5

Kristen’s phone rang at stupid o’clock. OK, six-thirty wasn’t really that early for her, but she’d planned on a lie in this morning. She answered the video call. “Hello.”

Emma’s pale face filled the screen. Her sister looked awful. Not just bed hair, but bags under her eyes to boot. “Hi. Did I wake you?”

Kristen sat up, shoving the pillow upright.

Lucy leapt off the bed in protest.

“Nope. I had to wake up to answer the phone anyway. What’s up, Em?”

“I… How’s work?”

Kristen frowned. “Work’s fine. Going well, actually. Really busy, six days a week. You?”

“Same. Lots of online orders for the gift hampers and joints, especially turkeys. Right time of year to be a butcher, I guess. Bill’s starting to deliver them, and we wondered if you’d like a hamper. Since you live within our delivery radius. Safe drop off, of course. He’ll ring the bell, leave it on the doorstep, go back six feet, and wait until you pick it up. It’ll contain a turkey, choice of two other joints of meat, and six other items off our list. With three jars of complimentary condiments to match the joints.”

Kristen worried her lip. Something wasn’t right with her sister. She wouldn’t call this early to discuss meat normally. “Yeah. Actually, can I order three hampers? I’ve a couple of friends who’d probably like them too.”

“Sure you can.” Emma’s voice took on a teasing tone and her eyes widened. “You mean you have friends? How come I’ve never heard about this before? You’d better fess up now, sister, I want to hear everything. Who are these friends, and how long have you been keeping secrets from me and why?”

“Hah. Funny. It’s too early for funny, but yes, I do have friends—four hundred and thirty-one on the Internet last time I checked. Probably not so many in reality. There’s Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins over the road, for one thing. He seemed really down when I saw him yesterday, so a hamper might cheer them up a little. And it’ll mean they don’t need to meat shop for a while.”

“What would you like in them?”

“Read me your list, and I’ll let you know. Obviously, a small turkey in each of them.”

Emma listed the items, and Kristen gave her a yes or a no.

“Just do all three the same, make it easier for you.”

“Well, I’ll need all three addresses, and then Bill can simply deliver them for you. We’ll add a note to the inside of the box saying who it’s from if you like. And he can tell whoever opens the door as well.”

“That would be brilliant, thank you. I can give you the Jenkins’ address as that’s over the road, and I can see the number from the window.” She got out of bed and peered through the curtains. “Wow, it’s cold. I’m diving back under the covers. They live at one-zero-five. The other address I don’t have on hand. I’ll text it to you when I find it. When’s he making the deliveries?”

“He’ll be doing them all this week and next week.”

“OK. Well, let me know how much it comes to, and I’ll send you the money via bank transfer. To the work account, obviously.” She pulled the covers up high. “So, what’s the real reason you rang at half past six in the morning?”

“Why should something be wrong?”

Kristen snorted. “Oh, come on, Em. I know you, little sister.”

Emma’s long sigh seemed to echo down the phone for ages, and her face fell. “I’ve gone off coffee. And you know how much I love coffee. And the smell of the shop right now makes me throw up. And when I’m not running to the bathroom to throw up, I’m peeing, and I’m not even drinking that much because I hate water and coffee is disgusting.”

Kristen chuckled. “Go take a pregnancy test.”

Emma grumped. “Be serious. I can’t have children, you know that. The hospital said as much last year. And before you ask my dates…”

“I know. Two maybe three a year, you fortunate woman. But I’m being serious, Em. What you’re describing are classic symptoms. Go take a test, then if it’s negative, ring the surgery, and talk to your GP. Because he’ll only ask if you’ve done one.”

“Fine. Can I call you back tonight and say I told you so?”

“Sure. I love talking to you on the phone. We don’t do it enough. And to quote Mum… There’s no such word as can’t.”

“Cannot, then. Kris, if I was it’d be a miracle.”

“Yeah, well, it is Christmas.”

Her sister sniffled. “I’ve actually stopped asking God for a baby now. Accepted that it won’t happen. Bill hasn’t, he’s still hoping, but…”

“I know. It’s hard on the both of you.” She paused. “You’ll never guess what happened the other day. I got a vidcon invite, clicked on it, and the bloke who sent it made a typo and intended to talk to someone else.”

Emma’s expression perked up. “Oh?”

“Would you believe he wanted a Kirsten Lawson, and he got me instead? And it turns out he goes to the same church as me. He’s kind of cute. He called me back, a couple of times.”

“Just a couple?”

Kristen rolled her eyes. “OK, more than a couple. We’ve talked a lot, had virtual coffees and dinner as well as a virtual trip around the Louvre in Paris.”

Emma laughed. “And you didn’t think to tell me any of this before now?”

Kristen poked out her tongue. “And how many months had you been dating Bill before you told me he even existed?”

Emma pointed her finger at the camera. “Good point, so what’s he like? But first I want to know what his name is.”

“Well, his name is Carlyle. He has wavy black hair, kind of long at the moment, gorgeous blue eyes, and he likes football and reading. So my kind of a bloke. He’s also super easy to talk to.” Her alarm sounded, and she turned it off. “OK, time to get up and hit the shower. I have a busy day ahead. I’ll text you that other address once I find it.” She pointed her own finger at the camera. “Meanwhile, you get yourself down to the chemist and then ring the doctor. Promise?”

Emma nodded. “I promise.”

“Good. Speak to you later.” Kristen waved. “Bye. Love you. Bye.”

~*~

Carlyle glared at the file in front of him and sighed. He’d been unable to concentrate all morning. Good job this was a work from home day. He tapped his fingers on the table and glanced at his watch. Was it too early for another coffee? That would make four so far. Well, it was gone eleven and he could always go for a run after lunch to work off some of the caffeinated high he’d be on by then.

The problem was he simply couldn’t get Kristen out of his mind. He woke up thinking of her. He went to sleep each night praying for her. Anyone would think he was obsessed with her. Was he? Was that a bad thing?

The only person he could think of to ask was his brother. As he waited for the kettle to boil, Carlyle tugged his phone from his shirt pocket and scrolled through the list of contacts before hitting call. Hopefully Matthew wasn’t working. The call went to voicemail.

“Hi, Matthew, it’s me. Just wanted to pick your brains about something, but I guess you’re working. Give me a call back when you can. Nothing vital, just wanted to chat.”

Back at his desk, he drank the coffee whilst scrolling through a report. These figures made absolutely no sense whatsoever. He pulled up the email app and tapped out a quick note to a colleague, asking if he could give a file a quick once over as the numbers weren’t adding up.

Hoping for a reply in the affirmative, Carlyle closed the file and sighed yet again. His phone rang with a video call and he swiped to accept. “Hi.”

His brother grinned at him. “Hey. Had a few minutes to spare. What’s up?”

Carlyle took in Matthew’s red scrubs and stethoscope. “You’re working.”

Matthew waved a cup. “Coffee break. You have five minutes, little brother. So, what’s wrong?”

Where did he start? The beginning, he supposed.

“OK, last week I emailed a client. Only I spelled her name wrong and got hold of someone else. She was pretty understanding about it.”

“But?”

Carlyle laughed shortly. “You know me too well. Thing is, I’ve called her several times since then. We’ve had coffee over the computer. Dinner over the computer. Toured a museum in Paris over the computer.”

Matthew grinned and whistled. “Could you finally have fallen for someone?”

“Oh, pfft.” He waved a hand. “I wanted to ask your advice on dating. What do you and Judith do?”

“Do you mean the Judith I’m married to or another one?”

“Look, if you won’t help me, go back to work and help your sick patients.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t tease.” Matthew leaned back in his chair and swigged his drink. “Well, we did the usual stuff. Dinner, long walks, day trips, movies.”

“I can’t do any of that. Well, not properly.”

“You could watch a film. Both put the same one on at the same time. Eat popcorn. Turn the lights off. Text comments to each other. Or if you’re using the video call, you can talk through it which is more than you can do in the cinema.”

“True.”

Matthew’s pager went off and he glanced at it. “OK, better go. Major road traffic collision on the way in. See you at some point. Let me know how the movie date goes. Bye.”

Carlyle slid the phone back into his pocket and checked the email app. Yes, Malcolm would check over that file, so he sent it. Then he opened a new email and typed in Kristen’s address. Or rather he hit K and the computer suggested the rest.

Hi, it’s me. I was wondering if you’d like to watch a film tonight. You can choose one from the movie channel or a DVD or whatever. We’ll start it at the same time and maybe chat through it or something if I set up a vidcon meeting. Carlyle.

What would he do if she didn’t have the movie channel? What if she picked a DVD he didn’t have? Almost immediately he got a reply.

Hello. Just checking email really quick before diving back into the candle cave. Or should that be kandle kave? I do have the movie channel. You pick the genre, and I’ll pick the film. How does seven thirty sound? Kristen.

Sounds perfect. How about action? Nothing too violent, but there should be a few with actors you like in amongst those. I’ll set up the meeting for seven twenty-five. Should give me time to find whatever movie you chose. Oh, and don’t forget you’ll need popcorn, a large drink with one of those nasty paper straws, and an overpriced bag of sweets. Carlyle.

~*~

Kristen wasn’t sure what he’d make of her choice of film. She set it ready to go, leaving it on pause. She actually quite liked action films, not war ones, but ones with a decent story line, where the good guy not only won, but ended up happy, and usually got the girl as well. This one ticked all the boxes, even if her favourite actor did get killed off towards the middle of the film.

Right on time, her email chimed. Carlyle was nothing if not punctual. Another box on her list ticked. Not that she even realised she had a list with ticky boxes on it until talking to Emma that morning.

She clicked the link.

Carlyle beamed at her. “Hi. How was your day?”

“It was good. Productive. I got lots done. How was yours?”

He pulled a face. “Frustrating. I had to pass a file onto someone else because it made no sense. Still waiting to hear back as to whether it’s just me or the figures they sent were made up. Could be both, of course. Anyway, which film did you choose?”

She told him. “It’s set up ready to go here.”

“Is that a box of tissues on the sofa next to you?”

“May—be. OK, yes it is. I happen to know who gets killed off and last time, I admit, I cried.” She reached up and flicked off the lamp, plunging the room into darkness. “Now you won’t know.”

He laughed. “I will, trust me, I have a sister who pretends she isn’t crying all the time. Just give me a minute to set this up.”

Kristen snuggled into the couch, drawing her feet up underneath her. Lucy leapt onto the sofa beside her. “Hey, you. You have a dog bed, go sleep in it. It cost me a fortune.”

Lucy woofed in protest.

Kristen raised an eyebrow, not that anyone could see her. “Don’t you talk to me like that. Go.” She pointed.

Lucy put her paw over her nose and whined.

“Fine, I’m not arguing. But I am not sharing the chocolate and popcorn. So no begging.” She reached behind her and grabbed a cushion, pulling it tightly against her.

Carlyle reappeared on the computer screen. “OK. I haven’t seen this one, so I’m trusting you here. Ready?”

“You choose next time. And yes. We’ll start on three, all right? One, two, three.” She pressed play.

As they watched, she found her gaze flicking from the TV to Carlyle’s image on the computer. It was as much fun seeing his reaction to what was happening as watching the screen. She angled the laptop so she could see both him and the TV at the same time.

As always, her eyes filled when the character died. She tried to tug a tissue from the box quietly but failed.

“Not crying, are you?” His voice sounded muffled.

“Me? No. What’s the expression, I’m not crying, you’re crying?”

A smile curved his full lips upwards as he wiped a hand over his face. “Possibly. I just wasn’t expecting it. If we were in a cinema right now, I’d give you a warm hug, so here’s a virtual hug instead.” He held out his arms.

She pretended to catch the hug and wrapped her arms around herself. “Thank you.” Then she frowned. “And just how would you do it?”

He winked. “I’d do what is known in our house as the Matthew manoeuvre, although I’m sure it’s a common tactic in most countries. You yawn and stretch, and your arm magically appears around your date’s shoulders. It’s named after my older brother, who had to invent a way to touch his wife, Judith, when he was watching a film around her place when they first started going out. Her parents were watching it with them and, thankfully, her Dad saw the funny side.”

The TV clicked and all the lights outside went out. “Oh. The power’s gone. Let me go check the fuse box.”

“Don’t bother. Power’s out here too. Must be an outage. And my laptop is about to die. I’d just plugged it in.”

She laughed. “Your fault there’s no power, then. Your laptop must have overloaded the national grid. We will just have to carry on another day. Night.”

He waved. “Night.”

Kristen switched off the computer and picked up her cell phone to report the power cut. The sooner the power company knew about it, the sooner they could fix it. And hopefully before morning, otherwise she wouldn’t get much work done.

Her phone battery was low. Hmm, wouldn’t last until midnight, never mind tomorrow. Still, she’d put new batteries in her emergency charger only that morning, so she’d use that tonight. She used the torch on her phone to find the wind-up camping light she’d bought back in the summer. She turned it on and headed back to the sofa to read. This was not how she’d planned the way the night would end.

Before she set the phone down, she sent Emma a message. Hey you. You were meant to call. Hope everything is all right. I have no power so reading by the light of that wind-up camping lamp I got in July. You know, the one you made fun of and said I’d never use. Not that I’m saying I told you so. Love you. K xx