digging and playing in the sand. Laurie and I sat nearby, chatting in low tones.

  ‘I’m sorry Daniel was going on this morning, Ally.’

  ‘Oh he wasn’t…and I think he’s lovely. You know I do. His love of life is so infectious. He’s a good man, Laurie.’

  ‘I know…I’ve been very lucky,’ she nodded.

  ‘I just wish I could find someone like him…well, aside from the being a man bit,’ I chuckled.

  ‘Yeah…I wish you could too. Do you want to settle down?’ she asked me.

  ‘I do, more than anything. I want what you have, Laurie. I know I’m unconventional in the sense I’m not straight but I’m traditional in other ways. I want a family and a house. I want to live the normal married, family life-just with another woman.’

  She nodded slowly. ‘You just have to find her.’

  ‘That’s right. I just have to find her.’

  ‘Did you think any more about the job problem last night?’

  ‘Not really. I was pretty tired. Today I’ve been thinking about it a lot and I think I should just hand in my notice.’

  ‘I think you should too,’ she agreed.

  ‘Really?’ I asked, surprised.

  ‘Yes. I hadn’t realised how unhappy you’ve been otherwise I would have tried to help sooner. Leave the job, Ally. Something better is out there for you.’

  ‘But in doing what?’ I moaned.

  ‘That’s something you’ll figure out as you move forwards. The thing is you have a degree, you have a teaching qualification, you have your painting, your art skills…there’s no end of possibilities.’

  I considered this for a moment, watching the sea. ‘You think?’

  She nodded sagely, ‘I know.’

  ‘So you’ll give your notice?’

  ‘I think I will…thankfully it won’t be long till the end of term then.’

  ‘How long will you have to do?’

  ‘Until Christmas…’

  ‘Why so long?’ she asked.

  ‘Because of how the resignation dates work for teachers,’ I told her. ‘I can only hand my notice in three times each year to leave at the end of each term. If I hand my notice in before the end of October, I can leave at Christmas.’

  ‘Well, I guess at least an end will be in sight.’

  ‘It’ll be one more week now until half term and then seven weeks until Christmas.’

  ‘Will you come and spend half term with us?’ she asked.

  I stared at her, stunned. ‘Would you have me?’

  ‘Of course! It’d be great!’

  ‘Well…I’d love too! But wouldn’t I be getting in the way?’ I asked.

  ‘Are you kidding? It’s always great to have you with us…actually, I was going to book the kids into the childminder on Wednesday and Thursday so I could work but if you’re going to be here…’

  ‘Yeah, I’ll have them! Then I won’t feel quite so guilty about intruding on your half term.’

  ‘You wouldn’t be intruding…’ she insisted.

  ‘Okay then, well I’d love to in that case.’

  ‘Great. We’ll have a blast.’

  I smiled at her and then let my eyes wander up the beach. ‘Is that café open, do you think?’

  ‘Yes, it will be. It’s lovely! We go in there regularly. The owner is really friendly too…I often chat with her.’

  ‘I might just go and get a warm drink. Do you want one?’

  ‘Oh yes please! Will you get me a hot chocolate?’

  ‘Sure. That’s what I’m getting. Kids, do you want anything from the café?’ I called.

  ‘A lolly!’ Zachary replied.

  ‘Yeah! Lolly!’ Katie chimed in.

  I looked at Laurie to see what she thought of their lolly idea in the middle of winter.

  ‘Its fine,’ she smiled. ‘One off, hey?’

  I nodded. ‘I’ll be back soon.’


  ‘No rush…hey have a look what they’ve done up there…it’s lovely!’

  ‘Okay I will,’ I told her.

  I headed off up the sand at a slow pace, enjoying the sea air and my beautiful surroundings. I had spent too long in the city I realised. I was a beach girl at heart and it felt good to be back in more comfortable surroundings.

  As I reached the top of the sand, I climbed over the waist-height sea wall and looked up at the new buildings in front of me.

  Last time I had been home and down at the beach, the buildings in front of me had been derelict. It had looked sad, tired and unkempt. Now, things were very different.

  The buildings had been re-built. A café stood in front of me, with a brick patio out the front facing the sea. The signs and banners were bright, the menus welcoming.

  Next to the café stood a restaurant. Although it was quiet on this wet, early morning, I could imagine it was popular and well-attended in the evenings.

  I wandered around the buildings curiously and found more construction going on. There was a separate building with a toilet block and then further on there was a shop which sold snacks, drinks and seaside trinkets. Beside the shop was an empty building which appeared to be still under construction. As I wandered closer I read a sign on the glass window at the front. ‘Shop for rent,’ it read. ‘Contact owner in café for details.’

  I turned back and wandered back slowly. What a difference a year had made to this beach. It was lovely. A wonderful business and a great asset to the area. I knew without doubt that I would be returning for another visit soon.

  I reached the café and walked up the brick patio. No-one sat outside as it was drizzling a lot now. I had barely noticed but as I opened the door, I had to push my hair back out of my face as it was wet and clinging to my cheeks.

  I wandered into the café and it was absolutely empty. Not a soul in sight, until the door slammed shut behind me.

  ‘Oops,’ I murmured, glancing back.

  ‘Just coming!’ a voice called from out the back where the kitchen must have been.

  I sauntered along the counter and picked up two lollies for the children. As I was reaching the counter, a woman came out from the kitchen.

  Her presence stopped me in my tracks.

  ‘Hey,’ she smiled, revealing a wide, white smile.