Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,139

to take things at face value. Particularly if that meant having a peaceful Christmas Day.

“So,” she asked, “when did you get the time to organise all of this?”

“Lunch hours mostly.” He replied. “I managed to get one of those easy-cook turkey things as well and some frozen veg so we can have a proper lunch too.”

Elise nearly fell off her chair. He had arranged lunch too? This was definitely way out of character. She needed to find out what was going on – right now.

“Dale...” she began “as much as I appreciate all of this – why are you doing it? You never do Christmas – at all. Why are you going to so much trouble now?”

“I told you that, babe, a couple of days ago.” He replied. “We need to make some effort here, me more than you, and I thought that a good Christmas Day would be the perfect place to start. And don’t forget, I promised you presents. They’re under the tree but you’re not allowed to open them until after lunch.”

Elise glanced across at the tree, still unaccustomed to seeing it in their living room and saw that sure enough, there were two small parcels underneath the tree. Immediately she began to feel guilty as she had not got Dale a present. She never did. The last present that she had bought him had ended up at the tip unopened so she’d not bothered since then.

She looked back at him to see that he was watching her closely, no doubt gauging her reaction.

“I’m sorry Dale but I’ve not got you anything. I didn’t get you a present because you usually don’t bother with Christmas at all. Now I feel really bad.”

“Hey baby – don’t worry.” He said soothingly. “I’ve got the only present I need right here and that’s you. Nothing that you could wrap up for me would be any better than that.”

Elise swallowed and took a sip of her orange juice; she had no idea how to reply to that. She had been unfaithful to her husband and was planning to leave him in the next few days, and he was spoiling her rotten, and telling her that she was the best Christmas present he could ever wish for.

Everything, all of this, still felt just slightly unreal and Elise wondered how much of the perceived absence of reality was down to her profound feelings of guilt.

“After breakfast,” Dale was talking again now, “I thought we could go for a walk, you know, blow away the cobwebs, and then when we get back, I’ll put the dinner on. Then it’s the best bit – presents. I can’t wait until you see what I got for you.”

Elise was still silent – she really hadn’t got a clue how to deal with this side of Dale and she couldn’t help wondering for how long he was here to stay.

“Sounds good,” she replied and carried on tucking into her fruit and yoghurt, which was delicious. Although Dale had dismissed it, he had certainly gone to a lot of trouble to put this together and she was flattered that he was making the effort.

“How’s work been?” she asked, wanting to steer the conversation onto safe ground.

“Pretty good actually.” He replied. “They’ve forgiven me for the whole drinking thing and I’m making sure that I’m putting in the hours and the dedication. Hopefully things will soon be all back on track and I can relax again for a while.”

“That’s good” she replied, “I’m glad things are better. You’re too good at your job to let it all go to waste.”

“Thanks, babe. That’s what I finally realised. There are some things in life that are more important than others.” He put added emphasis on the last sentence and threw her a pointed look which, although he smiled, had the effect of completely unnerving her. She looked away; she didn’t want to read the message in his eyes.

“Well, thank you for breakfast. It was lovely. I’ll just go and have a shower and get dressed and then we can go for that walk if you like?” She began picking up her plates and clearing them into the kitchen.

“Hey.” He said, walking round the table and taking the dishes from out of her hands. “I’ll do that; I’m already showered and dressed. You go and make yourself beautiful. Take your time, we’ve got all day.”

Elise relinquished her hold on the plates and looked at him quizzically. Dale never did Christmas, Dale never cooked