by Maggie Fox
Sophie shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think you’re both still nuts about each other. I just can’t figure out why you’re not sorting it out and getting back together.”
“I still don’t even know why it suddenly went wrong,” Faith replied in frustration. “All he said before was that he’s too busy for a relationship at the moment.”
“And do you believe that’s the reason?”
“Of course not. I’m sure it goes deeper than that. But if that’s all he’s prepared to say, then what am I supposed to do? Physically pin him down and force the truth out of him?”
Sophie laughed. “As if! I don’t think anyone could pin Zane Ferguson down if he didn’t want to be. But then again, with you, I think he might quite happily give in!”
“I wish I could believe that.”
“The way I saw Zane looking at you when you were talking at that meeting…”
Faith leaned forward, looking Sophie straight in the eye. “How did he look at me exactly?”
“Like he’s crazy about you. Still.”
“Really?”
Sophie nodded. “Absolutely.”
“I invited him and all the guys from Carrdale to the lights switch-on,” Faith admitted.
“And what did he say?”
“He said they’ll be there. That’s probably as much as I can hope for at this stage.”
Chapter Thirty
“Shall I take these trays up to the Centre?” Sophie asked.
“No thanks. I’ll do it today. I can’t avoid the place forever. Besides, I think I’ve made a bit of a decision. If Zane’s around, I’m going to invite him to the party for the locals after the lights switch-on.”
“The one in the pub?”
Faith nodded. “The Centre has done a lot in terms of sponsorship and support for the village, and for the Christmas season festivities. He deserves to be there.”
“What about Matt? Are you going to invite him too?”
“Of course. All the guys from the Centre should be there. I assume Dave will be going along to the party with you?”
“Definitely,” Sophie grinned.
“You two are still going strong aren’t you?”
“I guess you could say that.”
“Getting serious eh?”
“Heading in that direction. The only problem, as I think I’ve told you, is that I still live at home with my parents and he shares a flat with two of his mates. Doesn’t give us much privacy. We had, tentatively, talked about getting a place together, renting a flat maybe, if we can afford it.”
“Wow. That’s great.” Faith pulled Sophie into a hug. “Well, if I ever move out you’d make terrific tenants for my flat. I’d get people I could rely on, and you’d be a handy caretaker for the café downstairs too.”
“Brill. That would be ideal. Let’s do it!” Sophie squealed.
“Hey! Hang on! What about me? Where am I going to live?”
Sophie grinned. “Well if you and Zane ever get your act together, then you can move in with him. All sorted.”
Faith knew she shouldn’t have tried to carry quite so much at once. She was trying to balance two platters of food for the Centre at the same time as shutting the doors on her car. One of the platters was tipping precariously and she didn’t have a free hand to try to save it from clattering to the ground.
“Hey, watch out!”
Faith looked up to see Matt appearing at her side. He grabbed the tray just before it slid from her arms.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling gratefully. “If that tray had hit the floor I’d have been in serious trouble all round. Your clients would have ended up having to share just one and a half sandwiches each, hardly enough to fuel all that abseiling and stuff.”
“I’m sure we’d have managed somehow. Come through to the rec room and I’ll give you a hand with this lot.”
Faith followed Matt into the Centre. He leaned against each door to hold them open for her, smiling the smile that had made many a woman go weak at the knees over the years. She should know; she used to be one of them.
The problem was, Matt wasn’t the person she wanted to be helping her out today, opening doors, smiling at her.
“Is Zane around?”
As soon as the words had left her mouth Faith knew she shouldn’t have asked the question. Matt’s smile vanished. “You’re kidding me right?”
“Sorry? How do you mean?”
“Is Zane here? He practically lives here these days. Of course he’s here.”
At the look on her face his voice softened.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to snap. It’s just that since you guys split up, Zane is doing all our heads in down here. He’s constantly in a foul mood. Works even more hours than he was doing before, and constantly complains about anything and everything. He bawled Dave out something terrible yesterday for being just five minutes late, poor lad was really shocked.” Matt paused and fixed a look on Faith before adding, “And, as we all know, Zane doesn’t usually do the whole yelling-at-people-for-little-or-no-reason-stuff. Not his style.”
Faith started to set the food out on the tables. “I wanted to talk to him today if possible.”
Matt pushed himself up from the edge of the table just as the doors to the rec room flew open. “Here’s your chance. Good luck with that.”
Faith turned to see Zane standing in the doorway, looking as though he was having an argument with himself as to whether he should just turn right around and walk back out.
Before he could decide either way Faith stepped forward and forced a smile on her face, just as Matt made his exit, glaring at Zane as he did so.
“Hi, I was just setting up the food for the lunches,” Faith offered, by way of an entirely unnecessary explanation.
“So I see. The guys will be in soon. Can I give you a hand with anything?”
“No, it’s fine, thanks. Matt helped me.”
At the look on Zane’s face she flinched inwardly. She shouldn’t have mentioned Matt.
“OK. Well, I have some stuff to sort in the office so I’ll leave you to it.”
Faith stood and watched him walk away. It hurt. The emotional pain wasn’t getting any less with each passing day. In truth, it was getting worse. She missed him so much it was like an overwhelming ache throughout every single inch of her.
The doors closed behind him and in that second she knew she had to make a decision.
She could force herself to avoid him and try to forget him. She sighed. Not much chance of that working. OK. So she had to go and talk to him. If he was going to be stubborn about things, she would have to try to be the bigger person. She would have to be the one who made the move to find out what on earth was going on.
She headed for the doors.
Zane was on the phone when she neared the office doorway. She could hear him talking to someone about a booking for climbing lessons. She hung back, waiting for him to finish the call.
“Hi.”
He looked up from the desk, his face unreadable.
“Hi again.” He picked up some papers, walked over to the filing cabinet and began searching through the cabinet drawer.
“Was there something you wanted?” he asked, without looking at her.
Now that was a leading question if ever there was one.
“Yes. There was.”
Faith moved forward, leaning against the door-frame. Waiting for him to look at her. Part of her was sorely tempted to tell him the truth about what she wanted. What, she wondered, would be his reaction if she said what she wanted was him?
The words played on her lips, such was her urge to kiss him. Why did he have this effect on her?
No. It wouldn’t work. She’d tried seducing Zane before when he didn’t want to be seduced, and she wasn’t about to make an idiot of herself doing that again.
Finally he shut the cabinet drawer and looked across at her questioningly.
She took a deep breath, quickly let it out and started to speak
.
“After the Christmas lights switch-on tomorrow there’s always a late night party at the Holly pub. It’s just for the local businesses, members of the Tourism Association. Just a little celebration of our own for the start of the Christmas season. I wanted to invite you along.”
There. He might have been quick to hide it but she’d spotted it. Something in his eyes that was a mixture of surprise and pleasure. He was pleased she’d invited him; she was sure of it.
He moved around to lean on the edge of the desk. “Is this a personal invitation, or one that extends to everyone at the Centre?”
Briefly Faith wondered how to answer that one. If she said it was for the Centre then whatever tiny step forward she felt they’d just made would probably be wasted. If she said the invite was personal then she lay herself open to him rejecting her. Again.
Now or never...
“It’s a personal invitation.”
She searched his face for any sign he was pleased. There was none.
When she’d first asked about the party he’d been surprised, caught off guard. Clearly this time he’d had time to prepare himself, and mask his expression accordingly. But now…
Was he going to do it again? Reject her? She was being patient with him, like Matt had suggested. She was giving given him, in a roundabout way, a chance to try again. A lifeline. Would he throw it back at her?
“OK.”
He pushed himself up from the desk and took a couple of steps towards her, reaching for a jacket on a hook on the wall.
“Thanks. I’ll be there.”
She felt her stomach do a flip. He was still standing pretty close to her, the jacket now in his hands. She could smell his aftershave, almost feel his energy, the warmth of his body.
She swallowed and smiled.
“Great. I’ll see you there then.”
Turning she left the office, almost running down the corridors of the centre, outside. She was back in her car and reversing out of the parking area before she allowed herself the biggest smile.
He’d said yes.
Chapter Thirty-One
Zane wasn’t big on Christmas, but clearly Carleton was. And he had to admit that the switch-on ceremony for the town lights had been pretty spectacular. The town had been packed all day with tourists, day-trippers, and people eager to experience all of the planned festivities. A well-known actor had performed the actual lights switch-on part of the evening, and had made a fairly decent job of it.
Zane knew that a lot of work and planning had gone into making this evening very special. And a huge amount of work had also gone into making the next few weeks special too, enticing in the thousands of tourists who visited Carleton at this time of year specifically for the Christmas celebrations.
He knew Faith had been the driving force behind most of it, and he felt extremely proud of her. Throughout the evening he’d spotted her, caught glimpses, ensuring things were going according to plan, liaising with the people behind the scenes.
The weather had now slipped into winter mode; a complete contrast to the warm days of their November camping trip. It was a chilly night and light snowflakes were drifting in the air, but this hadn’t prevented people from turning out. They were all just muffled up against the elements, as was Faith. She was wearing knee-high boots with jeans and ski jacket and a woolly hat.
On one occasion their eyes had met, and she’d smiled at him. He’d found himself smiling back. He loved the fact she was pretty much running the show tonight, in more ways than one. Yes she was keeping the event on track with her usual professionalism, but, he knew, she was also the one who had invited him here tonight. She was the one who had taken that first step.
He wasn’t sure what the night would bring for the two of them, but he had a pretty good idea how he’d like things to play out. Since she’d issued the invitation, he’d thought long and hard. Part of him wanted to try again and see if they could sort things out. And judging by her invitation, he thought she did too.
“You did a great job tonight. The switch-on celebrations were amazing.”
“Thank you.”
Faith smiled at Zane and sipped her drink.
The party in the pub for the locals had been going strong now for almost an hour, and Zane had been getting mixed signals from Faith. Smiles, the occasional wave in passing, but she hadn’t come over to him. They hadn’t actually spoken. Until now.
He wasn’t sure what she wanted from him. If, indeed, she actually wanted anything. Maybe she’d just invited him because he was part of the local tourism group. Maybe he’d read it all wrong. Either way, he’d decided it was time to go and talk to her.
The trouble was, he didn’t know what to say.
“So,” he began tentatively, “things are going to be pretty hectic for you up to Christmas, with all the planned events for the town you’re involved in.”
Faith took another sip of her drink before replying. “Yes. I’m going to be really busy with work. There won’t be time for much else in the next few weeks.”
She looked up at him, the meaning behind her words clear.
Touché.
She was paying him back for his comment, his excuse, about being too busy for a relationship.
Was that what tonight was about? Was she just playing games with him?
He stared into his drink. “Well, it’s good the weather didn’t put people off tonight. The snow is actually getting quite deep out there now.”
Wonderful, Zane. Win her over with scintillating conversation about the weather.
“I know. It’s lucky it wasn’t snowing quite so badly earlier; otherwise things could have got complicated with the roads, and travel arrangements for people who’ve come some distance.”
“Faith! Come on, we want to buy you another drink.”
Zane watched as Faith was hustled away towards the bar by one of the guys from the pub. She mouthed the word sorry at him before she turned away. He caught the look from the guy who had whisked her away. He felt pretty sure the look said, Tough luck, mate, you had your chance and you blew it.
He was right.
Zane finished his drink and headed for the door.
“Not leaving already are you?”
It was one of the girls who worked in the pub. Sally. A waitress, he seemed to recall.
“You can’t go yet. I was just going to ask if you fancied a dance.”
This was not what he needed right now. He didn’t want to dance, and especially not with this girl. She’d made it obvious a couple of times she was interested in him. He didn’t want to offend her, but at the same time if he agreed to a dance then would she get the wrong idea? And what would Faith think? He glanced across to the bar and saw Faith chatting away with a group of men and women.
On the makeshift dance-floor he spotted Matt, with his arms around a woman he didn’t recognise. He was dancing very close to her. Where was Emily?
Before he knew it Sally had grabbed hold of his hand and was pulling him to the dance-floor. No getting out of it now, not without causing a scene. The record changed to a slow dance and Sally wrapped her arms far too enthusiastically around his neck.
Over her shoulder, Zane saw Matt’s raised eyebrows of surprise. He looked towards the bar and met Faith’s eyes for just a second. It was enough.
She put her unfinished drink down on the bar, said something to the people she was with, then strode towards the door. Horrified, Zane followed her with his eyes. Then, as the door slammed shut behind her, he turned to see Matt looking at him, nodding towards the exit. Matt, his arms still wrapped round the girl he was dancing with, mouthed three words at Zane.
“Go. After. Her.”
“Sorry,” he said, easing himself away from Sally. “I have to go. Thanks for the dance.”
Outside, the earlier snowflakes which had morphed into fully-fledged showers had now grown into a blizzard. Zane reached the steps outside the pub just as a gust of wind sent a swirl of snow into his face. He pee
red down the street and spotted Faith, fighting the strengthening wind, struggling into her coat as she hurried along the treacherous pavement. The next moment he saw her slip in the snow and land in a heap on the floor.
In a second he was by her side, helping her to her feet. “Are you OK?”
Faith pushed the hood of her jacket out of her eyes and let him help her up, his hands under her arms.
“Stupid weather!” She kicked petulantly at the snow as Zane fought back a smile.
“Are you OK?” he repeated.
“Yes. I think so. Thanks.”
Zane looked down at her footwear. Boots. Dressy leather ones. Not practical ones with a decent tread. No wonder she’d slipped over in these conditions.
“You’re going to be slipping and sliding all over the place in those boots. Can I walk you home?”
He met her gaze and saw the hesitation.
“At least I can help keep you on your feet instead of on your…” He stopped as he saw the look she was giving him. She was clearly torn between embarrassment and bursting out laughing.
“Come on,” he said, linking his arm through hers before she could protest.
It felt good, being this close to her again.
At the bottom of the hill he briefly toyed with slipping himself, seeing if he could engineer some kind of joint tumble in the snow, him pulling her down on top of him. He stole a glance across at her, the wind tugging at her hair which was escaping in curly brown and rather damp tendrils from the sides of the hood of her ski jacket.
Maybe not. Ever practical, he was wearing chunky trail boots which did have a decent grip in snow. She’d know he’d done it on purpose.
“I think the town always looks so pretty at this time of year, with real trees, all lit up along the main street. It looks even more stunning in the snow.” Faith came to a stop. “Isn’t it beautiful?” She waved an arm at their surroundings.
For the first time Zane looked up. He’d been concentrating on keeping them both upright and glancing occasionally at Faith. He hadn’t really taken in the scenes around them.