‘That’s accurate,’ her dad, Billy, says from behind her. ‘She’s eating more than making at this point.’
I laugh. ‘Good girl.’
‘How’s your trip?’ Billy asks, taking the phone from Dina just as I’m about to be put face-first into a mixing bowl.
‘It’s good. The scenery here, oh my God. You’ve been to Canada, right?’
‘A long time ago. How are your friends getting on?’
‘I’m not sure I’d call it “getting on” yet, but nobody’s thrown anyone off the train so far, so that’s a good sign.’
‘They’re still holding grudges?’
Billy knows a little about what happened between us all, but it was so far in the past, at least a year before I even met him, and who really cares at this point? I filled him in on the basics when I got the invite.
‘They’re still holding onto something,’ I tell him. I guess I am as well, otherwise I wouldn’t be here.
‘What are you doing today?’ he asks, as Dina comes back into view and stares at me with a happy grin as she licks the spoon.
We chat for a while and I fill the two of them in on my Christmas Eve plans, which generally consist of enjoying the train journey, staying out of the drama, and maybe getting to know my old neighbours/friends a little more again. I’ve not even told them about Dina yet, and everyone should know about her, she’s the best. Look at that face.
‘Tell me about your Christmas plans.’ I smile at my daughter through the phone as she launches into a babbly mini-monologue about singing Christmas carols for her grandparents.
I lie back on the bed in my towel, a sigh of contentment escaping from me. It pulls at my heart being so far away from her, but I love how easily she fits in with life, with changing plans, with how the world keeps on turning and she can be sad but doesn’t let herself be bitter.
This crowd could learn something from her.
Chapter 24
Cali
Knock knock knock. I wait outside Luke and Joe’s compartment come nightfall, my hands full of tinsel, my heart high up in my throat.
I know Joe’s wandered off somewhere (I just know, okay, I wasn’t spying – much) and Luke’s in there alone, probably lost in whatever novel it is he keeps reading.
‘Come in,’ he calls.
‘Can you slide the door for me?’ I call back.
There’s a pause, a long pause, before I hear his feet pad onto the floor and cross the small gap to the door. He opens it. He looks messy and like he’s not been sleeping well, and he has a little stubble and his knitted jumper has a whole in it that his thumb is poking through. He’s like a sexy, grown-up Artful Dodger.
‘Hey, Cali,’ he says, moving to the door frame, his book dangling from his hand. The way he’s shifted his body actually puts him closer to me. We’re in each other’s space, that magnetic pull again, and I find my lips parting as I look at his.
‘Um,’ I breathe. I feel him watching me, and he shifts his weight again, my heart fluttering as it moves him even closer. I move my eyes up to his, to find him gazing down at me, emotions over every part of his face.
‘Um,’ I repeat, and swallow. ‘It’s Christmas Eve night.’ I hold up the tinsel in my hands, and it reflects tiny red streaks onto his face under the overhead spotlights of the carriage.
‘What are you doing with that?’ His lips drift into a small, curious grin, and his hand reaches towards the tinsel I nicked from the bar car, brushing against mine when he touches it.
‘You know what I’m doing with this. What we’re doing.’
‘No.’ Luke shakes his head but I stand firm, edging closer to his cabin so he can’t shut me out, edging closer to him.
‘Please. It’s tradition,’ I insist. ‘It’s Christmas.’
It’s a silly tradition, really, and I’m not going to tell Luke it’s one I’ve carried on, on my own, for the past few years. But every Christmas Eve night, in the townhouse, he and I used to get together, stick on a Christmas movie, open some mulled wine, and make coordinating tinsel accessories for the whole gang. They were gaudy, tacky, and usually fell apart by mid-morning on Christmas Day, but it was just something fun, just between us.
He relents and stands aside, and I walk into his room, glancing up as I pass him, a spark zipping between us when we catch eyes that makes my breath catch again.
