Reuben wasn’t her father. He wasn’t her ex. He was not a dick with a capital D.
He was beautiful in spirit. Kind in soul. And so ridiculously handsome she felt she could look at him for the rest of ever and never once tire of his face.
‘Dick it is.’ She placed her hands on the kitchen island, splayed her fingers out and let the coolness of the granite infuse her palms. ‘So when Dick came into my life and took me out for coffee, then dinner, used his manners, called me gorgeous, did all the right things, I thought I’d met the one. The man who would treat me like the books and TV shows and movies told me a girl ought to be treated. With care, respect, love. Except it didn’t quite work out that way.’
Heat prickled across her face as shame washed through her.
‘You weren’t stupid or a fool for falling for him, Sam. Don’t think you were for one second.’
‘I was a fool for staying as long as I did. We moved in together quickly, and I thought I was so grown up, cooking dinners and doing housework all in my own home, that when the little slights began I ignored them. Wrote them off to Dick having a hard day at work or not having a good night’s sleep. Then when he became more blatant in his control, calling me names, telling me everything I did was useless… I became embarrassed. Didn’t feel I could tell anyone because I’d put myself in this situation, and I of all people ought to know better.’ She hung her head, not wanting Reuben to see the shame in her eyes. Not wanting to see his pity.
‘It’s all too easy to stay in a bad situation when you have no idea of what the alternative might offer.’
There was no pity in Reuben’s tone, only understanding.
Sam glanced up to see him staring into the distance, his bottom lip protruding like he was deep in thought, or deep in the past.
‘I always thought my marriage was happy. A perfect union. Two people who didn’t make passive-aggressive remarks, never fought, had the odd moment – sure – but nothing major. But what I realise now—’ his gaze met hers ‘—is that it was a lie. I was happy because I was left alone. I didn’t have to meet the demands of anyone or anything other than the deadlines given to me by myself or my publisher. I became selfish. Hugely so. And I had no reason to change, until I was forced into it. Until I had no other option.’
The lump in her throat was back – but not for her situation, or her pain. Sam slipped off her chair, circled the island, and stopped just short of Reuben, wanting to be there for him should he need her.
‘And even after my marriage failed, and my words disappeared and I was making a hash of everything, I didn’t want to change, until a whirling dervish whooshed into my home, forced me to realise I was failing not just at running a business but failing at living life, and gave me a reason to change.’
‘But do people change? Really?’ Sam folded her arms around herself and shook her head. ‘I don’t know that they do.’
‘Some don’t, that’s true. But there are plenty of tales out there about people who beat the odds and overcome obstacles in order to live a better life. You’re one of them; you’ve done it.’
Fresh shame washed over Sam and she held herself tighter. ‘I did do it. True. I left Dick, but it took him hitting me, slapping me, for me to come to my senses.’ Her hand unconsciously went to her cheek. Years later she still felt the sting, the burn, the pain.
‘In some ways he did me the biggest favour by doing that. I fear I would’ve stayed in that relationship for years, if not forever, putting up with his moods, his cruelty, just as my mum did with my father, because I knew no better. I knew hurtful words weren’t right, but part of me came to the conclusion that relationships were just like that. That any other option – a happier option – was a lie sold to us. But when he hit me, when he went one step further than my father did?’ Sam pulled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. Reuben was right, she wasn’t that person anymore. She’d changed the day she found the courage to leave. ‘That’s when I knew I deserved better, and “better” meant keeping myself to myself.’
‘No one can hurt you if you don’t let them get close enough, right? No one can laugh at you for having your nose in a book all the time, or wanting to write a story while all the other kids are playing sport. Sometimes being alone is the safest thing you can do – also the most dangerous. It stops you living.’
Their eyes met and understanding sprung up between them.
Sam stepped back as fear of this meeting of the minds unfurled in her gut and opened a path she thought closed off to her. Blocked. A dead end.
Reuben had shown her his heart – scars, cracks and all. Shown her he was every bit as afraid of falling in love as she was.
He’d also shown her the one thing he didn’t show anyone outside of his professional publishing circle – an excerpt of his book. And it was as raw and real as it was beautiful and heart-breaking.
The tale of a boy who’d kept people at arm’s length and preferred to live in his head, until a short redhead with an insulting sense of humour proved to him the real world was just as satisfying, more so than anything he could imagine.
‘Your book’s great, by the way. The parts you gave me, anyway. Better than great. I couldn’t put it down.’
Reuben’s cheeks flushed. ‘Thank you. So that means you don’t hate it then?’
‘It means I think it’s better than any horror I’ve ever read. And probably better than your thrillers, had I ever bothered to read them.’
His eyes closed as a wide grin filled his face. ‘Ah, it wouldn’t be a compliment without an insult coming from you would it, Sam?’
He opened his eyes and it was like all the stars had been ripped from the sky and jammed in them. They flickered and danced with amusement… maybe even tears.
Of happiness?
Sam shrugged. ‘I don’t know how else to be. I am who I am. But I can always try to be better.’ And, just like that, courage and hope stripped away her remaining fear. ‘Better at being open and better at expressing my fears, better at taking a breath and listening instead of jumping to conclusions based on past experience. But the insults will have to stay. You can’t change my brand of humour.’
‘I wouldn’t want to. It keeps me on my toes.’ Reuben’s hand slipped along the surface of the island and found hers. Their fingers tangled together, held.
Sam took a deep breath in, released it. ‘I also can’t promise I’ll be perfect. That I won’t overreact, or see things that aren’t there…’
‘As long as you talk to me. Tell me what you see. I’ll do my best to understand. I don’t ever want to hurt you, Sam. I want to be here for you. Be open for you. I don’t want to shut myself away in my study and let the world – with you in it – pass me by.’
‘So, does that mean we’re doing this?’ Sam pursed her lips, half-afraid she’d gotten the wrong end of the stick. That ‘this’ wasn’t a relationship, but just the job. That ‘this’ wasn’t a fresh beginning but a renewal of the status quo.
Reuben took her by the shoulders and gently walked her back a few paces, then looked up, then back down, a glint in his eye.
‘Oops. We’re under the mistletoe.’ He clucked his tongue and raised his shoulders in a ‘what can you do, it’s tradition’ way.
‘Bugger. I guess that means we’re going to have to kiss.’ Sam shook her head. A smile tilted her lips as she got her answer. ‘Tragedy.’
‘Worst.’ His head angled down.
‘End of the world.’ Sam raised herself up on tiptoes and tilted her head back.
‘But it’s not like we’ve any other option.’ Reuben let out an overdramatic huff.
‘No, no other option.’
‘Because, tradition.’
‘That’s right. Tra—’
Sam’s word was cut off as Reuben’s lips met hers. Soft and lush. Sweet and moreish.
The kiss of two people who knew life wasn’t perfect, that there would be ups and there would definitely be downs, but as long as they fought through the down
s together – as a team – then the ups would raise them higher than ever before.
Reluctantly Sam broke the kiss and wrapped her arms around Reuben’s waist, loving how tall and broad and strong and oh so very good – right to the bone, to the heart – he was. Knowing he would never intentionally hurt her. Set out to control her. To confuse and twist and manipulate her into a shell of her former self.
‘I guess we’re doing this.’
He dropped another kiss on her lips.
‘Oh, we’re doing this. And I have a feeling this is one tale that will have a happily ever after.’
EPILOGUE
Reuben glanced around the packed drawing room. One half of the room saw people dancing to the beats the DJ was spinning. Bodies shimmering and shaking, twirling and whirling. The other half bubbling with people chatting and drinking. Over in the corner, under the large Christmas tree that danced with twinkling, golden fairy lights, two children, whose parents hadn’t been able to drag themselves away, had jackets piled under and over the top of their little bodies so they could sleep in some kind of comfort. How they did with all the noise around them, he didn’t know, but seeing their little mouths wide open and their hair flopping over their faces, brought him every bit as much joy as seeing his guests have a great time.
An arm threaded through his. He didn’t have to look down to know who it belonged to.
His guests? Their guests.
‘Now this is what I call a party, and here I was thinking you had no idea how to throw one. That your old, hermit self was incapable of putting together a large group of people and showing them a good time.’
‘Enough of the old. Thirty-six is not old.’
‘Compared to my youthful twenty-six, it’s positively ancient. Which reminds me, I need to start thinking about your birthday present since it’s a few weeks away. You like canes, right? I saw this lovely vintage oak one in an antique shop. It’s simple, not showy. Should help those old bones of yours get around all right.’
Sam threw him an impish grin and Reuben fell head over heels all over again, as he did every single day.
‘It’ll be me having the last laugh when I’m actually, properly old and you’re having to help me in the shower.’ Reuben raised his brows, then lowered them when he didn’t get the reaction he hoped for.
‘I’ll help you in the shower now, if you’d like?’
Sam’s seductive tone sent a ripple of desire through him. He couldn’t have known it a year ago, but while Sam was full of light and laughter on the outside, underneath the pain and hurt of her past, was a woman who took as much pleasure in the act of love, as she did in bringing happiness by making him smile, by filling his stomach with delicious food, by keeping their life interesting with her quirky musings.
No wonder he loved her so much. She never failed to surprise.
‘Look at you, all pink-cheeked and lost for words.’ She elbowed him in the waist, then took his hands. ‘We should dance.’
Without waiting for permission she dragged him onto the dance floor and began to twirl him round and round, only slowing when Matilda and Harry swooped up to them.
‘Darlings, every time I look at you two all loved up and joyous, my heart expands.’ Matilda reached out and patted Sam’s arm. ‘I’m glad to see you happy.’
Sam grinned back and let out a shriek as Reuben dipped her unexpectedly. ‘I’m glad to be happy. This one keeps me on my toes – or in this case, off my toes – but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.’
‘I know that feeling.’ Matilda sent Harry a fond smile. ‘We’re lucky women.’
‘And we’re lucky men,’ added Harry. ‘I’m so glad we decided to come for New Year. This visit’s been fantastic. We’re thinking we should make it an annual thing.’
‘A new tradition, to add to the decorating of the rooms, the hanging of the mistletoe and the giving of gifts.’ Satisfaction filled every cell in Reuben’s body.
When he’d arrived at Snowflake B&B it had been a hideaway, a haven, and now it was a home. One he treasured more than having a new hit book, with a movie offer on the table – although he was enjoying his reignited success almost as much. As was Sam who never let him forget that his success wouldn’t have happened had she not forced him to send his romance to his agent, who’d immediately forwarded it to his publisher, who’d said it was the best thing he’d ever written.
‘I like that idea, Harry. Very much. I’ll even do you a discount rate of free.’
Harry’s bushy, grey brows shot up. ‘That’s a bargain I can’t turn down.’
‘Bargain? Who said something about a bargain?’ Stefan and Flo danced up to the two couples, their hands and legs flailing to the pop beat. ‘Do we get to be part of this bargain?’
‘Honestly, Stefan.’ Flo shook her head. ‘Was it not enough that they gave us a friends and family rate for our wedding guests this past summer? Does everything have to be bargained?’ She let out a huff of exasperation.
‘The only thing I didn’t settle for was your love.’ Stefan sniffed. ‘And I’m currently feeling like I’m paying a very high price for that.’
His pout transformed into a smirk, which Flo kissed away.
‘They’re so cute I think I’m going to be sick.’ Sam mimed gagging.
‘Or could that be because you’re expecting?’ Matilda raised a brow before allowing herself to be twirled away into the crowd by Harry, who was rolling her eyes at his wife’s unsubtle hint.
‘She’s not wrong. We could do that.’ Reuben spun Sam out, then in again. ‘Have kids. If you wanted to.’ Reuben cupped her cheeks and dipped down closer. ‘I want kids with you. I want them to be imbued with your joie de vivre, your spark, your determination.’
‘Your height. They’d have to have your height.’ Sam brought her hands to Reuben’s. ‘I don’t want our kids having to carry a step stool with them their whole lives just in case they need to get something from up high.’
‘You don’t carry a step stool around with you…’
‘That’s because I’m an idiot. I really ought to. I’d make my life a whole lot easier.’
‘You’re not an idiot, you’re wonderful. You’ve given me the kind of life I never even knew to dream of, not in a mill—’
Sam kissed Reuben before he could continue, just to check for the billionth time that he was real, that her life with him was real.
For the first couple of months she’d been sure Reuben would lose interest in her and head back to London to be nearer the action, to be closer to ‘his’ people. Except when he’d gently asked her to voice her fears he’d reminded her that she was his person. That he wouldn’t be where he was without her love. And that meant he was never letting her go, never leaving her, and doing everything he could to make her never want to leave him either.
Then he’d shown her documents he’d had drawn up that gave her half of Snowflake B&B and her fears evaporated, once and for all.
Reuben glanced up at the ornate, golden clock on the far wall, his eyes widening.
‘What? What is it? Have we missed midnight?’ Sam craned her neck round and saw midnight was still a good ten minutes away. ‘No. We’re fine. So what’s the problem?’
‘I felt we needed a speech, that’s all. To thank our guests and to say goodbye to the old year before welcoming in the new one.’
Reuben indicated the DJ should cut the music, then tapped the microphone that was set on a small side table, sending three booms through the room.
All shuffling and chatting and laughing stopped as fifty-odd heads swivelled in their direction.
‘Er, thank you…’ Reuben screwed his nose up and gave a small shake of his head, then set the microphone to the side. ‘Hate those things. I think my voice can carry well enough. Can you hear me at the back?’
A chorus of ‘yes’ went up confirming his question.
‘Good. So, uh, as I was saying… Thank you all for coming tonight. It’s been wonderful to see old friends and colleag
ues, new faces from the village and treasured guests who’ve become treasured friends. Sam and I have had quite the year…’ His arm snaked around her waist and he pulled her closer. ‘Snowflake B&B has gone from strength to strength. We’re already well booked into the year, and this summer this very room is also getting a new lease on life, and will become a restaurant that’s open to the public, headed up by Sam and her mother, Irene. Thank you for joining us, Irene. We’re lucky to have you.’
Sam followed his gaze to where her mother stood in the crowd, a G&T in one hand, a besuited man in the other. Having given Sam advice on allowing love into her life, her mother had decided to not be a hypocrite, and had since met a lovely man who owned the curio shop a few villages over. When he wasn’t fossicking for treasures, he spent his nights adoring her mother and bending over backwards for her, just as she deserved.
‘Snowflake B&B was in danger of closing down when Sam knocked on my door. I was a terrible host and had no business being in the B&B business. With her help, her guidance, her brilliance, she showed me how to treat guests properly.’ He held up a hand to the side of his mouth like he was letting the crowd in on a secret. ‘Apparently leaving them to their own devices while I was holed up in my study was not ideal.’
The crowd tittered, then fell into silence. The only sound being the rustle of waiters handing out fresh glasses of champagne.
‘She’s been instrumental in promoting the business and her food’s becoming famous in its own right. She’s the heart and soul of Snowflake B&B. More importantly, she’s the heart and soul of my life.’
Sam took the two glasses the waiter offered her and held one out ready for Reuben once he was finished.
‘Which is why, Sam Heatherington, I wanted to thank you in front of our friends, our family for changing my life not just for the better but for the best.’ He picked up his champagne glass and raised it high. ‘Now, let’s count in this new year and see it in in style.’
The crowd cheered, then glanced up at the screen Reuben had installed for the night that flashed the final ten seconds of the year for them to chant along to.
Snowed In At Snowflake B&B: The perfect heartwarming Christmas romance to curl up with in 2020! Page 21