Christmas under a Cranberry Sky

by Holly Martin

  ‘Please do, you’d be welcome any time.’

  Gabe opened the door for Pip but as they walked out he heard Finn say quietly, ‘Are they together?’

  ‘I think so,’ Joy whispered back.

  Pip had clearly heard it too, as she blushed when they walked outside.

  He sighed. The town’s people were convinced they understood the complexities of their relationship when Gabe didn’t have a clue.

  Chapter 14

  Pip walked back towards the hotel with Gabe by her side. She had spent a lovely few hours getting to know all the villagers and looking around all the shops. She had stuffed herself silly at the lodge selling sweets and fudge, and at a different shop selling churros and doughnuts. She had filled up on several glorious cups of mulled wine and had a wonderful time buying wooden crafts, handmade tree ornaments, jewellery and patterned glass lanterns. She had no idea how she would take all these things with her if she did leave, but she would deal with that when the time came. She had never bought souvenirs from any place she had visited before, but there was something so compelling about the people selling them. She loved chatting to them and they had all been so friendly and approachable.

  ‘I think it’s safe to say that the Christmas market is going to be a big hit. If you had taken the time to interview and hand-pick the villagers, you wouldn’t have been able to get a bunch of nicer people. The products they sold were unique and beautiful and they all took the time to chat to me. Your guests are going to love them as much as the things they are selling.’

  ‘They’re brilliant, aren’t they? I want Stardust Lake Hotel to work for them, not just for me. And they certainly seemed to like you.’

  Pip smiled. She liked them too. Several of the shopkeepers had hugged her when she left. They were all warm, kind and genuine people. But almost every single one of them had either subtly hinted or blatantly talked about her and Gabe being a couple and how wonderful it was.

  Gabe had repeatedly said that they were just friends as if he was a stuck record and after the first few shops he had dropped her hand and not held it again, though that still hadn’t stopped the questions or comments.

  They walked back into the main reception area and Pip stamped her feet to get rid of the snow.

  ‘Any messages?’ Gabe said to Iris.

  ‘No, but the power has come back on. We have power in all the lodges now.’

  Gabe went very still.

  Iris turned to Pip. ‘You can move back into your lodge tonight if you want. Jake can help you take your things over. Do you want the key now or would you prefer to move tomorrow?’

  Pip had no idea what the right answer was. Would it be better to move into the lodge so she would be out of Gabe’s hair? He kept insisting they were just friends, after all.

  He looked at her waiting for her answer when she was hoping he would help her with that decision. If he wanted her to stay with him she would. When the silence stretched on she made the decision herself.

  ‘I’ll take the key now; at least I can have a look at the place. Then I can decide later whether to move tonight or tomorrow.’

  Iris nodded. ‘Of course, whatever is easiest for you. Just give us a call if you want Jake to help you.’

  Iris handed over the key.

  ‘I’ll show you where it is,’ Gabe said, quietly.

  They walked out of the reception and down the path towards the lodges. Strings of lights hung from the roofs, confirming the lodges did have power; they looked so pretty.

  Gabe didn’t say anything as they walked down the path and she somehow got the idea she had made the wrong decision, at least as far as he was concerned.

  They stopped outside a large lodge that was opposite Gabe’s, though Gabe’s was set back much further from the path than hers.

  Gabe opened the door and let her in. It was cold inside, not having had the benefit of heating for several days, and Gabe immediately set about building a fire in the log burner as Pip looked around.

  In many ways the lodge was similar to Gabe’s though on a slightly smaller scale. There was a lounge area that led through to a tiny kitchen and stairs leading up to a balcony that overlooked the lounge and, by the looks of things, it led up to two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was a large, beautifully decorated tree in one corner and garlands of lights and greenery hanging from the balcony. It was warm and cosy and the thought of staying there alone was actually a good one. Having some space from Gabe would give her time to figure out what she wanted and, maybe, if she was clever enough, she could figure out what he wanted too.

  ‘Well, this is lovely. I think I’ll pack my things up and stay here tonight.’

  Gabe stared at her, anger, disappointment and hurt warring in his eyes. ‘Fine,’ he snapped. ‘I’ll get Jake to bring your case over as soon as you’re ready.’

  He turned to walk away.

  ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you?’ Pip asked. Though it didn’t take a genius to work out, but he had been sending her some very mixed messages.

  ‘Well, you running away from me the first chance you get isn’t exactly a positive sign.’

  ‘I thought you’d be happy.’

  ‘Why would I be happy?’

  ‘I’ve woken you two nights running with my stupid nightmares and if I’m over here then I’m away from Wren. I know you don’t want me anywhere near her, which by the way is not exactly a positive sign either.’

  He stood there staring at her. ‘That’s not… You’ve misunderstood. I loved seeing you two in bed together this morning; it’s wonderful to see you play and talk and how good you are with her, but I don’t want her getting attached to you if you’re going to leave after Christmas. You’ve given me no indication of whether you plan to stay. It’s going to be hard enough for me to let you walk away from me a second time, I don’t want Wren to go through that too.’

  He was protecting Wren from getting too attached. She hadn’t even thought of that.

  ‘You’ve given me no indication of what you want from me either,’ Pip said. ‘If you want me to stay then you need to give me something to stay for. You’ve already told Wren we wouldn’t get married.’

  ‘Of course we wouldn’t. If you stayed, marriage would be a long way away.’

  ‘And you’ve repeatedly told everyone in the village that we’re just friends.’

  ‘Why are you misunderstanding everything I’m doing? We used to be so in tune with each other.’

  ‘That was twelve years ago, Gabe, we’ve both changed so much.’

  ‘I didn’t want you to feel pressurised by them. I didn’t want them going on about us getting married and being together in case it scared you off or made you feel like you had to make some sort of commitment that you don’t want to make. It is hard enough for us to think about starting again after all this time. As you’ve said, we have changed. I have a little girl to think about now. You have your dream job travelling all over the world and I’d never want to get in the way of that. If we do properly get back together it has to be the right thing for both of us and I don’t want to guilt you into anything or push you into staying if you don’t…’ He swallowed. ‘If you don’t have any feelings for me.’

  She stepped closer and he looked at her warily. ‘I think we’ve established that we both have feelings for each other. We’ve shared some pretty heated kisses over the last day or so.’

  ‘Is it just lust and sex, though?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t know. Is it? Hell, we’re not even doing that at the moment.’

  ‘Is that what you want? Do you want me to just lie you down in front of that fire and make love to you right here and right now?’ Gabe said, clearly annoyed.

  Pip opened her mouth to protest but no words came out. She stared at him then stared at the rug in front of the fire. There was a huge part of her that wanted that more than anything right now. Gabe stepped closer, his scent and warmth capturing all her senses. She looked up at him and the anger he’d shown had suddenly
gone. ‘Is that what you want?’ he repeated, softly.

  She couldn’t move, she couldn’t breathe. But finally she found her voice. ‘No. It’s been many years since I’ve been with someone. I decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t just sleep with someone for the sake of sex and I don’t want that with you. I don’t want to have a quick shag with you just to quench this spark between us. If we’re going to be together in that way then it has to be for the right reasons.’

  His eyes softened and he moved his hands to her shoulders. ‘I don’t want to do anything to hurt you. I think we’re both scared of taking that next step. But all I can think of is you leaving here the day after New Year’s Day and I feel like I’m holding myself back from getting hurt again. I don’t want to fall in love with you again and watch you walk away.’

  She knew she had to give him something. If they were really going to give their relationship a chance, then she had to give him something to trust in.

  ‘I could stay. If that’s what you want. I have a six-month sabbatical from work. I’ve worked for them solidly for over ten years and you’re my last job before I take six months off. I was going to rent a flat in London and see what staying still feels like for a change. If you wanted I could stay here for a month or two or however long we need to find out if what we have is lust or love.’

  His face split into a broad grin. ‘You’d stay?’

  ‘If you want me to.’

  ‘I do.’

  Gabe kissed her. The taste of him, the feel of him was just magnificent. Every time they kissed the need for him ripped through her like he was a drug she couldn’t get enough of. The heat and urgency in his kiss was such a turn-on, the way he was tasting her and holding her against him. He moved his hands to her hair, running his fingers round the back of her neck. His hands wandered back to her hips and he lifted her against him as he lowered them both to the floor in front of the fire.

  She let out a little moan of protest, but now he was pinning her to the floor her heart wasn’t really into denying him any longer. He felt glorious pressed against her.

  ‘I’m just going to kiss you for a while, nothing more I promise,’ he said.

  She nodded and he kissed her again.

  It was hot there, the flames flickering just a few feet from where they lay and he wrestled himself out of his jacket without taking his lips from hers and then helped her out of hers. There was something about him undressing her which was such a turn-on even though she knew he wouldn’t take it any further.

  As the kiss continued his questing hands took the time to caress and stroke her, his touch velvety soft, and she found herself moaning against his mouth.

  Finally he pulled away slightly, though he didn’t get off her. He just stared down at her.

  ‘You’d really stay here?’

  She nodded. ‘I don’t have to live with you. I get that you don’t want me to get too involved with Wren, but hopefully there’s somewhere else I can stay…’

  ‘I want you to live with me. We’ll go slowly. You can sleep in your room and I’ll sleep in mine, but I want to spend my evenings getting to know you again. And I’ll let everyone in the village know if you want.’

  Pip laughed.

  ‘I want you to get to know Wren too,’ he said, softly. ‘I didn’t handle that the right way and I’m sorry. I’ve always kept Wren away from the women I date. She’s met them but never really spent any time with them because I knew it wasn’t going to last. She adores you and if this is going to work between us then you both need to get to know each other.’

  ‘I want to spend time with her too. I think she’s lovely.’

  He smiled and then stood up, holding out a hand to help her up.

  ‘So shall we take the key to this lodge back?’

  She nodded. ‘I’d like that. But everyone will talk.’

  ‘Let them. This is between us.’

  ‘I like that there’s an “us” again.’

  He grinned. ‘I do too.’

  * * *

  ‘She’s asleep,’ Gabe said, as he walked back into the lounge after putting Wren to bed. After leaving Pip with Wren for fifteen minutes while he responded to an email and made a phone call, he had returned to a full production of Frozen being re-enacted in Wren’s bedroom. All her teddy bears had been lined up in rows to watch, Wren had got changed out of her pyjamas and back into her Elsa dress and the Frozen soundtrack was being belted out as Wren sang the words over the microphone. Pip was running around the room alternating between playing every other character apart from Elsa, which was obviously Wren’s job, while Wren directed proceedings over the microphone in between singing. Wren had been giggling helplessly at Pip’s attempts at playing Sven the reindeer and Olaf the snowman. It had been incredibly endearing to watch while simultaneously beyond frustrating that, after giving a sleepy Wren a bath and tucking her up in bed, he had left Pip to read her a story and returned to this cacophony of a disaster zone. It had taken him over half an hour to get her calm enough to climb into bed and nearly an hour after that to get her to go to sleep.

  Although Pip had never had any experience of looking after children, she had a natural way with his daughter that Wren was drawn to. Pip was like the fun-time aunt who knew how to have a good time with her: she knew how to make Wren laugh and how to talk to her but had no idea how to actually be a parent – when to be strict and not give in to her demands. But then she’d only been around Wren for three days, he couldn’t expect her to suddenly be mum of the year. But mothering skills would come with time. He knew she was good for Wren. But Pip was good for him too.

  Pip winced. ‘I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to wind her up. She said she always sings Frozen songs before she goes to sleep. I didn’t think she would lie to me. She looks too wholesome and cute for that.’

  ‘Oh, she always lies. Especially if it helps to get her an extra portion of pudding or Frozen songs just before bedtime. You just got played.’

  Pip giggled and Gabe felt the frustration seep out of him. There was no harm done. He plonked himself down next to Pip and slung his arm round her shoulders, running his fingers through her hair. She felt so warm and soft next to him and if she hadn’t had her laptop balanced on her lap he would have pushed her down on the sofa and kissed her until all that warmth and goodness seeped into him.

  There were only three more days until the guests arrived and he could feel panic and worry burning inside of him. He knew that, apart from a little bit of work on the houses in the village, the place was ready, and with Pip staying with him, that freed up another one of the lodges in the grounds of Stardust Lake Hotel. The power was back on. There was a fresh delivery of food arriving the day before the guests came. Every lodge was beautifully decorated. Even the snow seemed to be clean and sparkling. But these guests would be the making or breaking of the place, especially the dreaded Mr Black who had written more bad reviews recently than he had good ones.

  When they’d found out he was coming, Gabe had spent a few hours looking at every review he had written in the last year, taking note of the things that Mr Black liked, the things he didn’t and making sure that there would be nothing lacking in those areas. But lately the reviews had been getting more and more scathing, as if Mr Black’s patience was wearing thin. They would just have to make sure there was nothing that he could find fault with. If only they knew which of their guests was Mr Black, that would help massively.

  There were three things that Mr Black consistently liked to eat. From the reviews, Gabe knew that Mr Black had a wide and varied taste, enjoying a plethora of exotic and wonderful dishes, but whenever mushroom soup, pasta carbonara or crème brûlée was on the menu, Mr Black always had them so he could compare the recipes the world over.

  Gabe had made sure that the first night the guests arrived those three things would be on the menu, among other things, and they were going to be the best that Mr Black had ever tasted. Gabe had one of the finest chefs he had ever worked with living
here now and Uri had been refining his recipes on those dishes in particular over the last few weeks. Gabe had tasted more mushroom soup and crème brûlée in the past weeks than he’d ever had in a lifetime, but he was sure that Uri now had it down to a fine art.

  Not only was the offer of these foods going to be a good way to welcome Mr Black to the resort, but it was one sure-fire way to identify who Mr Black was once and for all or at the very least narrow it down. There couldn’t be many people who would order that exact starter, main course and dessert out of all the other options on the menu, but Mr Black wouldn’t be able to resist in order to compare Stardust Lake Hotel with the other hotels in that particular field.

  He sighed as he ran his fingers round Pip’s neck. He had to make a success of this. He didn’t know whether it was his grandad’s legacy he wanted to protect or whether it was the fact that he’d pretty much had to start from the beginning with this project and he had poured everything he had into it, but this felt more important than any other project he’d worked on before.

  He just had to sit back now and let his staff do the jobs they had been hired to do. Although quite a few of the islanders had been employed to work in the hotel, in one capacity or another, he had also brought several members of staff with him and he knew he had one of the best teams he’d ever had here. Everything was ready. Though that still didn’t stop the nerves from twisting his gut. He needed a distraction and Pip had arrived at the perfect time to provide that.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked, as Pip clicked on tiny icons on the laptop and moved them into different folders.

  ‘I’m just sorting out my photos.’

  ‘The photos you take for work?’

  She hesitated for a second before she answered. ‘No, these are my personal ones. There’s a set format with the photos I take for work: bedrooms, pools, reception areas, the outside of the hotels, a few individual aspects, like a garden or the ice palace, for example. There isn’t much room for creativity. So after the boring ones are taken, I always end up taking loads of my own.’