‘You know I wasn’t over you.’ Gavin reached for Ally’s hand but she snatched it away. ‘I ended it with Helena as soon as you came home for the summer and told me you’d made a huge mistake. I still loved you, Ally, you know that.’
Ally did know that, and she loved him too. So why was she getting itchy feet again?
‘I just need a bit more excitement in my life. I don’t want to end up like Francine, tied down to the kids. She has one night out a week, you know. One lousy night.’
‘It’s better than nothing,’ Gavin pointed out but it only fuelled Ally’s argument.
‘Exactly! I don’t want to settle for “better than nothing”. I want to be free to live.’
‘So are you saying you never want to have kids?’
Ally thought carefully before answering. It probably was what she was saying, but she couldn’t tell Gavin that, not when he was so desperate to start a family. So she decided her best option was to lie.
‘No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying I just need a bit more time to be me first.’
Ally stopped off at the reception desk when she returned to work. Her hangover, coupled with the stress of yet another baby conversation, was making her head pound.
‘Do you have any paracetamol on you?’
Francine grabbed her handbag and produced a blister pack of paracetamol. Of course she had some – it was highly likely that Francine carried a whole first aid kit in her handbag, just in case. Ally took a couple of pills before going up to the office where she found a card and a stale-looking bun from the canteen.
‘Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?’ Jason asked as she tore at the envelope. ‘The woman on reception told us.’
‘It wasn’t something I wanted reminding of, but thanks.’ She held up the card and the bun before returning them to her desk.
‘We should go out after work for a celebratory drink.’ Ally’s mood picked up at Jason’s suggestion, but it plummeted again as he turned to Kelly. ‘What do you think? Are you in?’
‘I suppose I could squeeze you into my busy social life.’ Kelly fluttered her eyelashes at Jason before turning to smile sweetly at Ally. ‘So, the big four-o, is it?’
Ally decided to ignore Kelly. It was usually the best option. ‘I’ll just have to let Gavin know. He’s supposed to be picking me up and taking me over to my parents’. We’re having a birthday tea.’
Kelly doubled over, clutching her stomach and banging her good hand on the desk as she roared with laughter. ‘A birthday tea? How old are you? Forty or four?’
‘I am not forty,’ Ally snapped. She took a cleansing breath and turned to Jason. ‘But, yes, I’d love to go for a quick drink tonight.’
Ally dragged Francine along with her that evening, reassuring her it would only be a quick drink to say happy birthday. Francine stayed for one very brief and non-alcoholic drink before she dashed away to pick the children up from the childminder. Ally, being child-free, decided it was her duty to stay for another. And another, until she’d lost count and was feeling rather tipsy.
‘We should do this more often, you know. We never go out as a team, do we? And we are a team. Me and you.’ Ally placed a hand on Jason’s chest. It felt rock hard beneath her fingers. ‘And her, I suppose.’
As though on cue, Kelly arrived with another round of drinks. Ally didn’t care that she couldn’t remember how many drinks she’d put away in such a short space of time. It didn’t really matter. The most important thing was she was having fun. She was living for a change. She wasn’t going home to put the tea on. She wasn’t slouched on the sofa, wasting her life on soaps and mediocre crime dramas.
‘Is she pissed already?’ Kelly asked Jason as Ally stumbled over her own feet.
‘No, lady. I am not pissed. Not even a little bit.’ Ally looked Kelly up and down – she really was stunning, the bitch – and spluttered when she spotted the glass of orange juice in her dainty fingers. She’d been drinking orange juice all evening. ‘We know you’re not pissed. And you say I act like a four-year-old. You’re not pregnant, are you?’ Ally gasped and looked at Jason. The thought made her feel depressed, the sparkle of the vodka and cokes she’d been sinking vanishing in an instant. She didn’t want babies with Jason – she didn’t want Jason herself, not seriously – but she didn’t want him procreating with her.
‘No, I’m not pregnant. I just don’t feel the need to get wasted night after night. Unlike some people not so very far away.’
‘Ha!’ Kelly was wasted practically every night of the week and was constantly regaling Jason with her tales of debauchery. Ally was about to point this out when her phone began to ring.
‘Where are you?’ Gavin asked her once she’d moved to a quiet corner of the pub, knocking a low barstool over in the process.
‘I’m at the pub. I told you.’ Ally rubbed at her calf. That was going to bruise, she was sure.
‘You said you were going for a quick drink. It’s nearly seven.’
‘So?’
‘So we’re all waiting for you.’
Ally removed her phone from her ear and stuck her tongue out at it. Did Gavin have to be such an old woman? Couldn’t he be more like Jason? Fun and free and non-whingey?
‘And I’ll be there.’
‘Do you want me to come and pick you up?’
That’s all Ally needed – Gavin charging into the pub and embarrassing her. ‘No, it’s okay. I’ve already ordered a taxi. It’s on its way.’ It wasn’t a lie, not a proper one. Ally was planning on phoning for a taxi and probably would have done so already had Gavin not interrupted her.
‘Okay, we’ll see you soon then.’
‘Yep. See you soon.’ Ally ended the call and slipped the phone back into her handbag before addressing her work colleagues. ‘Is it my round?’
Everything Changes But You is out now.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, thank you to my family for all your support and cheerleading. Special thanks to Chris, Rianne, Isobel and Luna, and also to Marc Cahill for suggesting I watch Dark on Netflix. I loved it, and it gave me the kick up the bum to finally write the time-travel book I’ve had in my head for a long time!
Also thanks to Jane Hammett for editing the book, and to the Oldham Writing Group and the Chapter One Savvys for the book chat.
A very special thank you to Karina Davis, whose name is used in the book.
And, of course, the biggest thank you to you, the reader. I hope you enjoyed Maisie’s time-travel adventure!
I hope that you enjoyed reading The 12 Christmases of You & Me as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, why not leave a review? I’d love to hear what you think and it helps other readers find books they’d enjoy too!
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The 12 Christmases of You & Me
Copyright © 2020 Jennifer Joyce
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form without the express written permission of the copyright owner.
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.
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