‘That Kyle again?’ he asked when Scarlett’s phone pinged.
She didn’t answer but judging by the look on her face he’d guessed correctly.
‘I know you think I’m too strict with you, but you’re at an important stage in your life with school. Plenty of time to be distracted by boys later.’
‘I’m sixteen, and when Mum was my age she was pregnant so I’d say it’s about the age where it’s normal to be interested in boys.’
They crossed the street and once they were on the other side walked briskly to get away from the crowd for now. The shivering temperatures couldn’t battle through his big down-padded jacket plus scarf and gloves, and it was nice to be outside. It was probably far better than sinking back beers at the inn too.
The snow had stopped but some of the cars still had it clinging to their roofs or bordering windscreens like frames of a painting. He continued their conversation as they walked on, past shoppers in the festive spirit, another guy collecting for a homeless charity who thanked him for pushing in a donation. ‘Having a baby so young changed the course of our lives completely,’ he admitted.
‘Babies have a way of doing that,’ Scarlett replied.
‘We both missed out on a lot, we didn’t get the freedom that comes when you grow up, and it was harder than I’d ever thought it would be. We struggled financially, I changed career direction altogether.’
She looked at him and nearly walked into a woman coming the other way who wasn’t so polite in her rebuke. ‘You never told me. I can’t imagine you being anything other than an investment banker, you seem to enjoy it. You spend a lot of time at the office.’
He ignored the subtle dig at his absence.
‘What did you want to be? Wait, let me guess. An architect?’
‘Whatever makes you think that?’
‘You got really into it when we redid the house, bossing those builders about, getting everything the way you wanted.’
‘They were cutting corners, that’s why.’
She thought some more. ‘So, if not an architect…plumber?’
‘Now I know you’re not being serious.’ His attempts to fix anything around the house usually ended up making it ten times worse and then having to call in the professionals to fix his bodge job. ‘I wanted to be a surgeon.’
‘Seriously? Dad, that is way cool.’
‘Way cool,’ he agreed. ‘But it wasn’t meant to be.’
‘Why didn’t you do it? Mum got to be a nurse, why not become a doctor if that’s what you wanted?’
‘Because it would’ve involved many, many years of studying, placements, shift work, and I felt with a family to focus on I needed a well-paying job that I could get into a lot sooner.’ He’d been sensible and pragmatic when they first found out they were having a baby, but that had only lasted so long before he’d felt the pressures and fought the walls closing in around them, the stress of having to live together under his parents’ roof. ‘Part of me wonders where I’d be now if I’d kept on the career path I really wanted, even though I have a career I do enjoy.’
They crossed over the next intersection and he came back to the whole point of this trip down memory lane. ‘I don’t want you to make the same mistakes we did, Scarlett. I want you to have choices while you’re young, enjoy your freedom. As I’ve already said, you’re on holiday, so is Kyle. I expect he’s looking for a bit of fun.’
‘And maybe so am I.’
They’d reached the street where the Inglenook Inn stood proudly in the brownstone on the other side and he did his best not to think too hard about her last comment. ‘Holiday romances are usually about one thing, in my opinion.’ He didn’t even want to think about his daughter wanting the kind of fun he remembered wanting as a seventeen-year-old boy. She wasn’t ready. Hell, he wasn’t ready!
‘I know what you’re getting at and, for goodness’ sake, we’ve only kissed and we’ve barely spent much time together – you’re being paranoid.’ Her face changed, frustration replaced with a scowl. ‘I can’t believe I never saw it before.’
They’d crossed over and were in front of the inn now. ‘Saw what?’
‘You wish you’d never had me.’
‘Of course not, but I regret we did it so young.’
‘Is that why you never spent much time with me?’
‘Scarlett…I’m always there for you.’
‘You’re always around now, but that wasn’t always the case, was it? Some of it I remember, the rest I’ve heard about. I listened to you and Gran once, her telling you that you need to be there for me. Did you think that with this one holiday you could erase all those times I remember as a kid when you weren’t there? I’d lie in bed and refuse to go to sleep until you came home. I never lasted of course because half the time you never bothered. Do you know how much I longed for you to be the type of dad to tuck me in and read me a story?’
‘God, I’m sorry, Scarlett.’ He hadn’t realised quite how much she remembered.
‘You can’t buy my forgiveness with a holiday.’
‘It was a long time ago.’
‘It wasn’t just the stories.’ With her boot she scraped at the white dusting of snow on the bottom step of the Inglenook Inn entrance. ‘You went away a lot, you worked weekends and shut yourself away in the study. The time it snowed on Christmas Eve you were down the pub and it was up to mum and I to make a snowman, I don’t think you even saw it before it all melted. I cried myself to sleep that night. You rarely made it to my swim lessons, even when I represented the school in a gala once. I was so proud to be there, I searched the crowd for your face but you never came. I know it didn’t feel like much, but it was a lot for me.’
‘I don’t know what to say apart from how sorry I am.’
‘After Mum died you were better, you’ve always been there for me, you had to be, but it doesn’t wipe away all that hurt.’
‘I know it doesn’t. I just freaked out, I felt trapped. I was so young, we both were. The way I reacted, how I distanced myself and stayed away from you and your mum, threw myself into work, it wasn’t right. I know that now. But my life as I knew it had been taken away.’
‘Because of me,’ she concluded with a shake of her head. ‘You wish Mum had never got pregnant.’
Exasperated, he said the one thing he probably shouldn’t. ‘If I’m being honest, yes!’ His voice echoed down the tree-lined street. ‘I wish I’d been a decade older before I was tied down, I wish I’d followed the career path I planned. There, I’ve said it.’
‘Nice to know, Dad. Nice to know.’
Wishing he hadn’t opened his big mouth he added, ‘You know I can’t imagine life without you now, don’t you?’
But she’d already turned and stomped her way up the steps and into the inn, leaving him out in the cold.
Chapter Nine
Amelia
It had been a week since the run-in with Nathan at the Inglenook Inn. Since then Amelia had tried to talk to Kyle but at the same time she’d given him space. They’d both worked shifts at the markets, they’d both gone off around the city doing their own thing, reconvening in the evenings for dinner.
Amelia suspected Kyle had been seeing quite a bit of Scarlett judging by the way he took longer to get ready before going out, how there was the aroma of whatever body spray he used whenever he was about to leave the apartment, and she’d seen Scarlett lurking by the Christmas tree stall on several occasions when Kyle was working. Tonight she decided it was time to push again, time to talk to him. But first, they needed to decorate the tree, something she’d put off until now, with Kyle being in an unpredictable mood.
She took off her coat, tired from a day at the Garland Street markets but determined to have some time with Kyle this evening to find out more about how he was feeling. In her job she’d been accused of overstepping but this time she’d backed off enough and couldn’t do so any longer. ‘Did you have a good day?’ She’d start with a simple question to gauge his mood.
‘Yeah, Mitch is a decent bloke. Don’t mind working with him.’
It was a start, he was at least talking in more than grunts or one-word answers.
Amelia had been relieved that the showdown at the inn hadn’t caused Mitch to tell Kyle his help was no longer needed at the market stall. The work ethic had to start somewhere and here in another city, without Connie breathing down his neck or undesirables trying to get him roped in with whatever they were up to, it was a start for Kyle. And when he was working and selling those trees he looked happier than he had in a long while.
She eyed the box of decorations still waiting by the curved window that looked out over the street. ‘We need to do the tree.’
‘Now? I’m knackered.’
‘Me too, but look at it. It’s not fulfilling its Christmas wish.’
‘What a load of…’ Her stare stopped him going further.
Standing by the window, she undid the box and when she turned her head as movement caught her eye, she smiled.
‘What is it?’
‘It’s snowing,’ she beamed.
Even he managed to haul himself from the sofa to the window. ‘Wonder if the ground will be covered in the morning.’
‘I hope it is.’
‘I suppose we don’t have to drive anywhere, just walk to the markets.’
‘It’s going to be a wonderful Christmas, Kyle, I promise you.’
His smile wasn’t quite as big as she would’ve liked but his enthusiasm was there when he said, ‘I’ll do the lights, it’s a man’s job.’
‘No argument from me, I hate winding them round. The pine needles get in my hair and I always end up in a tangle.’
With her guidance he soon had the lights on and they tested them, adjusted a few so they were spaced evenly, and tucked the wiring out of sight. Next it was time for the baubles Darcy had given them as part of the collection she was happy to share – silver, ice blue and shiny purple. Amelia bossed Kyle about to make sure the colours were evenly spread out.
‘What about these next?’ He held up a set of twelve red-and-white drums hanging from sparkly white thread.
‘Go for it, evenly spaced though, and I’ll do the pine cones.’
‘You’re way too bossy. Mum’s the same. I thought part of the fun of decorating the tree was letting your kids do it no matter how haphazard it became. Mum likes things to match, last year the theme was tartan. She had ribbons on the ends of branches, ornaments in the right colours.’
‘I remember it well, it looked like something out of a catalogue.’ Thrilled he was talking more than usual she hung the first of the pine cones on the tree and moved around to do the rest.
Kyle hung the second drum higher than the first and moved round to place the third. ‘A couple of years ago she went for minimalistic.’
‘I remember.’ Scarlett unwrapped a penguin wearing a woollen hat with snow dusting the top. ‘I thought she’d forgotten where half her decorations were.’
‘Exactly. It was boring.’
‘It wasn’t her best effort.’
‘Dad always did the tree before he died.’
Amelia didn’t swallow hard because his voice softened, or because she could remember it vividly, but because he was talking about his dad again. And she knew he needed to.
Stuart had been all about the overindulgence at Christmas, the extravagance. He’d never been the sort of man to sit back and leave it to the women. And he always wanted to shower his family not with gifts but with excitement and the feeling of the season that had never been quite the same after he was gone.
‘Your dad loved Christmas.’ After she hung the penguin, she picked up the fireman ornament Kyle had bought the other day and that she hadn’t probed him about at the time. ‘Here, put it somewhere we can see it.’
He lifted the decoration and hung it just above eye level for him, above a light to show it off. ‘I made my own fireman decoration once.’
‘I remember,’ Amelia smiled. ‘The silver bauble with the red ribbon. You painted a fire truck onto it.’
‘That’s the one. Mum must’ve thrown it out.’
‘No way, she wouldn’t.’
‘Wanna bet? It would’ve gone around the time she decided to do designer trees. I never saw it again once she got going with those arrangements, saying annoying phrases like “less is more” and “don’t forget the theme”.’
‘Why don’t you text her, ask if she still has the decoration?’
He grunted. ‘Maybe.’
‘Have you spoken to her since we got here?’
‘I told her we arrived at the apartment.’
‘Since then?’
‘I texted her to tell her I worked at the market. Thought it might make her happy to know I wasn’t being too annoying for you.’
‘I’m glad you’re keeping in touch while we’re here.’ As soon as communication dwindled, it would only get worse. Some kids needed distance from their parent or parents to get some perspective, to order things in their mind, but not Kyle. He needed people in his corner, he needed to be reminded he still mattered to them. And quite why Connie wasn’t doing that right now was anyone’s guess.
‘Looking good,’ Kyle declared as he stood back to admire their handiwork. ‘But you’re too much of a short arse to put the angel on top.’
‘Cheek! I’m not that short.’
‘Go on then, put the angel up there.’ He nodded to the top of the tree.
Even standing on tiptoes she had no hope but she gave it her best shot until an amused Kyle stood as tall as he could and popped the angel, sparkling peach skirt and all, at the top so she could look over the room.
‘Now it feels like Christmas,’ Amelia smiled.
They ordered Chinese takeaway and, over noodles and a sensational beef dish with rich red peppers, Amelia decided to tackle what had happened at the inn the night of the party.
‘Nathan was out of order,’ she said to Kyle and by his reaction he knew exactly what she meant.
‘I’m used to it, don’t stress.’ He gave up using the chopsticks and picked up a fork.
‘I don’t blame you for being angry.’ At least they’d come back to the apartment that night and he hadn’t stomped off into the city without her. She was relieved licensing laws were so strict too, he’d have no hope of getting into a bar, because given past performance, it wasn’t completely outside the realms of possibility he’d turn to a bottle to drown his sorrows. Like many kids, he’d learnt a way to escape reality, fast.
‘I’m not angry.’
‘You are.’
‘Are you trying to make it worse?’ He was agitated, maybe she’d pushed it too far.
‘Don’t shout, you’ll have the neighbours complaining at us, you and I will get thrown out, and we’ll have to sleep in Central Park in sleeping bags.’
A hint of a smile tugged at his mouth. ‘Don’t joke, if Mum gets her way that’s what I’ll be doing sooner than you think.’
‘She won’t throw you out, she just wants to see you sorted.’ Although Amelia had an uneasy feeling coursing through her because Connie had been vacant lately, as though she was disinterested, as though she had finally decided she’d had enough and she couldn’t handle Kyle any longer. She may as well have shouted “Your turn!” to Amelia when she’d dropped her own son off for this trip.
‘And don’t change the subject,’ Amelia went on. ‘We’re focusing on Nathan and Scarlett and what happened at the inn.’ And she wondered whether Nathan had any idea Kyle had been seeing Scarlett ever since.
‘The guy’s an arsehole.’
‘Call him that when you’re in your room on your own, but don’t use that language with me please.’
‘Shame he’s not more like Mitch. He’s a good guy. He wanted to know if I’d like to go see his Christmas tree farm in Inglenook Falls.
‘I was thinking the same thing. We can do that if you’d like.’
‘You don’t need to hold my hand.’
‘I know you’re perfectly capable of getting the train there but I’ve been talking to Cleo about it already and I’d like to come. I can catch up with her, see the Little Knitting Box, and I can check out the local markets too. I’m sure I can amuse myself for the day without coming anywhere near you.’
‘You don’t need to go that far,’ he smiled. ‘I know you’ll want to see the Christmas tree farm, you’ll want to know where I’m spending my time, suss it out before you leave me to it.’
‘Am I really that transparent?’
‘Yes.’
She sat back on the sofa and eventually Kyle leaned back too.
‘Scarlett’s a very pretty girl.’
A slight colour appeared on his cheeks but she couldn’t see much beneath his dark hair that hung enough to hide it. ‘She’s nice. Clever too. She goes to one of those really posh schools and got grades that blow mine out of the water.’
‘You two must’ve talked more than I thought.’
‘I’ve been seeing a bit of her.’
‘I know.’ He seemed to be bracing himself for a rebuke. ‘What’s she going to do when she leaves school?’
‘She wants to go to university. She’s really good at art, but her dad says that isn’t a proper subject.’
‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’
Kyle appreciated the remark. ‘I told her it’s her own life, she can’t study something she isn’t interested in. But she says she also needs to think about what job she can get afterwards, so it isn’t always about your passion.’
‘It sounds as though she’s giving it serious thought.’
‘More thought than I ever gave my future.’
‘You’ve still got time, you’re young,’ she smiled.
‘She gave me something.’ He went over to his jacket and out of the pocket pulled a rolled-up picture.
Christmas Promises at the Garland Street Markets: A feel good Christmas romance (New York Ever After, Book 5) Page 13