New Year, New Man. Laura Iding

ten past six, way past time for a toasted sandwich and some coffee. She’d bypassed lunch after having eaten two pieces of that dreaded caramel slice, believing that they would easily sustain her for the whole afternoon.

      Serious hunger pangs told her she’d been wrong. But the Christmas star came first.

      Sarah climbed up the stepladder once more, this time having to go up on tiptoe to reach the right spot.

      ‘That’s a great-looking tree.’

      Sarah jumped at the unexpected sound of Nick’s voice, the star dropping from her hands as the back feet of the ladder lifted off the floor and she began to over-balance forwards. How Nick managed to save her she’d never know, but one second she was about to crash head-first into the tree, the next the ladder was abruptly righted and she fell backwards into Nick’s arms.

      ‘Oh, lord!’ she gasped, her arms flailing wide whilst his wound tightly around her back, pulling her hard against his chest.

      ‘You’re all right,’ he told her.

      Her arms finally found a home around his neck, her heart thudding loudly behind her ribs.

      ‘You…you frightened the life out of me,’ she blurted out.

      ‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to.’

      Sarah opened her mouth to say something more, anything to defuse the excitement that had instantly been sparked by finding herself in Nick’s embrace. Such physical closeness, however, was not conducive to sensible brain activity, her mind going totally blank when his dark eyes dropped down to her softly parted lips.

      For several, highly charged seconds Nick just stared at them.

      Time seemed to slow around her, the air stilling whilst her pounding heart suspended its beat, her eyes closing as her head tipped invitingly sideways.

      He was going to kiss her. She was sure of it!

      To suddenly find herself being lowered onto her feet came as a shock.

      ‘Oh,’ she cried out, her eyes flying open to discover Nick frowning down at her with nothing but concern in his face.

      ‘Steady now,’ he said.

      Sarah could have cried. Clearly, she was so desperate in her infatuation with this man that she’d conjured up passion where there was none. Not on his part, anyway.

      ‘I’m fine, thank you,’ she said curtly, pride demanding she cool her overheated blood and still that foolish, treacherous heart of hers.

      ‘For a second there, I thought you were going to faint.’

      ‘Faint? Why on earth would I faint?’

      ‘Some girls do, after a shock.’

      ‘I’m fine,’ she reiterated.

      ‘In that case, how about thanking me for saving you from a nasty fall?’

      ‘Which you caused in the first place,’ she pointed out stroppily. ‘What are you doing home, anyway? I thought you were going to a party at seven. It’s not far off that now.’

      ‘Chloe forgot to tell me that it was black-tie. So I came home to change.’

      Sarah had seen Nick in a dinner suit. Of course, he looked devastatingly handsome. Jealousy jabbed at her as she thought of Chloe on his arm tonight, then possibly in his bed…

      Sarah’s stomach somersaulted at the thought.

      ‘I’m surprised you’re not going out tonight yourself,’ Nick said.

      ‘What? Oh, yes, well…Derek wanted to take me somewhere, but I…I told him I’d be too busy with the tree and present-wrapping.’ she was babbling and stammering! Why, oh, why did she have to think about Nick with Chloe?

      ‘You should do what I do,’ Nick said. ‘Only buy presents at shops that do free gift-wrapping.’

      And in shops where some smitten female sales assistant did all the choosing for him as well, Sarah thought ruefully.

      ‘I’d better get going,’ Nick went on. ‘See you at present-opening in the morning. And before you ask, no, Chloe will not be in attendance. So you won’t have to sulk.’

      ‘I never sulk,’ Sarah snapped.

      ‘Oh, yes, you do, madam. But I agree with you on one score: some of my girlfriends have not been all that nice to you. Still, that’s because most of them are jealous.’

      ‘Of me?’ Sarah could not have been more surprised.

      Nick’s smile was wry. ‘How would you like to discover that your Derek was living with an attractive young female ward? Now I really must go,’ he pronounced abruptly, and spun away.

      ‘We still haven’t had that private talk,’ she called after him.

      He stopped and glanced over his shoulder at her, his body language impatient. ‘I realise that. It’ll just have to wait till after Christmas Day.’

      ‘But won’t Chloe be here then?’

      Nick had said this morning that he had a guest between Christmas and New Year. Who other than his current girlfriend?

      ‘Chloe and I don’t need to spend every minute of every day together,’ he said rather pointedly. ‘See you in the morning, Sarah.’

      Sarah watched him stride across the family room, then leap up the two steps that led to the foyer. She heard him run up the stairs, depression descending at the sound of his hurrying to take out his girlfriend.

      ‘I’m glad Derek is coming tomorrow,’ she muttered under her breath.

      ‘Talking to yourself is never a good idea, love.’

      Sarah turned, then smiled at Flora. ‘I have some of my best conversations with myself.’

      ‘Better than that tea towel you used to talk to when you were a child, I suppose.’

      Sarah stared at Flora. ‘You knew about that?’

      ‘Nothing much gets by me, love. So was the tea towel your other self? Or a special friend?’

      ‘A special friend,’ she confessed.

      ‘Boy or girl?’

      ‘Um…boy. Sort of.’

      ‘He wasn’t called Nick, was he?’

      Sarah flushed.

      ‘Like I said, love,’ Flora continued as she went over and turned the switch that lit up the tree, ‘nothing much gets by me. My, now, that is one lovely tree.’

      ‘Jim chose a really good one this year.’

      ‘He did indeed. Was that Nick I heard a minute ago?’

      ‘Yes. He came home to change. The party’s black-tie.’

      ‘I’m not surprised. Chloe’s a social climber, if ever there was one.’

      Sarah shook her head. ‘She sounds awful. What on earth does Nick see in her?’

      ‘What does Nick see in any of his girlfriends? I suppose he doesn’t much care about their characters as long as they’re beautiful and do whatever he wants them to do in bed. He doesn’t keep any of them, after all.’

      ‘Flora! I’ve never heard you talk like this about Nick before.’

      Flora shrugged. ‘I’m getting old, I guess. When you get old you say things you wouldn’t dare say before. Don’t get me wrong. I’m very fond of Nick. But where women are concerned, he’s bad news. He’s never made a pass at you, has he, Sarah?’

      ‘What? Me? No, never!’

      ‘Just as well, with you having that crush on him.’

      ‘I’m over that now.’