Page 88 of Under the Mistletoe with You

There is, blissfully, nothing on his phone, probably because everyone is asleep.He opens his finsta and likes a few photos of his friends’ dogs.His main account has been updated by Tessa for the last few weeks, mostly just photos from his last shoot, or shots from various holiday movies, reminding people thatnothing says Noel like Nadeau.He has to hand it to her, that is pretty catchy.

He can’t stay in here forever, as much as he’d like to.Because the sooner he leaves this room, the sooner he has to interact with robo-Christopher.

He takes a deep breath, and with one confidence-boosting smile at the mirror, he walks back to the living room.Awkwardness hangs in the air, like when you’re trying to pass a stranger in a tight hallway and both of you are trying to let the other person go first.Is this how Christopher feels all the time?No wonder the man can’t settle.

In another world, they could just be having breakfast together and talking about the day and not be shrouded in a cloud of weirdness just because they slept together.Apparently, this is beyond Christopher.They should get out of the house, give Christopher a task to do, rather than watch him try to absorb himself into the couch.

‘Shall we go?’he asks, and Christopher near enough spills coffee everywhere.

He leans forward, his cup and it seems his face dripping coffee.‘Where?’

‘Where else?Community centre.See what adventures await us.’

‘Yes.I’ll just ...go clean myself up.’

Nash decides, just for once, to let that one go.

Once they’re dressed (or re-dressed in Christopher’s case), they’re outside and over the road in a flash.Christobot storms ahead with his gigantic legs – which Nash can’tstop thinking about wrapping himself around – without so much as a glance backwards to see how Nash is even doing.

It’s so early that there’s hardly anyone inside the community centre once they arrive.Even the lady who makes the horrible hot drinks isn’t here.

‘Hiya!’It’s Shaz, here already, her voice echoing across the empty room from where she stands with Tamara.

‘Good morning.’Christopher is still in polite robot mode, but to be fair, it’s so close to his general awkward demeanour with strangers that Tamara seems not to notice.Shaz, however, does glance at Christopher before looking over at Nash with a searching glance.

‘Don’t look at me.He’s always like that,’ Nash mutters.‘Do we need to go up to Myffy’s this morning?’

Tamara shakes her head.‘The bonus of living on a smallholding is that we have a 4 x 4 that can drive through most obstacles, so we whizzed Polly home and dropped Priti off there again first thing, so she’s with her all day.’

‘We’ll pop in later, if you’d like?’

‘That would be good, if you’re up for it, but I have a possibly bizarre request for you both first.’

Finally, a task that can distract them.

‘What’s bizarre about it?’Nash asks.

‘Well, I’ve had a rather interesting email.’

‘Has someone told you you’re cursed unless you forward it on to ten other people?’interrupts Shaz.‘Though I’ve always wondered how that would even de-curse you, because surely you’re just sneezing the curse around?’

Tamara gives her the kind of withering look that only comes from knowing someone for far too long.‘Very witty.Here to escape the kids?’

‘You bet.I told my mother-in-law she is on grandparent duties and the look she gave me was worth it all.’

Tamara continues, ignoring Shaz.‘I think you should all read it yourselves.See what you make of it.’

She spins the laptop round, and they all peer over.Naturally, Christopher has to crouch down to read the screen, the absolute giant.

Dear Ms Yang,

I write to you today as a concerned constituent who hopes that you can knock some sense into one of your other constituents.My terribly stubborn neighbour, Dai Edwards, appears to have lost all his power (this is what happens when you don’t install two backup generators like I suggested).The silly man will not leave his farm and while I have no intention of talking to him, I’d also rather he does not freeze to death.Please go sort him out.

Regards,

Anonymous

Underneath is a second email from the same account, replying to the chain, that just saysP.S.You never saw this email.