One Christmas Kiss in Notting Hill

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘No,’ Isla said quickly. ‘No, Chase is my—’

  ‘I’m a colleague, ma’am,’ Chase interrupted. ‘I’m over here for a few weeks working with Isla.’

  ‘I see,’ Mrs Edwards stated. ‘I see.’

  Isla had no idea what her neighbour could see but she wasn’t sure she wanted her seeing anything. Despite her being spot on about Verity and John, there were still occasions where random things came out of her mouth.

  Mrs Edwards leaned forward, her slight body invading Chase’s personal space. ‘She’s single you know. Hasn’t been on a date since a rather unfortunately dressed boy six months or so ago. Had an odd name and a lisp.’

  ‘Okay,’ Isla said, taking hold of Chase’s arm. ‘I think we need to go and see Hannah.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Chase replied. ‘I’m kinda enjoying my chat with Mrs Edwards right now.’

  ‘Oh, please, call me Gladys,’ Mrs Edwards said, false and slightly wonky eyelashes batting up and down.

  ‘Goodness, I think Hannah might fall out of her wheelchair. We should really go … quickly.’ Isla tugged at Chase’s sleeve, pulling him away from her neighbour.

  ‘It was nice talking to you,’ Chase said, waving a hand at the grey-haired lady.

  Isla closed her eyes and half-staggered away from the situation. She did love her tight community, apart from when they told everybody everything about your life.

  ‘You know I’m gonna ask what his name was, right?’ Chase said.

  Isla practically heard the smirk in his tone. ‘Not in a million years.’

  ‘And I wanna know what he was wearing to be described as “unfortunately dressed”.’

  ‘I believe it was an ice hockey uniform.’

  ‘Very good, Miss Winters, you got me.’ He nodded. ‘Okay, I can hold off knowing his name as long as you keep holding on to my arm like that.’

  Isla suddenly came-to and dropped her hand away. She had been holding his arm, like it was perfectly natural, just like the way they had walked through Kensington last night.

  ‘Sorry, I was just—’

  ‘Eager for me not to know about the last guy you dated.’

  Chase watched her cheeks go crimson again, clashing a little with that auburn hair. He was glad things between them were like this again. He swallowed. He had no real idea if the location for the village could change, he wasn’t even sure he should want it to change, but the fact of the matter was he needed to do something. He needed to give something else a chance. He had spent a good period of his life being blindsided. What if this hotel was another example of that? A blinkered view never led to success or harmony. He was absolute living proof of that.

  ‘Come on, Miss Winters, you know all about my messed-up personal life.’

  ‘I know. I just … have nothing much to say on the subject.’ She cleared her throat in that oh-so-British and endearing way. ‘Hannah, on the other hand, is doing extraordinarily well on the personal front with Raj.’

  Chase stopped walking just short of the amplifier where Nat King Cole was now emanating from the speakers. ‘Cute couple.’

  ‘Well, not quite a couple … not yet, anyway.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘Well, Hannah worries, you know, about being in her chair and although, ordinarily, she’s the most confident person I know, it’s a bit different when it comes to boys.’ She paused. ‘I mean, men.’

  ‘He bought her flowers?’ Chase asked, observing a bouquet nestled on Hannah’s lap.

  ‘Yes,’ Isla answered.

  ‘Then she has nothing to worry about,’ he assured her. ‘And, all the body language is looking good.’

  Isla turned her body towards him and he smiled, turning a little too.

  ‘I suppose you’re an expert in that too,’ she remarked.

  ‘It comes as part of the whole self-improvement package, I’m afraid.’

  She nodded. ‘So you know that if someone looks to the left they’re telling you a lie.’

  He met her gaze, ensuring his eyes stayed exactly front and centre. ‘I do know that,’ he answered. ‘But I also know there are techniques you can learn to train yourself not to do that.’

  ‘There are?’ she inquired. ‘Damn.’

  ‘Although I can’t imagine you ever needing to use any of them. You did promise me honesty, remember?’

  ‘I remember,’ she answered.

  ‘So,’ Chase said. ‘Let’s put it to the test.’

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ Isla said with a nervous laugh.

  ‘What are you afraid I’m going to ask?’

  Isla’s stupid eyes were already frisking all over the place not knowing what they were doing or where to settle. Why had she brought that stupid lie-detecting thing up?

  ‘Nothing,’ she replied quickly, attempting to steady her gaze. Never had she needed Optrex more.

  ‘Well, what I wanna know is …’ Chase began.

  Her eyes seemed to be locked to his now … and his were so beguiling. She needed an interruption … maybe even for Mrs Edwards to come back.

  ‘Have you kissed anyone else in Larkspur Gardens?’

  Isla’s throat felt dry, like someone had made her eat a whole box of Ritz biscuits … in a desert.

  ‘Well … I … that wasn’t anything like the question I was expecting,’ she rushed out.

  ‘No?’ he queried, eyes still holding hers.

  ‘No, I mean, I was expecting you to ask me something about my work at Breekers or ask when they open all the ridiculous things in jam jars we’re all meant to try before the wine and cheese night is out.’

  ‘Isla,’ Chase whispered.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘You haven’t answered my question.’

  ‘No,’ she blurted out.

  ‘No?’ he queried. ‘No you haven’t answered or no you haven’t—’

  ‘I haven’t kissed anyone else in Larkspur Gardens.’

  She suddenly remembered this had been meant to be a test of her eyes not going to the left if she lied. She hadn’t lied. She hadn’t needed to lie. She had never kissed anyone in any square. Not even in Beaumont Square. The rare dates she had had were all wrapped up at a pizzeria or the theatre.

  ‘Okay,’ Chase replied.

  ‘Okay?’ Isla said. Her heart was thumping in her chest and now it wasn’t his eyes she was staring at, it was his full lips and that hint of stubble on his firm jawline.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘We can go open some jam jars now.’

  ‘Well … what about my question?’

  ‘Your question?’

  ‘Don’t I get a question?’ Isla swallowed down a barrel-load of nervousness.

  He smiled then, opening his arms. ‘Shoot.’

  She knew then exactly what she was going to ask him. ‘Do you think we have a chance, even a tiny, small chance of changing the board’s mind about Notting Hill?’

  There was no hesitation in his reply. ‘Yes.’

  Isla nodded.

  ‘Now can we go open jam jars?’ Chase asked her.

  ‘Of course,’ she replied, smiling.

  ‘Daddy!’ Maddie called across the square. ‘Raj is teaching me how to rap!’

  ‘Goodness,’ Isla said. ‘You’d better hurry over there. As much as I like Raj he does have some flavoursome language.’

  ‘Are you coming with?’ Chase asked.

  ‘I just need to find Mrs Webley. Talk through arrangements for the Christmas Fayre.’

  ‘Can I get you another drink?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ she answered. ‘I’ll be there in a tick.’

  He turned his back and, as he began to walk back to his children, Isla let out a breath. He might have answered yes to her question but, whether he knew tricks and techniques or not, his eyes had shifted just slightly and when they had moved they had moved westwards. To his left.

  Fifty-Eight

  Isla had eaten three gherkins, two chunks of Seckel pear and a Harukei turnip. Despite almost completing her five-
a-day in one foul swoop she was worried, given the pickling process, that she might well have undone all the good with salt and sugar absorption.

  ‘Pah! Pah! Ugh! What the hell is the purple one?’ Hannah’s tongue was lolling out of her mouth as she looked to Isla for some sort of help.

  ‘I’m not sure. I haven’t eaten anything since I ate some of the orange one.’ She hadn’t been sure what the orange one was. It had tasted of candied jelly and not in a good way.

  ‘Has my tongue gone purple?’ Hannah questioned. ‘Tell me now, while Raj is in our house using the loo.’ She poked her tongue out. ‘Is it aubergine? I hate aubergine! Pah! Pah!’

  Isla passed Hannah a napkin and then her eyes went to the other side of the square and two figures coming across the road to join the festivities. No. They wouldn’t, would they?

  ‘Han,’ Isla said as her sister spat into the tissue. ‘Is that Verity and John?’

  ‘What? Ugh, this stuff! I can’t get it out of my mouth! I think I need to down the Baileys.’

  As the couple got nearer, Isla could see it was Verity and she could only presume the man next to her was her husband, John. She swallowed. These people allegedly worked for Breekers. They had moved into Beaumont Square with the sole purpose of working out how viable building a super-village in the area was. And they had done all that under the radar. And even, if she really did believe Chase, under the CEO’s radar.

  ‘Yes,’ Hannah finally answered. ‘They’ve come. How hilarious! All that measuring for a fake plan. I almost feel sorry for them.’

  Isla swallowed. None of what Hannah thought she knew about the situation was true. How was she going to handle that?

  ‘Daddy, this cheese is soooo good!’

  Chase looked at Maddie. She had a chunk of green-looking cheese in her fingers, speckles of it over her lips. This was one of the strangest yet best nights he had had in so long. It was like a throwback to how life used to be. At the weekends, when he was a kid, his parents had thrown parties by whatever lake in whichever town they were living at the time. Barbecues with new-found friends, swimming, tailgates of trucks down, music up, smiles, laughter and lights just like the ones strung up around the gardens. That’s the kind of life he wanted for Brooke and Maddie. Happy, simple yet strong in its lucidity. That wasn’t New York … but it was Montgomery. Except their life, far, far away in Montgomery, was without him.

  ‘The drinks are good too,’ Brooke answered.

  His eyes went to his elder daughter whose earbuds had been out of her ears for the entire evening so far. Was she actually, genuinely, smiling?

  ‘Chase.’

  It was Isla at his shoulder, a worried expression on her face.

  ‘Hey, what’s up?’ he asked.

  ‘Verity and John are here,’ she said. ‘The colleagues …’ She lowered her voice. ‘Who we didn’t know were colleagues.’

  ‘Awesome,’ he responded. ‘Let’s go meet them.’

  ‘What? No, I can’t …’ Isla began.

  ‘Why not? We need to find out what they’ve been finding out, right?’

  He watched her look to Hannah and almost instantaneously he knew what this was about. He knew how much she cared for her sister, how important she was in Isla’s life. As much as the news about the proposal for the area had scared the life out of her, she had thought about protecting her sister first. Protecting her sister from his plan.

  ‘You didn’t tell Hannah about Notting Hill, did you?’

  She shook her head. ‘I couldn’t.’

  ‘No problem,’ Chase replied. ‘We can be discreet.’ He turned to his children. ‘Brooke, Maddie, you stay right here and I’ll be back in a New York minute.’

  ‘Can we have some more to eat?’ Maddie questioned, popping the last remnants of the cheese in her hand into her mouth.

  ‘Nothing you don’t know the origin of,’ Chase stated. ‘I wouldn’t recommend the orange or purple things in the jars.’

  Isla felt awkward and she wasn’t sure why. Why should she feel out of sorts when these two people had been in her midst so secretively?

  ‘Are you gonna introduce me?’ Chase asked her.

  Verity and John were right there, loitering by Mr Edwards’ rose bush, dressed completely inappropriately for the event. Verity was wearing worn-down Ugg boots and John was in jeans. It appeared no one had told them about the need for a little sparkle at the wine and cheese night. But … Isla could do this. She was professional. She was not going to talk to them as if they were the construction equivalent of Fred and Rose West.

  ‘Hello, Verity,’ she called out, waving a hand and stepping forward. ‘How nice of you to come.’

  ‘Hello,’ Verity replied. ‘It’s Lucy, isn’t it?’

  ‘Isla, actually,’ she answered. She put out a hand towards the dark-haired man. ‘And you must be John.’

  ‘Hello,’ the man said, shaking Isla’s hand.

  ‘Gosh,’ Isla said. ‘Well, this is so exciting because I just found out that we actually work for the same company.’

  ‘We do?’ Verity responded. Did she look suitably concerned? Isla studied the movement of her eyes.

  ‘We do,’ Chase said, holding out his hand. ‘My name is Chase Bryan. I’m the CEO of Breekers International and Isla here is my esteemed colleague.’

  It sounded so much more of an enviable position than Go-To Girl and Isla smiled at her two neighbours.

  It was John who reacted first. ‘Wow, that is rather unbelievable.’ He shook Chase’s hand. ‘But it’s so good to meet you. And the project … wow … it’s such an incredible idea.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Chase said. ‘Well, now we’re all acquainted I’m hoping you’re gonna get me up to speed with what you’ve been working on over here.’

  ‘Yes, of course. We’ve actually been Skyping quite a lot with the New York office this week … until we had the break-in,’ Verity said.

  ‘Break-in?’ Chase queried.

  Isla swallowed. She had never told Chase exactly how she had come into possession of the map and her gut was telling her now wasn’t the time to come clean either.

  ‘Yes, our house was burgled, paperwork taken and before that … our cat.’

  Oh God! So Mrs Edwards did have their pet. How had that happened? And ‘Purdy’ was here tonight, on a lead just a few snow-topped bushes away.

  ‘Your cat?’ Chase queried.

  ‘I’m sure it can’t have gone far,’ Isla jumped in. ‘It’s such a lovely, friendly community.’

  ‘Goodness,’ Verity said, hands going to her mouth. ‘How are you feeling about these plans? It must be a bit of a conflict of interest for you, no?’

  That was a real understatement if ever there was one but she had to hide it. She smiled. ‘Business is business.’

  ‘And it’s not a done deal yet,’ Chase added. ‘There are other areas in the running.’

  ‘Really?’ John questioned. ‘I was under the impression that our task here was more underpinning than anything else.’

  ‘Nothing in business is quite that straightforward,’ Chase replied. ‘Isla and I are gonna check out those other locations first thing on Monday.’

  ‘The north of the city is ripe for some greater rejuvenation in my opinion,’ Isla added.

  Chase clapped his hands together, his breath cold in the air. ‘Shall we talk?’ he asked. ‘Tell me what you’ve found.’

  ‘Excuse me,’ Verity said, eyes moving over the Christmas lights towards the trestle tables the rest of the neighbourhood were gathered around. ‘I’m just completely convinced I saw my cat.’

  Isla reached out and took hold of Verity’s arm, directing her, and hopefully her gaze, away from Mrs Edwards. ‘So, Verity, you really must try some of Mr Webley’s sausage later. It’s always the talk of the town at this time of year.’

  ‘John,’ Chase said. ‘Tell me how long have you worked for the company?’

  Isla smiled as they moved towards an unoccupied table set with more filled
jam jars. She had to believe that where there was some sort of company tag-team there had to be hope.

  Fifty-Nine

  ‘We need to move the cat,’ Isla hissed in Hannah’s ear.

  She had spent thirty minutes or more hearing about how John and Verity had been scouring the area, learning all there was to know about the businesses and homes in the proposed Notting Hill area as well as performing market research which Isla thought was seriously jumping the gun. Each part of her beloved home they had visited with their ‘looking to re-establish’ heads on stung like a hornet’s barb. But she had maintained her cool, letting them continue, letting Chase soak it all up, secretly hoping there was something, anything planning-wise she could leap on to discredit the area.

  ‘What cat?’ Hannah asked.

  ‘Mrs Edwards’s cat-that-isn’t-Mrs-Edwards’s-cat,’ Isla replied. ‘It’s John and Verity’s.’

  ‘Is it really?!’ Hannah exclaimed, mouth falling open to display a severely purple tongue. ‘I really thought I’d got that wrong. I never had Mrs E down as a thief.’

  ‘And she did it all without the aid of skeleton keys,’ Isla added.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Never mind. Let’s do something,’ Isla said, putting her hands to Ronnie’s handles.

  ‘She loves that cat,’ Hannah remarked. ‘And Verity and John turned down lasagne and are spying for your competitor. Is that why Chase is talking to them now?’

  ‘Hmm,’ Isla replied. What else could she say?

  ‘And how is the gorgeous CEO?’ Hannah asked. ‘I did notice your little tête-a-tête seemed to be going well.’

  ‘How about you and Raj?’ Isla countered. ‘What lovely flowers.’

  ‘That’s where he is,’ Hannah responded, glowing. ‘In our house putting the flowers in some water. They are lovely, aren’t they?’