by Eve Devon
‘Nope, fourteen,’ Juliet said, ‘Mum said now the show is today as well, it wouldn’t be fair to make Trudie cook for her too, so she’s coming here instead. Besides, she’s excited to see what happens about the snow and the chandelier.’
‘It’s already happened, hasn’t it?’ Kate said pointing to Emma. ‘Where is Jake anyway?’
‘He’s with Oscar on the turkey transfer mission.’ Oscar and Jake had both offered the use of their ovens to cook the four large turkeys and then bring them back to The Clock House to heat up in batches before serving.
‘Remind me next time I open a business to put in extra large catering ovens in the kitchen,’ Kate said.
‘Ha. Remind me when you hear the timer start beeping in a minute, that that’s when we need to start peeling potatoes,’ Juliet said, and then giving up all pretence of subtlety, she snagged the box off Kate to put the crackers on the table herself. ‘I don’t know why it’s so difficult for you to put them exactly over the napkin, so that they line up nice and neatly.’
Kate grinned as if Juliet doing them was what she’d wanted all along and walked up to the bar where Emma had moved on to putting the finishing touch to three honey martinis.
‘We’ve got time for a quick drink before your beeper goes off,’ she told Juliet and then to Emma said, ‘You’d think after being up for most of the night, she’d look completely wiped out, but of course she looks gorgeous.’
‘Remind me what she was doing all night again,’ Emma asked.
‘I was “doing” reading,’ Juliet said, bringing the empty box up to the bar.
‘Reading,’ Kate confirmed. ‘All night,’ she added in a sceptical tone.
‘Hey,’ Emma said, ‘I love reading too. It’s entirely possible to get the sort of happy, peaceful, completely content glow Juliet has from reading.’
‘See?’ Juliet said. ‘You too could glow like us if you read more.’
‘I read,’ Kate insisted, taking a sip of her drink. ‘I’m reading a book at the moment.’
‘You’re reading a book at the moment?’ Juliet laughed disbelievingly. ‘What’s it called?’
‘It has “girl” in the title.’
‘Ooh, is it called: Girl Opens Wildly Successful Day Spa?’ Emma teased.
‘Or, Girl in the Salon?’ Juliet said, picking up the theme.
‘Or Girl Walks Into a Bar?’ Emma asked.
Kate clicked her fingers. ‘Girl on a Buoy,’ she said with a satisfied nod of her head. ‘What?’ she said as Emma and Juliet stared at her. ‘Don’t judge. It’s a nautical thriller. Melody gave it to me.’
Emma’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’m borrowing it after you, then. Hey, maybe we should start a book club at The Clock House?’
‘That’s not a bad idea,’ Kate said. ‘Could the reading part be optional though?’
Emma shook her head sadly and turned to Juliet, ‘So you really think I’m glowing too?’
‘You do seem to have got over being cold all the time.’
Emma blushed some more as she realised that despite the snow still being thick on the ground, she hadn’t felt cold at all the last couple of weeks.
‘Oh yeah.’ Kate turned her head from Juliet to Emma. ‘The blushing and sappy smiles are definitely down to reading. You going to drink that?’ Kate asked Juliet, sliding the honey martini towards Juliet.
‘Maybe later. We still have lunch and then the Christmas show to get through and if I start now I’ll be asleep later.’
‘Uh-huh,’ said Kate, taking a sip of her drink. ‘Because of all the reading last night.’
Juliet laughed. ‘I had the best Christmas Eve ever. You know how Melody always has her head in a book?’
‘#Rory,’ Kate agreed.
‘Right, well, to make this first Christmas special for us, she came up with this brilliant idea – actually the idea really came from Iceland.’
‘The freezer shop?’ Kate asked, tipping her head to the side at a ‘does not compute’ angle.
‘The country,’ Juliet replied with a roll of her eyes. ‘Iceland has this tradition of giving books as presents on Christmas Eve. It’s a really big deal over there. You exchange books and then stay up all night reading them.’
‘Officially loving this idea,’ Emma sighed and took a sip of her honey martini and before you could say ‘We all want some figgy pudding’, she was thinking about next Christmas Eve and being with Jake in the library at Knightley Hall. There would be a fire lit and mugs of mulled wine and plates heaped with mince pies and chocolates and there would be her and Jake curled up together on one of the armchairs. Just the two of them and their books. And maybe a dog. She’d always wanted a dog. She could see a wise and wily Irish wolfhound affectionately named Sir Wolfie Knightley snoozing in front of the fire and—
She took another hasty sip of her cocktail because … getting carried away, much?
Kate laid her hand over Juliet’s and this time there was no teasing in her voice as she said, ‘Seriously, how clever is that niece of mine that she thought to start a new tradition this year for just the three of you on your first Christmas together.’
‘I know,’ Juliet said, fanning her face as her eyes got watery. ‘I’m so damn happy. Honest to goodness I cannot process how blessed I am. And apparently we’re doing some more presents later. After we finish up here and get back home.’
‘We’re doing our presents after we lock up here later, too,’ Kate said.
Emma took in the secret smile on Juliet’s face and wondered if it was because she, like Emma, knew Oscar had been asked by Daniel to draw up plans to knock Mistletoe Cottage and Myrtle Cottage into one bigger cottage for him and Kate to live in together. Or, whether it was because – judging from the way Juliet hadn’t touched her drink yet – one of her presents to Oscar and Melody might be a positive pregnancy stick!
And then turning her attention to how Kate’s fingers were tracing a pattern in the marble of the bar top, she asked, ‘So what did you end up getting Daniel?’
‘Oh, I got him an envelope of dirt.’
‘An envelope of dirt? Um … have you heard of re-gifting? Because I’m pretty sure both Juliet and I have something we could give you to give to him that’s better than a bunch of dirt.’
‘Trust me it’s going to be perfect. I’ve got it all worked out. We both promised each other we wouldn’t spend any money because we’ve had zero spare cash after setting up this place and zero time to get all flashy. So, the envelope is my way of asking him to move in with me. It’s to represent us knocking our cottages together, because no matter how I try and work it, there’s just not enough room to grow in a place the size of Mistletoe Cottage. So tonight, when we have our chat over the garden wall, because that’s our little way of debriefing our days, well that’s when we’re going to exchange presents and that’s when I’m going to ask him.’
‘Wow,’ Emma whispered. Finding out that Kate and Daniel had essentially chosen the same gift for each other made her heart melt.
Her gaze went to the chandelier.
Technically, she and Jake hadn’t met for the first time under it, but they were going to be sitting underneath it on Christmas Day, celebrating.
Could there be another celebration at Christmas time next year?
One that saw her dressed in an empire-line Regency styled dress of white and gold, standing opposite her Mr Knightley?
Chapter 41
The Ghost of Christmas Future
Emma
Emma looked around the dining table, and allowed the sounds of everyone chatting together as they finished their Christmas lunch, to sink in and fill up her senses.
In her wildest dreams she never would have thought that this winter she’d embark on an adventure that would sweep her up, carry her across an ocean, and set her down in a community that welcomed her wholly. And definitely not an adventure that would place a man directly in her path and have her fall in love with him.
But from the moment she�
�d opened up Kate’s email with the offer to come and run Cocktails & Chai, that’s effectively what had happened and truthfully? She wasn’t sure life could get better.
‘Top up?’ Jake said, waving a bottle of wine in front of her.
Dragged from her philosophising she shook her head, smiling at him as she put her hand out to cover the top of her glass. ‘No way. We’ve still got the Christmas show to get ready for.’
‘Well, I need one more glass if I’m to get up in front of everyone and sing. I’m no longer sure how you got me to agree to this. Must have been some tricksy magic. There’s still time to back out, right? I mean, sleeping with the director must get me some perks.’
She grinned. ‘Sleeping with this director is perk itself. Besides, you have to do it,’ she leaned closer to him and putting on her most plaintive expression, said, ‘you know, for the children.’
‘Wow. You’re good.’
‘You know it.’
‘What if I forget the words?’
‘I’ll get someone to write them out on giant cue cards for you. You wait; two lines in and the audience will have fallen in love.’
He bent his head and made his voice low. ‘What if it’s only one person I want falling?’
Her breath caught and her heart started hammering. ‘I—I think that would be absolutely fine – as long as you were there to catch her.’
Jake grinned outrageously, curled his arm and bent his head to kiss his bicep. ‘Then I think we’re all good.’
Emma burst out laughing. ‘My hero.’
‘My Emma,’ he said, quietly, simply and lovingly, so that her heart went from hammering against her insides to sort of melting through them.
‘Hey, you two,’ Seth said from across the table. ‘Try and show a little restraint, some of us are still eating.’
‘You’re just jealous,’ Gloria told Seth, poking her tongue out in jest.
Emma looked at Seth looking at Gloria … and noticed Gloria looking right back at Seth.
Interesting.
And then she looked up at the chandelier, realising that technically, Gloria and Seth were the only two sat at the table who were unattached.
‘Just because Jake’s officially back to owning his billowy romantic shirt,’ Gloria announced, stealing a parsnip off Seth’s plate and grinning as she bit into it.
Even more interesting, Emma thought as Seth’s gaze narrowed on Gloria’s mouth.
Hiding her grin Emma wondered if perhaps after Christmas she might flex her matchmaking muscles again.
‘He told you about the shirt?’ Jake asked Gloria, looking incredulously at his brother. ‘Well, that’s you disinvited to poker night.’
‘Oh, let him play,’ Daniel said. ‘I could do with winning. Again.’
‘Are you seriously trying to claim that out of the three of us,’ Oscar piped up from the other end of the table, ‘you win the most hands?’
‘Fighting talk,’ Big Kev stated, ‘but you know very well that if I was invited I’d be walking away with the pot.’
‘You can take my place at the table,’ Seth replied. ‘I’m not exactly flush right now.’
‘Please,’ Cheryl said, ‘As if you boys don’t already know that if I was there I’d wipe the floor with you all.’
‘Don’t pander to their sexist poker night, ladies,’ Sheila said, ‘We have much more fun things to do.’
‘Yes,’ Juliet agreed, announcing to the table, ‘We’re starting a book club.’
‘Where everyone will be invited,’ Kate said, before leaning across to say to Emma, ‘because it was actually a really good idea and it would be lovely to hold something here for the community.’
Emma laughed and impulsively launched to her feet, tapping her knife against the glass to get everyone’s attention. With everyone’s gaze on her she tried not to get flustered and remembered sitting in Jake’s car outside of her Dad’s and him telling her to pretend she was a confident character from a play or a film. ‘I’d like to say a few words and then propose—’ she got no further because suddenly Jake fumbled his wine glass, splashing the contents over the tablecloth.
‘You all right there, Jakey?’ Seth asked, and Emma couldn’t even begin to guess at the grin playing across Jake’s brother’s face.
Several hands reached for their napkins to help mop up the stain and after a moment, Jake was waving his hand, having composed himself to look up at her and say casually, ‘Carry on.’
‘—propose a toast.’ She shot a quick look at Jake but his expression was inscrutable and then she realised everyone was waiting to hear what she had to say. On a deep breath, she said, ‘I guess I really wanted to thank everyone for welcoming me so fully into the community here. When I arrived, the only person I knew was Kate, and well, she’s great and everything.’
Kate bowed and said, ‘I really am.’
‘And so humble,’ Emma teased. ‘Anyway, you’re all the absolute best and well,’ feeling tears of gratitude fill her eyes, she charged her glass, and said, ‘To Christmas at The Clock House.’
‘Christmas at The Clock House,’ came the cheer back as everyone raised their glasses in toast.
Everyone was settling back down with their drinks when Gloria said, ‘Okay, whose ring-tune is The Big Bang Theory?’
‘What?’ Emma looked up and realised she recognised the sound. ‘Oh. That’s me. I mean, that’s my phone.’ Getting up from the table she dived behind the bar to retrieve her phone from her bag and answer it. ‘Penny?’ she said excitedly. ‘Penny, is that you? Oh my God, I can’t believe it’s you. Happy, Happy Holidays. How’s it going over there? You’re never going to believe this but it’s snowed here. Snowed! It’s like something out of a movie! Wait—I’m going to take a photo and send it right to you. You will not believe how beautiful everything looks.’
She looked around the room grinning at everyone and saw Jake mouth the words, ‘Who’s Penny?’ and she laughed and said to the room, ‘My agent. Penny is my agent. Penny say hello to everyone … what? Hang on a moment, I can’t hear you,’ and popping her finger into her ear to deafen out the sound of chatter resuming around the table, she said, ‘Say that again.’
‘I said,’ said Penny, ‘How fast can you pack your bags because I got you the best Christmas present ever.’
‘I don’t understand, what do you mean best present ever?’
‘The part is yours, Soy Bean.’
‘What part is mine?’
‘The part. The one you wanted. The Jane Austen-esque rom-com. They phoned me yesterday and told me they made a mistake. The other person isn’t going to work out.’
‘The part is mine?’ At some level she realised her voice had risen a few decibels but it wasn’t until she was actually lapping the room, screaming over and over, ‘The part is mine, the part is mine,’ that she realised she might have deafened not only Penny but also everyone in the room.
The Cocktails & Chai room.
Of The Clock House.
Where she worked.
She stopped her crazy happy dancing and froze, except for her eyes, which tracked to each individual in the room but Jake’s.
‘I don’t understand,’ she said now, her voice barely a whisper. ‘They were so sure.’
‘They want you. You. They released her from her contract before they phoned me – that’s how much they want you. I’ve been trying to call you since yesterday.’
Yesterday, Emma thought.
When she’d spent the day preparing Jake’s Christmas present.
‘Is it my fault you don’t answer your phone?’ Penny was saying. ‘Anyway the part is yours, now get your skinny finest actor’s ass back here so we can start work. They want to start shooting straight after Christmas. Read-through in the studio and then they’ll send the travel schedule. So great that you’re already acclimatised to English winter because you’ll be back there filming within the month. Phone me back with your flight details, okay?’
‘Okay.’
/> ‘Happy Christmas my little Adzucki Bean.’
‘Happy Christmas,’ she said into the phone. She hadn’t failed? She’d got the part? She stared at her phone for several seconds before she remembered where she was.
‘What was that all about?’
And now she did look at Jake.
And he stared back at her.
Waiting quietly with about a thousand questions in his eyes.
‘Um, so, that was my agent Penny. She’s been trying to call me since yesterday to let me know that the lead part in a movie I thought I’d lost, is actually mine again. If I want it,’ she tacked on.
Suddenly her sightline to Jake was blocked by Kate throwing her hands up in the air and with an excited ‘Waaah,’ rushing in to hug her fiercely. ‘Oh my God, Emma. Well done. That’s amazing news. Right?’
‘Right,’ she said trying to find Jake in the crowd of hugs as everyone now got up from the table to offer their congratulations.
‘Best Christmas ever,’ Kate told her, hugging her fiercely.
‘Ever,’ she replied, her voice dull, her body feeling numb.
‘So what are you going to do?’ Gloria’s voice cut through the cheers.
‘Do?’ Emma blinked, trying to get her brain to work.
‘Yes. Do you want to accept?’
‘If I accept I need to go home and pack like right now because I’d need to be on a plane ASAP.’ Taking her courage in her hands she lifted her head to seek out Jake.
‘Wow. They don’t hang about, do they?’ Juliet said quietly.
‘At least it’s stopped snowing,’ Jake said.
All heads turned to look at Jake who had now stood up from the table and moved to stand opposite Emma.
‘Stopped snowing?’ she asked with a frown.
Clearing his throat, Jake nodded. ‘They’ll be clearing all the roads. You’ll be able to get a lift to the airport. Planes will be taking off.’
Ask me to stay.
But he didn’t.
She waited some more.
But he said nothing. Merely shoved his hands into his pockets.
Whipping her head around to find Kate, she said, ‘I can’t possibly go.’
‘Why not?’ Kate asked.