The Twelve Dates of Christmas Read Free

tendrils of her real hair.
    ‘No, don’t be silly, you’d look ridiculous on the Tube.’
    ‘I can leave now. I’ll take you,’ Nick volunteered.
    ‘No thanks, please stay.’
    ‘Don’t be such a pain in the arse. Let me take you home.’ Nick tilted his head and gave her the warmest grin in the world. But she just couldn’t bear to be around anyone right now.
    ‘NO,’ Claudia insisted. ‘I really just want to go on my own, please; I’ll call you both in the morning when my head’s a bit clearer.
Please
go and celebrate your amazing show.’ She gave them both a quick kiss on the cheek and felt Nick’s hand rest tenderly on her bare arm for a moment. She pulled away and retreated down the corridor.
    Claudia exited the Opera House alone. The crowds had left and she was by herself on the dark, chilly street. She stood for a moment, closing her eyes and letting the cold breeze dry her face. How could she go home? But what else could she do? When this date started she had no idea it would end in the kind of awkward ‘broken-up couple living in the same house’ scene she’d only seen on TV.
    This was a ridiculous situation. It had to sort itself out. It had to.
    She opened her eyes and turned to walk up the road.
    She stopped.
    Seth.
    He was coming around the corner at the very top of the street. He had come back to her.
    Claudia was boiling all the way to her toes with anger and hurt, but relief still swept over her. She realised how much she’d needed to see him; safe, familiar, half-of-her-life him. Her pace quickened.
    Then Seth stopped outside the pub on the corner. He broke into a series of cheers and laughs as he greeted a large group of friends.
    She watched but he didn’t come any further; he hadn’t seen her.
    He looked cheerful.
    She was a mess and he didn’t even look a bit sad, or wistful about the life he’d just lost.
    He threw his arms around a girl who emerged from the centre of the group.
    Who’s that?
    They laughed together. She looked like one of those fun, sexy, confident girls you both hate and desperately wish you were. Like The Pussycat Dolls.
    His hands groped her perfect butt cheeks.
    What?
    They kissed.
    Things. Just. Got. Worse.
    Claudia’s legs made an executive decision, taking charge before her brain and heart could crumble into each other, inconsolable. They swept her across the road and in through the door of a quiet Italian restaurant. The eatery was mellow at this time of night, with just a few couples sharing desserts and a birthday party taking their time over the dregs of several bottles of wine.
    The darkness of red upholstery and mahogany tables shrouded her, and she took a seat on a stool at the far end of the bar, next to the windows that looked out onto the street. Claudia never took her eyes off Seth.
    Her whole body was trembling, and the sensation that her heart had been scraped out of her chest made her curl inwards. She laid her small, shaking hands on the window. No, no, no, he can’t have cheated on her. Their life together can’t have all been a lie. That would mean they could never be together again.
    The barman materialised in the corner of her vision. ‘Can I get you a drink?’ he asked in an Australian accent.
    ‘Can I have a bottle of house red please? One glass?’ Claudia whispered, as if Seth would hear her voice in the wind and turn to look at her.
    Claudia dragged her eyes from the window for a second to look at the bartender. His name badge read ‘Billy’. He looked like Billy Kennedy from
Neighbours
.
    ‘You look like Billy Kennedy from
Neighbours
.’
    ‘So they say.’ He grinned. ‘What’s your name?’
    ‘Claudia,’ she mumbled.
    ‘So, Claudia, this whole bottle’s just for you?’
    ‘Yep.’ She went back to watching her partner of five years stroking someone else’s bottom. She wanted to break every bone in that hand. ‘Just for me. Big fat lonely me.’
    Pop. Glug, glug, glug. ‘Good for you, darl’. You crack