by Karen King
‘Meaning you two lovebirds want me out of the way,’ Saffy retorted. But what the hell, she wasn’t ready for Christmas to end yet and she didn’t fancy playing gooseberry here. ‘I’ll come over in a couple of hours, when I’ve tidied up.’
‘Can’t you come with us now?’ Chloe asked. ‘I want you to see me in my polar bear onesie.’
Saffy shot a questioning look at Logan. He nodded. ‘That’s fine by me, unless you prefer to wait a while.’
‘Please, Saffy,’ Chloe begged.
‘We’ll help you finish the last of the tidying up, it won’t take long,’ Duncan offered. The way he and Robbie were looking at her they might as well have been begging too.
‘Okay, give me half an hour and I’ll be over,’ she said.
Chapter Twenty-One
Chloe was bathed and ready for bed in her polar bear onesie when Saffy arrived. ‘Look, Saffy, see my tail.’ She turned around and wriggled her bottom.
‘That’s really cute,’ Saffy told her. ‘And I think that tail is a little bit bigger than mine.’
‘Why don’t you go and put yours on too, then we can be twins,’ Chloe suggested.
‘I don’t think Saffy wants to go all the way back just to pick up her onesie, poppet,’ Logan said, a twinkle in his eye. ‘Would you like a drink, Saffy? Wine? Coffee with a drop of brandy?’
‘Oh, yes please – coffee with brandy,’ she replied as she tugged off her boots.
‘Go and make yourself comfortable in the lounge. I’ve got a fire burning,’ Logan told her.
‘I’ve got a present for you.’ Chloe held out her hand to reveal the Mother Christmas figure from the Christmas cake. ‘I saved it for you because you’re our Mother Christmas.’
Saffy was really touched. ‘Thank you. I’ll keep this to remind me of you and the fantastic party we all had.’ She popped the red and white figure into her handbag.
Chloe slipped her little hand into Saffy’s. ‘Will you read me a story? I’ve got a new book about a polar bear who gets lost.’
‘That sounds fun. Does he find his way home again?’ Saffy asked as she walked into the lounge with the little girl.
‘You’ll have to read it and find out.’ Chloe ran over to the coffee table and picked up a picture book with a polar bear on the front cover then brought it over to Saffy, who was now sitting on the sofa in front of the blazing fire.
‘Get yourself comfy then,’ she said and Chloe snuggled up close to her.
As Saffy read out the story, Chloe joined in eagerly with the phrase ‘poor little polar bear far away from home’, pointing at the pictures.
‘I’m glad he got home safely,’ Saffy said, closing the book just as Logan came in with two mugs of coffee.
‘Can you read it again? Please?’ Chloe begged.
‘No, it’s your bedtime now, Chloe. And Saffy’s had a busy day organising a party for us all so let her relax for a while now.’ He handed her a mug of coffee, put the other one down on the table and scooped Chloe up into his arms. ‘Say goodnight to Saffy.’
‘Night, Saffy!’ Chloe blew her a kiss.
‘Night. Sleep tight.’ Saffy blew a kiss back.
She cradled the mug in her hands and settled back into the deep cushions of the sofa as Logan carried Chloe upstairs. It was so cosy and comfortable in here.
She thought back over the day as she watched the flames flickering behind the fireguard. It had all turned out far better than she’d expected. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, Robbie and Duncan were back together – and she’d had a good time too.
And she had shared a kiss under the mistletoe with Logan. He was a good kisser, and she reckoned he’d be a brilliant lover… she pushed the enticing thought of making love to Logan out of her mind. There was no way she’d go there, even if he wanted to. It would be far too complicated. And complications were something she definitely didn’t want.
She took a sip of her warm drink, savouring the bite of the brandy. Now she could finally relax. Tomorrow morning she could maybe take Oscar for a walk along the harbour and beach. Then tomorrow afternoon Hannah would be back home, she could catch up with her sister and family then return home on Friday to her normal life. Saturday there was Robbie and Duncan’s engagement party to go to, then their New Year’s Eve party. And she’d got some potential partners to talk to Ajay about; if she showed him how much she’d enjoyed sourcing creatives he might give her the promotion. It was all good.
She’d miss Logan though. Very much.
‘You look very content.’
Logan’s voice startled her. She’d been so engrossed in her thoughts that she hadn’t heard him come back into the room.
‘I was thinking that today went well, didn’t it? Everyone seemed to have a good time.’
‘It was great, you did Hannah proud.’ Logan picked up his mug and sat down next to her. ‘Were you that worried about it? You seemed at ease with everyone and you played a great game of Twister. Chloe was impressed.’
She glanced at him. ‘We used to play Twister a lot when I was young. Mind you, I was a lot more athletic then.’
Twinkling blue eyes looked into hers. ‘You didn’t do too badly – especially in those trousers. I thought you were going to split them a couple of times!’
‘Me too,’ she admitted. ‘I wasn’t sure what to wear, parent parties aren’t usually my thing. These seemed a sensible choice at the time.’
‘They were a great choice,’ he said with a smile. ‘I think people will be talking about this Christmas party for a while. Duncan and Robbie’s engagement was an added bonus too.’
‘I know, I’m so pleased they’ve patched things up.’ She took another sip of her coffee, feeling the heavy dose of brandy relax her. ‘Did you see how pally Geoff and Ariane were getting? I reckon we’ve got a budding romance there. Hannah will be pleased, she’s such a romantic.’
‘You must be too or you wouldn’t have tried so hard to get Robbie and Duncan back together.’
She thought about it. ‘I like to see people happy together and hate them to break up when they are both so obviously in love, but I wouldn’t call myself a romantic. I don’t think a relationship with someone is the be all and end all to a happy life. I think you can be perfectly happy on your own. There are other things that are important too; a career, travelling, friends.’
Logan nodded. ‘Well, you’ve made a lot of people happy today, Saffy, including Chloe. As Chloe said, you were our Mother Christmas. Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome.’ She really needed to drag her eyes away from his. She felt as if she was drowning in the blueness of them.
He leaned forward slowly and kissed her on the cheek, his eyes still looking into hers, mere centimetres away. Then his lips brushed, feather-light, over her skin as they moved slowly to her lips, resting tantalisingly on them in a delicate peck. He withdrew, his eyes still holding hers, as if to gauge her reaction, and she wound her arm around his neck, drawing him closer and then their lips locked as they kissed: deeper, longer, hungrier, as if they were savouring each other’s very soul.
Suddenly Saffy felt an uncomfortable wet patch on her thigh. Damn! She’d spilt her coffee. She looked at the wet stain on her leather trousers in dismay then jumped up to check that it hadn’t spilt onto the sofa too. Luckily it hadn’t.
‘Let me get you a cloth.’ He took her mug out of her hand, put it down on the coffee table and went into the kitchen.
Why the hell did she have to be so clumsy? Now their special moment was ruined.
A good job too, she told herself, because where would they have gone from there? Hot as Logan was, there was no way she would have jumped into bed with him, not when his little girl was sleeping upstairs. Maybe he wouldn’t have either, but things would definitely have been awkward if they’d gone any further.
Logan came in with two cloths, one damp and one dry. He handed them both to her. Feeling really self-conscious, she dabbed at the wet patch with the damp cloth then tried
to blot it dry with the other one. She could feel Logan’s gaze on her as she did so.
‘If it stains, try shaving foam. I used that to get a coffee stain out of my leather jacket,’ Logan told her. ‘You need to wipe it all off afterwards, of course, but it’s really effective.’
‘Thanks. I’ll take these cloths back into the kitchen.’
‘It’s fine, just put them on the coffee table.’ Logan reached for the remote. ‘Shall we see what’s on the TV?’ he said, switching it on. Then he sat down beside her and placed his arm casually around her shoulder.
Okay, he was probably regretting the kiss and wanted to get things back on to a casual footing. Which was fine by her, she didn’t want to complicate things with a neighbour – and friend – of Hannah and Lee’s. In fact, she had better get going in a few minutes; it had been a long day and she was pretty exhausted.
Which is probably why she ended up falling asleep with her head on Logan’s shoulder.
When she awoke the room was in darkness, the fire glowing and Logan was snoring softly beside her. What time was it? She tried to look at her watch without waking him but he jerked awake and sat up.
‘What time is it?’
‘I was about to look.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘Gosh, it’s past midnight.’ She got to her feet. ‘I’d better go,’
‘Sorry.’ He got to his feet too. ‘I invite you around for company and end up falling asleep.’ He reached for the table lamp and flicked the switch, the blast of light illuminating his still-sleepy face and making him look vulnerable. Her heart skipped a beat. This guy oozed sex appeal.
‘We both fell asleep. I’m not sure if it was the drink or exhaustion. Probably both.’ She grabbed her bag off the floor by the sofa.
‘I’ll get your coat.’
She followed him out into the hall, pulled on her boots, then slipped her arms into the coat he held out for her. ‘Thank you for a lovely evening.’
He wrapped his arm around her neck and gently pulled her towards him, touching her lips in a sweet caress of a kiss. Wow! ‘Thank you for a lovely day.’ Then he slowly released her. ‘Safe journey back on Friday.’
‘Thank you.’
So this was it. This was goodbye.
He stood in the doorway as she made her way across the snow-covered street. She turned as she reached Liwus Helyk and saw that he was still standing there, watching her. He waved. She waved back. Then she opened the door and went inside.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The mixture of alcohol and exhaustion had lulled Saffy into a deep sleep, punctuated occasionally by replays of Those Kisses with Logan, and a sleepy awareness that people were talking downstairs – Robbie and Duncan no doubt getting ready – but nothing pulled her out of the comfort of a deep sleep. It was gone nine when she finally woke, listening to the silence of the house for a while, before pulling on her dressing gown over her onesie – it was cold – and padding over the room to the window, to pull back the curtains and look out, gasping as she saw the thick curtain of snow fluttering down. It was as if someone in the sky had opened a giant box of fluffy snowflakes and poured them out onto the ground below. It must be at least six centimetres deep. She hoped the guys had got home safely.
She went downstairs and switched on the kettle for a much-needed coffee boost. She made the coffee and sat at the kitchen table drinking it. Today felt such an anti-climax after yesterday, when Robbie and Duncan were here and the house was full of people, of laughter, of life.
Yesterday, when she and Logan had kissed. Three times. And fallen asleep on each other’s shoulders as if it was the most natural thing in the world to cuddle up together on the sofa in front of the fire together. As if they were completely comfortable with each other.
And Friday she was going home and would never see him again.
There was still today. Hannah wasn’t due home until this afternoon and Chloe was going away with her mother, so that would give her and Logan a chance to spend a little time alone. Should she invite him over?
He hadn’t suggested meeting up, though, and he knew she was home alone. Maybe he regretted those kisses yesterday and didn’t want to spend any more time with her.
Suddenly her phone buzzed. It was Hannah on a WhatsApp call. Saffy frowned. She should be on the flight now.
‘Hannah. Is everything okay? The twins?’
‘They’re fine, fit to travel. But the flight’s been cancelled because of the snow in the UK.’
‘Oh no! Is it that bad?’
‘There’s no flights to Bristol at all today. The rep said if the snow eases we might be able to fly early in the morning.’
She could hear the desperation in Hannah’s voice. This holiday hadn’t been the restful break she and Lee had hoped for. ‘I’m so sorry, Hannah. You must be longing to get back home again.’
‘I am. How bad is it over there, Saffy? Are you all snowed in?’
Saffy walked over to the window and looked out into the back yard. Snow was piled up high against the fence and was still coming down.
‘It’s pretty deep. Robbie and Duncan left early this morning so should be home now, Duncan was driving an SUV so I’m sure they’ll be okay. I’ll message them in a minute to check they arrived safely.’
‘I’m so sorry, Saffy. You’re down there all by yourself over Christmas when you should be out partying. I feel awful.’
‘Well, don’t. I had a great time yesterday and I’ve got some work to do so that’ll keep me busy. I’m absolutely fine.’
Saffy felt deflated as she ended the call. She’d been looking forward to spending a couple of days with Hannah, Lee and the twins. Instead, she was stuck here all day on her own.
Snap out of it, she told herself. Get some breakfast and a shower then get some work done.
* * *
‘I’ve told you, Jade, there’s no way you’re taking Chloe up to Bristol in this. It’s madness. There’s an amber weather warning and people have been advised not to travel.’
There was a pause the other end of the phone. ‘I guess you’re right. I’m just going to have to sit in this hotel room until the weather clears.’ Jade sounded annoyed and he could imagine her pacing up and down. She liked to fill every minute of the day so would hate being in a hotel by herself. He had to admit though that he was relieved she wasn’t taking Chloe today. He hated to think of his little girl being so far away from him.
‘If the snow clears I’ll come for her tomorrow then.’
He hesitated and Jade pounced. ‘Logan, she’s my daughter too and I want to spend some time with her.’
‘Yes, okay, but only if the snow has cleared. And you phone me to check before you start out.’ He had to think of Chloe in all this. She’d been looking forward to going with her mum and seeing her grandparents.
As if on cue, Chloe came down the stairs. ‘Was that Mummy?’ she asked. ‘Will she be here soon?’
Logan scooped her up and gave her a ‘good morning’ hug. ‘It’s been snowing again, really heavily, so Mummy can’t come today,’ he said, leading her into the lounge and over to the big bay window so she could see out. ‘If the snow clears a bit she’ll come tomorrow. Sorry, poppet.’
Chloe stared out of the window, eyes wide with excitement. ‘Can we build a snowman?’ she asked. ‘Mummy can see it when she comes tomorrow.’
‘Sure, but let’s have breakfast first,’ Logan told her.
Chloe ran on ahead into the kitchen. ‘Can I have chocopops?’
* * *
Saffy read Robbie’s message telling her that they’d only just got home, and the roads were really bad because of the snow. It’s a good job we arranged for the dinner party to start at seven, he wrote. She wished she was going to Robbie and Duncan’s party, instead of being stuck here alone. She hoped Hannah and Lee could get a flight back tomorrow or she wouldn’t get a chance to see them at all.
She went over to the window and looked out at the flurry of snow. Then she spotted Logan and Chloe bu
ilding a snowman in their front garden. They were laughing as they rolled up a big ball for the body and a smaller ball for the head. They heaved the head onto the body then wrapped a purple and pink scarf around his neck (probably Chloe’s) and put a black cap on his head (which must have been Logan’s). It reminded her of the times she and Hannah had built a snowman when they were young. Sometimes, if she wasn’t working, Mum would join in too. Those were the best times. Mum would bring out her button tin and they would choose buttons for the snowman’s eyes and make his mouth with a curve of smaller buttons, then use a carrot for his nose. One day, she and Hannah had made a snowman family, putting a headscarf on the snowlady and borrowing one of Mum’s aprons. Then they’d made some smaller snowchildren, one of them wearing Hannah’s hat, and the other one wearing Saffy’s. She’d loved that snowman family, had made up stories in her head about them and wished that she had a proper family too, with a mum and dad instead of just a mum who was always busy and tired. Did Chloe wish she had a family too? she wondered. Did she hope her mum and dad would get back together again?
She watched as a snowball whizzed through the air and hit Logan on the back. He spun around and laughed at Marta and her two children, all togged up in hats, scarves, wellies and thick coats, throwing snowballs. Marta shouted something to him and then scooped up another snowball and hurled it; this one hit Logan on the shoulder. He whispered to Chloe, then they both grabbed handfuls of snow, smoothed them into snowballs and threw them at Marta and Tom, Marta’s eldest. Logan’s hit her smack on her arm. Chloe’s hastily formed snowball landed just in front of Tom.
Soon they were out in the street, having a mad snowball fight. A couple of other children and their parents came out of their houses and joined in too.
Saffy opened the door and stood watching the fun. It had been ages since she’d had a snowball fight; she wished the twins were here so she could join in. Oscar trotted to the door and poked his head out, barking as if he wanted to join in the fun too.