Camilla made to march past him but he grabbed her hand and stopped her. She wanted to shake him off but her heart was aching and Hairy Pawter was blinking up at her with his big brown eyes, looking so cute and cuddly in his Christmas jumper.
Her anger drained away and she was suddenly afraid that she was going to cry.
“Camilla…” His voice caught and when she met his eyes, she was surprised to find them glistening. “Please let me explain.”
She nodded and he released her hand.
“I went back to Brighton to see my parents, as you know. But on the Sunday, early in the morning, Danni turned up. I hadn’t arranged to see her but there was always a chance I’d bump into her.”
A sour taste filled Camilla’s mouth and she swallowed hard.
“Her turning up at your parents’ house isn’t exactly bumping into her.”
“No, I know that. Of course I do. But she turned up and…”
“And?”
“Danni asked if we could talk. I hadn’t seen her for a while and it was a bit strange and strained but it needed to be done. See… one of the reasons I went back was for an appointment with my solicitor. We’re getting divorced and I needed to sign the papers and sort out our finances so that’s it’s all finished… once and for all.”
Camilla blinked at him, not quite sure what to say.
“So she is still your wife?” she forced out eventually.
“In legal terms but not for long.”
“And you don’t want her back?”
He laughed. “Not at all. A lot happened between us and we drifted apart a long time ago. But her affair was the final straw, the sign that we needed to end our marriage.”
“And she’s happy with that too?”
“Extremely. She’s still with the guy she left me for and she’s seven months pregnant with his child.”
“Wow!” Relief coursed through Camilla.
“Exactly. So I signed the final papers on Monday and wanted to get in to see the bank manager about the house sale that has finally gone through, but I couldn’t get an appointment until Thursday. I tried to ring you and text you to let you know but…”
“I didn’t even read your texts or answer your calls.”
“I was so worried. I thought about phoning your mother or the café but it seemed too personal and I knew I’d be back soon, so I just gritted my teeth and focused on sorting everything so I could come back to Heatherlea. Back to you.”
“Oh Tom.” Camilla’s legs were trembling and she worried that her knees would give way. “But… why did she say she was your wife?”
“Slip of the tongue? Perhaps because legally she still was? She answered the phone when I was in the shower and told me someone called Camilla had rung. She said she went to correct herself but you’d cut her off.”
“Why were you showering when she was there?”
“She arrived early and my phone was in the kitchen when she went to have a coffee with mum. She answered it automatically, I think.”
Camilla nodded. “I dropped my phone when she said she was your wife. I was a bit shocked. Then I left it at Mum’s.”
“My old life is behind me, Camilla. For good. I’ll soon be officially single, although… I’d like to think that I might have a girlfriend.”
Camilla smiled. “You’re rather optimistic.”
“Well it’s Christmas Eve and I’m back where I want to be. I’d like to remain in Heatherlea and build a life here now. So would HP.”
The dog pawed her leg then as if he was agreeing with his master.
“What do you think? Could you be my girlfriend?”
“What are we? Fourteen?” Camilla giggled.
“Not for some time but I wouldn’t want to be a teenager again. Horrible time.”
“If you’d like to see where this goes, I’d like that too.”
“Well that’s settled.”
He reached out and caressed her cheek, sending tiny shivers of desire down her spine then he leaned in and kissed her softly. His mouth was warm, his scent was spicy and intoxicating and his hand on her face was warm and strong. As he kissed her, HP whined.
Tom broke away and smiled at her. “I think HP is jealous.”
“Because I’m kissing you.”
“He wants all your attention for himself.”
Camilla rubbed the dog’s ears again and he nuzzled her hand.
“Shall we get a mulled wine? Looks like the carols are about to start.” Tom took her hand.
“Yes, come on.”
Chris took Camilla’s empty mug then gave them fresh mugs brimming with the festive drink and they walked over to join the locals standing in front of the tree.
Dawn and Allie flashed Camilla smiles and winks and she smiled in return. She’d thought Christmas would be different this year but had no idea exactly how different. Tom was back. He wanted to see more of her. And she’d won HP’s affection too.
It all seemed perfect.
The opening chords of I’ll Be Home for Christmas rang out from Jason Robbin’s guitar and the rest of the local band joined in. The drummer, Martina Prestin, had a tambourine, probably not wanting to set up her drumkit in the freezing cold, but the others had acoustic guitars, except for their singer Erica Connelly, who sang the first few lines in her strong and beautiful voice that reminded Camilla of Adele. When they reached the chorus, everyone joined in and goosebumps rose all over Camilla’s body.
There was a sudden gasp from the crowd and James shouted, “It’s snowing! Mummy, Daddy, Laura, look!”
People laughed as James ran into the centre of the lawn and stared up at the sky. And sure enough, fat white flakes were drifting down. They came slowly at first but soon, the air was filled with snow and everything around them grew white.
Camilla laughed as she looked at Tom and saw that he had a dusting of snow on his hat, shoulders and boots. Even HP hadn’t escaped and he was snapping at the snowflakes, trying to catch them in his mouth.
The song ended and Erica announced the title of the next one, which she said was now very appropriate, and as she sang the old favourite White Christmas, Tom leaned down and kissed Camilla, and she felt as if her heart would burst with happiness.
“Merry Christmas, Camilla.”
“Merry Christmas, Tom.”
And they spent their first ever snowy Christmas Eve together, singing carols, drinking mulled wine and smiling, surrounded by friends old and new, at The Cosy Cottage Café.
The End
More from this author…
If you enjoyed Winter at The Cosy Cottage Café, you might also enjoy Summer at The Cosy Cottage Café by Rachel Griffiths
Here’s an extract:
Summer at The Cosy Cottage Cafe
Chapter 1
“Such a terrible loss, Mrs Burnley. I really am sorry.”
Allie Jones nodded solemnly as the elderly woman dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
“She was a good friend… all these years.” Judith Burnley’s watery eyes burned into Allie’s. “Since school you know? Even though she was a few years older than me, we were still so close.”
“I can’t imagine how you must be feeling.”
“Dreadful. Dreadful.” Mrs Burnley’s emphasis caused a tiny bead of saliva to land on her chin. “I still can’t believe she’s gone. Although it was a lovely service.”
“Oh good. I would have gone myself but I had to be here to get everything ready.”
“Of course you did. Her son said some very nice things about her. He’s a good lad that Chris Monroe.”
“Yes, indeed.”
Allie chewed her bottom lip, wondering how long she was supposed to stand with the older woman. After all, what length of time did social etiquette demand? Plus, she really didn’t want to discuss Chris right now and had been trying not to think about him too much.
“I hope someone says positive things about me at my funeral. At my age, I probably don’t have much time left…”
The word made Allie think about the miniature quiches in the oven. She needed to rescue them. Five more minutes would mean perfect pastry but any longer and they’d be ruined.
“I’m sorry, but I need to get back to the kitchen. I have a thousand things to do before everyone arrives.”
Mrs Burnley’s grey eyebrows shot up her heavily powdered forehead.
“I have quiches in the oven that will burn,” Allie added, in case the urgency of the situation was in any doubt. She placed a hand on the older woman’s arm. “Again, I’m sorry.”
Mrs Burnley seemed placated. She gave a sharp sniff then headed across the café to a group of women standing near the log burner. Their uniform of black skirts and jackets paired with flesh-coloured tights, made Allie think of a nature documentary she’d once seen about crows, especially as they took it in turns to cast inquisitive glances around the café.
Allie picked up two used cups from a table near the counter then went through to the kitchen. The quiches should have been ready before the funeral party started arriving. She was sure the service had been scheduled for eleven o’clock and hadn’t expected anyone to turn up at the café until around noon. But the group of women had arrived promptly at eleven thirty-five, so Allie guessed they had left the small village church as soon as the final hymn had been sung.
Poor Chris!
Allie hadn’t seen Chris Monroe in years. After he’d left the village, he rarely returned. Allie thought she had an idea why, having known his mother – the rather harsh Mrs Monroe – since she was a child, but there could be other reasons she knew nothing about. Whenever she’d asked Mrs Monroe how Chris was getting on, her stock response had been ‘he’s travelling with his writing’ and that was as much as Allie had known. Until a week ago, when she’d received a phone call out of the blue, from Chris himself.
The call had been polite and brief, not allowing for more detailed pleasantries or a potted history. In fact, if Allie was being honest, Chris had been a bit rude and rather cold. But business was business and she wasn’t going to turn down a job. Besides, where else would they have held the wake? At one of the village pubs? Allie knew that Mrs Monroe would never have been happy with that. The old woman had seen the local pubs as dens of iniquity and would, no doubt, have turned in her new grave had her son chosen to hold her wake surrounded by locals enjoying a lunchtime pint.
Allie shivered. All this thinking about graves and funerals summoned her own dark clouds to the horizon and the old sadness tugged at her heart. She didn’t have time for this today, so she’d have to pin her knickers to her vest and get on with things.
She opened the oven door and the comforting aromas of grilled cheese and caramelised onion greeted her. Just in time! She removed the trays from the oven then set them on the worktop to cool.
“Hey, Mum!”
Allie turned to find Jordan had joined her in the kitchen.
“Oh thank goodness! I thought you’d forgotten you were working this morning.”
He shook his head and his floppy fringe fell over his left eye.
“Of course not. Would I let you down?” He gave her a cheeky grin then pulled an apron from a drawer and hooped it over his head. Allie knew she could tell her son that he had let her down in the past, and that, yes, he did sometimes oversleep and forget about his Saturday morning shifts at the café too, but she didn’t. He was here now and that was what mattered.
“Where do you want me?”
“You oversee things out front. I’ll get everything finished up in here then come and help you. Just keep the tea and coffee going.”
Jordan paused then rubbed the back of his neck as he inhaled deeply, a sign that he was worrying about something.
“What is it, love?”
“Mum… Are you, uh, okay?”
“Why, Jordan?”
He met her eyes and she watched as he chewed his lower lip.
“Well, you know, with this being a wake.”
Allie nodded. “Honestly, I’m fine. This isn’t the first wake we’ve done since your dad…” She swallowed the end of her sentence.
“Well I’m here for you.”
“I know and I’m here for you too. I love you, Jordan.”
He smiled. “I know.”
“Now go and make some hot beverages.”
“Yes ma’am!”
He gave her a mock salute then disappeared.
Allie knew why he was concerned about her and she worried about him for the same reason. Funerals always reminded them of Roger’s and although she had been strong in front of her children at the time, it had been truly awful.
She turned her attention back to the quiches and removed them from the trays, then deposited them onto foil serving platters before adding sprigs of decorative parsley. The pastry was light and crisp and the cheese on top had a rich golden hue. She might have got some things wrong in her life but she did know how to bake, and opening the café had been, perhaps, the best decision she’d ever made. Of course, it had been a lifelong ambition too, one she’d harboured since her days at secondary school when she’d excelled at food technology. She’d always enjoyed baking with her mother as a child and an enthusiastic cookery teacher had encouraged her to consider baking as a career.
However, she’d fallen in love after while sitting her A Levels and an unexpected pregnancy had led her to sideline her ambitions. She’d still baked regularly and taken cakes and savoury delights to birthday parties, village fetes and church celebrations, but thought her café dreams would never be realised. Some things brought out a wave of yearning in her, like occasional trips to Bath when they’d visit the delightful tearooms for refreshments, but she’d told herself she was lucky to be a wife and mother and tucked her old ambitions firmly away.
Until her life had changed dramatically and she’d had to make some big decisions.
Allie shook the sadness away; she couldn’t afford to think about all that right now. She had to focus on the positives. She’d had another good spring, and early summer was looking good so far – in part because the medieval Surrey village of Heatherlea was a tourist attraction, which meant plenty of business for the café—and she was seeing some pleasing profits. Her situation was looking better by the minute and she was hoping that August would bring plenty of customers. She had her own business, two wonderful grown-up children, two funny cats and her grief was not as sharp as it once was.
She crossed her fingers instinctively as superstition shrouded her. The future looked bright but she’d never take anything for granted. Everything could change within minutes.
She lifted two of the serving platters of quiches and turned round to take them through to the café, then let out a screech as she hit a wall of chest. Quiches and parsley went flying into the air and the platters crashed to the floor. Allie was only saved from face planting into cheesy pastry by two strong hands that caught her, just in time.
“Allie, I’m so sorry!”
She shook her head and a chunk of quiche dropped onto her shoulder then bounced off and landed on the tiles.
“Chris?”
“Yes.”
His dark eyes roamed her face, familiar yet different. Older. Wiser.
“What on earth were you doing sneaking around like that?”
She realised that he was still supporting her, so she took a step backwards and slipped out of his grasp.
He looked at his hands, as if surprised that they’d been wedged under her armpits, then back at her face.
“The um… the young man out front told me you were in here and I came to check that everything was okay.”
“Yes, everything’s fine. Well, it was fine until you just…” She swallowed the rest of her sentence, not wanting to accuse him of quiche destruction on what must be a very difficult day. Then she realised he was staring hard at her. Heat rushed into her cheeks, so she broke eye contact and picked at a bit of onion that was stuck to the neckline of her good white blouse �
�� the one she wore for funerals and wakes. “And that was my son, Jordan.”
Chris ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair and sighed as if exhausted. His face was still handsome but he had tiny lines engraved around his eyes, suggesting that he frowned or squinted a lot. The last time Allie had seen him, his hair had been black as a raven’s wing, but that had been about ten years ago. And then she’d only seen him in passing. Apart from the recent phone call, she hadn’t spoken to him in over twenty years – not since her wedding reception. When she’d returned from her honeymoon in Tenby, Chris had already left Heatherlea, leaving no details for her or Roger to contact him. She’d tried to talk to her husband about it but he’d always found a way to avoid the conversation, as if the friendship they’d once had with Chris was something she’d imagined. And she hadn’t liked to keep pushing, because even Chris’s name seemed to irritate Roger and she’d hated to upset him. His moods had been so unpredictable.
“Again, I am sorry. I’m running a bit later than expected because I went to the cemetery, but then everything got a bit delayed because the vicar got his foot stuck in the freshly dug earth at the graveside and lost his shoe. It took three people to pull it out and by that time he’d stumbled and got his sock all wet and it was just…” He rubbed his eyes. “Anyway, I came to say hello and it was so weird when I saw you stood there. You look exactly the same as you did at eighteen.”
Allie laughed. “I doubt that.” She swallowed her retort about a fatter bottom and thicker waistline. “But thank you. You don’t look that different either.”
“Except for the rugged grooves on my face and the George Clooney hair, right?”
“Mum!” Jordan interrupted as he appeared in the doorway. “They’re all arriving.”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a moment.” She scanned the floor with dismay; it was clear that none of the mini quiches she’d dropped were salvageable. Thankfully, she had two more foil platters on the work surface and another batch in the freezer that she could pop in the oven.
Winter at The Cosy Cottage Cafe_A deliciously festive feel-good Christmas romance Page 13