Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Orla, aged 14. Christmas Day

Orla walked towards Shay’s house and smiled up at the snow as it fell heavily from the sky. It was evening on Christmas Day and Apple Hill Bay was enjoying the first white Christmas in twenty-three years, or so the news said. It had been a lovely day and not because of the awkwardness of both her parents trying to make the day as happy as possible, although she did appreciate them trying. But lunch with Shay and his family had been perfect. The food had been delicious, there’d been laughter and chatting, they’d played games and it felt wonderful to part of a happy, family Christmas again. She had missed it and she hadn’t realised how much.

The snow had fallen quite heavily over the last few hours and it was now almost a foot deep in the drifts that hugged the edges of the roads. So Orla had a plan.

She walked up to the farmhouse and she could see through the windows that Carrie had fallen asleep on the sofa and Fern was fast asleep with her head in her mum’s lap. She walked round the outside of the building until she found Shay’s room. He was lying on his bed, reading a book.

She tapped on the window and he looked up in surprise, then she watched the smile fill his face as he saw her. He hurried over and opened the window.

‘Orla, are you OK? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with your dad?’

‘I was for a few hours, now he’s gone out with friends and it’s snowing, and I thought I’d come back over and teach you how to do a snow angel.’

His eyebrows lifted in surprise and then he smiled. ‘You want me to lie on the wet floor and wave my arms and legs around?’

‘Trust me, it’s fun. Besides, everyone should get to make snow angels at least once in their life.’

‘OK, yes, you’re right, I can see my whole life has been empty without it,’ he said dryly. He grabbed his coat and hat, shoved his feet in his boots and climbed out the window. ‘Right where do you want me?’

‘We have to find an area of relatively undisturbed snow,’ she looked around. ‘Over there should do it.’ They walked over to the back of the garden and Orla lay down in the snow and for a moment she just enjoyed staring up at the snowflakes as they gently swirled above them. Shay lay down in the snow next to her.

‘What’s next in my education?’

‘Just move your arms and legs like you’re doing jumping jacks, like this.’ She started sliding her arms up and down across the ground, spraying herself with snow as she did it. She started laughing and to her surprise, Shay, who was clearly doing this under duress, started laughing too.

They lay there looking up at the snow falling above them laughing at the silliness of making snow angels.

He rolled onto his side to look at her and she did too.

‘You’re right, that was fun,’ Shay said, sweeping a soggy strand of hair from her face. The smile fell from his face as he looked at her and his eyes cast down to her lips.

Oh god, he was going to kiss her. Her heart soared. She leaned closer.

He cleared his throat and sat up. ‘I have a present for you actually. I didn’t want to give it earlier as I didn’t want the others to see. Come on, you should have it while it’s still Christmas.’

He hopped up and her heart sank with disappointment. He reached out a hand and helped her up.

‘They look pretty cool,’ Shay said, gesturing to the snow angels Orla had almost completely forgotten about.

He gestured to the window and she climbed through, then he followed her.

‘I got you a present too,’ Orla said, fishing in her coat pocket for the box. ‘Why don’t you open that first.’ She thrust the box towards him, hoping that she’d got this right.

‘You didn’t have to get me something.’

‘Of course I did.’

He opened the box and studied the starfish necklace. She knew he wore jewellery; he had a silver circle the shape of wave on a cord around his neck so she hoped he’d like this too.

‘The starfish is a symbol of resilience. Did you know when they lose an arm, they can grow another one and some starfish can grow a whole body just from one arm? I wanted to give you this as a reminder of how far you’ve come. Despite your terrible upbringing you’re a good man and a great friend. I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks but I feel very lucky to have you in my life.’

He shook his head. ‘No, I’m the lucky one to have you as a friend. Thank you, this is really cool.’ He immediately wrapped the black chord round his neck and fastened it. Then he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek and the feel of his lips on her skin gave her goosebumps of happiness. ‘I umm… made you something,’ Shay said, wiping his hands, he moved to the drawers and pulled out a box. He passed it to her.

She opened it up to see a carved wooden sun on a pale gold piece of chord. The sun was carved from the palest wood, so it was almost white and seemed to gleam under the lights.

‘You made this?’

‘Yeah, wood carving is a bit of a hobby for me.’

‘It’s beautiful.’

‘It’s because you are the light in my darkness. I know that’s a cheesy thing to say but it’s true, when I’m with you it feels like I’m stepping into the warmth of the sun.’

She stared at him. ‘Shay, I…’

‘And I don’t want to lose you as a friend, so I’m going to do everything in my power not to cock this up. You’re different to any other girl I’ve been with, our friendship is special and I won’t compromise that.’

She didn’t know what he meant by that. How could he possibly compromise their friendship? ‘Shay, I’m not going anywhere.’

He nodded, brushing his hand through his hair.

‘Thank you for this,’ Orla took it out of the box and fastened it at the back of her neck. They stared at each other and she wondered whether it would be appropriate to give him a kiss on the cheek too. Just as she plucked up the courage to do so, he took a definite step back. She cleared her throat. ‘Well, I should go, it’s getting late.’

‘You could stay here,’ Shay said.

For a second Orla thought he was gesturing to his bed before she smiled and shook her head. Of course he wasn’t, he’d backed away from kissing her and mentioned he saw her as a friend at least twice in the last minute. He obviously meant the spare room.

‘I could, but Mum might be wondering where I am. She doesn’t know I came out tonight.’

‘I’ll walk you back then.’

He climbed back out the window and helped her to do the same. He took her hand as they crunched along through the snow and it made her smile so much. It was so quiet and right then it felt as if they were the only two people in the world. She loved being with Shay, chatting to him or just quietly being together. There was something about him that made her feel so peaceful and happy.

‘Have you had a good day?’ Shay said.

‘Yes, thank you so much for inviting me.’

‘No problem, I just couldn’t bear the thought of you sitting there at home alone on Christmas Day, while your parents screamed at each other. Figured you deserved a break on Christmas Day of all days.’

‘Thank you. And my parents tried really hard, again thanks to you. But it was lovely spending time with your family. They’re brilliant.’

‘I know. I’m very lucky to have Carrie and two annoying siblings.’

Orla smiled at that. ‘You love them really.’

‘Yeah, I do. And I’m very lucky to have such a wonderful friend too. I’m not sure what I did to deserve you.’

‘Just being a really decent bloke will do it, respectful, kind, protective. I know you don’t see it, but you have great qualities. It’s your resilience. Your determination to be a better person than the poor role models your parents gave you.’

He didn’t say anything and she knew he didn’t agree with that. She’d just have to keep telling him, one day he might believe what a wonderful man he was.

They reached her house and he walked her right up to her door. She turned to face him.

‘Happy Christmas, Shay.’

He smiled and bent his head to kiss her on the cheek again. ‘Merry Christmas, Orla.’

She watched him turn and go. She smiled, as despite everything that had happened with her parents, this Christmas had turned out to be one of her best.