Cecelia Ahern - The Gift

Ruth reappeared dressed in her underwear.

“You look beautiful,” he said.

“Daddy!” Lucy giggled outrageously. “She’s in her panties!”

“Yes, well, she looks beautiful in her panties.” He kept his eyes on Ruth while Lucy rolled around the bed, laughing at this idea.

Ruth studied him quickly. Lou could see her swallow, her face curious, not used to the sudden attention, perhaps worrying that he was acting this way out of guilt. A big part of her was afraid to become hopeful, afraid that it was yet another buildup to a later letdown. She disappeared into the bathroom for a few moments, and when she reentered the room she hopped around, still in her underwear.

Lucy and Lou started laughing while watching her.

“What are you doing?” Lou asked.

“I’m drying my lotion.” She ran in place, smiling. Lucy hopped up and joined her, giggling and dancing, before deciding her mother was dry and joining her father back on the bed.

“Why are you still here?” Ruth asked gently. “You don’t want to be late for Mr. Patterson.”

“This is far more fun.”

“Lou,” she laughed, “while I appreciate the fact that you are not constantly moving for the first time in ten years, you really have to go. I know you say you’ll be there tonight, but — ”

“I will be there tonight,” he replied, starting to feel insulted.

“Okay, but please don’t be too late,” she continued, racing around the room. “Most people going to your dad’s party are over the age of seventy, and they might have fallen asleep or have gone home by the time you get there.” She darted back into the wardrobe.

“I’ll be there,” he replied, more to himself this time. He knew he had to be. And this time, he actually wanted to be.

He heard her rooting around in the drawers. She bumped into something, swore, dropped something else, and when she reappeared in the bedroom she was dressed in a black cocktail dress.

Usually Lou would automatically tell her she was beautiful, hardly even looking at her while saying it. He felt that it was his duty, that it was what she wanted to hear, that it would get them out of the house faster, but tonight he found himself unable to speak. She was truly beautiful. It was as though all his life he had been told the sky was blue, and for the first time he had actually looked up to see it for himself. Why didn’t he look at it every day? He turned to lie on his stomach and lean his head on his hand. Lucy imitated him. They both watched the wonder that was Ruth. Ten years of this display and he’d been pacing downstairs the whole time.

“And remember,” she said, zipping up her dress at the back, “you got your father a cruise for his birthday.”

“I thought we were getting him a golf membership.”

“Lou, he hates golf.”

“He does?”

“Granddad hates golf,” Lucy confirmed with a knowing nod.

“He’s always wanted to go to Saint Lucia,” Ruth said. “Remember the story about Douglas and Ann and how they won the trip on the back of a cereal box, blah, blah, blah?”

“No.” Lou frowned.

“The cereal box competition.” She stopped on her way to the closet to stare at him in surprise.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“He tells this story all the time, Lou. About how Douglas entered the competition and they won a trip to Saint Lucia…Anything?” She looked at him for a glimmer of recognition.

Lou shook his head.

“Wow, how could you not know that story?”

Ruth disappeared inside the closet one last time and reappeared with one shoe on her foot and the other under her arm. Up, down, up, down, she made her way across the room to her dressing table to put on her jewelry.

“Oh,” she said as she put on her earrings. “When you see Mary Walsh, don’t mention Patrick.” Half of her hair was still covered in rollers, the other half loose and curled. Her face was sad. “He left her.”

“Okay,” Lou nodded, trying to remain as solemn as possible.

When Ruth ducked into the bathroom again, Lou turned to Lucy. “Patrick left Mary Walsh,” he said. “Did you know that?”

Lucy shook her head wildly.

“Did you tell him to do that?”

She shook her head, giggling.

“Who knew that would happen?”

Lucy shrugged. “Maybe Mary did.”

Lou laughed. “Maybe.”

“Oh, and please don’t ask Laura if she’s lost weight,” Ruth called out. “You always do that, and she hates it.”

“Isn’t that a nice thing to say?” He frowned.

Ruth laughed. “Honey, she’s been putting on weight consistently for the past ten years. When you say that to her, it’s like you’re making fun.”

“Laura’s a fatty,” he whispered to Lucy, and she collapsed on the bed laughing.

He took a deep breath as he noticed the time. “Okay, I should go now. See you tomorrow,” he said to Lucy, kissing her on the head.

“I like you much better now, Daddy,” she said happily.

Lou froze, still half on the bed. “What did you say?”

“I said I like you much better now.” She smiled, revealing a missing bottom tooth. “Me, Mummy, and Bud are going ice-skating tomorrow. Will you come?”

Still taken aback by her comment, he simply said, “Yes. Sure.”

Ruth came back into the room again, bringing a wave of her perfume with her, her hair in loose waves down past her shoulders. Lou couldn’t take his eyes off her.

“Mummy, Mummy!” Lucy jumped up on the bed and started bouncing up and down. “Daddy’s coming ice-skating tomorrow.”

“Lucy, get down, you’re not allowed to jump on the bed. Get down, sweetheart, thank you. Remember I told you that Daddy is a very busy man, he doesn’t have time to be — ”

“I’m coming,” Lou interrupted firmly.

Ruth’s mouth fell open. “Oh.”

“Is that okay?”

“Yes, sure, I just…Yes. Absolutely. Great.” She nodded, then headed back into the bathroom. This time the door closed softly behind her.

He gave her a couple of minutes alone but then couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

“Ruth” — Lou rapped gently on the bathroom door — “you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She cleared her throat and sounded overly perky. “I’m just…blowing my nose.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later,” he said, wanting to go inside and hug her good-bye, but knowing that the door would open if she wanted him to.

“Okay,” she said, a little less perky now. “See you at the party.”

The door remained closed, and so he left.

THE OFFICES OF PATTERSON DEVELOPMENTS were swarming with Lou Suffern’s colleagues in various states of disarray. It was only seven thirty p.m. — and already some were set for the night. Unlike Lou, who’d gone home after work, most people had gone straight to the pub and returned to the party to continue their revelry. There were women he barely recognized, in dresses that revealed bodies he’d never known existed beneath their suits; and there were some whose bodies were made only for their suits. The uniformity of the day had been broken down: there was an air of adolescence, of the desire to show off and prove to one another who they really were. It was a night for rule breaking, for saying what they felt; it was a dangerous environment to be in. Mistletoe hung from almost every doorway — in fact, Lou had already received two kisses as soon as he’d stepped out of the elevator, from the opportunists hanging around there.

Suit jackets were off; novelty musical ties, Santa hats, and reindeer antlers were on. They all worked hard, and it was clear that tonight they were all going to play hard.

“Where’s Mr. Patterson?” Lou asked Alison, finding her sitting on the lap of the fifth Santa Claus he’d seen so far. Her eyes were glassy, the focus already gone. She was wearing a tight red dress that showed every curve of her body. He forced himself to look away.