Read The Art of Forgiving - A Uni File Short (The Uni Files) for Free Online

expecting some carollers,
and instead found two men in their mid-twenties trying to whisk his teenage
daughter away for Christmas. It’s hardly surprising he went nuts.
    We backtracked and went to the B&B. Meredith called Tristan at six
this morning and said she was ready to leave. She has not said a word the whole
way, but instead has clutched Tristan’s hand tightly. I keep glancing at their
touch and feeling this insane stab of jealousy. I so wish it was Lilah and I
off on a Christmas adventure, grabbing hands like we never want to let go.
    It’s okay. In two minutes I’ll be upstairs breathing the same air as her
and it will take every shred of my self-restraint to not grab her, kiss her and
carry her off to the bedroom.
    Outside the car we all stop because there is a terrible noise filling
the garage. It sounds like it is coming through one of the air vents in the
garage ceiling.
    “Jesus, do you think there is an injured cat somewhere?” Meredith says.
She casts her eyes about the dim parking lot and I join her looking for the
animal.
    “Nah,” Tristan says, “That, my friends, is Lilah singing. Welcome to my
world.”
    I tune my ears back into the noise. No way. There is no way the love of
my life makes that sort of noise. Is
there ? Bloody hell, I don’t think I have ever heard her sing before. It’s
truly awful, but at the same time it makes me want to get my hands on her even
more. I want to be upstairs right now, listening to her sing.
    I march towards the lift and press the call button. Nothing happens. I
press again and then again.
    “It takes about five minutes,” Tristan informs me. I give a little ‘tsk’
of annoyance and start marching towards the stairs.
    “What’s his deal?” I hear Meredith whisper to Tristan. It’s only the
second time she has spoken since we left her parents farmhouse.
    “I would imagine he wants to get laid,” Tristan replies. I don’t bother
to turn and offer him a rude gesture. Instead, I push through the door to the
stairwell.
    Lilah lives in the Penthouse and, well, that would normally be a killer
but I have determination combined with desperation on my side and I take the
stairs two at a time.
    The lift opens just as I come hauling through the door.
    “You really are a dick,” Tristan says. There is a serious level of
disdain in his voice, but I have my head down between my knees trying to catch
my breath and can’t come up with a suitably witty response. He starts to get
the key ready to slide into the lock.
    “Hold on a minute,” I gasp. “There is no way I want her to see me
looking like this.”
    Meredith giggles and tucks her arm through Tristan’s. Obviously we have
now cleared enough space between her and her parents for her to start to relax
a little.
    The burning in my lungs is just starting to lessen when the painfully
tuneless singing picks up again. What on
earth is that? Avril Lavigne as she has never sounded
before? I start to grin, I can’t help myself.
    “Open the bloody door, Trist.”
    “Hold on, hold on. I think I’d better go in first, just in case she
throws something and it damages your rock star face.” He elbows me back out of
the way again. I concede but I don’t want to. I want to be the first through
that door.
    She is still singing away as we pad down the hallway. I leave my guitar
case by the door just in case I am booted out again, sharpish. I am smiling
like a bloody idiot as we walk towards the kitchen. Lilah is in the kitchen? It
must be true, she is going to attempt
a Christmas dinner.
    “Got room for a few more, Avril? You know your singing can be heard from
all the way down in the car park right?” Tristan calls, ducking around the
door. Something clatters to the ground and there is a moment of deathly
silence.
    That’s it. That is the limit of separation I can take. I start to walk
towards the door, but Meredith gives me a cheeky look and ducks right in front
of me. The cow . Now I am the last one coming