Chapter 18
Despite working in the room next door to hers, Alex didn’t see Quinn for the rest of the day.
Many customers from the town came, grabbing last-minute gifts, but none of them looked at her with pity or judgement, in fact none of them spoke about Liam or her and Quinn at all.
Was it possible that Tina would keep her secrets?
Or maybe so much time had passed that this wouldn’t be a big deal after all.
At three, there was a knock on her door and she saw Quinn standing there. She didn’t know what to say to him.
‘I’m leaving now as I have to get ready for my Christmas party,’ Quinn said.
‘OK.’
He walked into the room, which was thankfully empty of customers. ‘I never told Tina Liam was an alcoholic. I knew you wouldn’t want anyone knowing that. I told her he had an affair. I thought it was the lesser of his crimes but would at least show her he wasn’t as squeaky clean as she thought.’
‘Oh.’ Relief coursed through Alex. She could probably cope with people knowing that.
Affairs were always hot gossip at the time they came out in the open, but that was only because the two people involved were still around and people could make comments to them when they saw them.
However, the furore always died down pretty quickly.
Liam’s affair, if you could call a one-night stand that, had been years before.
Probably no one would care about that now.
And if they did it was unlikely something that would come back to haunt her or Zara several years down the line.
‘But you’re absolutely right,’ Quinn continued.
‘I should never have told Tina that, it wasn’t my place.
I just saw how upset you were by the post and people’s comments and I wanted it to stop.
I showed Tina the video of Zara asking Santa for a new dad, so that she would see how happy she is about us and how in love we are, in the hope that she couldn’t be hateful in the face of love and happiness.
She saw Zara say that her dad made you cry and she asked why.
I should have told her that it was none of her business or at least politely found a way not to share your private business. I’m sorry.’
She swallowed down the lump in her throat. ‘OK.’
Quinn nodded and gestured to the door. ‘I’m going to go. I have to make this face look old and saggy.’
‘That might take a while.’
‘Yeah.’
He gave her a little wave and walked towards the door.
‘Come round tonight, after the party, if you want to,’ Alex said.
He paused. ‘If that’s what you really want.’
‘Yes. That’s if you’re not too drunk for make-up sex.’
He laughed and came back to her. He took her in his arms and kissed her forehead. ‘I am sorry.’
‘I know, it’s OK.’
‘It is?’
‘Yeah.’
‘OK, then I’ll come round. And I won’t be drunk. I’m teetotal now so I won’t even be drinking a drop.’
‘What?’
‘I decided last week when you first told me about Liam and how you were scared of losing me. I know you didn’t specifically mean losing me to alcoholism.
But I thought it might give you peace of mind, like me giving up shellfish.
You never have to worry that I’ll be coming home drunk to you or Zara, you’ll never have to worry that I will be angry because I’ve drunk too much to be able to control my emotions.
And if that gives you one less thing to worry about, if that helps you trust me that little bit more, then why the hell not. ’
She stared at him in shock. ‘I don’t need you to give up drink for me.’
‘But I want to,’ he assured her. ‘I’ve never been a big drinker so I won’t miss it. It’s such a tiny thing for me, but maybe a bigger thing for you.’
Alex shook her head. This man was going to ruin her. She leaned up and kissed him because she couldn’t find the words to describe how that made her feel. Safe. He made her feel so safe.
‘I love you,’ she whispered against his lips.
‘I love you too.’
‘Then I’ll see you tonight.’
He nodded, gave her another brief kiss and then left the room.
Alex was busily singing along to Christmas songs on the radio as she made a fresh batch of mince pies.
Zara had gone to her roller skating party – even though she still seemed a little tired, she didn’t want to miss it.
Immy was at her yoga group’s Christmas dinner so Alex was alone.
She was going to wrap some of their presents shortly as tomorrow was Christmas Eve.
Quinn had sent her photos of himself as a mad scientist earlier. He was almost unrecognisable as the make-up he’d expertly done on himself made him look forty or fifty years older. She knew he was really looking forward to the evening and seeing everyone else’s costumes.
She put the mince pies in the oven, washed everything up and then went upstairs to start wrapping the presents.
Suddenly she heard a noise downstairs which sounded like someone coming through the back door.
‘Hello!’ called Quinn.
Her heart leapt. What was he doing here? She knew she’d promised him make-up sex but she didn’t think he’d forego his much anticipated party for it.
She quickly ran downstairs to see Quinn in full costume and Zara looking decidedly pale and sorry for herself.
‘Oh my god, what’s happened?’ Alex took her daughter in her arms and looked at Quinn in confusion.
‘I don’t feel well,’ Zara said, tearfully. ‘I feel sick and my tummy hurts.’
‘Why didn’t you call me?’ Alex said.
‘I did, and Immy, but no one answered.’ Zara looked at her in that accusing way that only children could, the kind of look reserved for someone who had utterly betrayed them.
‘What? My phone is here.’ She grabbed it off the table to find that it was off. She switched it back on but it was utterly unresponsive. ‘Oh no, I think the battery is dead.’
‘So I had to phone Quinn.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Alex said to Quinn. He had been talking about this party for months.
‘It’s not a problem,’ he shrugged.
‘Thank you so much for picking her up. You get off – hopefully you won’t have missed too much of your party.’
‘It’s totally fine, don’t worry.’
She turned her attention to her daughter. ‘Let’s get you into bed and I’ll get you a hot water bottle and some Calpol.’ She waved goodbye to Quinn and ushered her daughter upstairs. ‘Have you eaten a lot tonight?’
‘No, I had one sausage roll and a tiny cupcake.’
‘OK, was there anyone else feeling poorly?’
‘No, everyone was having a lot of fun,’ Zara said tearfully, as she plodded up the stairs.
So Alex could probably rule out any kind of food poisoning, although that kind of thing normally took a few hours to take effect. She really hoped it wasn’t something serious like appendicitis but there were so many bugs going around right now, so hopefully it was just one of them.
She helped Zara get changed into her pyjamas and then got her into bed. There was a soft knock on the door. She opened it and Quinn was there with a hot water bottle and a bottle of Calpol. Her heart felt so full of love for him.
‘Here you go, Rocket,’ Quinn said gently, passing Zara the hot water bottle.
‘Thank you,’ Zara said pitifully. ‘I’m sorry about your party.’
‘It really isn’t a problem. You and your mum will always be my number one priority. You two are far more important to me than some silly party.’
Alex swallowed a lump in her throat. She gave Zara some medicine. ‘OK, we’re going to leave you to rest. Do you want anything?’
Zara shook her head.
‘Let us know if you do or if the pain gets worse,’ Alex said.
Zara nodded and rolled over to face away from them. Clearly Alex wasn’t forgiven just yet.
She ushered Quinn out of the room and back down the stairs.
‘Thank you so much,’ she said sincerely. ‘The fact that you would drop everything to help Zara means so much to me. I know how much you were looking forward to tonight as well.’
‘It’s a party, it’s one night. You two are the rest of my life. Of course that’s more important. There was no question about me picking her up.’
God, she loved this man so much. He was right. He was her future, she knew that with all of her heart. And now she knew what she had to do.
‘I love you so much.’
‘I love you too, that’s why I’m here.’
‘Please, go back to the party, you won’t have missed much if you go now.’
He shook his head. ‘No, I’d rather be here and make sure Zara is OK.’
‘It’s probably just a bug. Her friend had it early in the week and it turned out to only be a twenty-four-hour thing.’
‘I’d still rather be here.’
She leaned up and kissed him, although it was slightly weird to kiss him when his face was so wrinkly with all the make-up he was wearing to make him look like an old mad scientist.
Suddenly an idea came to her. ‘Will you do something for me?’
‘Anything.’
‘I know you promised me a custom bauble of Jacob and I still really want that. But will you do me one more?’
He smiled. ‘Of course. What do you want?’
‘I want a bauble that just says the word “Yes” on it.’
He looked at her in confusion. ‘What’s that for?’
‘I can have secrets of my own. Besides, it’s something for Zara, a little idea I’m playing with.’
‘I’ll bring it round tomorrow night.’
‘Mum,’ came a wobbly voice from upstairs.
‘Yes, honey?’
‘I’ve just been sick.’
‘OK, no worries, get back into bed and I’ll be up to sort it out in a second.’
‘I’ve thrown up in my bed.’
‘OK, get into my bed then.’
Alex turned back to Quinn. ‘Are you sure you want to stay for this? It could get messy.’
He smiled. ‘I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’