Beside her, Keli helped herself to a piece too, but when she offered it to Emmy, she shook her head.
Keli put the cake down and leaned forward, elbows on the table, towards Emmy. ‘Okay, spill. What’s wrong with you today? You’ve got the worst stoic face ever.’
Yvie swallowed a chocolate reindeer. ‘I thought that was me?’
Keli nodded, acknowledging that statement. ‘Yep, yours is rubbish too. I’m never taking either of you to a poker game. First time you lose, you’ll crumble.’
Despite her distraction and her rubbish mood, that made Emmy laugh. These two women had been an absolute joy to work with, and, in a round-about way, Yvie was one of the reasons that she was here. She was engaged to Carlo Moretti, who owned Carlo’s Cafe, the bistro just along the road from the hospital that they went to most Fridays after work. It had become a bit of a tradition and a full-circle moment because Carlo’s dad, Gino, owned the restaurant her parents used to takeher to every New Year’s Eve. That was actually where she’d met Yvie. In fact… ‘I just realised we met two years ago tonight. At your father-in-law’s restaurant.’
Yvie harrumphed. ‘Not father-in-law yet. Despite years of undying love, and this little sparkler…’ She nodded to her engagement ring, a family heirloom passed down from Carlo’s grandmother. ‘He’s still dragging his heels about setting a date.’
Keli put her mug down. ‘Oh dear. Do I detect trouble in paradise?’
Yvie took another bite of chocolatey goodness before she answered. ‘Not trouble, just…’ She hesitated for a second. ‘Impatience. I mean, honestly, it’s been years. I’m beginning to think…’ After another pause, she seemed to snap herself off that train of thought and swiftly diverted the attention. ‘Anyway, enough about me.’ She circled back to Emmy’s comment. ‘And the lest said about how you and I met the better.’
Emmy nodded silently in agreement. That had been one of the worst nights of her life. They’d all been in full-scale party mode in the early hours of the morning. It must have been after 2a.m., but Gran Minnie and Grandad Henry were still slow dancing in the corner. Mum, Auntie Gwen and Auntie Rhonda were at their long table singing along to something by Celine Dion. It was before Emmy had met Cormac, so she was happily riding solo and had been enthusiastically joining in the chorus, until she excused herself and made her way to the ‘ladies’. At that point, she hadn’t even given a thought to where her dad had disappeared to. Probably off chatting to Dario somewhere. She had got to the corridor just off the back of the restaurant, where a short, gorgeous, curvy blonde maybe a few years older than her was leaning against the wall outside the row of three bathrooms. ‘There’s a queue, I’m afraid. But feel free to go before me, if it’s urgent. I’ve been dancing for the last hour, so I’m just killing time until my feet stop aching.’
Emmy had decided right there and then that she liked her. ‘You’re Carlo’s girlfriend? We’ve been coming here for years – our families are friends. He was telling me last year that he’s off the market because of a complete babe called Yvie. I really hope that’s you or I’ve just caused a situation.’
‘Yep, that’s me,’ Yvie had said, laughing. ‘He’s a lucky man. Although, I think he’s just future proofing for his old age. I’m a nurse on the elderly ward at Glasgow Central.’
Emmy’s eyes had widened. ‘No way! I’m a nurse in the Emergency Department at Paisley General. I’m Emmy.’ Her extended hand was greeted with an enthusiastic shake.
If it had been left there, it might have been the loveliest of meetings that would have resulted in a passing acquaintance. Instead, it had gone on to be a ten-minute chat that had been interrupted when, a few feet away, Dario’s son, Matty, still in his chef’s whites, had opened the emergency exit door next to the kitchen, and there, standing outside in the gleam of the security light, was her father, with his arms around the waist of a thirty-something brunette whose pinched face and relentlessly moving mouth suggested she was haranguing him.
‘Ouch. Wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. She does not look happy.’ Yvie had whistled, as Matty came back in after tossing the bin bag in the skip.
‘Yeah, well, that man is about to be pretty unhappy too.’ Emmy had swerved past Matty as she walked towards the door and slammed it open. Nope, she hadn’t imagined it – they were still there. And now she could hear what the woman was saying.
‘No, Eric, I’m not waiting. I’m sick of this. If you don’t tell her now, I will.’
‘Tell her what?’ Emmy had interrupted them, and her dad’s face had twisted into an expression that could easily have come from being the victim of a drive-by shooting. Horror. Pain. Panic.
The woman had found her voice first. ‘You’re Emmy.’
‘And you’re Donna.’ Emmy had recognised her dad’s secretary from the couple of times she’d been to his office. ‘This doesn’t look like a work conversation.’
‘Emmy, let me exp?—’
‘No, let me,’ Donna had interrupted him. ‘I’m sorry, but your dad and I have been in a relationship for almost a year now. It’s better you know. Your mum too.’
Emmy couldn’t absorb what she was saying, so she’d sought clarification from the man she trusted more than any other. ‘Dad?’
‘Emmy, I… I…’ He’d run out of steam, clearly realising that there was no defence. None.
Donna had stepped back into Truth Central. ‘He’s been promising me for months that he was going to tell your mother, and he keeps backing down. I’m sorry, but I’m not waiting any longer. If he won’t do it, then I will.’
‘I think you just did,’ came a low, shockingly calm voice from behind Emmy. As she’d turned around, she saw a wide-eyed Yvie first, then, just behind her new friend, was her mum, staring straight at them. Before another word had been said, her mum had turned around, gone back inside, told Rhonda and Gwen what had just happened and they’d all left.
‘All these years and I never realised you were an asshole,’ Emmy had spat, before banging the door shut on her dad, pretty much a metaphor for what had happened in their lives. Something closed that day. Her trust in him. And maybe a bit of her trust in life too. She’d always rolled along thinking everything would always turn out for the best. Not any more. Although, the only silver lining to the adulterous cloud was that a couple of days later, Yvie had tracked her down to check on her, invited her to Carlo’s for a coffee with Keli too, and they’d all become fast friends. The following month, when a position hadbecome available on their ward, she’d applied for it and been delighted to get it.
However, that Hogmanay was one she definitely didn’t want to dwell on right now, so she was relieved when Yvie just kept on going with, ‘Although, I’m glad that it introduced us and gave me the opportunity to persuade you to transfer to this little slice of paradise,’ she said dramatically, gesturing to the four-metre-square box containing a tiny kitchen area, a table and four chairs, a few lockers against the far wall, and a door that led through to a toilet and changing area.
‘Indeed. I’m glad you’re living the dream with us,’ Keli got in on the joke. ‘But let’s put that to one side for a moment and go back to the original question. What’s up with your face? Your frown lines have been running riot all morning.’
Emmy thought about spinning a story to brush off their concerns, but she honestly thought she was going to lose her mind if she didn’t say it all aloud.
‘I don’t know if this tea break is long enough,’ she said, ‘but I’ll give it a go. So… first of all, my dad turned up at my house this morning, saying he wanted my mother back…’
