Page 27 of Cuckoo (aka Claire, Darling)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

30 November 2024

Dear Diary,

We spent the day visiting one of the Christmas markets on the South Bank. It was cold, but we wrapped up properly and had a lovely day out. Noah likes the hot apple cider but I went for a hot chocolate, and we wandered around looking at all the stalls and Christmassy knick-knacks together. There was a small stall with beautiful handmade pieces, jewelled rings and carefully carved pendants, which I stood poring over.

‘Do you want something?’ Noah asked.

I whipped my hand back, ashamed for wasting the stallholder’s time. ‘No, no. Just looking,’ I laughed. ‘Pretty though, aren’t they?’ I said, peering at one of the rings. It had little birds carved into the gold band, a sparkly stone of some sort set in the middle.

‘Yes, unique,’ he agreed, taking a glance over my shoulder.

‘Come on, let’s go ice-skating,’ I suggested, pulling him along.

I was awful. Like Bambi on ice, all the gear and no idea. I ended up clinging on to the railing most of the way around. Noah was better– but not by much.

‘Not a skater boy back in the day then?’ I asked.

‘You can talk! Trash talk from the sidelines. How about letting go of the railing?’ he teased back.

I watched him stiffly drive himself forward, legs straight and body tense. We were both terrible, but at least neither of us fell!

Claire