Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,75
there are proper roads out there in the big wide world.”
“Yep, the motorway; a wonderful modern invention!” He laughed. “I take it you’ve not travelled much then?” he asked.
“Not really, no. I was born and brought up in Eastwood, attended university there and met Dale so I’ve never really left. We kept meaning to go travelling, but the time was never right. I’d love to go to New York but we just don’t have the money – perhaps one of these days.” She finished wistfully and glanced out of the window, taking in the harsh beauty of the winter countryside.
He nodded and was quiet for a moment. “New York is beautiful, you’d love it. It’s a completely different world over there. Maybe ...” his voice trailed off.
“Have you travelled much then?” she asked when it became obvious that he wasn’t going to finish his sentence.
“Not greatly, although I did have the luxury of a few holidays to Spain and the Canaries when I was a child. Outside of the UK in recent years, I’ve only really visited America and spent a bit of time in Vegas - the usual tourist spots.” He shrugged “I’ve never had a need to travel either; I guess I’m just a country boy at heart too.”
“What about your parents? Are they local?” she asked and then immediately regretted her words. What if he was one of those people that had had a rubbish childhood and didn’t want to talk about his parents?
He must have caught her stricken look and he laughed again. “Don’t panic – I had a very normal childhood with very normal parents who I love dearly and still speak to most days.”
“Phew!” she said relieved. “I always speak without thinking and it generally gets me into trouble. Do you see them often?”
“As often as I can. They moved to a retirement village a few years ago, right down on the coast near to Lands End so it’s a bit of a trek. We always meet up for Christmas though. This year, we’re going to my sister’s. She lives about halfway between us with her husband and my two nephews so it kind of makes sense. It’s usually pretty noisy but that’s what Christmas is all about. See...” he spread one hand out in a nonchalant gesture, “completely normal.”
Elise found herself suddenly saddened at the comparison between what this man was going to be experiencing over Christmas and what she knew was in store for her. There was no way she would be seeing her parent’s over Christmas. She had already used up her allotted monthly visit for her Dad’s birthday so it would just be her and Dale – as usual.
“What about you, Elise?” He asked softly, “Do you get to do the whole family thing at Christmas?”
She considered for a moment before answering, unsure whether to lie or to be truthful. She opted for the truth; she was totally fed up with all of the lies.
“No, it’s usually just Dale and me. I’m an only child so no nieces or nephews and my parents – well, I don’t get to see them as often as I would like. It’s fairly quiet.” Nearly the truth then.
She left it at that, hoping that he wouldn’t decide to pry any further. Sometimes Christmas was noisy; those were the occasions when Dale would go just a bit too far with the drink and start shouting at her for some minor misdemeanour. Usually though he just sat in the chair morose, and then demanded his ‘present’ once he’d finished with all the re-runs on the TV. She was probably one of the only people who were grateful for modern twenty-four hour television; especially on Christmas Day.
The year after the debacle with her parents, she had tried again and had bought a tree and decorated it, made a full roast for lunch and even made a Christmas cake. She had bought Dale a present and had lovingly wrapped it and put it under the tree. That had been the year when his drinking had really escalated – he’d taken one look at the tree, called her a ‘sentimental bitch’ and promptly removed it to the garden, dumping his present in the bin on the way. He hadn’t even opened it. That was the night when she had finally realised what it was to have your heart broken.
“Hey, Elise – where’d you go?”
“Oh – sorry” she started at Vaughn’s soft sexy voice, “Just – reminiscing. What were you