Single All the Way: An unputdownable and uplifting Christmas romance

by Karen King

  ‘Thank you, dears,’ Rose said. ‘Hope to see you on Saturday! Oh, and we switch on the lights of the big Christmas tree in the square on Christmas Eve if you’d like to come along. There’s a carol service too. It starts at six.’

  ‘Thank you. We will probably do that,’ Sally told her.

  ‘What a friendly woman,’ she said to Meg when they were outside again. ‘Her parents were just the same. They made me and your dad feel really welcome. Often slipped us a free cuppa too.’

  Rose was friendly, thought Meg, and she could see that she and her mum had already formed a bit of a connection. Her mum had such an ability to make everyone she met like her.

  They continued with their walk around the village. There were a few more shops – a small supermarket, a unisex hairdresser’s, a doctor’s and dentist, a hardware store. Meg wondered what it would be like to live here permanently. It was a pretty village, but she was used to living on the outskirts of a busy town. As was Mum. No wonder Rose wanted to get away and see the world. Just like her mum did. They seemed similar ages too, and she guessed they were both grabbing at the chance to do things while they could.

  They were approaching the square now, where a huge Christmas tree stood. It was adorned with baubles and unlit lights. ‘That must be the tree that Rose was on about,’ Sally said. ‘I’d like to come to the switching-on ceremony – would you?’

  Meg gazed at the tree. ‘If we’re still here.’ She was hoping that Mum and Dad would have made up by then.

  As if on cue, Sally’s phone rang. She reached inside her bag and glanced at the screen. ‘It’s your dad,’ she said, hesitating.

  Thank goodness! ‘I’ll take a walk back to the harbour and leave you to talk,’ Meg told her. ‘I’ll wait for you on that bench overlooking the sea.’

  As she strolled down the hill, Meg hoped desperately that her parents could sort things out and get back together. It was horrible to think of them splitting up.

  If only Oliver would phone me too, she thought, sitting down on the bench. Even though she was still sad and angry, she couldn’t help but long to hear his voice again.

  10

  Sally

  ‘When are you and Meg coming home?’ Ted demanded as soon as Sally answered the phone.

  ‘I don’t know when I am, Ted,’ Sally replied. ‘I don’t think there’s any point in me coming back. And Meg and Oliver haven’t sorted things out either.’

  ‘Then bring Meg back here with you. You have a home here, both of you. What’s the use of staying down there?’ He sounded cross. ‘Running off doesn’t solve anything. Couples need to talk about things.’

  ‘Sometimes talking about things doesn’t solve anything either,’ Sally pointed out. ‘I’ve tried talking but you don’t listen. We want different things out of life, Ted, and I think we’re better off apart.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous! Why do we have to want the same things? You can go off on holiday if you want to. Why do I have to come too?’

  ‘Because we’re a couple, and anyway you sulk when I go away.’ She tried to explain but it was to no avail. Ted reminded Sally that he accepted her as she was and didn’t ask her to change, so why should she ask him to? She bit back the retort that just being with him changed her, because she couldn’t do the things she wanted, be the person she really was.

  ‘Are you really going to be so selfish as to throw away our marriage just because I don’t want to go abroad?’ he demanded.

  That was just like Ted to make her sound petty and selfish when he knew it was more than that. ‘I don’t love you any more, Ted, and I don’t think you love me either. Not in the way a husband and wife should. You might be content to plod on with things how they are but I’m not. I want more out of my life.’

  ‘Hark at you, you sound like you’re having a mid-life crisis. You’re almost a pensioner, for goodness’ sake! Grow up and be grateful for what you’ve got instead of being so bloody selfish and breaking up the family.’ He abruptly cut off the call.

  Am I being selfish? Sally wondered, going over the conversation again as she walked down the hill to catch up with Meg, who looked a solitary figure clad in her berry-coloured parka and matching beanie hat, sitting on the bench staring out at the wintry sea.

  She was worried about Meg: she looked so pale and her eyes were dark. It was evident she wasn’t sleeping well and was devastated by the break-up with Oliver. If only Oliver would phone her, but no, typical man, he was being stubborn. To be honest, though, she couldn’t see a solution to this disagreement. Like her and Ted, Meg and Oliver wanted different things. Even if Oliver compromised and agreed to have a child for Meg’s sake, it would always be between them that he had only agreed because he’d wanted to save their marriage. Meg would probably always feel that she had trapped him and that he didn’t love their child as much as she did. And Oliver might resent the child, especially because children could be very demanding. Some fathers found it hard to cope with being pushed to what they considered ‘second place’ because the mothers had to devote so much time to looking after the baby. She wondered if Ted had ever felt this way; if he had, he’d never shown it. But life had been so busy back then – with them both working and two children to look after – there had been little time to think of their own needs and feelings. They’d just pulled together and got on with it.

  Meg turned her head as Sally approached, her face pinched and pensive. ‘How’re things with Dad?’ she asked as Sally sat down beside her.

  ‘Same. I’m being selfish and why should he change?’

  ‘Looks like we’re going to definitely be here over Christmas, then, doesn’t it?’ Meg turned back and gazed at the sea.

  ‘Yes, I think we’ll both be here for Christmas, so we have to make the best of it,’ Sally told her. ‘How about we go shopping for a Christmas tree and some decorations and get ourselves in the festive mood? What do you say? No point pining for men who don’t care about how we feel, is there? We can have a good time without them.’

  Meg nodded slowly. ‘Okay.’

  So they walked back for Meg’s car – her boot was bigger – then set off to the large shopping centre in Launceston. They picked up an assortment of sparkling baubles and then went for a late lunch at a nearby café before going to buy a tree – they’d both decided on a real tree. As they sat down at the table with their turkey, brie and cranberry sandwiches, a deep voice said, ‘Hello again.’

  Meg glanced across and smiled. ‘Hello, are you Christmas shopping too?’

  Sally turned around to see a good-looking man, about forty-ish, and a sulky-looking young lad sitting at the table behind them, tucking into burgers and chips. ‘It looks like you’ve been doing the same as us, buying baubles for the tree,’ the man said. ‘Not that I can get Sam interested in it.’

  Sally looked questioningly from Meg to the man. ‘Are you going to introduce us, Meg?’

  ‘Mum, this is our neighbour and his son. We met this morning,’ explained Meg.

  ‘Leo.’ The man nodded. ‘Pleased to meet you, Meg’s mum. And this is Sam.’

  ‘Hello, Leo and Sam. I’m Sally. Do you both live next door full-time or are you just here for Christmas, like us?’ Sally asked.

  ‘I live there. Although I only moved back to Cornwall a couple of months ago – I grew up here but moved away when I went to university and never came back,’ he added. ‘Sam’s mum and I are divorced but she’s away for the next two weeks so he’s staying with me over Christmas. It’s a bit of a drive to his school but they break up on Friday so it’s not for long.’

  ‘How lovely that you’re spending Christmas with your dad,’ Meg told Sam.

  ‘No, it isn’t! I’d rather be in Jamaica with my mum. But she doesn’t want me along now she’s got married again,’ Sam replied with a scowl.

  ‘She’s gone on honeymoon not holiday, Sam, so of course she doesn’t want you along. A honeymoon is just a couples’ holiday. Your mum looks after you all year, she’s allowed a bi
t of time alone with her new husband.’ He glanced awkwardly at Meg then Sally. ‘Sorry about Sam. As you can see he isn’t very happy about spending Christmas here instead of sunny Jamaica with his mum and stepdad.’

  ‘Cornwall’s lovely,’ Sally said. ‘There’s lots to do here.’

  ‘Yeah, in the summer maybe, but not in the winter. It’s boring.’ Sam pulled a face as he speared a tomato-ketchup-covered chip.

  ‘How old is he?’ Meg mouthed to Leo.

  ‘Nine,’ he mouthed back.

  She smiled in sympathy. ‘I guess you’ll just have to make the most of it like me and my mum, Sam. We hadn’t planned on spending Christmas in Cornwall either but here we are. We’re going to the Christmas Fayre on Saturday, and to the “switching on the lights” carol service on Christmas Eve. Maybe you can come too.’

  ‘We’re helping out at the Fayre as it happens. My mum’s organising it and has got me and Sam running a games table,’ said Leo.

  ‘It’s going to be so boring,’ Sam said as he speared another chip.

  ‘It might be fun, Sam, and it’s for a good cause. Imagine if you had to spend Christmas in hospital – you’d be glad of some presents, wouldn’t you?’ Leo asked him.

  Sam shrugged. ‘Suppose so.’

  ‘Is Rose, the lady from the café at the harbour, your mother?’ Sally asked. ‘She invited us to the Fayre.’

  Leo nodded. ‘Mum always organises the Fayre but I think this will be her last year as she’s off travelling in the spring. My sister Jenny and her husband Grant are taking over the café.’

  ‘Yes, Rose mentioned it when we were having a cuppa in the café earlier. We’ll look out for your stall on Saturday and make sure we play some of the games,’ Sally said.

  Meg gave Sam a sympathetic look. ‘And cheer up, you might actually enjoy yourself.’

  Sam shrugged his shoulders.

  ‘We’re off to see Mum and Uncle Rory – her brother – later. That’ll cheer him up. He loves his gran, and Uncle Rory always has a few tricks up his sleeve to try out on him.’

  ‘Have a good day then,’ Meg said.

  ‘You too,’ Leo said. Then they all returned to eating their food.

  ‘Fancy Rose’s son living next door to us,’ Sally whispered to Meg. ‘What a small world.’

  * * *

  They continued with their shopping, stopping off to buy a luscious real Christmas tree that luckily fitted into the back of Meg’s car.

  ‘We’ll decorate it as soon as we get home; that will cheer us both up,’ Sally said.

  ‘I don’t feel like anything will cheer me up,’ Meg told her miserably. ‘My life’s fallen apart. At least Dad’s phoned you and let you know he wants you back. I haven’t even had a text from Oliver, which shows how much he cares about me.’

  ‘He’s probably hurting, love, like you are. And he doesn’t want to contact you because he hasn’t changed his mind about having a child, so maybe he doesn’t know what to say.’ She squeezed Meg’s arm. ‘You could phone him.’

  Meg shook her head. ‘I’m not making the first move. He’s the one who’s in the wrong.’

  Sally looked at her sadly. This was going to be a tough Christmas for both of them. But she was determined to make it a good one too.

  11

  Meg

  Meg unpacked the boxes of baubles with a heavy heart. How could she celebrate Christmas when her heart was broken and the happy future she thought she’d had with Oliver gone? If only she could have brought Laurel and Hardy with her, they would have cheered her up. It would be such a comfort to sit one of the bunnies on her lap now and stroke it, or to watch them both run about and play. She knew it would be cruel to separate them though; they adored each other and would pine terribly. Stuff Oliver! He wasn’t depriving her of her pets as well as a family.

  The future felt so daunting. She would have to find somewhere else to live unless she could persuade Oliver to move out. They’d probably need to sell the house, split whatever little profit there was left and both find new homes. She didn’t think Oliver would want to go – he loved the house. And maybe he would say she was the one who’d walked out so it would be down to her to find somewhere. If only Meg could move in with her parents while she and Oliver sorted things, but there was no way she could do that now; even if her mum and dad made up and got back together, they would need some space, some time on their own to repair their relationship. And if they didn’t get back together, well, she couldn’t move in with either of them otherwise it would look like she was taking sides. She felt a bit like that now, being down here with her mum. No, she’d have to go it alone. The idea of starting again filled her with dread but she shook it off. She was young, she could do it.

  Not that young if she wanted children though. Maybe she would never find anyone else she loved enough to want children with. She couldn’t imagine loving anyone else as much as she loved Oliver. Maybe her chance of having a family was gone forever… which made her even more angry at his deceit. How could he be so cruel as to do this to her?

  She could do this! She needed to pull herself together and stop wallowing. She was going to survive this; she’d had a life before Oliver and she’d have a life after him. A good life.

  I’d prefer one with him though. The thought flashed unwanted into her mind. Oh God, how she missed him! She shut her eyes as the memories flooded in, Oliver holding her in his arms, his dark hair pushed back off his face, his soulful brown eyes gazing at her, his mouth lowering towards hers…

  ‘Are you all right, Meg? I can do this if you don’t feel like it.’

  She opened her eyes to see her mum looking at her worriedly. ‘Yes, I’m fine. I was just wondering how the bunnies were,’ she said, not wanting to admit that she was missing Oliver.

  ‘Oliver will look after them and you’ll see them again soon. You’re going to have to get together with Oliver and sort things out, just like I’ll have to with your dad.’

  Meg nodded miserably. She didn’t want to think about going back to their home and packing up the rest of her things, sorting out who was going to have what. It was all too painful.

  ‘Look, forget all about that for now. Let’s just concentrate on making this a good Christmas for the two of us – a Christmas to remember. We don’t need men to make us happy.’

  Mum was right: there was nothing she could do to change the situation between her and Oliver. She had to get on with her life. And she wasn’t going to spend Christmas moping.

  ‘Too true. Let’s start with some Christmas music.’ She reached out for the CDs and slipped a selection of Christmas carols into the CD player. As ‘Jingle Bells’ blasted out, Sally smiled and sang loudly ‘single all the way’ instead of ‘jingle all the way’. Meg joined in and they both sang away as they decorated the tree.

  ‘Remember when Dan and I used to help you decorate the tree when we were little?’ Meg wound some red tinsel around one of the branches. ‘You gave us a selection of baubles and we had to decorate a side each. We were so competitive, we wanted our side to be the best. I even sneaked a couple of Dan’s baubles once so that my side would have more on it and be prettier. I don’t think he noticed,’ she confessed.

  ‘You both loved decorating the tree. And you were so proud when you put the star on the top,’ Sally said with a smile. ‘Once we had a really big tree and your dad had to lift you up so you could reach the top to put the star on it.’

  Putting the star on the tree had always been Meg’s job, while Dan had turned on the lights. It had made them both feel important. They’d always had carols playing too, and once the tree had been decorated Mum would bring out a tray of warm home-made mince pies and hot chocolate and they’d all sit around the fire. Remembering those happy family days now made Meg feel sad that the family was breaking up. She glanced at her mum. ‘You and Dad were happy then, weren’t you?’

  ‘Yes, we were, love. And me and your dad splitting up doesn’t erase those happy memories. However, things don
’t always stay the same no matter how much we want them to.’

  I do want them to, though, Meg thought. She wanted her and Oliver to be together with a little baby on the way, and she wanted Mum and Dad to be together, like they had always been. Going back to her parents’ house wouldn’t be the same without her mum there. It wasn’t fair – why did her parents have to break up at the same time as her and Oliver! She had enough to deal with without having to cope with their problems too. What was so bad that Mum couldn’t at least wait until after Christmas before she left?

  She’s got her own life. She’s more than my mum, she’s a person too, she reminded herself.

  * * *

  Meg and Sally shared family Christmas memories as they finished decorating the tree: some memories that made them laugh and some that were a bit sad, such as when Meg’s guinea pig, Fudge, had died on Christmas Eve and they’d put a photo of the beloved pet in a clear bauble and hung it on the tree.

  When their tree was finally decorated and twinkling merrily in front of the large bay window, Meg did feel much better. Christmas celebrated a new life, she told herself, and that’s what she was going to make for herself. A new life. Without Oliver.

  Mum came in with two cups of hot chocolate and some mince pies. She put them down on the coffee table and looked over at the tree. They hadn’t chosen any particular colour scheme, choosing the baubles at random simply because they liked them. ‘It looks lovely, very cheerful,’ she said.

  Meg and Oliver had put up their tree earlier that month, an artificial one they’d bought when they were first married and used every year, and there was already a pile of presents underneath it. She wondered if Oliver would go away for Christmas now, perhaps get a flight over to Portugal and visit his mum? Or would he spend Christmas at home with the bunnies? She thought of the Christmas they had planned: getting up a bit later than usual, sitting up in bed to open their presents, with Laurel and Hardy nestled on top of the duvet chewing one of their carrot treats. They’d made a stocking up for each of the bunnies, as they did every Christmas, filling it with little toys and treats. The bunnies would squeal with delight as they opened their presents – with a little help from Meg and Oliver, of course. Later, they’d go to her parents’ house for lunch and to spend the afternoon with Dan, Katya and Tom, then back home for a lovely romantic evening together. Now it was all gone.