Page 61 of A Winter Wish

“My Christmas party wasn’t nearly as fun,” Fran was saying as Lexie forced her attention away from Theo’s back. “It was a sit-down dinner. My boss got way too drunk and told me how much he regrets the last twenty years of his life.” She wrinkled her nose. “That’ll be me in twenty years.”

“Drunk? Or regretting your life?” Lexie cocked her head. “A boss?”

“Probably all three at this rate.”

Lexie’s mum said nothing to any of this, still intent on her phone, as Ange bustled over, her reindeer earrings swinging. “Lexie, I love the wish jar! What a fun idea! We should take the wishes out next year, see if any of them have come true. Or put wishes in for the company? Or…” She flapped a hand. “I don’t know. There’s an idea on the tip of my tongue, I know it, I’m just a little woolly at the moment after the wine. Anyway, I love it, and Theo said it was your idea?”

Lexie shifted uncomfortably. “Ah, sort of.”

Beside them, her mum finally stopped texting and looked up.

“Have you put a wish in yet?” Ange asked.

“I did,” Fran announced. “I wished for the love of my life. Although, actually, are we allowed to put two in? Because I might wish to win the lottery, so I don’t have to do any more paperwork for the rest of my life.”

“You’re not supposed to tell us the wishes,” Lexie said, nudging Fran in the ribs.

“Why not?” Fran asked, her lips twitching. “Because then they won’t come true?”

“Oh, I love that you’ve brought the wish jar here,” Lexie’s mum said, beaming. Her eyes shone a little more brightly, and for a moment Lexie was worried she might start crying. “I can remember the first year you did it. And I know it’s silly—I moved on from your father a long time ago—but in some ways I wish he were here, to see the tradition still going strong.”

Lexie frowned. “Why?”

Her mum fluffed up her hair a little. “Well, it was him who started you on it, wasn’t it?”

“No,” Lexie said slowly. “It was your idea—remember? We made the first one together.” She had that memory, sitting on the living-room floor, sticking gems onto glass.

“We decorated it together, yes, but it was your dad’s idea in the first place. He was the one who encouraged you to get it out the year after, too. I think he might have done it when he was a kid, actually. I’m sure that’s where the whole thing came from.”

Lexie stared at her mum, trying to process her words. It had been her dad’s idea? She knew she’d always talked to him about it, knew she’d shown him the very first one she’d made, but she hadn’t realized it had been his idea in the first place. That particular detail had gotten lost in her memories, somewhere along the line. So it had been his tradition she’d been carrying around with her all this time, without even realizing it. And she couldn’t quite work out how she felt about that.

“Are you OK, Lexie love?” Her mum was looking at her with concern now, an expression at odds with the sparkle of her bright red-and-green knitted Christmas jumper—the one and only Christmas jumper she owned, to Lexie’s knowledge. “I’m sorry to bring it up if it upsets you.”

“No, it’s OK.” Lexie forced a smile. “I’m fine.”

For a moment her mum looked like she might say something else, but then her phone buzzed again and in her distraction Fran pulled Lexie away, saying they needed drink top-ups. Within half an hour her mum made apologies to leave early, and the whole thing was forgotten about.

At around nine p.m., they decided to head to the pub. Fran bit her lip at the suggestion, drawing out her phone to look at the time.

“What’s up?” Lexie asked, gathering a bunch of empty glasses and dumping them into the kitchen sink as Theo switched off the music and the others all headed out the front door, talking loudly as they clambered down the stairs.

“It’s just…Tom said I should meet him this evening, if I’m free…” Fran had been on two dates with Tom so far, and apparently he seemed nice, normal. Given Fran’s track record, Lexie was a little worried that he sounded too good to be true, but she had decided to keep that concern to herself.

Instead she said, “Go! Meet him. Everyone will be calling it quits soon anyway, I reckon. Have fun.”

Fran gave Lexie a quick hug, then bounded off out of the flat and down the stairs. Really, you had to admire the hope.

“Where’s she off to?” Theo asked, and Lexie spun around to see him bringing the rest of the glasses into the kitchen.

“She has a date.”

“Ah.” It was quiet, now that everyone had left.

“My mum left early too.”

“Maybe she has a date as well.”

Lexie made a face. “Don’t be ridiculous.”