‘Let’s go home,’ he said and he drove them back to Pudding Hall still holding hands.
The lights were on when they arrived.
‘It’s two in the morning. Adam must be up,’ he said as he turned off the car.
And then the front door opened.
‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ Christa said.
‘What?’ He looked at the people walking towards the car.
‘That’s my ex, Avian – no idea who the guy is though. Probably her new boyfriend.’
‘That’s my ex, Simon, oh God. Set me on fire and bury me under the house. Seriously, I cannot do this.’ Her breathing was becoming shorter and faster, her voice tight. Simon and Avian were approaching the car and waving.
‘Your ex-husband?’ Marc asked.
‘Yes, my stupid, selfish ex, who is the host of a new cooking show – that’s how he met her.’ They were nearly at the car.
‘Avian is producing it,’ he said. ‘I’m funding it for the new streaming network I’m buying.’
Avian knocked on the window. ‘Hi,’ she said, trying to peer into the dark car interior.
‘I resign,’ said Christa. ‘Effective immediately.’
MAIN COURSE
19
Selene always answered Christa’s calls, no matter where she was and who she was with and the two-in-the-morning call from a sobbing Christa was no exception.
‘Sweetie, tell me what happened again? Simon, a pudding, the bird lady – it sounds like a fever dream or you ate too much Stilton.’
Christa took a deep breath. ‘That woman at the restaurant, who was with Simon, she’s the producer of the TV show. And she’s Marc’s ex-wife. And she brought Simon for Christmas.’
‘Oh, okay, yes, that’s bad.’
Christa tried to forget the moment she jumped from the car and ran inside, ignoring Simon and Avian, while Marc called her name and she heard Simon laugh. It was a mean laugh, one she knew too well.
Then she heard Marc come to her door and knock several times but she refused to open it, instead throwing her clothes into her bags and calling Selene.
‘So now I have to go and live in Siberia and make pinecone jam for a living.’
‘Pinecone jam? Is that even a thing?’
‘In Siberia it is.’
Christa thought about Paul’s attachments to his pinecones and started to cry again.
‘And I think I like Marc, like,like likehim’ she admitted, sitting on the bed.
‘Oh, that’s intense. And how does he feel?’ asked Selene.
‘We held hands and agreed to not do anything until after Christmas.’
‘Somewhere Jane Austen is nodding her approval.’
Christa lay back on the bed. ‘I can’t stay with Simon here. It’s humiliating.’