Maxine Morrey - The Best Little Christmas Shop

I let out a sigh. ‘You know it was more than that.’

‘I should never have called you.’ Xander swirled the last of his wine around the glass.

‘Oi.’ I nudged him. ‘If you hadn’t I’d have never forgiven you.’

‘You’d never have known! And you’d still have a job.’

‘Oh my God, Xander!’ I sat back in the chair. ‘This was not your fault. Or Giselle’s or anyone else’s but mine. You were in a state and Giselle was in emergency surgery for life-threatening peritonitis! You two mean more to me than any job, or any career! Don’t you get that? If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t change a thing. It was the right thing to do.’

‘But she’s fine!’

‘Yes. Thank God. But we didn’t know that and I felt much better being here at the time and for Giselle’s recovery than I would have done in a pit garage in some far-flung country. So can we just accept that and move on? I will sort out my life but you did the right thing in calling me that day and I did the right thing in coming home, whatever the fallout.’

Xander looked at me for a moment, half stood, and grabbed me in a gentle headlock before planting a kiss on my temple.

‘See? Told you. Total muppet.’

I knew Xander felt guilty about having called me that day, but it was true what I’d said. If he hadn’t called me, whatever the outcome, I wouldn’t have been able to forgive him, because in the back of my mind, there would always have been the “what if” …

‘He’s been calling her that since I’ve known them both and we met when we were seven so …’ Giselle said, turning to Cal as she did a little shrug and a very Gallic thing with her face and hands.

‘It’s all right. I call him much worse when he’s not here.’

‘That, I believe,’ Xander shot back.

I smirked, downed the last of my wine, and pushed my chair out. ‘I’d better start heading home.’

‘Do you want me to give you a lift?’ Giselle asked, already up and looking for her keys.

‘No! You stay here in the warm. It’s not like it’s far.’

‘It’s sleeting out there now,’ Cal volunteered and I shot him a look. ‘Then I definitely don’t want Giselle out in a car.’

‘I’m pregnant, not an invalid!’

‘Yes. You have precious cargo on board, which means you should avoid all and any possibly dangerous situations.’

Giselle rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly, you and Xander are like mother hens on steroids.’

‘Whatever works.’

‘You’ll freeze,’ Giselle said, giving me a stern look.

‘I can drop you off,’ Cal offered.

‘No really, it’s fine. The walk will do me good. Sober me up.’

‘It really is cold out there.’

‘I have gloves and a coat and hat and most importantly, plenty of alcohol in my veins. Did you know there was a cook on the Titanic who downed a whole bottle of sherry, thinking if he was going to be plunged into an icy, watery grave he may as well be pissed too – but then he survived because his blood was thinned so much by the alcohol it didn’t suffer the same effects as everyone else?’

‘You’re not planning to plunge yourself into the village pond, are you?’ Xander squinted at me.

‘No. Not intentionally anyway. Argh!’ I threw my arms up. ‘You’re missing the whole point of the story!’

‘I’ll just take you.’ Cal grinned. ‘It’s fine. It’s on my way anyway and George would never forgive me if he found out I hadn’t helped his top Teddy Surgeon home with a lift.’

I glanced over at Giselle who was nodding at me vigorously, the reasons for which were a little blurry. Kind of like my vision.

We exchanged goodbyes and hugs and Cal led me to his Land Rover, catching my arm as I missed the footplate in the dark and nearly face-planted into the seat.

‘Whoops.’

‘Ups-a-daisy,’ Cal said, as he boosted me in.

I turned my head and looked back at him, his face now in slightly soft focus. ‘Ups-a-daisy?’

‘I have a five-year-old. Sorry. Words tend to slip out in inappropriate moments.’

That delicious smile began to spread on his face and suddenly accepting a lift from him didn’t seem like the best idea. Perhaps I was best off taking my chances with the frozen village pond. He shut the door and I lost the option.

‘How do you know where I live? I mean, you said it was on your way, but it might not be.’

‘I’ve dropped Dan home a couple of times after the pub and he pointed out your parents’ place. You live above the garage, don’t you?’

I nodded, trying to think back as to whether I’d told him this. I was pretty sure I hadn’t.

‘How do you know?’

‘Xander mentioned it.’

‘Oh.’ I began to wonder what else my mate might have mentioned.

Cal started the car and we headed off, the wipers slapping against the now heavy sleet almost in time to the classical piece that was playing quietly on the radio.

‘Thanks for this.’

He glanced over briefly. ‘You’re welcome.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Hopefully it’ll go some way to making up for coming across as so rude the other day when you offered to help me with George.’

‘Honestly. There’s nothing to make up for. Really.’

He gave me another glance that indicated he didn’t agree. His head turned away for a moment and then back towards me, his brow furrowed. It felt as if he was trying to decide whether to say something or not. ‘I shouldn’t have snapped at you. Sometimes my past has a way of invading the present,’ he said eventually. Whatever it was that he’d been thinking of saying, I was pretty sure that wasn’t all of it.

‘You really don’t have to keep apologising,’ I said, as he pulled the car into the large driveway in front of the farmhouse and garage. ‘It’s already forgotten.’ Looking up from where I’d been fiddling with the ribbon I’d attached to my mittens after losing one of a pair four times in a row, I met Cal’s gaze. If I hadn’t already met him, I’d have said it was the wine causing the slight hypnotic effect I was now feeling. But as I’d also had that feeling whilst perfectly sober, I knew it was pure Cal Martin.

‘Whatever it was in your past, I’m really sorry you had to go through it.’

And me blabbing was pure wine.

‘Thanks.’ He smiled, not seeming to mind. ‘Long time ago now.’

‘That doesn’t always mean a lot.’

He drew a breath in and let it out slowly. ‘No. True. But life’s good now. I have George, and my business, and moving to this village has definitely been good for me.’

‘Really?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘I’m sorry if I kicked off some painful memories.’

‘I told you. Forget it. It’s all good now.’

I put my hand on the catch of the door, then hesitated, my brain telling me to leg it and my mouth, as usual, ignoring the sensible advice and doing its own thing.

‘When you came in at Xander and Giselle’s, you didn’t happen to overhear …’

‘Yep.’

I risked a look up. He was grinning. Damn.

‘I didn’t mean … it’s just that what you heard …’ Cal moved his head a smidgeon to the side, encouraging me to continue with my explanation, the smile still firmly in place. ‘What you heard was out of context. It’s really not what it sounded like.’

‘OK,’ he replied, with a tone that implied he didn’t a believe a word of it.

‘I should go. Thanks for the lift.’

‘My pleasure. I’ll see you around.’

‘Ummhmm,’ I said, noncommittally, waved, and took the few steps to where the metal stairs ran up to my little dwelling.

What I hadn’t taken into consideration as I ran up the staircase was that the sleet, now coming into contact with the cold metal, was freezing over. As I neared the top, one leg went one way and the other went in the opposite direction. I was so glad George wasn’t there because the expletives were out and proud before I even thought about it as I wrapped my arms around the banister and hung there for a moment, a foot dangling in mid-air either side of the steps.