by Sandy Barker
Will’s tone told every occupant of the car that what he’d said was final. Lucy found his take-charge attitude extremely attractive, but she also agreed. They could just as easily have been on their way to A&E as back to the family’s cabin, but Bradley was unharmed, so everyone should keep quiet about it.
“We won’t say anything, Will,” assured Briony. “But what were you thinking, you doofus?” Lucy turned just in time to see Briony cuff her brother upside the head.
“Ow,” he whined as Briony continued her rant. “You’ve only been snowboarding for, like, what, two years? The guys who do those tricks, they’re professionals, you idiot.”
“Okay, geez. Forgive me for raising my hand! They asked for volunteers.”
“They didn’t mean sixteen-year-old novices, you dork.” Bridget was clearly not ready to let things lie.
“And they had all the gear there. What was I supposed to do? Not put my hand up?”
“Yes!” his sisters responded in unison.
Lucy was fascinated by the interplay between the siblings. As her parents’ sole child, the closest she had to siblings were Chloe and Jules. Oh, dear, she thought. Does that mean Will is kind of like a brother to me? She dismissed the thought immediately; the last thing she felt towards Will was sisterly love.
And she was sure that, right before they’d been alerted to Bradley’s stupid decision to ride the half-pipe and try a snowboarding trick he’d never done before, Will had been about to say how he felt about her.
They pulled up in front of the cabin and Will switched off the car’s engine, unbuckled his seatbelt, and turned around in his seat, pinning each of his cousins with a look that said, “don’t mess with me”.
“Remember, we went, we saw ice sculptures—‘Ooh, ahh, they were amazing’—we had hot chocolate and watched the snowboarders. That’s it. Got it?”
“I didn’t have hot chocolate,” said Bradley. The little blighter, Lucy thought. He’s going to get a right bollocking if he’s not careful.
“Bradley, I swear to god, I love you, man, but I will end you,” said Will.
Briony smirked at that, followed by Bridget, and Lucy couldn’t help but join in. In moments, all the women in the car were sniggering while Will, shaking his head, blew out a breath of frustration, and Bradley conceded with raised hands and said, “Okay, okay I get it.”
The cousins got out of the car and as Lucy opened her door, Will set a hand on her arm. “Lucy, wait for sec?” Two car doors slammed, and Lucy watched as the cousins made their way to the front door. When they were inside, he continued. “I just wanted to talk to you before we went back inside to the craziness.”
Lucy gulped. Somehow, she knew that this conversation would be a turning point for her and Will. Either they’d keep their distance for the next few days, making polite conversation until it was time leave, or …
Or, what?
Or this could be the very moment that brought them together.
“Do you happen to know what time it is in Melbourne?” The question caught her off guard. She’d been expecting something a little more romantic, more heartfelt than a lesson in time zones.
“Uh, well, this time of year Melbourne’s eleven hours ahead of London and London is seven hours ahead of Colorado, so—” she glanced at the clock on the dash and did a quick calculation in her head “—it’s 1:00pm in Melbourne.”
“Okay.”
“And you’re asking because …”
“I’m calling Jules.”
“Oh, right.” This conversation was not, in any way whatsoever, going how Lucy had imagined.
“She had no right to give you a hard time and I want to see what’s up with her.” His face bore the mark of frustration and perhaps a little anger. Lucy was used to mediating between Chloe and Jules, but this was new territory for her, and she couldn’t help thinking that it was somehow her fault.
“Will? I don’t really think it’s …” She frowned.
He turned towards her and he must have seen the concern on her face, because his expression softened. “Hey, it’s okay, Lucy. Jules and I are close, and most of the time we get along, but this time, she’s stepped over the line.”
Lucy nodded, the weight of the situation resting heavily on her heart. She liked Will—she hadn’t felt like this in a long time, if ever—but Jules was one of the most important people in her life. If being with Will would jeopardise her relationship with Jules, then she’d choose Jules, no questions asked.
“Hey,” he said quietly. She caught the quick flick of his tongue to wet his lips as he leant towards her and their lips met.
His kiss was tentative at first, his full lips moving against hers softly, slowly. Another flick of his tongue, but this time she felt it against hers. She tilted her head as the kiss deepened, then pressed her hand to his chest, not to push him away, but to steady herself as the shivers rushed the length of her body.
Her fingers curled, encasing a handful of his coat as she leant back against the seat, pulling Will with her, the weight of him feeling both thrilling and familiar, like a perfect fit.
He broke the kiss, breathless, and looked at her from mere inches away. “Lucy …” he said. “Oh, god, I want you so much …” He pushed himself upright as he finished his thought, “… but not like this, not here.”
Lucy’s senses returned and for a fleeting second, she saw the scene inside the car as though she was standing outside it looking in. Will was right. No matter what they were feeling, they should absolutely not do anything more in the front seat of a four-wheel-drive parked in the driveway of the family’s cabin.
She took a deep breath. “Quite right,” she said, her hands lifting to her cheeks and feeling how warm they were. She must look like a beetroot.
“But Lucy?”
“Mmm-hmm.” She glanced at him, still trying to catch her breath.
“I don’t want to wait much longer.”
“Oh, yes … right. I see …” For goodness’ sake, why did she have to be so bloody English sometimes. She mentally slapped herself while Will chuckled at her with a mischievous look on his face.
“Ready to go in?” Will asked. “I don’t want everyone to think we’ve been, uh …” It seemed it was Will’s turn to be embarrassed and a laugh burst out of Lucy. She pressed her lips together to stifle a snigger.
“Yeah, yeah,” said Will, shaking his head and readjusting his trousers. “Come on, let’s go.” He shoved his gloves on roughly and Lucy slipped her hands into hers for the short walk up to the house. She knew exactly how cold it was out there.
When she climbed out of the car and met up with Will, he reached out for her hand and she didn’t hesitate before taking it. Glove-to-glove was hardly the most romantic thing in the world, but it felt lovely regardless.
Inside, the cabin was alive with activity. There were some delicious smells and a lot of clatter coming from the kitchen, and male voices coming from the front room talked over a crooning Michael Bublé. Lucy could hear the cousins upstairs and a shower running. She sighed. A shower seemed like the perfect way to wash away the less enjoyable parts of the day—Christmas Day. Her white Christmas.
It had been far from perfect, but was she actually disappointed? She pulled off her gloves and touched her fingertips to her lips, remembering the feel of Will’s lips against hers.
“Everything okay?” Of course, he’d seen her do that. He must have thought she was the type of woman who read romance novels and watched those silly Hallmark films. Well, she did watch those, but only at Christmastime.
“Yes, sorry, a little lost in thought.”
“I could see that,” he teased. He shrugged out of his coat and hung it on a hook by the door, while she unwrapped her scarf. “Here,” he prompted, returning to her and unzipping her coat. He slid it down her shoulders, his gaze unwavering, and Lucy’s breath caught. They were fully clothed, standing in a brightly lit foyer in a house full of people. How was this an erotically charged moment? Yet
it was because it held the promise of what they both wanted.
Will glanced around then tilted up her chin with one finger and landed a peck on her lips. They were smiling at each other when Steph walked into the foyer from the kitchen wiping her hands on a tea towel. “Hi, you two. Have fun?”
Will dropped his hand and adopted a casual tone. “Oh, yeah, for sure.” Lucy knew he wasn’t fooling anyone, let alone his mum. “Uh, I’ve got a call to make,” he said to excuse himself. He took the stairs two at a time and Lucy watched him go.
When she looked back at Steph, Will’s mum wore a knowing smile. Lucy shook her head and smirked at her own expense, and Steph grinned at her—clearly no secrets in that house. “Come into the kitchen. We’ve got wine open and you can keep us company,” said Steph as she headed back the way she’d come.
Lucy followed. “Us” was Steph and Jackie, and Lucy saw immediately that they needed more than company. The kitchen was a disaster area. “Oh, don’t look like that,” said Steph, laughing. “It may seem like chaos, but, really, we have everything under control.”
“We do this every year,” added Jackie, who was whisking an orange substance in a glass bowl, splashing it all over the counter.
Lucy, dubious about the “everything’s under control” part, took a seat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar. “Here,” said Steph as she poured Lucy a glass of red wine—a Californian zinfandel, she saw on the bottle.
“Oh, thank you.” She eyed the glass; it was an overly-generous pour, like a pub pour back in the UK.
“A toast,” said Steph. “To Lucy, who has been delightful.” She leant across the counter and tapped her glass to Lucy’s and Jackie lifted hers in a sort of toast. Lucy wondered how many bottles had been opened before she arrived, then took a sip of the wine. Sweetish and a little spicy, like Christmas.
She still hadn’t shared her Christmas cake, she realised. She’d have to bring it down to have after dinner, but right then she was itching to get into that kitchen and help set things right. The food smelled delicious, but the mess! She spared a thought for poor Nate, whose kitchen was being abused, and even though she wasn’t the hardcore neat freak that Chloe was, she couldn’t stand it any longer.
“I’m helping!” she declared as she climbed off the stool.
“Oh, Lucy, honey, you don’t need to help.” Steph was stirring a pot of something on the stove. “We’ve done this menu a hundred times. We’re fine.”
Lucy ignored her. With all the confusion about Will and Jules, she needed to do something to feel like there was a modicum of order in her life. While Steph and Jackie continued cooking, she flitted about them, trying to stay out from underfoot as much as possible. She gathered used bowls, pans and, utensils and moved them to the sink for rinsing. She loaded the dishwasher and ran it, then found a cloth and some all-purpose spray under the sink and got to work on the counter tops.
The sisters were making more work for her as every moment passed, but she liked being able to help and in less than twenty minutes, it looked like a kitchen again, rather than a disaster zone. She returned to her perch on the stool and took a sip of her wine, satisfied with a job well done.
“Thank you, Lucy. It is actually better to work in a clean kitchen, but I’ve never quite mastered the clean-as-you-go approach,” said Steph.
“We get it from our mom,” added Jackie. “She was an incredible home cook, but every time she made a meal, even a simple dinner on a Tuesday night, the kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off.”
“Hey,” Steph stopped and looked at her sister, an expression of realisation on her face. “How did I never of think of this before, but that’s probably why I hate cleaning so much … because we were the ones who had to clean up after her”—she looked at Lucy—“and I mean every night.”
Jackie laughed. “Seriously, you’re only just now figuring that out?”
“Yeah.” Steph nodded slowly, then punctuated her thought with, “Hunh.”
“I don’t love cleaning per se,” said Lucy, “but I do like when things are in their place, when there’s a sense of order.” Steph glanced up and smiled and Lucy, certain that was approval on Steph’s face, beamed.
“I think the ham is ready to come out,” said Jackie. Steph jumped into action and soon there was a giant glazed ham on the counter, glistening and golden.
“That looks incredible,” said Lucy. Her family didn’t ever have ham at Christmas. It was usually roast goose, maybe a turkey, one year a duck. Goose was Lucy’s favourite.
“Wait ’til you taste Jackie’s mustard sauce with it.” Steph waggled her eyebrows and Lucy’s stomach growled loudly, as though it was replying. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was until that moment. She’d had Nate’s pancakes at breakfast, but that was all she’d eaten the entire day. This was going to be a momentous meal.
She sipped her wine and watched as the sisters bustled about the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on Christmas dinner, working in a harmony that she admired and, she realised, longed for. One day, she’d have a home that she could share with a loved one, not just a flatmate, and they’d cook together like this.
I wonder if Will cooks. She smiled to herself and took another sip. Loved one. Will …
Her thoughts were about to take hold when Steph interrupted. “So, Lucy, hon, do you know who Will had to call?”
Wistful thoughts of Will and a possible future together vanished, and Lucy caught the slight edge of concern in Steph’s voice. She couldn’t lie. She was a terrible liar and Steph would know.
“Uh, he was calling Jules, actually.” Steph nodded as though she’d suspected as much. “I told him it wasn’t necessary, but—”
Steph cut her off, resting both hands on the counter. “I think it is, though, hon. Like I said, Will is a grown man and Jules needs to understand that. Sure, they’re close, but she can’t keep him all to herself. She needs to let him be with whoever he wants to be with, especially if that person is you.”
Lucy blinked back unexpected tears.
Steph came around her side of the counter, took one of her hands, and looked at her lovingly. “Especially if that person is you,” she said quietly. Lucy glanced at Jackie who winked at her and smiled.
Lucy smiled through her tears and bit her lip. “Thank you,” she replied. Steph squeezed her hand.
“Now, there’s one more thing. You’re gonna need to be firm with my daughter too.”
“What? Oh, no.” Lucy shook her head vigorously.
“Lucy, listen to me. Jules can be headstrong and sometimes that’s to the detriment of those around her. She shouldn’t have attacked you like that and, even if you’re not thinking it now, at some point, resentment will come into play.”
Lucy looked inward and realised that resentment might already be in play. Why else would she deliberately ignore Jules’s message on the group chat? Yet … “But what if it damages our friendship?”
“Saying nothing will do worse damage.” Steph let go of Lucy’s hand and returned to dishing up.
A small sigh escaped. Steph was right, and not just about Jules. A niggling thought that wouldn’t be shaken popped to the forefront of her mind. Lucy also need to sort things out with her manager, Angela. “Um, Steph?”
“Mmm-hmm,” Steph replied, her attention fixed on the platter of roast potatoes she was dishing up.
“Do you think we could find some time to talk later?” Steph looked up and a flicker of concern crossed her face. “It’s just that there’s something happening at work that I need your help with.”
“Of course, honey.”
Lucy smiled. Everything was still leaning towards pear-shaped, but perhaps with Steph’s help she would manage to sort it all out.
Chapter 24
Chloe
It was impossible to enjoy soaking in the bath after what had happened. The adrenalin crash had left Chloe feeling anything but mighty, and the water was too cold to save with a top-up. She gave up after a few min
utes of bobbing about, got out, dried off, and went about the business of cleaning up the water on the floor.
She knew she was in a five-star hotel and all she needed to do was phone housekeeping, but the task would allow her to get out of her head and focus on something she could control.
But as she sopped up the last of the water and threw the sodden towels into the bathtub, she gave up on clearing her mind. Nothing was going to cut through her whirlwind of thoughts and the nauseating feeling they left in their wake.
She simply couldn’t ignore that Archer’s ex-girlfriend had shown up in his—rather, their—hotel room, or that she’d felt entitled to do that. Or that she’d seen Chloe naked!
She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. Archer had been gone a little more than an hour. If Madison hadn’t shown up, she would have been slathering herself in high-end toiletries and ordering room service by now.
She eyed the bed, surveying the wreckage. They’d managed to make quite a mess of those high-thread-count sheets and that fluffy doona; most of the bedding was trailing onto the floor. Ordinarily, she’d have tidied it up before housekeeping arrived, but a more pressing thought took hold.
What would it have looked like to Madison? she wondered.
“It would have looked like he’d made mad, passionate love to some other than her,” Chloe said aloud. No wonder Madison had behaved like a bear with a thorn in its paw. She’d probably thought she would sneak into Archer’s room first thing in the morning and climb into bed with him.
Chloe’s stomach lurched. She didn’t want anyone to crawl into Archer’s bed ever again—except her.
“Well, bugger,” she muttered to herself. She was completely smitten with the world’s biggest film star.
Housekeeping called mid-morning to ask when it would be a good time to service the room. Chloe, who’d been biding her time by scrolling her social media accounts, welcomed the prompt to leave the room, and situated herself in the Rotunda Lounge downstairs where she nibbled on a £20 croissant.