I'VE SEEN HER! (COMPLETE)

Chapter 38

Months later, Christmas… Oh yay, tis the season to be jolly… or cry over lost love into a glass of mulled wine.

It was that time of year where you are reminded that you are single and don’t have kids to wake you up on Christmas morning screaming ‘He’s been,’ and take joy in watching them unwrap countless presents while you snap away with the camera.

Sure I had my sisters children to pop around and see in the evening but with my parents away for Christmas visiting relatives, my sister always went to her in-laws for dinner, I was on my own again this Christmas. It reminded me of the time I threw a Turkey at my ex and got arrested. I found myself wondering how James was spending his. Was he home to see his family?

I replayed the gossip my sister had told me. She still bumped into his sister every now and then when doing the nursery run with the kids. One day she asked his sister how he was instead of just the ‘Hi,’ or ‘How are the kids?’ Apparently James was loving life out there and his visa had been extended to carry on working. My sister asked if he had met anyone special, a bit too obvious for my liking but I was glad she asked because the reply was ‘No one he has told us about.’ Plus his mother went out to visit him a few weeks after he got there to make sure he was ok and settling in. She took one of his nieces as she was crying for him all the time. His mother said his apartment was stunning, with amazing views but he hadn’t unpacked or done his washing so she clipped him around the ear and tidied up for him. She offered to make him some dinners for the freezer but he had a nice group of friends he hung out with and weekends off so he went out most night for something to eat. At the weekends it was beach parties or yachting. He essentially got his life back. Much better than the life he had here, sofa hopping whilst working all the hours he could to save for an apartment and keep the business running. He had everything he needed out there including an apartment and work. I found myself strangely proud of him for going and wouldn’t wish him back to the stressful life he had here for the sake of my broken heart.

His sister had asked how I was doing and my sister was brutally honest, ‘If she plays Adele ‘Someone Like You’ again I will have her sectioned.’ Brilliant, I knew that would get back to him and embarrass the hell out of me. Along with the rest of my business she had no doubt told her but was not fessing up to. Our sisters were worse than facebook for gossip.

The only good thing about Christmas was I got to have my sisters kids for the day while my sister and her husband went out to buy their presents. Luke was teething but in good spirits and Molly was so excited to see Father Christmas again that she was like a coiled spring waiting to pounce on him. I wanted a picture of me with them and Santa for a photo frame. The queue was long but worth it. As we walked into his grotto and even I had butterflies and that Christmas feeling I had lost. Molly squealed with excitement and ran to Santa who swept her up in his arms with a ‘ho, ho, ho’ and a kiss on the cheek, he even knew her name thanks to a badge the Elf had placed on her but she still thought it was because he knew her from the ‘good list’. He sat down with her on his knee, even though you are not allowed to do that these days… stupid rule but she wasn’t getting down. He sat holding her as she showed him the cookie she had made him last night and a bunch of carrots for the reindeer with the ‘grass’ still on. He laughed another ‘ho, ho, ho’ and told her they would love the carrots. She posed for a picture with him and it was the cutest picture of her to date. We had to get one with Luke too which was another super cute picture where Molly told him what her baby brother would like for Christmas, his ‘two front teeth’, my sister would crack up if she was here. Molly was getting more like her father every day, including his sense of humour.

“Auntie Melanie, it’s your turn,” she yelled.

“Oh no, I’m ok. I am an adult…”

“Melanie wants my friends Uncle James for Christmas,” she added making my jaw drop. She had been listening to the adults talk and her speech was clear these days no-one misheard it. “He went on a plane to live somewhere and fix things. It makes her cry all the time so you have to whisper about it like mummy and daddy,” she nodded seriously as Father Christmas pulled his shocked and unhappy face.