CHAPTER FORTY-NINE CHRIS
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Chris
October
I get home from work and find a very thick envelope waiting for me in my flat’s post box in the communal hall. It’s nestled among the takeaway leaflets and notices from estate agents about how they want to buy my property. I’m renting, so I can’t sell it even if I wanted to. I’ll be a perpetual renter at this rate, but I’m enjoying it. I feel different these days. Chris in New York wasn’t the Chris I wanted to be. I’m not going to say I found myself. But I feel … better, renewed. I don’t have this need to do stuff all the time, see things all the time, find new places to go. I don’t need to try to be by myself any more. I feel free. Of what I’m not sure. But I’m more at ease these days. With who I am, with work, with my relationship status. That reminds me: I promised I’d message Victoria about her birthday.
I throw all the post into the recycling box that one of my clever neighbours set up down here, but keep hold of the thick card envelope, which I slice open with my key.
It’s a wedding invite. I’ve been invited to Max’s wedding. ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ I mutter to myself as I hit the button summoning the lift. I weigh up whether I can go. It’s on 28 December. That’s a strange time to have a wedding, although it’s nice of him to invite me. We’ve spoken a bit since we stopped working together. But now that I don’t live in New York, maintaining old relationships can be difficult. I could go back for the wedding, though.
I quite fancy it actually. I wonder if Lexie might be there? Last time I checked, she was living with Josh in Somerset. It’s been so long since we last spoke, I wonder if I should message her now, break the ice again before we meet in New York. I feel we’re forever breaking the ice and then letting it settle back in place as the months drift by.
I stab the button for the lift again and see it’s still on the fifth floor. Someone’s probably got it jammed open while they unload their food shopping. I look down at my phone and stare at Lexie’s number.
Maybe I’ll text her later, after I’ve RSVP’d to Max’s wedding.