The Christmas Present

Sharni stood still looking down at the piece of paper while shoppers milled all around her. Should she call him now? What if his being sick is just an excuse? Then why give her his number? Why bother to call at all? If he hadn’t meant to be here he just had to not show, there was no reason for him to look up the number of the café and ask them to pass on a message at a very busy time. There was no reason for him to sound so upset that the woman in the café didn’t want to disappoint him. No reason unless he was genuine. A smile lit up Sharni’s face and moving out of the stream of people she walked over to a grouping of comfortable lounge type seats intended to give shoppers a respite when needed. 

Sitting down Sharni thought about how to contact him. If he was sick she didn’t want to disturb him but if, like her, he was looking forward to their meeting up, he’d be waiting to hear from her. In the end Sharni decided on a text. That way he could answer when he felt like it. 

Typing his name and number into her contact list first, Sharni then composed a message. Hi, this is Sharni. I’m sorry to hear you’re sick. Thank you for arranging the message. When you feel up to it, give me a call and we can try again. Take care. 

Pausing for a second, her finger hovering over the send button, last minute doubts began to creep in. Sharni wondered if allowing him to have her number was a good idea. Then she remembered how bad she’d felt when he hadn’t turned up. She wanted to get to know him. So pushing the doubt aside with the thought that if things didn’t go to plan, she’d just change her number, she hit send.