by Sandy Barker
She felt the bile rising again, then cleared her throat, sat up tall, and flicked the blanket aside. If he was breaking up with her, she didn’t want to be wrapped up in a pale pink blankie. She lifted her chin, game face on. “Uh, sure, yes. Have a seat.” She indicated Susan’s chair, but before she could comprehend what was happening, Archer was on the couch beside her.
“So …” he began cryptically, his face softening slightly. Chloe had no idea what to read into that either. They hadn’t been together long enough for her to know his repertoire of tells.
“So,” she mirrored tentatively.
“I’ve read George’s press release. It’s good—succinct, clear, and far more respectful towards Madison that I would have been. He has refuted the accusations outright, and …” Archer took a deep breath. “If you agree, then the final sentence will state that you and I are in a committed relationship.”
If I agree?
He looked at her, his eyes full of hope, and swallowed as though he was nervous. So, he wasn’t there to end things. “Oh,” gasped Chloe, tears springing to her eyes. A raspy, shuddering breath took hold and she placed a hand to her chest, just like Lucy would.
“Chloe?” Archer was studying her, his eyes still hopeful. “Are you all right?” She nodded, grinning through her tears that spilled onto her cheeks. “What’s … I’m not sure I follow?” He shook his head slightly, as though confused.
Chloe caught her breath. “It’s just … the expression on your face when you arrived … I … I thought you wanted to end things.”
“What? Why?”
“But you don’t …”
“No, no of course not. But I was worried that you … that given some time to think things through, this would all be too much for you, that you wouldn’t want me. That’s why … I was terrified coming here.” He looked down at his hands that were wringing in his lap.
“Hey.” Chloe placed her small hands over his to still them. “Archer, look at me.” He looked up, his eyes now a stormy steel blue, and Chloe touched her palm to his cheek. His eyes closed for a second, then he took her hand in both of his and pressed it to his lips.
Their eyes met again. “We’re both quite stupid, aren’t we?” she asked.
He grinned, then shook his head as another look of confusion passed across his face. “Wait, how so?”
“Well, we’ve told each other, ‘I love you’ and here we are, one day in, experiencing a minor blip, and we’re already doubting how the other feels. Like I said, stupid.”
He sniggered softly and nodded in acquiescence. “It is rather, though I am not quite sure I’d call this a minor blip.” They exchanged wry smiles. “Are you sure?” he asked softly, suddenly serious again.
“About you, yes?”
“I mean … about, well, everything else.”
“To be honest, I’d been going back and forth since we got the call from George.” He nodded and dropped his eyes. “But then as soon as I saw you, just now, I knew. I love you, and if that means there are blips from time to time, then … well, then we face them together. Okay?”
He looked up. “God, you’re just …” He stopped his own thought by leaning in and kissing her hard on the mouth. When he pulled back, he gazed at her intently. “I am the luckiest man on earth.”
“Damned straight, and don’t you forget it.”
“How could I? Especially with you to constantly remind me.” She scrunched her nose at him and they grinned. “There is just one more thing.” She looked at him curiously. “How can I ever make this up to you, all this palaver. Please tell me there’s something I can do, something special.”
Chloe’s eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a smile. “Actually, there is something. It’s kind of a big ask though.”
“Anything,” he replied, and she knew he meant it.
“Well, I have an idea. It’s about New Year’s …”
Chapter 33
“Will! Will! A car’s pulled up.”
Lucy ran down the staircase to the foyer and, not stopping to put on her coat, shot out the front door, down the steps, and onto the driveway of the Colorado cabin.
She bounced on her toes as the large, black four-wheel-drive pulled to a stop. Will appeared beside her, slinging an arm around her shoulders. Car doors opened and within moments, there were squeals of delight, hugs, and handshakes.
Lucy wrapped her arms around her best friends, and they enveloped her in a three-way hug. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, her voice muffled against Jules’s shoulder. When they broke from their hug, Chloe stepped away to talk to Will and Jules stood rooted to the spot, staring at her intently.
“Are we good, Luce? I mean, really?”
Lucy grabbed Jules’s hand and squeezed tightly. “We’re good, Jules, I promise.”
Jules hugged her tightly and Lucy heard a sigh, then a whispered, “I’m so glad, Luce. I’ve missed you,” against her ear.
“Hey, I’m Will.” Lucy looked over Jules’s shoulder to see Will shaking hands with Matt, then Alan. Archer, she reminded herself. As she and Jules stepped back from their hug, Archer strode over and scooped her up into another one. “Hello, Lucy. Wonderful to see you.” It was the greeting of a dear friend, even though they hadn’t seen each other in years, and Lucy was both surprised and touched that he regarded her that way.
“Hello, Al—Archer, sorry.” She shook her head at herself and he waved off her apology.
“Honestly, it’s fine. They’re both me. Besides, Chloe tells me that we English apologise far too much.”
“Oh, she does, does she?” Lucy asked, smiling. She glanced at Chloe who was chatting to Will, then caught Matt’s eye. He was unloading the car and seemed to be hanging back, perhaps a little shier than the others. “Excuse me for a moment? I want to meet Matt.” From everything Jules and Chloe had told her about him, Lucy just knew she’d adore him.
“Absolutely. I should help him with the cases, too. And we should get you inside. You forgot your coat.” Lucy suddenly realised how cold she was.
“Oh, yes, quite right.” She wrapped her arms around herself as she bustled past Jules, Will, and Chloe, who were chatting animatedly.
“Hello, you’re Matt.”
“I am, and you’re Lucy.” He smiled warmly as he placed a case on the ground, then pecked her on the cheek. “Great to meet you.” Oh, he’s lovely.
“Do you need a hand? I can take one of the smaller cases.”
“How about you go inside before you freeze to death, and I’ll help with the bags?” Will said from behind her.
“Yes, Lucy, come inside!” said Jules, wrapping an arm around Lucy’s waist.
“Oh, thank god,” said Chloe, who was stamping her feet and rubbing her hands together. “I didn’t think there could be any place colder on the planet than Penham, England.”
“Come on, you two.” Jules shepherded her friends into the cabin and before Lucy knew it, she, Jules, and Chloe were standing in front of the fireplace defrosting.
Lucy looked from one of her best friends to the other. “I still can’t believe you’re here, even though you’re right here.”
“It’s totally surreal, but that pretty much sums up my entire Christmas,” said Chloe. She held her hands out in front of her and Lucy could see that the tips of her fingers had a blueish tinge.
“Chloe, here.” Lucy took Chloe’s hands in hers and rubbed the fingertips gently.
“Guys, I know I said I wanted a traditional Christmas, and it’s been ah-mazing—well, most of it, anyway—but seriously, how the hell do you live in such cold weather year in, year out?”
Jules laughed. “By sucking it up, or booking vacations to somewhere sunny so you have something to look forward to, or—”
“Moving to Australia?” Chloe said, looking past Lucy at Jules. Lucy dropped Chloe’s hands and spun on her heels to catch Jules giving Chloe a pointed look.
“You’re moving? To Australia?” Lucy asked incredulously.
>
*
“Shhh, Will,” Jules whispered, looking behind them. She could hear the others in the foyer and Will’s voice telling Matt and Archer to follow him upstairs. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard. She looked back at Lucy. “I’ve decided I’m moving to Australia,” she said, her voice low.
“For Matt.” Lucy posed it as a fact, rather than a question, and Jules thought it was an odd assumption.
“For me, Lucy.”
“I don’t …” Lucy looked perplexed.
“This is about me shaking things up. You know that I’ve been stuck in place for some time now, and … I sorta fell in love with the place.”
“And Matt?” Wow, Lucy was really attached to the “Matt” thing.
“He factors into all this, for sure, but this is something I’m doing for me. And it won’t be right away. I’ve got to get a job and my work visa. They’ve got these skilled migrant visas in Australia and programmers are in demand, so that shouldn’t be a problem. There’s a lot to do, a lot to think about.”
“But Matt knows, right?”
“Yeah, for sure. We’ve talked it through. And when I move there, we’ll date, like normal people,” she smiled. “Look, the guys will be back down soon, and—”
“I know.” Lucy nodded. “You need to be the one to tell Will.”
“Thanks, Luce. That part is gonna suck. Will, my dad, my mom … telling them and leaving them.” She blew out a breath. No matter how hard it was going to be, she knew to her core this was the right decision for her. Her time in Australia had felt like a homecoming of sorts, like that was where she needed to be, at least for the foreseeable future.
Lucy took her hand and squeezed it tightly, pulling her from her thoughts. “Jules, no matter what, they love you and they want you to be happy, right?” She nodded. “And look at the three of us. We love each other and miss each other, but we still get together every year, and when we do, it’s wonderful. And you’ll have Chloe there. I’m practically mad with jealousy that you’ll be—”
Lucy must have caught the look Jules threw Chloe because she stopped talking. “What? There’s something else, isn’t there?”
“Hey, so all the bags are in all the rooms.” Will entered the living room, his announcement catching Jules by surprise.
“Later, okay?” she whispered to Lucy. Lucy nodded in reply, her large brown eyes alive with curiosity.
“Jules, you and Matt are at the end of the hall on the right, and I put Archer and Chloe in Mom and Joe’s room. Come on in guys, make yourselves at home.”
Look at my baby brother being the host with the most. Jules beamed at him proudly. “Thanks for taking care of all that, Will.”
“Hey, no problem. So, I’ll get some drinks going. We’ve got beer, wine, Coke, water …?” Leaving the question hanging, his eyes landed on Lucy and he winked at her. Lucy’s face was, as always, an open book, and Jules saw just how smitten Lucy was with her brother.
Maybe that was why all the questions about Matt—Lucy was projecting. Holy crap, was Lucy considering moving to the States for Will? She definitely needed some alone time with her best friends.
“Actually, I could murder a cup of tea,” said Archer, interrupting Jules’s thoughts.
“Oh, definitely,” added Chloe.
“I’ll sort it,” offered Lucy.
Matt asked Will for a Coke and Jules added a request for water. “Sparkling, with—”
“With ice and lemon. Yep, got it,” replied Will as he left the room.
“Hey, Luce, do you have any of your mum’s Christmas cake left?” asked Chloe. “I’d kill for some of that.”
“Maybe. Come and check the pantry.” Lucy and Chloe followed Will, Chloe swinging past Archer for a quick kiss.
“Actually, I’ll join you. Too much sitting,” said Archer as he stood and stretched his arms above his head. He gave a hearty “ahh” of a sigh and jogged after the others.
Matt crossed the room to Jules, wrapping his arms around her waist and she regarded him affectionately. He’d shared his home with her, and now she got to do the same. She could never have known how much her life would change because of her Christmas swap with the girls, and she was about to shake it up even more.
She knew it would be difficult moving away from her family, especially her dad and Will, and, down deep, there was some fear that she hadn’t yet unpacked. But mostly, she was excited about her unknown future. And a lot of that had to do with the hot Aussie winemaker.
“There’re about a million and one thoughts going on in there, I can tell,” he said, his eyes boring into hers. With how intensely he was looking at her, she wouldn’t have been surprised if he could read every one of them. “You good?” he asked.
“I’m good.”
“It’s still weird, though, right?”
Jules tried to comprehend his meaning and came up empty. “What’s that?”
“Archer Tate. I mean, I can actually see us becoming friends, ’cause he’s, like, this normal, chilled guy, which is … weird, right?”
“He is super chilled … and normal. And he seems like a good match for Chloe.” She lowered her voice, “But, yeah, it’s weird for me too. I mean, oh, my god! He flew us here first class, like, total strangers.”
Matt chuckled softly. “Yeah, that was really nice of him, but it just adds to how bizarre this is.”
“Oh, for sure. I have never slept that well on a plane. I’m probably ruined for life.”
“And I’ve never come out of long-haul travel feeling this good. And it was, what, nearly forty hours door-to-door?” Jules could tell he was calculating their travel time from Melbourne to Doha to London, then on to Denver. They’d met up with Archer and Chloe at Heathrow when they changed flights for the Denver leg.
“That would have sucked flying coach,” said Jules.
“It’s the only reason I agreed to travel first class. I mean, I’ve never met the guy and he’s spending that kind of money on me?” Matt had mentioned this before they’d left Melbourne, and twice on the journey.
“I know, but Chloe assured me he didn’t bat an eye. And after everything that happened … he wanted to do it, to make it up to her.” Matt pressed his lips together. “We won’t make a habit of it, okay? We’ll pay our way from now on. It was just the best way to get us all here so quickly.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It’s all good.”
“And I’m guessing that hanging out here, we’ll get to know him, and it will stop being weird and we’ll be all cool with it, you know. Like, ‘Oh, Archer? Yeah, he’s, like, one of our best friends.’” She giggled. “We’re dorks.”
“Hey, speak for yourself.” She stuck her tongue out at him and his brows lifted. “That’s a bit rude.”
She bit her top lip, then released it. “Sorry.”
He grabbed her butt. “You will be.”
“Get a room, you two,” teased Chloe from the doorway. She was followed by the others, Will bringing up the rear bearing a tray.
Jules retaliated by sticking her tongue out at Chloe, and Chloe reprimanded her with, “Rude!”
“Told ya,” Matt said to her quietly, the timbre of his voice sending the now-familiar “Matt tingles” down her spine. She wondered how rude Chloe would think it was if she and Matt disappeared for an hour—or two.
“I’m gonna take you guys snowmobiling,” Will said to Matt as he handed over a Coke. “If you’re up for it?”
“Right now?”
“In a little while.”
“Yeah, sure, sounds good,” Matt replied with a smile.
“Do you know how to ride a snowmobile?” asked Jules, panicked. She eyed the pressure bandage around Matt’s left wrist. “And what about that?”
“Oh, yeah,” said Chloe, “Sorry about that, Matt. I should have warned you ahead of time that Jules has a history of horse-riding accidents.”
“That’s not fair. Cabo wasn’t my fault, and neither was this. There was a snake.” Jules felt bad eno
ugh that Matt had gone horseback riding even though it had scared him—and for her, to make her Christmas special.
“Hey, it’s all good. The wrist is nearly a hundred per cent, and to answer your question,” he turned back to Jules. “No to the snowmobiling, but I’ve got the quad bike, remember, and my motorbike license.”
“He’ll be fine,” added Will. Neither of their assurances did anything to ease Jules’s concerns. Will could be pretty hardcore when he went snowmobiling, He was way too much of a daredevil for her liking.
*
“You’ve ridden before, right?” Chloe asked Archer. She was perched on the couch next to him, her legs tucked underneath her, a mug of tea in one hand and a piece of Christmas cake in the other—her idea of bliss.
“It’s been a while—I had to ride one in A Forgotten Promise—but I suspect it’s a bit like riding a bike.”
“See?” Will asked the room. “We’re all set.”
“You did your own stunts in that?” asked Matt.
“Some of them, but only the ones that wouldn’t kill me if I cocked them up,” Archer replied, grinning.
“I’ve seen that movie, like, four times,” said Matt.
“That’s four more than me,” announced Chloe. She took a bite of cake and when everyone except Archer eyed her incredulously, she spoke with her mouth full. “What?” A quick glance at Archer revealed an amused expression. She swallowed. “My friends seem aghast, Archer. Maybe when you go snowmobiling, I should get started on watching your back catalogue,” she deadpanned.
At that, he threw back his head and laughed heartily. Then he drew her close and gave her a smack of a kiss. “And that, Ms Sims, is one of the many reasons I love you. You will never allow me to wallow in my own importance.”
Chloe shrugged, threw a somewhat smug look at her besties, and went back to her cake. Archer stood. “Right! Snowsuits, I presume?”
“Yeah, whatever you’d wear skiing or snowboarding. Matt, I’ve something you can wear, if you need it.”
“All good, mate. Brought my own.” Chloe caught the surprised look on Jules’s face. Matt clearly did too. “So much you don’t know yet,” he said to Jules. He gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek before leaving with the other guys to get ready. Chloe watched Jules watching him go, a dreamy expression on her face.