‘It’s also annoying but we have learned to love it. We usually have a big birthday party for all of us and for little baby Jesus.’
‘Is there a baby at your house?’ asked Flora, suddenly interested.
‘A little pretend one, like your dolls,’ Eve explained.
‘Then you have to go home. Ignore Serena. I won’t mention it to her,’ he said. ‘It doesn’t bother me.’
‘Well actually…’ Eve paused, wondering how much of an overstep what she was about to ask was. ‘My mum asked if you and Flora and Myles wanted to come for lunch and to celebrate with us. It’s always a fun day. I mean it’s not posh or anything but it’s great food and music and maybe Myles can meet my brothers? They play music. Could be a nice connection?’
God this was so embarrassing. Why the hell would Edward Priest want to come to her family’s Christmas celebration?
Edward looked at Eve with an expression she hadn’t seen before. She couldn’t quite place it. He was always so confident and proud, arrogant even, but he looked vulnerable and shy now.
‘We couldn’t intrude on your day,’ he said but he didn’t sound convinced.
‘It’s not an intrusion, it’s an invitation.’ She smiled.
‘I don’t think Myles will come.’
‘He might not but he also might,’ she said.
‘I want to meet baby Jesus,’ said Flora to her father.
He laughed and looked at Eve. ‘Don’t we all?’
‘The invitation is there,’ she said. ‘But no pressure.’
Edward started to clear the table. ‘If Myles comes then we will come,’ he said. ‘I can’t leave him alone on Christmas Day.’
‘Of course not,’ she replied trying to hide how pleased she was. ‘It needs to be all of you. Come on, Flora, let’s get moving. We have shopping to do.’
15
The invitation was so kind that Edward thought he might cry. He used to be a big crier but not many people saw that side of him. After he had watched the filmMarley and Mehe had been inconsolable for weeks. When Flora was born he cried every time he held her, her tiny fingers grasped around his single one. Songs made him cry; sunsets sometimes made him cry. Anything kind made him tear up inside.
That was why he kept such a gruff exterior, his friend Sanjeev the therapist had said. An emotional shield, he called it, and said that Edward had created it to protect himself from being opened up. That’s why he chose an unattainable woman like Amber to marry. She didn’t know how to open up either so they just stayed closed, crashing about until one of them broke.
Except Eve’s heart was so open he could practically see it beating.
Hilditch walked into the kitchen as he finished clearing the table of breakfast dishes.
‘You didn’t have to do that, Mr Priest,’ she said.
‘I wanted to,’ he said and he swept crumbs into his hand and tipped them into the sink.
‘And now you have to write before Eve returns and starts screaming bloody murder.’
Hilditch started to pack the dishwasher. ‘She’s quick to fly off the handle that one. Reminds me of you.’
Edward wasn’t sure that was a compliment as he went to his study to write. Hilditch was correct in her thinking that Eve would call him out if he didn’t write, and he didn’t want to let her down.
She had faith in him and he wanted to impress her.
He reread what he had written yesterday, looked over Eve’s feedback and made a few minor edits, and then settled down into his chair and started to write.
Edward wrote with no distractions. He had his internet turned off so he couldn’t fall down a rabbit hole of research and he didn’t check emails until the evening.
His mobile phone was set to ‘do not disturb’ with only Flora and Myles and Hilditch’s numbers programmed to be accepted.
