Escape for Christmas

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

15 December

‘Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Fa-la-la-la-la …’

Sophie gritted her teeth as the carol blared out while she waited in the vet’s waiting room with her cat carrier on her lap. Over the top of it, she could see a border collie in a bow tie glaring at a pug in an elf jumper. The teenager next to her had festooned his guinea pigs’ cage with tinsel and even the practice manager, the formidable Mrs Hazeldine, was wearing a knitted Rudolph dress with a light-up nose.

Sophie sighed. You’d have thought a vet’s surgery would be a refuge from the human festivities, but apparently not.

McKenna’s Vets was located in the heart of the large and bustling village of Bannerdale, a twenty-minute journey from Sunnyside. As she’d driven down to the surgery this morning, the pale winter sun had emerged, thawing the early frost and making Lake Windermere sparkle in the morning light. It was another moment when she felt grateful to live in such a beautiful part of the world.

A vet nurse in a headband with antlers returned a chameleon to the man sitting next to Sophie, and who leaned over to the cats. ‘Not long now,’ she promised.

A door opened and a tall man in blue scrubs and a Santa hat called out cheerfully, ‘Jingle and Belle Cranford, please.’

Sophie rose to her feet, trying to ignore the sniggers from the teenage owner of the guinea pigs.

He turned to her with a smirk. ‘Are your cats really called Jingle and Belle?’

‘Yes,’ said Sophie, trying to keep a polite smile in place.

‘Why’s that then?’ he asked.

‘Because I had them as kittens from the rescue centre on Christmas Eve.’

‘Aw, bless the little fur-babies!’ A lady wearing a Russian hat that looked like a racoon poked a finger through the carrier mesh. ‘You’re such lucky kitties to have a cat mum who loves Christmas so much.’

‘Thank you,’ Sophie said through gritted teeth.

‘Jingle and Belle, the vet is ready for you now , please,’ the vet called again, holding open the door to his consulting room as a hint for her to get a move on.

Sophie hauled the carrier past him and into the room.

‘Hello,’ he said, as she carefully placed the carrier on the exam table. ‘So how are the lucky kitties and their cat mum doing today?’ He chuckled.

Sophie groaned. As much as she loved Jingle and Belle, she hated the phrase ‘cat mum’, mainly because bloody Ben had used it ad nauseam when they first got the kittens. Oh, it had seemed cute at the time; how she’d laughed and called him the Cat Dad. Now she rued the day she’d ever been tempted to give her cats such daft monikers, but the two fluffy bundles were crying out for a festive name when she’d picked them up from the rescue shelter – a small Christmas miracle of her own.

‘She’s fine, thanks, Brody. How’s the most popular vet in the village?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘I’m the only vet in the village,’ he corrected her, unhooking the catch on the carrier. ‘Well, not the only vet; I do have partners. Do you like the hat by the way?’

Sophie hadn’t the heart to say she’d gone off Santa hats of any kind. ‘It’s – very festive.’

‘Do you think so? To be honest, I feel a right prat and I’m beginning to suspect it might have attracted fleas, but Cora, our practice manager, insists we all get into the festive spirit. She says it’s good PR and it helps the patients feel less nervous.’

‘Does it? Jingle and Belle run away if they see tinsel.’ An extra excuse not to have any in the guest house – the last time she’d seen tinsel, it was wrapped around Naomi when she caught Ben cheating on her.

‘It’s for the owners really. It makes us seem more approachable, warm and – er – human.’ Brody scratched the back of his neck.

Sophie laughed.

‘I don’t mind really,’ he said unconvincingly as he peered into the carrier door. ‘Come on then, you two, let’s take a look at you. I’m sure you’ve been looking forward to your annual check-up so much.’

‘They can’t wait,’ Sophie smiled as Jingle sauntered out, while Belle lurked at the back of the carrier.

‘Good lad, Jingle,’ Brody said, running his hand along the sleek black fur of Jingle’s back. ‘Come on, Belle. Be a good girl for Uncle Brody.’

Sophie let out a snicker. Uncle Brody … it always made her laugh when he talked to the cats as if he was their favourite uncle.

‘She’s always been the shy one,’ Sophie explained.

However, Belle did eventually emerge from the carrier, allowing Brody to scoop her up in his arms – strong, tanned arms, Sophie couldn’t help noticing. Perhaps having to scoop up pets all day brought some benefits, but it was weird to think of Brody like this.

He stared at her. ‘What’s the matter?’

‘Nothing. Only a shiver.’

His brow furrowed with concern. ‘You’re not getting flu, are you? Mum’s only just over it, and half the village seems to have had it.’

‘I hope not. Not with the guest house to run, although in my job it would be amazing if I didn’t catch something,’ Sophie admitted.

‘Same,’ Brody murmured in agreement as he began expertly examining Belle, while Jingle looked on in contempt. ‘Only there’s more stuff I can get. Erysipelas and psittacosis …’ At Sophie’s frown, he clarified: ‘Better known as parrot fever.’

Her jaw dropped. ‘Parrot fever can be caught by humans?’

‘Oh yes,’ he said solemnly. ‘And don’t get me started on lumpy wool disease.’

She snorted. ‘Now you’re making them up!’

‘Oh no,’ he shook his head before a playful grin broke out on his face. ‘I promise they’re all too real, but not dangerous to a healthy human.’

‘I’m very glad to hear it,’ Sophie said, still giggling.

Jingle let out a loud miaow and Brody returned the disgruntled feline to the back of the table.

‘Actually it’s the humans who are the filthy disease-carriers, especially at this time of year,’ he joked. ‘Now shall we turn our attention to the most important creatures in the room?’ With Sophie’s assistance, Brody managed to weigh both cats, take their temperatures and give them booster jabs for cat flu, enteritis and FeLV.

Belle protested more than Jingle, who simply looked outraged at the indignities heaped on him.

If Sophie was ever even to contemplate letting a man near her again, Brody McKenna would come top of the list – which wasn’t difficult, when he was the only man on the list. He was not merely her vet, but her nearest neighbour. In fact he was probably the only single man in the village close to her age.

When she’d first moved into Sunnyside, his black Labrador, Harold, had run straight through the open door of the guest house, knocking over a vase that Ben’s mother had given them as an anniversary present. Brody had chased after Harold, apologised endlessly and offered to pay for the vase. Sophie had refused, admitted she’d always loathed it and didn’t know how it had found its way onto the removal van.

She’d also instantly warmed to Harold and had been friends with Brody ever since. Which was fortunate, as Harold was prone to making frequent breaks for freedom from Brody’s smallholding and into the Sunnyside grounds.

Brody stroked both cats’ backs. ‘Jingle’s a handsome boy,’ he said admiringly, ‘and Belle has a beautiful coat.’

‘Thank you,’ Sophie said proudly, ‘I bet you say that to all the owners.’

Now it was Brody’s turn to feign outrage. ‘Would I?’

‘Yes,’ Sophie replied, laughing again.

‘Well, they seem absolutely fine.’

Sophie received his verdict with pride, relief and a teeny tinge of disappointment that the appointment was over and now she had no excuse to linger. She found herself racking her brains for a cat health-related question to ask him to prolong their meeting. Failing that, she had a flash of inspiration. ‘How’s Harold?’ she blurted out.

‘He’s – Haroldy . As always,’ Brody answered, looking surprised to be asked. ‘I’m sorry about his unscheduled visit last week. I heard he helped himself to the remains of a guest’s Full English?’

Sophie smiled. ‘Luckily the guests had already gone out. I hadn’t had a chance to clear the tables when Harold appeared and hoovered up a stray bacon rasher. Ricky took him back to your gate, so we assumed he’d got home safely and well fed.’

Brody rolled his eyes. ‘That dog really does think he owns the whole village! Seriously, if he sees food, he eats it. I need to keep a constant check on his diet.’

‘Just like me,’ Sophie said. ‘Although after cooking full breakfasts for the guests, I find I’ve mysteriously gone off a fry-up myself.’

‘You don’t need to watch your diet,’ Brody replied.

Sophie cheeks felt warm.

‘In my professional opinion. As a vet, that is. Oh, bugger …’ He squirmed. ‘I’m digging a whopping great hole, aren’t I?’

‘Only the size of Cathedral Cavern,’ Sophie teased, unsure whether to be flattered that he’d noticed her figure or whether Brody thought she looked like she needed to look after herself more.

Jingle miaowed loudly and Belle was trying to climb off the table.

‘Um, let’s have you back in your carrier so you can get home,’ Brody muttered, clearly eager to move past any awkwardness.

Sophie opened the door and he shooed Jingle into the carrier while she scooped up Belle, who slunk in next to her brother and eyed Sophie menacingly through the grid.

‘Thanks. I’ll, um, see you soon,’ Brody said, scratching the back of his neck again as Sophie hoisted the carrier off the table and walked towards the door. ‘Oh, I almost forgot!’ he called after her.

‘What?’ She turned round, confused because she thought he’d checked everything concerning the cats.

‘I’m having a party. Well, it’s not an actual party. It’s definitely not my party. It’s for Mum really. Oh, I’m not explaining this very well, am I?’ he mumbled, taking a breath. ‘It’s her annual Village Do-Gooders’ Gathering, though she’d kill me for calling it that. She likes to host it at Felltop Farm because there’s a bit more space than at her place.’

That was an understatement. Sophie hadn’t been inside Felltop Farm, but she knew it was huge. It was the kind of ancient, rambling Lakeland farmhouse that had wings shooting off in all directions. Outside there were numerous outbuildings and land, where Brody kept a few rare-breed sheep, a donkey and chickens.

Sophie’s heart beat faster. A Christmas party – especially of ‘Do-Gooders’ – was her idea of hell. Brody’s company, however, would be a major compensation.

‘Oh. OK,’ she murmured.

‘And I wanted to ask you, but I probably shouldn’t …’

‘ Shouldn’t ?’ she couldn’t help repeating. It was a loaded word that made Sophie’s antennae twitch, almost as if he’d thought better of it.

‘After seeing your website,’ Brody explained. ‘And after what Vee told me.’

‘What has Vee told you?’ she asked, noticing that her voice came out higher than she meant it to. Did Brody – and half the village – know every last detail about the tinsel incident?

‘Only that you don’t do Christmas, and that’s OK,’ he said hastily. ‘It really is. Lots of people don’t, and sometimes I feel like skipping it myself. There’s so much pressure on one holiday and it seems to get worse every year.’

‘No, really, it’s not that I don’t do Christmas as such,’ Sophie told him, eager to explain sufficiently that he’d understand, but not too much so that she’d have to bare her soul. ‘It’s more that I – er – spotted a gap in the market for people who want something different. After all, every guest house and hotel in the Lakes is banging on about the log fires and seven-course turkey dinner … I thought my “Escape” would give Sunnyside a unique selling point.’ She was rather proud of herself, thinking she’d managed to sound convincing. ‘At least that was the plan.’

‘It’s a brilliant idea,’ Brody added hastily. ‘And it’s one reason why I thought the party might be a good opportunity for you. There’ll be other business people there who you might like to … bond with. The Traders’ Association chair, the director of the Tourist Board, the vicar – not that he’d be any help to Sunnyside – so I thought it might be a useful way to get to know people in an informal setting. But please don’t feel obliged and, in fact, you can forget I even mentioned it.’

When Brody finally paused for breath, Sophie felt her words stick in her throat, not knowing how to respond. She’d kind of backed herself into a corner, going on about her business reasons for launching the “Escape” … and now she had little excuse for not attending because, as Brody said, it would offer perfect networking to help her new business.

Argh! Her emotions were like two tug-of-war teams pulling as hard as they could on both sides. It was a proper Christmas do: not a small gathering, but a large formal one with half the village there – exactly the kind of thing she was hoping to avoid this year. Yet Brody would be hosting it and he’d asked her specially , even if he’d then tried to un-invite her by telling her to forget it.

Brody was handsome and kind and, if she was being completely honest with herself, was the only man she’d even remotely contemplated getting to know better, since her ex.

‘Erm …’ she said, stalling for time. ‘When is this not-a-party happening?’

‘The twenty-third of December. You really don’t have to come, but you’d be doing me a huge favour and I’d owe you. It would be great to have someone under sixty there, who isn’t talking about their pension or what a wonderful man Michael Bublé is.’

Sophie chuckled, although she couldn’t help but feel uneasy at the idea of attending a festive party where everyone would be brimming with jollity and asking awkward questions. Especially about her marketing idea.

Since she’d first posted the ad on her website in October, she’d had several local hoteliers asking her why she was hosting an ‘anti-Christmas break’. One had even dubbed it an ‘“I hate Christmas” break’, which had sparked Sophie into telling him, in no uncertain terms, that it wasn’t anything of the kind. She was bound to have gained a reputation as a spiky oddball with some of the Bannerdale diehards, and this would bring her face-to-face with them.

‘Of course Harold would love seeing a friendly face too,’ Brody said, bringing her back to the matter at hand.

Sophie played along. ‘You mean he’d enjoy seeing someone who lets him have bacon?’

‘Naturally.’ Brody’s caramel-brown eyes focused on Sophie with a sudden seriousness that made her go as gooey as a brownie. ‘And I’d love to see your face too, of course.’

‘Oh, of course.’ She smiled.

She’d dodged so many seasonal invitations already from local acquaintances and business contacts, including an invite to join Vee’s family at the lantern parade in the week before Christmas, which was the highlight of the community’s festive celebrations, with children carrying home-made lanterns through the streets, carol-singing and a brass band.

Vee had understood … but Sophie still felt guilty at refusing every invitation. And would it be hard to explain why she’d declined that, but was now accepting this one?

Showing her face at Brody’s would tick a box and would have the massive bonus of Brody himself to sugar the pill. On the other hand, she was bound to be asked a lot of personal questions that she didn’t want to answer. Not to mention the fact that Christmas parties reminded her of the misery of trying to smile through the festive season for the sake of her parents, after she’d found Ben and Naomi together the night before.

She reminded herself that if it all got too much, home was only a few minutes away.

With a loud miaow, Belle shifted inside the carrier, setting off Jingle and making it wobble in Sophie’s arms. The cats were turning restless.

‘I’ll see what I can do,’ she replied hastily. ‘I mean, it’s very kind of you to ask me and, of course, I’d love to see Harold too. If I can make it, I … will try. I promise I’ll try.’

‘You don’t have to promise anything,’ Brody reassured her, taking the cat carrier from her.

Sophie’s shoulders slumped in relief.

‘I hope I haven’t stressed you out by mentioning it?’

‘No! You haven’t. I really would like to come …’

‘Drop in if you want to,’ he said. ‘Now don’t give it another thought. If you wouldn’t mind opening the door for me, so I can carry the fur-babies out to your car?’

‘Really there’s no need,’ she protested, feeling embarrassed by his attention.

Nonetheless Brody had a firm look in his eye that meant business, so she opened the door and followed him out into the reception area, as the eyes of every owner lasered in on them. Popular though the handsome village vet was, he didn’t normally carry pets back to their owners’ cars. It wasn’t as if Sophie had a broken arm or her cats were heavyweight chonks, so it was obviously special treatment.

Out in the open, she flicked the lock on her pickup and Brody loaded Jingle and Belle onto the floor.

‘Thank you,’ Sophie said quickly. ‘Although we’ve held you up too long this morning and you’d better get back to work. Your receptionist in the Rudolph jumper looked thunderous when you came out with me.’

‘She always looks thunderous. I can never live up to her exacting administrative standards,’ Brody replied with a sigh. ‘Now, have a safe journey home. I’ve got to deal with a spaniel’s impacted anal glands next, and castrate a Labrador.’

‘Delightful! Have a nice day,’ Sophie shouted back, laughing again and realising that Brody seemed to have that effect on her.

With a wave, he walked back through the slush into the surgery while Sophie got into the driver’s seat and turned on the engine.

Most of the hilltops were white with snow as Sophie drove back to Sunnyside, but she left the vet’s with a warmer glow than she’d experienced since she’d moved to Bannerdale. A lot of that was down to Brody.

Vee was dusting the dining room when Sophie returned. ‘Phew, crisis averted,’ she declared, flapping the yellow duster in the air.

Sophie’s anxiety rose. ‘What crisis?’

‘Nothing for you to worry about now – I’ve sorted it. Kev couldn’t pick up the kids from judo in the village because he’d forgotten he has mountain-rescue training tonight. I’d already agreed to go to a Christmas lantern-parade meeting, so I couldn’t do it. His mum’s going to step in, so that’s OK.’ Vee stopped mid-flow and tutted. ‘Sorry to mention the C-word again.’

‘Don’t worry.’ Sophie didn’t want Vee to have to tread on eggshells around her. ‘I can’t avoid it altogether. I’ll have guests coming here specifically to enjoy the pre-Christmas festivities right up until Christmas week itself. They’ll be talking about it. I can’t turn off the carols in the shops, or cancel the lantern parade, or rip all the tinsel off the shelves.’ No matter how much she wanted to, she secretly thought. ‘But I can control my own little space, so I might keep things more low-key. And I’m so glad you’re here to help me. It’s going to be a busy time and we’re nearly fully booked.’

‘You’re welcome. I love working here. You’re so much better than any of the other bosses I’ve had before, who were all tossers.’

Sophie had to laugh. ‘The bar was set high for me then?’

‘No, it wasn’t, but really you care about your staff, you pay a fair rate and, if the shit hits the fan, you always try to help.’

‘Life’s hard enough without making it even tougher for people,’ Sophie replied.

‘I do appreciate it …’ Vee’s phone rang and she pulled it out of her apron pocket. ‘Oh, talking of which. Mind if I get this? It’s Kev’s mum, so I’d better check she knows what time she needs to be at the village hall.’

‘No problem.’

Vee left the office via the rear door that led to the storerooms and kitchen. Sophie sat down at her desk to enjoy a minute’s peace before her guests returned. Four of the five rooms were booked, although all of the guests – three couples and a single man – were out enjoying the rare December sun and winter colours.

Vee worked hard, was flexible and trustworthy, a quality that Sophie valued above all others, after recent experiences in her personal life, which is maybe why they got on so well. In return, Sophie hoped she was flexible on hours, whenever she could be, and had tried to help Vee out during several family emergencies.

If Vee or Ricky was unavailable for any reason, or they were especially busy, Sophie herself stepped in to help with the cleaning or anything else that needed doing. She used a professional laundry service for the sheets and towels, which helped a lot, but she was ready to muck in when needed.

Through her housekeeper she’d met Vee’s husband, Kev, and his friends from the mountain-rescue team. The whole community had opened its arms to this stranger from the south, who was single and naive in the ways of running a guest house in the relative wilds of Cumbria.

Whether by helping Vee, the mountain-rescue team or going to Brody’s ‘party’, Sophie felt she owed it to the community to give a little back, no matter how uncomfortable she might find it.