‘Yes, poor Carmen,’ she said, grabbing back his attention.
‘Why, what’s wrong with her?’
‘Oh,’ said Skylar, putting on her most pitying face and letting her rosebud lips turn down regretfully. ‘She got a teensyweensy crush on my boyfriend.’ She stroked Blair’s arm, who ignored her. ‘Well, quite a big crush actually! I can’t really blame her. But it’s been tough on her. She’s just been after him so desperately for ages … I think she thinks she is actually going out with him.’
‘Really?’ said Oke, frowning and confused.
‘Oh yes, she’s been desperate. He tried to turn her down politely but she wasn’t having any of it. Anyway.’ Skylar made her eyes go wide. ‘I really, really hope she’s okay.’
Just as she said this, the curtain to the stockroom opened and Carmen emerged with Mr McCredie; she was slightly pushing him forward, and a loud cheer went round the room for him, perhaps brought on by the alcohol and general cheer of a jolly Christmas party, as well as much natural affection for Mr McCredie and some relief that his shop was still standing.
He wasn’t expecting it, and went quite pink, Carmen smiling broadly as she looked at him.
Then her attention was caught as, right in front of her, Blair looked up from where he was signing for someone else, met her eye and stuck his tongue straight out at her.
It was so unexpected a gesture that Carmen started and instantly blushed; it was entirely surprising he was here, bigger and cheekier than ever. He kept eye contact.
She didn’t even see Oke, who was standing behind Blair and therefore had not seen the face he made; neither did Skylar.
But Oke did see the pink flush in her cheeks, the surprise and, he thought, the happiness when she saw Blair was there. He’d known enough girls get crushes on him in his own sphere to know what they looked like.
And now he was on the other end. The utter, soul-destroying disappointment.
Of course he’d seen them having coffee, but he hadn’t … I mean, she’d come to Camera Obscura. It hadn’t been a date. Not then. But he remembered her face in the church, listening to the music.
Before Carmen had even had a chance to tear her gaze away from Blair and guide Mr McCredie to the front of the shop where he could give a speech, Oke had turned around and quietly exited the shop, already in his head writing the email where he turned down another term’s teaching. No. Enough. He was far from home and had his head turned, that was all. It was snowing again. This country was freezing. He should go home to S?o Paolo; his family missed him. See his sisters. Take the presents, even. See his nieces and nephews grow. Catalogue his new samples. Work.
There was lots to do. He turned just at the foot of the steps. The bookshop was glowing golden and silver, full of happy people chatting and celebrating the time of year. The lights overhead on the Christmas stars that were hung all the way up the street, as if it wasn’t already pretty enough, twinkled and glowed. It was like being inside a Christmas card.
But he did not celebrate Christmas. Quietly and, for Oke, slowly, he loped up the steps, home towards the halls of residence towering high above.
‘Babe! Tell me you’ve been misbehaving!’
Blair grabbed Carmen just after Mr McCredie gave a lovely speech where he thanked everyone for their neighbourly support up and down the street, and the biggest round of applause was kept for the new windows and displays – ‘all done, of course, by Carmen Hogan’ – which made her very happy and blush all at once. She wished suddenly that Sofia could have come, even if her bump would barely fit in the door, then felt angry again when Mr McCredie thanked Sofia too, and she remembered that this entire thing had been Sofia’s idea, that she had been right all along. And where was Oke? She couldn’t see him anywhere.
Blair had sidled towards her.