Amber and Lucie

Gift Exchange The door opened and Lucie walked in. Amber paused mid-sentence. How had the Really Meaningful Date with the handsome guy from accounts gone? “Well?” she asked excitedly – and then saw Lucie’s face. “I can’t believe I was so stupid!” Talking to the wall was not a good sign either. “Amber, what am I going to do?” “Lucie, what happened? Tell me about it.” Lucie dissolved into tears on her shoulder. “I thought this was going to be – like, you know, The Big Date. The one where he asks me to move in with him. And I was so nervous about being late for it that I was super-early, so I hid in that corner seat – the one you can’t see from the door – so I could pretend I’d arrived just after him. And he came in. With someone else!” Amber was not happy. Neither was Lucie – her mascara had lost the clinging-on-to-her-eyelashes battle.
“And he said to her – it’s all right darling, I’ll finish with her today. Why would I want a two-bit cooky artist type when I could have a smart, gorgeous girl like you? And I just didn’t know what to do. I was, like, frozen in my seat.”
“And then he started being rude about you as well. Saying that just because you’d written some stupid children’s book that I’d done these useless pictures for, you thought you were a proper author, and your dress sense was dreadful…” “So that got me out of my seat. I mean, he’s not getting away with being horrible about my friends.”
Lucy was re-enacting the scene.
“So I got really mad and told him he was a two-timing lying jerk who couldn’t even write a shopping list if he tried, so no wonder he was jealous of you. And I tipped a jug of water over him and walked out.” “But what am I going to do? I can’t stay here and see him at work every day for the rest of my life. I hate that job anyway – it was only seeing him and doing your illustrations that made life bearable.” “And I have to go on working. This place is a dump, but even the quarter share takes up all I can afford.”
Lucie was right. There were four of them here, all living in tiny rooms and all paying big rents. City living wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Amber sat down at her laptop and flipped it open. “Come and look at this. I wrote it off as a pipe dream because I didn’t think you’d want to move away. And I didn’t want to be several hundred miles away from my amazing illustrator.”
Lucie managed a watery smile at that.
“I’ve got an advance for The Scarlet Hawk. We’ve got an advance for The Scarlet Hawk. I heard from my agent just before you came in – you’ve probably got an email too.”
“I turned my phone off,” Lucie admitted. “In case he texted or rang.”
“Do you fancy renting somewhere in the countryside for a year while we both work on the book?” “Get away from here? Oh yes. Show me the pictures. Wait – let me get the tissues first.”
Lucie returned to the table having done some serious mopping up.
“Here we are – here’s the website and here’s the house."
"The Salt Box. That's a cute name. I wonder why it's called that?"
"I think it's a building style. We could be there for Christmas. – allowing for giving notice on this place and so on. How does that sound?” “It sounds perfect! But does it suit you?”
“Oh yes! I’d love to be out of the city. And this place is horrible – you’re quite right. I would much rather be writing somewhere else.”
“And I can find some work to do, even if it’s only waitressing or whatever, while I paint as well.”
“Shall we give it a go then? Sign up for the year?”
“What have we got to lose?” This was perfect, Lucie thought. Her own room, just for her painting stuff! Her original artwork for the cover of The Seventeenth Star hung on the wall. Even though there was snow outside, the house was warm inside. She went into the cosy sitting room, sat down near the fire and began some sketches for the next illustrations. Amber agreed with Lucie. The Scarlet Hawk cover hung in her little writing nook, inspiring her as much as the landscape and the house itself did. They’d made it here in time for Advent – and then there’d be Christmas, and then who knew what next year would bring? Maybe something better for them both.