A very short and fast journey through Christmas 2019 and 2020.
Angie wrapped me in her arms with her cheek against my shoulder. "Oh my God Terry. Did I ever thank you properly?"
"Oh yes Babe, all the time."
She squeezed me firmly and as she spoke I could hear a definite tremble in her voice; "Thank you Terry."
"Hey, smiles tonight, it's nearly Christmas." I hugged and rubbed her back. "Let's eat before it gets cold."
So we sat and reminisced about the year we'd shared together and the plans for the upcoming celebrations and socializing.
==============================Chapter 7==============================
So through December 2019 the plans started being confirmed and do you know what Dear Reader? Yep you're right nothing changed from the previous year.
Well that's not quite right, several things had changed since 2018:
There were a few surprises when people met Angie and Freddy for the first time a year yea ago but as we went through the Christmas and New Year break the total acceptance their presence was a simple formality, everyone just assumed she'd be there with me.
Elainer, Angie's mother, came round for dinner along her new man on the twenty-third. I have to admit I didn't like him very much however his brother came too and the difference was chalk and cheese. He was dating one of Elainers friends and that's how Elainer met him.
Christmas day was just the same except there was a new addition, Bella had a nine week old little girl, this was not a surprise as we'd met several times through the year and sent congratulation card and present and seen pictures.
Boxing Day was as it had been for years; my God children invaded, oh and Andrew was still interested.
The walk in the park was a walk in the park as always.
New Years Eve party was the same except Angie made sure she stayed with me for Auld Lang Syne and the first kiss. The man from the previous year shook my hand just as vigorously as he remembered Granddad and Nanna.
We received some bad news half way through January twenty-twenty, the flats were due to be completed in May and Angie was starting to make her plans to move out. To her it seemed to be good news, to me it was anything but good news and I was dreading the thought of her leaving.
Charley came every month for a feed and if I was there I'd sit with her father in the dining room with a coffee. Freddy now only sought a breast at bed time and if he got hurt so my breastfeeding became a daily occurrence, quite often twice a day and I found I had to watch my weight for the first time ever. I blamed the breast milk but if I'm honest it was probably more to do with the lovely food I'd become accustomed to Angie preparing for us.
I nearly forgot about Andrew, I seemed to see quite a bit of him early in the year. He is a bit of a musician and found lots of excuses to come and ask for help with his bands sound system but that stopped dead in March.
March! Indeed March put a stop to lots of things when Covid19 hit us all like a major car crash, my work stopped dead which I wasn't too bothered about as my financial plans had done quite nicely thank you very much. I hadn't planned to dip into savings just yet but there was plenty there and the government came up with a couple of benefits which really helped out. That was all down to keeping perfect financial records and not doing any back pocket jobs unlike many of my friends who cursed and swore about no money coming in.
Work on Angie's flats stopped and I secretly thanked God for the diamond in the gloom, if nothing else I knew it would delay her departure for a month or two. Very selfish of me I know, but hey sometimes shit happens.
Charley stopped coming, the covid restrictions forbade that along with everything else.
Freddy's second birthday party was a damp squib with just the three of us but plenty of hideous red and yellow plastic toys seemed to suit him well.
We managed to fit in a visit to one of my favourite restaurants for Angie's birthday; they were operating a very strict limit of four per party due to the covid restrictions and their limited space to fit social distancing in. It was unusual that I hadn't been there for well over a year and the look on Cherry's face [yes that is the restaurant owners real name] told a whole story when I turned up with two black women and toddler, I almost think there was some hesitation there too. I'm sure I saw confusion on her face when I introduced birthday girl Angie as my friend and her mother and son.
One much unexpected thing that happened in August was a decent win on the National Lotto. Not a major ever so stupid amount jackpot, but well into six figures, enough to buy a decent house and some leftover. I decided to not tell a living soul, the last thing I wanted was any temptation for anyone to become a leech and that could so easily become an issue if I wasn't careful, so I opened six savings accounts, split the money between them and locked the evidence away.
Financially I was fine, I managed odd little bits of work here and there and Angie was getting weekly shifts at work and she received furlough help too
Our planned social events through the year simply didn't happen due to the various lockdowns and our hesitation to permeate the spread of the virus but what we did find ourselves doing on a very regular basis was sex, sometimes it was making love and sometimes it was fucking and I freely admit I was enjoying every fucking minute of it. We had no pattern to it, sometimes I'd instigate something but more often than not it would be Angie or we'd just slide into it if you'll excuse the pun.
October 17th flashed up on my laptop as 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty'
"Wow, look at that Angie." I showed the images.
"It makes me realise exactly what you've done for me Terry."
"Nah your fine Babe."
"You still won't even let me contribute something."