Part Seven of 12 Lays of Xmas, the full novella version. Typical. You wait seven months for chapter six, and then two come along in 24 hours.
Any similarity to any persons living, loving or otherwise - well - you know who you are.
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The Twelve Lays of Xmas
Seven Swans A-Swimming
Nobody was around very early the following day, but I actually had to force myself out of bed at about ten to go and see the people behind my present to Jessica, the CD and the artworks. Apparently, all was finally ready.
The owner of the bureau was an attractive woman in her twenties, with long, light-brown hair; buxom, curvy, vivacious and full of curiosity. Her name was Cristal. I hadn't picked her because of her big tits - I think Jess had found her, actually, when she was seeking out someone to process some graphics she had designed - but they were no disincentive. Actually, I had been completely professional around her, which - this time - she didn't repay. I waited twenty minutes to see her, by which time most of her staff had departed for lunch, and I was half-asleep in a comfortable chair in her office. At least when Cristal reappeared, she brought lattΓ©.
She had asked to speak to me rather than just hand over the disk, which was slightly worrying. My chief concern with this extravagant present was how and when I was going to get the pictures hung in the entrance vestibule to the building without Jessica seeing them. Before Christmas obviously had big advantages. The contractors had been extremely difficult about this, understandably, but we had worked out that if the wall mountings and lighting were put in place on the 20th, a small crew could come and hang the pictures on Christmas Eve. Even if she saw the work, Jessica might not assume it was anything to do with her present; the vestibule had needed re-lighting, and I had told her back in October that I would take care of it. Two months for me to get the job done was stretching it, but she hadn't complained at all. Much.
So, the last thing I needed was for there to be any delay with the prints, which Cristal's people were producing and a framer was meant to be completing in the next four days. Her asking me to wait worried me (though not enough to stop me falling asleep).
So, when she came back into her office with coffee and apologies, I came round sluggishly, but I did come round. I was almost ready to ask if there was a problem when Cristal's curiosity got the better of her.
'I have to ask: I have seen many unusual presents in my time, but for a man to give his lover naked pictures of her female friends and neighbours, to be hung in their house, that beats a lot of them. Are you sure she wouldn't have preferred perfume?'
I laughed; Cristal was merely being humorous as well as inquisitive. Well, she had a point, and I suppose I had just blithely assumed that she would take the order, process the job and never wonder. I drank the coffee she had brought, and felt my mind come slowly out of the fog of sleep, as I explained. Cristal's eyes widened with every twist and turn of the story. She leafed through some prints on her desk which turned out to be prints of the pictures for the building vestibule.
'That's incredible,' she said eventually, sounding a little dry-mouthed. 'I thought your gift to her was... unique... But, well...'
I shook my head, still feeling slow and stupid with lack of sleep. Why had I told her about the excesses of the last few days and nights? The point had been to explain my gift to Jessica, not to detail our strange lifestyle to someone who was a stranger.
Confession caught on. 'I've never been with a woman,' she murmured, and this was more than just information, it was the open expression of a wish. We looked at each other for a moment, and I caught her looking down at the naked and near-naked women on her desk, and without a moment's hesitation I asked for her home number.
*****
The framers were happy, the installation crew were - well, not happy, but they had stopped bitching. Their foreman had spoken to me in that languid "we need more money" kind of way, and I promised him that I would sooner hang the pictures with Blu-tac than get ripped off over a job for which he was already getting well-paid. He agreed to get the work done; I agreed not to sue his arse. I had the CD with all the pictures in my pocket, and I found some good wine on special offer in the store on the corner. Did I mention before that Christmas was going pretty well so far?
I met Jessica and Orla for lunch. We were all a little sleepy, and a couple of glasses of wine along with spiced soup, fresh, warm bread and sizzling steaks, and we were on the cusp between giggling and taking a nap. Jessica and I sat wrapped around each other on one bench, watching as a spiteful, gusting wind threw rain and sleet against the restaurant window, intent on reminding us that it was winter. People went by, huddled in greatcoats against the cold. Even inside the diner, it was bracing, and we cursed each time a new customer opened the door.
Orla had the blues because her time with us was almost at and end. The only good thing she could find in the situation was that when she left us, she was going to a boat in the Caribbean for Christmas. Every time the sleet hammered on the window, and another torrent flooded down the glass, I was prepared to fight her for the ticket. And I
hate