The Twelve Dates of Christmas Read Online Free PDF Page A

knobbertron than I thought.’ Penny gently pushed Claudia into a walk again.
    Arriving at her block of flats in West Kensington, Claudia stood for a long time staring up at her window.
I won’t be able to look out at my view any more
, she mused. She couldn’t afford to live here on her own. She’d have to downsize to a studio.
    Claudia took a deep breath and plunged into the building. She climbed the stairs listening for sounds of wild sex coming from her floor.
    Nothing.
    She crept towards her front door. Even Penny had stopped dancing and was moving silently; she was really fulfilling her role of ninja.
    Claudia pressed her ear to the door and listened. She listened for sounds of him and the girl, she listened for sounds of silence, and she listened, with hope in her heart, for sounds of crying, of heartbreak, of him sitting in there caring about their split.
    Still nothing.
    Taylor Swift wouldn’t be fannying about like this. She’d have already written a stonking great chart-topper about the whole mess. Let’s do this.
    The second she walked into their flat she saw everything – their photos, their memories, their life. Their open bedroom door, their bed, and that he hadn’t been home last night either. Her heart crumpled like a discarded ball of paper.
    ‘Come on.’ Penny charged in. Claudia knew she’d noticed the same thing, but was grateful to her for not saying a word. Penny yanked open a cupboard and pulled out Claudia’s huge pink suitcase.
    Claudia shrank back from the case like it was the enemy. She didn’t want anything to change. She wanted to live here, and she didn’t want never to see Seth again. She fanned her hot skin and she stuck as close to Penny as if the apartment was booby-trapped.
    Penny marched Claudia from room to room filling the suitcase with clothes, underwear and toiletries, not giving Claudia more than three seconds per item to decide if it was coming. Every time Claudia’s face wrinkled and she started to say ‘
I wore that when
… ’ Penny would pinch her and move on to the next item.
    It’ll be over soon
, Claudia repeated like a mantra as she averted her eyes from the box of Seth’s favourite cereal.
It’ll be over soon
.
    Claudia and Penny were silent as they walked back to Penny’s flat, taking it in turns to drag the heavy suitcase over the uneven paving slabs.
    Claudia heaved the case over a particularly angled stone and it crashed with a thud on the other side. She stopped and sighed.
I think I’ll have a break to wallow in self-pity
.
    Penny took the case from her hand and coaxed Claudia to keep moving. ‘Dare I ask what you’re thinking, or will that open the floodgates?’
    ‘I’m thinking … ’ Claudia considered her words. ‘That we had a nice relationship. He wasn’t a horrible old knob all the time. I couldn’t have seen this coming. Did you see it coming?’
    ‘No.’ Penny was thoughtful. ‘Generally he’s a nice guy, I liked him. Though … he did think his own crap jokes were funny.’
    ‘Yeah, he thought he was hilarious. I just presumed he was destined to grow up to become king of the Dad-Jokes.’ They walked on in silence for a little more. ‘We were close, though. I know we didn’t ever go on dates any more, but it’s not like we didn’t have fun together. And it’s not like we hadn’t had sex for years, it just wasn’t … that often.’
    Claudia tried to take the suitcase back from Penny, who shifted it into her other hand and gave Claudia a harsh
bugger off, keep talking
look. So she did.
    ‘We had brilliant holidays, like when we went to Orlando, or Rome. I love his family, and he loves my dad. And Dad thinks he’s okay … We’re only half way through season two of
Game of Thrones
together, Penny!’
    ‘I know, it’s really hard,’ Penny soothed.
    ‘What I’m saying is, it all feels very out of the blue. I couldn’t have predicted this, could I?’
    ‘Absolutely not, and when you’re ready maybe you can get