Free Wishful Thinking by Lynette Sofras Page A

been telling Ben a story her grandmother had told her when she was very young and her own reactions had been very similar. She claimed to have looked out of the window on New Year’s Eve and seen a man with a hundred noses walking past the house. “He went out with the old year,” she told Ben solemnly.
     
    “Yes but where did he go? Did he go to his own house? And what happened when he sneezed? I bet he needed lots of tissues when he had a cold.”
     
    Her smile turned to laugher. “He wasn’t real, Ben. I told you it was just a story she liked to tell me every New Year’s Eve – I don’t know why. She said he left with the old year – in fact I think she said his name was Old Year and then a young man with a brand new nose arrived and he was New Year.”
     
    Ben put his hand to his own nose as if checking it for size. “If you had a hundred noses, you wouldn’t have room for your mouth, would you?”
     
    “You’d have to drink your milk through your belly button,” she teased, lunging at Ben and tickling his tummy. “Now it’s bed time for you. If you are not asleep in ten minutes, I won’t wake you up to see the fireworks at midnight.”
     
    Just as she was ushering Ben into his small bedroom, she heard a knock on the door. She wrinkled her nose, wondering which one of her neighbours it was and what they wanted. It had to be someone from inside the building as a visitor would have had to ring the bell downstairs. She threw open the door and gasped in surprise.
     
    Christian Goodchild stood before her, holding a bottle of champagne and a bunch of long-stemmed white roses. He looked truly amazing in a white dress suit - though with the tie askew - which accentuated his tanned skin more strikingly than ever, and looking every inch the superstar as he smiled down at her. It was Ben who came to his senses and spoke first.
     
    “Did you see a man with a hundred noses outside?” He asked.
     
    Christian laughed and shook his head. “No, but there were a couple of people with at least one nose each just leaving. They let me in, actually. Sorry if I startled you, but I… I hope I’m not…”
     
    “Not at all. Come in. Ben, you hop into bed now. I’ll be in there in just a moment.”
     
    “Oh, but I want to talk to Chris,” Ben complained. “We went to your house, Chris…”
     
    “Remember what I said about the fireworks,” she warned.
     
    Ben considered his options for a moment and trudged off reluctantly as Christian entered the small flat, closing the door behind him.
     
    “I came to take to you to a party,” he said. “How are you, Jess? It’s good to see you again.”
     
    “You too,” she said, sounding breathless. “But such a surprise.” She stared at him feeling foolish and irritated with herself for looking so dowdy and unglamorous compared to him. “I wish I’d known.”
     
    “I’m sorry. I only just found out where you lived and wanted to surprise you. I was hoping to persuade you to come back with me – there’s a party going on at my place.”
     
    She looked him up and down, cocked her head on one side and smiled appreciatively. He looked amazing, more so perhaps because of his wonky tie. “I thought it must be something like that. But I can’t possibly. Ben…”
     
    “We can take him with us. We can bundle him up warmly and put him straight to bed at my house. There are two highly trained nurses there being paid around a thousand pounds a minute who are more than qualified to babysit. Just say yes.”
     
    “But I can’t! I haven’t…” She stopped herself from uttering the clichéd words about having nothing to wear, no matter how true they were. She certainly had nothing to match up to Christian’s attire and doubtless the rest of his guests.
     
    “It doesn’t matter to me how you look,” he told her. “Just throw anything on. I want you to enjoy the fun.”
     
    But I wouldn’t enjoy it looking like Cinderella in her rags, she thought