Thirty-Seven
‘Blimey! I am stuffed beyond belief! That was exquisite. Thank you both so much for inviting me here today.’
Sally sat back in her chair while wondering if she felt relaxed enough with Matt and Flora to undo the top button on her trousers. The meal had been perfectly cooked which had resulted in her eating considerably more than was usually the case. Her mum, much as she loved her, wasn’t graced with the ability to cook and what came out of her kitchen most of the time required a government health warning attached.
‘You don’t need to keep thanking us, Sally, it’s been a pleasure to have you here. I think Flora’s enjoying having another lady around. It makes a change.’
‘Oh, I see. Is it usually just the two of you, then?’
‘It varies.’ Flora glanced at her father before continuing. ‘Sometimes, it’s just us and sometimes my Grandfather Archie joins us. We alternate Christmas with him and my Uncle Craig.’
‘Oh, wouldn’t you just have dinner altogether?’
‘We used to… until Uncle Craig became chummy with his mummy again and my lovely father here had a problem with that.’
Sally looked at Matt but said nothing.
‘That’s a chat for another time. Besides, I think Archie likes the new setup where he goes to Craig and Essie one day and comes to us the next. The wily old codger gets two Christmas dinners out of it and he’s not complaining about that.’
‘Then I only hope he doesn’t eat as much as I have today because I can’t see me eating again for a week!’ Sally gave her bloated stomach another rub.
‘Hah! You say that now but give it two hours when Flora breaks out the Christmas cake and mince pies – you’ll soon change your mind.’
Matt grinned as she groaned at the thought of more food.
‘Nooooo, don’t! I can’t even bear the thought.’
‘Can we go into the lounge and do pressies now? Please?’
‘Oh, go on then.’ He turned to her as he said, ‘Flora might be twenty-four but she’s still like a four-year-old when it comes to presents.’
‘Then let me just pop out to Frida and bring mine in.’
‘You didn’t need to bring gifts, Sally.’
Sally felt her eyes do an imaginary roll! Only a bloke would come out with such a statement.
‘Of course I did, Matt. I wasn’t arriving empty handed. That would have been rude. Now, excuse me for a moment.’
Thirty minutes later, they were sitting on the floor in the lounge surrounded by balls of discarded wrapping paper. Sally was pleased that her gifts had gone down so well. She’d bought Flora a bottle of perfume which she’d mentioned she liked and a new external hard drive for her computer. The girl had been thrilled with both and said how impressed she was that Sally had been listening while she’d chattered away.
When it came to Matt opening his gift, she’d held her breath in the hope that he would like what she’d bought him. Men were always so difficult to buy for. She needn’t have worried, however, for the antique toolset had gone down a treat.
‘Oh, my, Sally! These are fantastic! I love them.’
‘I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly sure what they all are – obviously, I know the chisels and planers – but some look more like implements of torture than a tool.’
‘Well, this one is—’
‘Dad! No! I don’t want to hear it today.’ Flora looked over at Sally. ‘Don’t start him on his tools – you won’t be able to shut him up.’
‘Oh, do you have a lot? I’d hoped these would be a bit more unusual…’
‘Sally, these really are wonderful. I have plenty of tools but not antique items which can occasionally be a nuisance because given that I specialise in restoring old buildings, I sometimes would benefit from an old tool to do the job. This fabulous collection will be well used, I can assure you of that. Thank you so much.’
He leant over to kiss her cheek and she could feel the heat turning them pink as her thoughts went back to the last time his lips were near her face.
‘Now, I need to go and get your gift, Sally. Give me a moment…’
There was a bang and a thud as doors were opened and closed before Matt called through the door, ‘Right, Sally, close your eyes.’
She did as she was asked and soon felt his presence in front of her.
‘Okay, you can open them now.’
Slowly, she opened her eyes and let out a gasp of delight.
‘Matt! Oh, my goodness, it is BEAUTIFUL!’
Leaning up against Matt’s legs, was the most stunning wrought iron sign. It was rectangular with the shape of a bush cut out and a cat sitting beneath it. Bramble fruit had been coloured in red and dark blue and the word “Bramblebush” had been engraved along the bottom and picked out in gold. Above and below the rectangle was the most exquisite scroll work she had ever seen.
‘I hope I haven’t overstepped the mark with this. My friend who made the staircase for your apartment also does this type of work and I knew he’d do a good job for you.’
‘No, you absolutely haven’t. I adore it and never even gave any thought to a sign. I’m guessing this is for the end of the lane by the main road?’
‘That’s correct. I also have the post out back from which it will hang but thought it might be too much to bring everything in. That and the fact that it’s really blooming heavy. You won’t be able to take this home with you, I’m afraid. I’ll have to bring it all over in the van.’
‘Matt, I honestly can’t tell you how much I adore it. And I have no objection whatsoever to you doing the heavy lifting!’
Sally couldn’t take her eyes off the sign and put her hand out to trace around the words and the raised brambles. It was so tactile and it was a shame that once in situ, she’d only be able to look at it. Unless she went clambering up a ladder, of course, but that would be most impractical.
‘How about I place it over here against the wall and you can admire it for a while longer,’ Matt grinned at her as he bent down to pick up the iron work. From her position on the floor, she was perfectly placed to notice his shirt straining across his chest and the tops of his sleeves as he raised the sign off his legs and moved it to the side of the room. Something twinged in the pit of her stomach and it was nothing to do with overeating. This was the first time she could recall seeing him wearing anything other than jeans and a polo shirt. She most certainly hadn’t seen him in a dress shirt before.
She looked up to find him watching her and feeling her cheeks growing hot again, she quickly diverted her eyes back to the sign which now looked even lovelier against the pale cream of the wall.
‘Flora, do you want to sort out the coffee and cake while I clear up this mess?’
‘Sure, Dad. Sally, would you like tea or coffee?’
‘Oh, coffee for me and, please, let me help.’
‘No, Sal,’ Matt said, ‘you’re our guest so grab a seat or a sofa and make yourself comfortable.’
‘Actually, Dad, I was wondering if you and Sally fancied playing a board game.’ Flora turned to look at Sally. ‘Because it’s usually only ever the two of us, board games aren’t that much fun but now we are three…’
Her voice tailed off and she gave her such a look of hope that Sally knew she couldn’t possibly say no.
‘I think that would be great fun. Why don’t I clear the dining table and we can play there? What game did you have in mind?’
‘Monopoly?’
‘Flora, no, that goes on for ever. We’ll still be playing it tomorrow!’
‘Aw, Daaaaaaaad…’
‘D’you know, I haven’t played that for years. It was my favourite when I was a kid but no one would ever play it with me.’
Matt looked at her as he replied in a tone which was resigned to a marathon gaming session, ‘Probably because the damn thing is never-ending! Fine! We’ll play Monopoly. I can see I’m clearly outnumbered here.’
‘Yay! I’ll pop the kettle on to boil while I go upstairs and grab it.’
Sally found herself smiling as she cleared the remaining tableware from the dining table and straightened the tablecloth. She replaced the coasters for their drinks and put a few mats back down for the cake plates to sit on.
As she moved about, she watched Matt clearing up on the other side of the room and, for the first time, really took in how he looked. His light-brown hair was shorter than she recalled which meant he’d probably had it cut for Christmas. This thought made her grin as her father and brother had always had a “Christmas cut”. The shorter style emphasised the strength in his jaw and the straight line of his nose. The shirt he was wearing was the perfect shade of blue for highlighting his blue eyes which always seemed to twinkle. The same shirt which kept showing off the muscles across his back and chest as he picked up the rubbish was causing her to have little electric shocks each time.
She turned her back and straightened the tablecloth again even though it was lying perfectly flat already. She just had to do something to try and take her mind off Matt even though she could hear his every move behind her.
Sally decided she was laying the blame for this new awareness of Matt firmly on Karen’s doorstep! She’d tried to push her friend’s observations of their mistletoe kiss to the back of her mind but the conversation kept popping up and it was here again now, wishing her a Merry Christmas and telling her to get her act together, which would be all very well and good if Matt was giving off the “come hither” vibes but as he wasn’t, she was most certainly not about to launch herself at him like an in-heat, jet-propelled missile.
‘Here we go, one Monopoly game. Sally, do you mind setting it up while I bring through the stuff from the kitchen.’
‘Of course, no problem.’
She all but snatched the box from Flora’s hand, glad to have something else to do.
As she laid out the board and sorted the money into piles on the lid, Sally wondered what kind of player Matt would be and made a small deal with herself – if he was the patient sort who took any losses with a pinch of salt, she’d give further consideration to Karen’s urging of moving the friendship forward. If he was a sore loser, then it stopped here.
A wee voice hiding in the corner of her brain muttered something about how she already knew he was a good sport in these things from being part of their pub quiz team each week but she told it to be quiet – board games were another matter altogether and were not even in the same league as a pub quiz.