The Twelve Dates of Christmas Read Free Page B

arse.’
    She knocked back the limoncello, gave Billy a salute and stumbled out of the restaurant. Wow, that wine had hit fast. That’s what you get for gulping it.
    In the cold night air Claudia contemplated throwing up and then settling down for a nap, but instead she slicked on a fresh coat of red lipstick.
    Yeah, powerful red lipstick.
    She stood next to the bronze statue of a ballerina, sitting serenely opposite the Opera House. ‘Young Dancer’ she was called.
Younger Claudia
, she thought miserably, allowing herself a full thirty seconds of melancholy before the limoncello burned the inside of her chest and she felt her temper bubbling again.
    She glared at the Young Dancer. ‘You cheated on me?’ she accused the statue, picturing Seth’s laughing face. ‘You cheated on
me
?’ There were millions of things she wanted to say to him.
    She jabbed the statue. ‘I hope you have the worst life, absolute crap, because you don’t have me any more.’ Claudia put her face close to the statue and sneered into her ear. ‘Good luck telling your family what an idiot you’ve been. They love me. But you messed it up.’
    The ballerina gazed impassively at her foot.
    Claudia’s whole body shook and despite the cold her skin prickled with heat. ‘You’re a nasty, crap cheat!’ she seethed.
    And he’d blamed
her
for this breakup?
    ‘You’re no man, you’re a boy, a coward. With a very small willy.’ She glared at the ballerina, who sat, indifferent to the verbal abuse.
    ‘I’m going to punch you in the balls.’
    But she didn’t, because a couple exited the restaurant and gave her a look.
    Even in her haze of wine and limoncello she was at least partially aware of how crazy she must seem, going off on one at a defenceless statue. She gave it one last glare, hissed ‘You’re making me look drunk’ into the Young Dancer’s ear and straightened up.
    ‘Right then.’
    Claudia’s head was held high as she approached the pub, and she marched with the determination of a soldier. But the closer she got, the more the hundreds of emotions she was feeling tried to pull her backwards.
Don’t do it
, they warned,
you’re not ready
.
    Her pace slowed and she stepped quietly. Truth be told, she didn’t want to do this. Correction, she wanted to do this, but she didn’t think she
could
.
    She stopped a few metres away from Seth, her voice caught in her throat. How had it got to this, where she was scared to speak to her own boyfriend? They were a happy couple three hours ago; they had a whole past of experiences, memories, in-jokes and intimacies. She’d assumed they had a future.
    She looked at his face. The face she knew as well as her own. She knew the feel of his eyebrows and his ears, the colour of his eyelashes, the smell of his skin.
    Would this really be no more, just like that? Would she never know those things again?
    A silent sob escaped as a puff of air. Did
she
know those things? Had
she
felt his browline and smelt his skin?
    The group fell silent and Seth turned to face her. She met his eyes and his hand dropped from the back of the girl’s jeans.
    They were locked together in that moment. Claudia searched his eyes and searched for the words she wanted to say, but nothing came.
    Seth cleared his throat. ‘Claud—’ He reached for her and she came to life, jumping back from his touch. She looked from his hand to his face.
    ‘That’s been on her bum!’
    Seth glanced around at his group, his eyes falling on the girl. He looked back at Claudia. ‘Look Claud, like we talked about earlier, we just need some time apart. You go and enjoy the Christmas festivities, it’ll do you good.’ He smiled at her.
    Those damned tears were back, rolling like melting icicles down her cheeks. She scraped them away.
Come on Claudia, be strong. Don’t you dare be a walkover. Tell him what you told that statue.
Anger prowled inside her that she couldn’t put into words. Nothing made sense now that she stood in front