All the Time in the World (English)

Chapter 27 - Two Questions

Guy looked around, checking once again that the apartment was perfectly tidy, then he forced himself to sit down for a moment and he took a deep breath.

He had to calm down, he told himself, or he would end up feeling ill again. And he certainly didn't want to end up screaming in pain in front of Miriam.

It still seemed impossible to him that he had found the courage to invite her to dinner at his house, and even more incredible that she had accepted with a smile, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Marian had always been reluctant, she had never appreciated his gifts and she had rejected his invitations whenever she could, accepting them reluctantly when she was forced.

Guy looked at his watch and frowned, trying to figure out if the girl was late for the agreed time or not, but he was too nervous to be able to read the time correctly.

He took another breath and closed his eyes, remembering another moment of his life when he had felt upset in the same way: happy, but nervous and worried at the thought that something could go wrong.

Then, the village of Locksley had been festively decorated with the colors of his family and with fresh flowers. The peasants, although despising him, were still excited at the idea of the wedding party and especially for the banquet, hoping to at least get the leftovers of the guests.

He, on the other hand, wouldn't have been able to eat anything. He had waited for the bride's carriage with his heart beating too fast, anxious to please her and fearful that she could still escape him.

When she arrived, Marian had looked at him with resigned eyes, but certainly not happy, and eventually she slipped away from his hands, rejecting his love and humiliating him in front of everyone.

The door bell startled him, and Guy ran to open, his heart in his mouth.

He found himself in front of a sort of tree, of a green too bright to be natural, and Guy stared at it for a moment, then, somewhere in the middle of the tangle of branches, Miriam's face appeared to smile at him.

"I brought you a Christmas tree, but maybe I overdid a bit."

Guy looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

"A bit?"

The girl giggled.

"I remembered it smaller. Do you have room to put it, don't you?"

"We'll find it."

"Bring it in, then, I'll take the box with the decorations."

Gisborne dragged the tree into the house and he put it in the free space next to the couch, taking the time to look better at it: it looked like a fir tree, but it wasn't made of wood and it had a sort of metal pedestal in place of roots.

"Is it made of plastic?"

Miriam put a large cardboard box on the kitchen table and she nodded.

"Artificial trees don't wither and they don't need to be watered." She sighed. "I'm not really good at gardening either..."

The girl began to rummage in the box and she pulled out a bunch of tangled Christmas lights. She looked at the tangle and sighed again.

"I don't know how they get tangled up like that. Yet last year I had wrapped them tidily before putting them away..."

"Is this your Christmas tree? Did you bring it to me?"

"Oh, don't worry. This year I found a bigger one, with fake snow on the branches. It was so beautiful that I couldn't help buying it. I'm a fool, don't you think? Maybe you're not even interested in Christmas trees..."