Last Christmas by Lily Greene

it, that she had not been the least bit impressed at his attempts to resurrect the memories of their past or that he had bought her paintings. That was probably a step too far, he thought. Ella was protective of her art.
    Robbie nodded, said, “See you tomorrow”. He backed away slowly.
    Ella could see Libby and Charlie trying to clamber through the room of guests towards her. But on seeing which direction Robbie was going in, Charlie changed his course. It looked like he was about to confront Robbie or escort him out. Somebody stepped in front of Ella to get closer to one of her paintings and in doing so blocked her view of Robbie and Charlie.
    While Ella had been facing Robbie, Fergus had been walking back to find her. With their drinks in his hand, he had turned to see a tall handsome man brush Ella’s cheek tenderly. Fergus stopped in his tracks as he watched on and saw Ella’s gaze turn from shock to fury. He knew he and Ella had only just started dating but seeing another man that close to Ella made him feel sick. He walked slowly through the busy crowd, dodging between people but never taking his eyes off the mysterious man who was talking to the beautiful woman he was infatuated with. As he got closer to them, he caught the man say the word Italy . Fergus struggled to hear him above the Christmassy jazz that was tinkering out of the gallery speakers. He tried to move forwards but there was a large woman, who was more than festively plump, blocking his way. She was moving this way and that, mirroring his movements so he couldn’t get past her. Naked . The second word he heard piqued his interest further and he pushed passed the grotesque woman with more force this time. Leave . It was Ella’s voice this time and it seemed to have an effect as Fergus saw the sun-kissed man sink away into the hubbub of artists.
    Finally, Fergus reached Ella’s side and turned to look at her tomato face. He had never imagined someone so gentle could look so mad and he was almost scared to ask her if she was okay.
    “Ella?” Fergus asked mildly. “Is everything okay?”
    She was breathing fast, her heart heaving in her chest and she was still staring at the man who was making his way back through the crowd. The man she had loved for so long. She turned to Fergus, the beautiful kind Fergus. She relaxed on seeing him. She took one of the glasses of champagne he had brought over and downed it in one.
    “Yes. I’m sorry. Thank you for the drink.” She tried to force a smile but it was no good. She felt as if someone had dropped an anvil on her head and the pressure of seeing Robbie again was squashing her.
    “Who was that?” Fergus asked inquisitively.
    “It was an old friend. A ghost you might say.” Ella didn’t want to talk about Robbie’s appearance. She certainly didn’t want to explain who he was now to Fergus. She didn’t want to drag her past into the new relationship. She had wanted a new slate. Clearly, that had been too much to ask! She didn’t need to explain who Robbie was because he wasn’t a part of her life anymore. Was he?
    Ella could see Fergus’ confusion and felt she needed to tell him something more.
    “He’s a friend from my past that I didn’t expect to see. If you don’t mind, I don’t want to talk about it right now. I’d like to focus on my exhibition, my work.” As she uttered the words, she remembered bitterly that Robbie had just bought her work.
    Fergus could see how upset Ella was and he knew how much this exhibition meant to her, so he tried to distract her.
    “Of course. Well, I invited someone, a photographer called Zac Tobin. I’d like you to meet him. Apparently he’s already a fan of your art.” Ella was nodding to the floor. She wiped a single tear from her eye and looked up at Fergus.
    She forced Robbie to the back of her mind and smiled bravely deciding she must soldier on. Her guests would be gone by eleven o’clock. She just needed to get through the next few hours